With an MLB-low team payroll of $44 million, you might think Astros skipper Bo Porter, he of the 110-190 record, would be cut a little slack. Porter, relieved of his duties as Houston manager Monday morning, was widely rumored to be at odds with GM Jeff Luhnow , but not until today’s report by former Houston Chronicle baseball scribe Richard Justice, was the full extent of Luhnow’s frustration detailed (“he didn’t dismiss Porter for losing too many baseball games. He dismissed him because he no longer respected Porter’s leadership skills and his ability to be a team player in the organization”) From MLB.com :
Porter had the walls papered with motivational sayings and placed mirrors in each locker to remind players to look at themselves first before blaming a teammate. He had players turn their chairs away from their lockers, his way of telling them to look forward.
If he’d been managing a Little League team, that stuff might have played well. Adults? Not so much. When one coach left the big league staff, he went directly to Luhnow and said, “You had better get that guy away from your young players.”
When Joe Maddon tries similar gimmicks it’s called iconoclastic genius.