Example A of why you fire Buck after 3 seasons.

[ledzepp8]

Showalter refused to criticize Johnson, who leads the majors with 39 saves.

"The world's full of those guys who come in after the war's over and shoot the wounded. I'm not one of those guys. I'll leave that to the guys who are outside the arena."

Showalter got the inevitable question about sticking with Johnson as closer.

"Am I going to sit Adam Jones because he had a rough day today? I as a manager can't live in that world. We've got a lot of pieces in the chain that have to work and every club does. And I'll be the first guy to make adjustments if they need to be made, but there's a lot of things that we've got to shore up besides that."

He's overly dramatic in his "war" analogy and purposely evasive in avoiding a direct answer on Johnson as the closer by talking about Jones. Who does he think he is fooling.

He's loyal to a fault and stubborn to boot. Both traits that get him to the exit.

We really need to stop criticizing Buck's post game interviews. No matter what he's actually going to do, he's not going to throw a player under the bus and he's not going to remove Jim Johnson from the closer's role thru the media, especially not without talking with him first.

[Can_of_corn]

We really need to stop criticizing Buck's post game interviews. No matter what he's actually going to do, he's not going to throw a player under the bus and he's not going to remove Jim Johnson from the closer's role thru the media, especially not without talking with him first.

Didn't he throw rookies under the bus with a fair amount of glee the first few months he was with the team?

[ledzepp8]

There is a big difference between "blasting" JJ and being honest. Buck could have easily said "JJ has been struggling recently and we need the rest of the team to help pick him up." To sit there and act like nothing is wrong with the bullpen is disingenuous.

To be fair, he didn't really act like nothing was wrong with the bullpen. He just dodged the question and deflected it to other aspects of the team. I don't fault him for that. He deserves to have the questions asked but I don't think he's ever going to manage the team thru the media.

[ledzepp8]

Didn't he throw rookies under the bus with a fair amount of glee the first few months he was with the team?

I don't know, did he? I can't remember him ever calling out an individual player thru the media. Does he talk about the team as a collective? Yes. I could be wrong however.

[Can_of_corn]

I don't know, did he? I can't remember him ever calling out an individual player thru the media. Does he talk about the team as a collective? Yes. I could be wrong however.

I don't have any quotes on hand but I do recall it happening on a few occasions.

[webbrick2010]

Showalter refused to criticize Johnson, who leads the majors with 39 saves.

"The world's full of those guys who come in after the war's over and shoot the wounded. I'm not one of those guys. I'll leave that to the guys who are outside the arena."

Showalter got the inevitable question about sticking with Johnson as closer.

"Am I going to sit Adam Jones because he had a rough day today? I as a manager can't live in that world. We've got a lot of pieces in the chain that have to work and every club does. And I'll be the first guy to make adjustments if they need to be made, but there's a lot of things that we've got to shore up besides that."

He's overly dramatic in his "war" analogy and purposely evasive in avoiding a direct answer on Johnson as the closer by talking about Jones. Who does he think he is fooling.

He's loyal to a fault and stubborn to boot. Both traits that get him to the exit.

I'm not even sure his "loyalty" to JJ is a good thing for JJ, but I really wonder what the other 24 guys are thinking.

[tntoriole]

There is a big difference between "blasting" JJ and being honest. Buck could have easily said "JJ has been struggling recently and we need the rest of the team to help pick him up." To sit there and act like nothing is wrong with the bullpen is disingenuous.

It is more complicated than that in terms of team dynamics with a closer because of the unique nature of the job. Every player on the team struggles or slumps. If the manager benched them or moved them out of their position during their really bad struggles, everyone on the team would be benched at times. I mean how many Ryan Flaherty strikeouts did we watch? JJ in the eyes of his veteran teammates likely deserves even more rope than that given his track record and Buck taking him out of his role must factor all of that that into his decision.

[Can_of_corn]

It is more complicated than that in terms of team dynamics with a closer because of the unique nature of the job. Every player on the team struggles or slumps. If the manager benched them or moved them out of their position during their really bad struggles, everyone on the team would be benched at times. I mean how many Ryan Flaherty strikeouts did we watch? JJ in the eyes of his veteran teammates likely deserves even more rope than that given his track record and Buck taking him out of his role must factor all of that that into his decision.

