I suppose congratulations of some sort are due to the LA Times’ Bill Plaschke (above), who has proven that despite being barely capable of stringing a sentence together, he can run a Harvard educated executive out of town if he writes the same column enough times.
Some will say Paul DePodesta wasn’t given a fair chance. I say he never should have been hired in the first place.
Some say this makes Dodger owner McCourt look like a man who has lost control. I say this is about him finally taking control, however clueless and callous he appears.
Some say, a hasty firing. I say, a smart trade.
DePodesta and his strange managerial candidate list have been dealt into our memories for Pat Gillick, Orel Hershiser and Bobby Valentine.
Here’s guessing Gillick and his World Series rings will be the new general manager. Hershiser and his World Series ring will be the assistant. Bobby Valentine and his World Series appearance will be the manager.
None of this would be possible if DePodesta were still around.
The kid’s computer, once foolishly hailed by McCourt as the organizational savior, had become little more than a flashy box blocking the door.
McCourt should have known better. Or, at least, he should have asked someone other than Oakland’s Billy Beane, the most famous general manager who has never won a playoff series.
To fill shoes once worn by Branch Rickey and Al Campanis, should McCourt really have hired a 31-year-old who, when with Oakland, had been the most invisible No. 2 executive in the game?
Remember when, during DePodesta’s hiring news conference in February 2004, McCourt mentioned how it was so cool that his teenage son had been surfing chat rooms that claimed DePodesta joining the Dodgers was like Alex Rodriguez joining the New York Yankees?
An opposing viewpoint (to say the least), can be found here.
Would that be Alex Rodriguez with his World Series ring?