AllAboutThe'O'
5/25/2006, 10:56 PM
And no short answers like "Contract them" or "Replace owners." Provide at least a valid, thoughtful reason.
Here's the first thing I would do:
Hire a sound baseball man with plenty of experience as general manager, one that is unafraid to take risks and one that even the owner will defer to. Essentially a John Schuerholz running the show for the Braves instead of Ted Turner-type. Ironically, Schuerholz went to the Braves from the Royals. I wasn't a big John Hart fan near the end of his tenure with the Rangers, but Hart is better served building a team from the ground up instead of inheriting a contender (see the job he did with the Indians). Hart running the Royals would make good sense.
Find a proven winner to manage the club. No more Buddy Bell retreads. Jim Leyland would have been a good fit with the Royals, and now you see what he's doing with the Tigers. KC could even set their eyes on a top-notch assistant who knows something about success, a la Bob Stoops. Ozzie Guillen is a perfect example.
Go with youth. Don't go after any overpaid past-their-prime veterans. Go with youth. Bite the bullet for a couple of years but reap the benefits down the road (and besides, at this point, what have they got to lose going that route?).
That's a start right there.
Here's the first thing I would do:
Hire a sound baseball man with plenty of experience as general manager, one that is unafraid to take risks and one that even the owner will defer to. Essentially a John Schuerholz running the show for the Braves instead of Ted Turner-type. Ironically, Schuerholz went to the Braves from the Royals. I wasn't a big John Hart fan near the end of his tenure with the Rangers, but Hart is better served building a team from the ground up instead of inheriting a contender (see the job he did with the Indians). Hart running the Royals would make good sense.
Find a proven winner to manage the club. No more Buddy Bell retreads. Jim Leyland would have been a good fit with the Royals, and now you see what he's doing with the Tigers. KC could even set their eyes on a top-notch assistant who knows something about success, a la Bob Stoops. Ozzie Guillen is a perfect example.
Go with youth. Don't go after any overpaid past-their-prime veterans. Go with youth. Bite the bullet for a couple of years but reap the benefits down the road (and besides, at this point, what have they got to lose going that route?).
That's a start right there.