Poll: Fireable Offense?

[atomic]

He also finished the year before that, 34-23 and before DD came along.

So he still had a losing record before DD cam along even if you include 34-23. He as 103-116 before DD. Did Buck hire the pitching coaches that Arrieta had such kind words for?

[atomic]

I will give credit to Buck for turning the team around. Going around Andy to Angelos to get personal decisions done I think was done. I think the ex-Ranger players that came over were because of Buck.

[BRobinsonfan]

This team was projected to finish last and he managed it the winning record and a wildcard opportunity. We had the same regular season record as Toronto besides them having a better run differential. So no... it's not a fireable offense.

[TINSTAAPP]

So to sum up... Fans want manager of team not expected to make playoffs and given up on routinely in August and September to get fired... For not winning when he got to playoffs.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Going by that logic, what makes Buck any different from Dusty Baker? Dusty has taken all four teams that he's managed to the playoffs. And it's not like Dusty's taken over perennial winners either. The Cubs had won fewer than 70 games in three of the four previous seasons before Dusty's arrival and the Reds had an ongoing streak of seven consecutive losing seasons before they hired Baker.

[VeveJones007]

BTW, my response is "no" based on track record, but that was an egregious error in judgment that would warrant some sort of suspension from your employer in many lines of work.

[El Gordo]

I'd say that the bulk of Bucks decisions are good ones, so no why fire him for one head scratcher. Any way the notion is ridiculous on its face.

[Tx Oriole]

Was not pitching Zach Britton in the WC game a fireable offense for the manager?

Hell no. Why do you want to fire Buck? You honestly think that Britton coming in would have made a difference? The offense went into hiding. Just accept the fact the team lost. No one need be fired. This same Buck led the team to 89 wins. To me that is damn good. There are teams out there that would love to have had the

O's record.

[VeveJones007]

The poll question asks if it was a firing offense "for the O's manager." I interpret that to mean the question is asking whether Buck should be fired for his decisions last night. We are not talking about some abstract manager. Remember, the poll was posted when there were several threads already posted saying Buck should be fired.

Can you ever fire a manager because he made a bad decision in extra innings of a playoff game? Yeah, sure, but only if you consider it in the context of his whole body of work, how the team is likely to react, who else you would get to manage the team, etc. In Buck's case, it is not a firing offense, or even close, IMO.

There's a reason I didn't name Buck in the question, but it's impossible to separate the two given how close we are to the situation. If it were a poor to average manager, I think last night would have been a tipping point. Given that Buck has a solid track record of success, it's a major blemish, but not worthy of termination.

[sakata_catching]

Checking in after a few years away, it's nice to see that calm, rational, level-headed, non-knee jerk thinking still rules the day at the OH.

Oh, wait.

[VeveJones007]

Hell no. Why do you want to fire Buck? You honestly think that Britton coming in would have made a difference? The offense went into hiding. Just accept the fact the team lost. No one need be fired. This same Buck led the team to 89 wins. To me that is damn good. There are teams out there that would love to have had the

O's record.

Didn't say I wanted to fire Buck. See my response above.

[VeveJones007]

I'd say that the bulk of Bucks decisions are good ones, so no why fire him for one head scratcher. Any way the notion is ridiculous on its face.

I posed the question to take the temperature of the fans here. I think >95% of us are upset that Britton never pitched in that game, but I wanted to see how far we were willing to take it.

That being said, someone mentioned "falling asleep on the job," which I think is an apt comparison. In a vacuum, is it a fireable offense? Sure. When it's a really good employee who has been responsible for turning around your business, you let it slide.

[24fps]

Hi all, I think in hindsight it's easy to say that it was the wrong decision. Many of us on here, me included would be 162 - 0 with a decade of World Series Trophies in our showcase if we could play the games in hindsight. That being said, the strategic advantage in baseball swings heavily to the Home Team in extra innings because they no longer have to protect a lead. The role of closer is removed and all you need are holds or even if you give up a run, you still have three outs to make it up. Buck however had to roll the dice somewhere; either use the one strategic advantage you still held, i.e. the best closer in baseball or roll the dice with someone else saving the game. Buck managed with the expectation that we would win; he expected us to take the lead in the top of some inning and then the game was over because their three outs in the bottom of that inning were nullified by Zach. So many risky moves in an extra inning do or die game; Buck gets paid to make those decisions and even more painfully live with them. I think he's mistaken about Kim and he doesn't seem to like him; I think he makes mistakes and last night was one. But I think he did a heck of a job with a one-dimensional offense and I'm not sure what manager you find that could have gotten us farther. Just my two cents and I don't mind getting change back =)

I think the bulk of us are very happy with Buck on balance and want him to stay. That being said, he's generated enough questions this year for the entire off season and then some. Thoughtful questions that I hope don't get lost - Roy Firestone asked several good ones in his thread.

[btownoriole]

Did 1990's Peter Angelos start this thread? The one who fired Johnny Oates? The one who forced Davey Johnson & Pat Gillick out after 2 playoff appearances? The one who fired Frank Wren for not holding a plane?

Firing Buck for one bad decision, when few other managers would have even had this team in that position, would be similar to those ill-fated decisions.

[Machado13]

Nah, buck is a bullpen master. I don't know who took over his brain on Saturday and last night but hey it is what it is.

Pressure is on to fix this offense though. I am happy with Tillman, Gausman, bundy, and some combination for 4/5. Maybe gallardo and add someone on the cheap.

But yeah, the offense is just not good enough which sounds funny to say after how well they did in the first half.

[Tx Oriole]

BTW, my response is "no" based on track record, but that was an egregious error in judgment that would warrant some sort of suspension from your employer in many lines of work.

You want him suspended because he didnt pitch Britton? Great goodness this is so silly. You want to fire the man who has brought the O's to the playoffs or suspend him.