Fire Juan Samuel?

[LookitsPuck]

His "subordinates?"

Seriously? The lowest paid schmuck on this team probably makes twice what Juan Samuel makes. His job is to barehand foul balls at third base and not get killed by line drives, and to occasionally wave somebody in.

Oh, and to absorb blame for incompetent baserunners. Forgot that part.

I have cussed at him for getting runners thrown out at home by 10 feet. Those instances fall on him. Very little else does, sorry to say. The third base coach is the scapegoat. Wow, we have sunk as low as is sinkable.

Or maybe, just maybe that there are a variety of people to blame here including Juan Samuel. Crazy, I know.

[Hank Scorpio]

Or maybe, just maybe that there are a variety of people to blame here including Juan Samuel. Crazy, I know.

Right, so fire his ass. Makes perfect sense.

You guys are really reaching to cover for something that a baseball player should know better than to try. You guys are smarter than this, come on!!!!!

[RShack]

Samuel's comments in the linked-to article are inappropriate. His claim about taking criticism and accepting responsibility are completely hollow. He was paying lip service to the concept and then dissing his players. Any reasonable assessment includes ample blame for both him and some players, and turning this into an either-or issue misses the point. It's not either-or. Yes, some players have done bone-headed things, and yes, Samuel has proven himself to show bad judgment and to be out to lunch attention-wise on multiple occasions.

I have no idea what positives the man might bring behind the scenes. All I know is what I see from afar. Based on that, he has negative value and needs to go. I expect that to happen after the season. I see no reason to expect the O's to fire him in mid-season. I expect them to handle it somewhat like they handled Ramon: calmly plan to get rid of the guy without in any way appearing to be negative about him in public. I think that is how they should handle it. No need to make a spectacle of it, that's not what properly run organizations do.

[PaulFolk]

Right, so fire his ass. Makes perfect sense.

If he's bad at his job, why wouldn't you fire him?

Between the Orioles' year-long baserunning disasters and now his deragatory comments about his own players, it's hard to make a case for Samuel to stay. But if you've got one, I'd be interested to hear it. Assuming it's something beyond "He doesn't actually have any responsibility, so let him stay."

[LookitsPuck]

Right, so fire his ass. Makes perfect sense.

You guys are really reaching to cover for something that a baseball player should know better than to try. You guys are smarter than this, come on!!!!!

I've been clamoring for him to be fired prior to this. Hell, for months. He isn't a good 3rd base coach. And on top of that he makes ridiculous comments like these. Give me one legitimate reason why we should hold on to him?

[Hank Scorpio]

If he's bad at his job, why wouldn't you fire him?

Between the Orioles' year-long baserunning disasters and now his deragatory comments about his own players, it's hard to make a case for Samuel to stay. But if you've got one, I'd be interested to hear it. Assuming it's something beyond "He doesn't actually have any responsibility, so let him stay."

How bad is he at his job?

I can't really defend the comments he made. That was stupid on his part. But to place blame on the third base coach for stupid decisions made by the players is ridiculous!!!!!

[Hank Scorpio]

I've been clamoring for him to be fired prior to this. Hell, for months. He isn't a good 3rd base coach. And on top of that he makes ridiculous comments like these. Give me one legitimate reason why we should hold on to him?

Puck, I don't give a darn if Jesus Tapdancing Christ was the third base coach... Felix Pie would still have tried to tag up and take third last night, and Brian Roberts would still have forgotten how many outs there were.

Juan Samuel did not make those decisions.

Should he have kept his mouth shut about it? I guess so, but I would be extremely upset if I had spent time working with these professionals all season and they were still making ridiculous decisions like these. That would drive me insane. Sometimes you just throw your arms up in the air and say, "WTF do you want me to do? You teach and teach and teach and they just don't get it." That's essentially what he was saying.

I would imagine most of the coaching staff will be gone next year, but how much difference will it make if the same players are out there?

NONE!!!!!!! Players play the game. Coaches stand around and occasionally have an impact on things, but very rarely.

[ChrisAF79]

Samuel needs to go. And I'm far from a reactionary poster. His comments today merely cemented his fate. Good riddance.

[LookitsPuck]

Puck, I don't give a darn if Jesus Tapdancing Christ was the third base coach... Felix Pie would still have tried to tag up and take third last night, and Brian Roberts would still have forgotten how many outs there were.