I didn't say anything about that. I just said Buck should publicly acknowledge JJ's struggles. I am not in favor of a public "demotion".

[tntoriole]

I didn't say anything about that. I just said Buck should publicly acknowledge JJ's struggles. I am not in favor of a public "demotion".

Sorry, i misunderstood. I thought when you said about the rest of the team picking him up, that it meant somebody else on the team taking on his role, but clearly you meant that others, like the offense, etc, need to pick him up. My bad.

[Lucky Jim]

I didn't say anything about that. I just said Buck should publicly acknowledge JJ's struggles. I am not in favor of a public "demotion".

I'm pretty sure he did by referring to "shooting the wounded."

[PaulFolk]

Even if Johnson had converted saves the last two days, there is no reason for him to be in their a third day in a row, when the stats show he is terrible. As a manager, Buck is supposed to put his players in a position to succeed, and in this case, he put Johnson in a position to fail.

Last night was only Johnson's second day in a row of pitching. He had two days off before that.

[SeaBird]

Now tell me what good will it do for Buck to blast JJ? How do you know that when

Buck was fired the reasons for it? When he said AJ having a bad game he was

using him as an example. Baseball is a game of failure. You are not going to hit in

every game. Nor will a pitcher win or save every game.

It's common knowledge that Steinbrenner fired Showalter because Steinbrenner wanted hitting coach Rick Down and 1B coach Brian Butterfield at the end of the 1995 season. Showalter, out of loyalty to his coaching staff, wouldn't do it and as a result he was not brought back.

Jerry Colangelo fired Showalter because he believed Showalter's "unsmiling personality" wasn't a good fit with the mostly veteran players and that a "lighter touch" was needed. He had told Showalter that he should lighten up and that he "had nothing to prove" but Showalter was set in his ways. Even today he keeps up the gruff appearance.

Texas Rangers General Manager Jon Daniels said his decision to fire Showalter was a decision based on moving forward.

"I felt we were better than an 80 and 82 season this year. I felt it was a change needed. I felt we needed a different perspective. I think we needed to create an environment conducive to success.

"We have not achieved our goals. I think when you take a step back and look at avenues to improve the club ... I think a change in leadership will perhaps give us a better opportunity to move forward and achieve those goals."

And Showalter was still owed $5.1M when the Rangers fired him.

[Can_of_corn]

It's common knowledge that Steinbrenner fired Showalter because Steinbrenner wanted hitting coach Rick Down and 1B coach Brian Butterfield at the end of the 1995 season. Showalter, out of loyalty to his coaching staff, wouldn't do it and as a result he was not brought back.

Jerry Colangelo fired Showalter because he believed Showalter's "unsmiling personality" wasn't a good fit with the mostly veteran players and that a "lighter touch" was needed. He had told Showalter that he should lighten up and that he "had nothing to prove" but Showalter was set in his ways. Even today he keeps up the gruff appearance.

Texas Rangers General Manager Jon Daniels said his decision to fire Showalter was a decision based on moving forward.

"I felt we were better than an 80 and 82 season this year. I felt it was a change needed. I felt we needed a different perspective. I think we needed to create an environment conducive to success.

"We have not achieved our goals. I think when you take a step back and look at avenues to improve the club ... I think a change in leadership will perhaps give us a better opportunity to move forward and achieve those goals."

And Showalter was still owed $5.1M when the Rangers fired him.

Story I heard was that Buck told them that the current roster wasn't going to make it and a rebuild would be needed.

[blid]

Even if it's a losing proposition, there's something to be said for being loyal and showing confidence in your struggling players, including a guy like JJ. However, I do think Buck stuck with him at LEAST one game too long. If Buck keeps trotting him out there after this, that'll just be stupidity. But for now, I still think we're lucky to have Buck managing the team. I only hope JJ can start pitching better in non-closing situations because the results won't get any better if he pitches like this, and the pen needs good arms.

[SeaBird]

There is a big difference between "blasting" JJ and being honest. Buck could have easily said "JJ has been struggling recently and we need the rest of the team to help pick him up." To sit there and act like nothing is wrong with the bullpen is disingenuous.

Thank you. There are ways to professionally address Johnson's struggles to the media without turning it into a public execution. Showalter cannot or will not do that preferring to divert. He is of the "if you can dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullschnit" persuasion.