I don’t know if Charlie Manuel is ever gonna win a championship, but he sure is kicking ass at the MLB managerial death pool: Ned Yost has been fired by the Brewers.
“I think we have sucked in September so far,” a Brewers player who wished to remain anonymous told ESPN.com’s Amy K. Nelson. “And I don’t think it’s his fault that we can’t hit or pitch right now, but something had to change.”
More to come at the Journal-Sentinel’s Brewers Blog (which is having trouble loading at the moment, go figure). Tom Hadricourt says that this must have come down from the owner, because it’s hard to imagine Doug Melvin making such a brash and panicked move. Or maybe he just means that it’s unreasonable for Doug Melvin to fire anyone who has been forced to put games in the hands of Eric Gagne. Yesterday, Yost refused to do it, and got blasted for not playing lefty/righty when the Phillies won the game off Brian Shouse.
In any case, this seems like a perfectly reasonable “nothing to lose” move. I don’t generally believe that firing managers or “chemistry” amounts to much over the long term, but this ain’t the long term: if it helps the Brewers win just two more games, that could be everything for them.