Juan Samuel did not make those decisions.

Should he have kept his mouth shut about it? I guess so, but I would be extremely upset if I had spent time working with these professionals all season and they were still making ridiculous decisions like these. That would drive me insane. Sometimes you just throw your arms up in the air and say, "WTF do you want me to do? You teach and teach and teach and they just don't get it." That's essentially what he was saying.

I would imagine most of the coaching staff will be gone next year, but how much difference will it make if the same players are out there?

NONE!!!!!!! Players play the game. Coaches stand around and occasionally have an impact on things, but very rarely.

And I'd tell you I still wanted Samuel fired before the Roberts play and before the Pie play.

Listen, the 3rd base coach's responsibilities include (but aren't limited to): giving signs to both the runners and the hitters, paying attention to the plays at hand as to properly send runners from 2nd and 3rd on fly balls [see: sacrifices], paying attention to the plays at hand to send runners to 3rd base and to stop them at 2nd base if necessary, to tell the runner at 2nd base to get back or lead off a bit more depending upon the positioning of the SS or 2B [if he so chooses depending upon the player], telling the runner coming to 3rd to either stay up or slide, to either send the runner home or tell him to hold up, remind runners of the situations [# of outs], etc.

The thing is there have been multiple times where has been inattentive and have missed the plays (on both Pie "gaffes" yesterday as of recently), has made terrible judgement calls on sending runners, and tying up runners with poor signs at 3rd.

He's not a good 3rd base coach. On top of the poor coaching ability, he makes classless comments like the ones in this thread...so..there's a no doubter why he needs to be canned.

[TJ Wrangler]

If I were in AM's shoes, I would have probably made the move for criticizing the product I put out on the field. Sort of like a big F you to everything the organization is trying to do on top of his shortcomings as a 3b coach. But then again, I would have shipped him out after the incident with Bynum. Never really liked Samuel, and I won't be sad to see him go.

[LookitsPuck]

If I were in AM's shoes, I would have probably made the move for criticizing the product I put out on the field. Sort of like a big F you to everything the organization is trying to do on top of his shortcomings as a 3b coach. But then again, I would have shipped him out after the incident with Bynum. Never really liked Samuel, and I won't be sad to see him go.

Yeah, the incident with Bynum was inexcusable as well.

[Mooreisbetter27]

If I were in AM's shoes, I would have probably made the move for criticizing the product I put out on the field. Sort of like a big F you to everything the organization is trying to do on top of his shortcomings as a 3b coach. But then again, I would have shipped him out after the incident with Bynum. Never really liked Samuel, and I won't be sad to see him go.

What exactly happened with Bynum? I heard something of an altercation happened in passing but I haven't heard exactly what.

[Hank Scorpio]

Please don't get it crossed, I could care less if they fire Juan Samuel. But don't be shocked when we're having this same ridiculous conversation when the next scapegoat comes along.

Get better baserunners. Get better baseball players.

Then the coaching staff will be geniuses, you watch.

[Hank Scorpio]

From Roch's blog:

Meanwhile, Nolan Reimold continues to run the bases as if he's never felt better, which we know isn't true. He beat out an infield hit and forced a throwing error in the first inning, and went from first to third on Ty Wigginton's single in the eighth - drawing a throw that allowed Wigginton to take second.

Who gets credit for this?

Nolan Reimold does!!!!!! Why?

Because he didn't make a stupid out, of course.

[RShack]

Puck, I don't give a darn if Jesus Tapdancing Christ was the third base coach... Felix Pie would still have tried to tag up and take third last night, and Brian Roberts would still have forgotten how many outs there were.

Juan Samuel did not make those decisions.

The fact that players screw up doesn't negate the fact that Samuel screws up too. Cherry-picking examples doesn't help anything. Last night, there were two issues involving Pie on the bases. You cite one. On the other one, Samuel failed to give direction to Pie when Pie was looking right at him. The issue about Samuel is not Pie or Roberts, the issue about Samuel is Samuel. His own brain is AWOL enough for me to see it, and that's saying something since 3B-coaches tend to be pretty invisible. However much we might say that there's no excuse for players doing boneheaded things, there's even less excuse for the 3B coach to have his brain in neutral. He's not busy running the bases, he's just standing there with nothing to do but pay good attention to what the situation calls for, and Samuel fails to do that.