It’s no fun watching the Milwaukee Brewers be the main course in an all-you-can-beat buffet. And it’s really no fun watching Ken Macha being devoured in the process.
I think the Milwaukee Brewers manager is a good man. I think he’s a professional man. And I think he’s a man who, though he keeps them veiled with his even-keeled temperament, has strong feelings about this team’s struggles.
But I’m also wondering if – at this particular time and with this particular team – this particularly good man has done all he can in Milwaukee.
If you follow the Brewers at all, then you know what’s been going on. They’ve lost seven straight, including a brutal 0-6 homestand. They’re 15-23 overall, including a 4-14 Miller Park record that’s the worst home start in franchise history. All of which has prompted the collective conversation in Brewers Nation to focus on whether the team’s manager should be fired. Macha’s not just sitting on the hot seat, he’s sitting on the sun.
The charges against him have been many and varied. His team can’t win at home. He leaves starting pitchers in too long, except when he doesn’t pull them soon enough. He can’t handle a bullpen. He changes lineups too often. He doesn’t bunt enough. He’s not emotional enough.
It all might be true. It all might be hogwash. But it’s all beside the point.
You don’t fire a manager because of his bunting philosophy or because he has the emotional disposition of Mr. Spock. You do so for one very simple, solitary reason.
You part ways when you no longer believe he’s the best man for the job. Not a day sooner, and not a nanosecond later.
It’s plain as poker, friends. Don’t believe your hand gives you the proper odds to win? Fold it up. Betting cards that don’t fit the flop is nothing more than a quick recipe for going broke.
So where does that leave Mr. Macha. Is he still the best man for the job?
Honestly, I’m not qualified to make that call. I don’t have all the information needed for a decision of such gravity, and very few people do. I don’t know how things are in the clubhouse when players take off their media faces and stop speaking their media quotes. I don’t have the full picture.
And frankly, it doesn’t matter what I think or what the fans who booed Macha during Sunday’s pregame introductions think. It matters what the players think. It really matters what Doug Melvin and Mark Attanasio think. And I’m guessing their evaluation of the situation has reached a critical stage.
Too much has been invested in this season’s team to let it slip away so soon. Outsiders may disagree, but the Brewers were built to return to the playoffs this year. Why else give so much money to aging veterans like Trevor Hoffman and LaTroy Hawkins and Doug Davis?
If Hoffman and Hawkins had done their job, the Brewers would be right around that .500 mark and we’d have peace in our time. If the starting pitching or offensive production were more consistent, the story would be far more pleasant. But this is the hand the Brewers were dealt, and while Macha may not deserve all the blame for it, the Brewers have earned their record.
So here we are a quarter of the way through the season, and the Brewers are running out of early. There’s still time to turn things around, but is Macha the best man for that job?
Melvin has already given Macha a public vote of confidence, but that was before the latest meltdown at home. And after that meltdown, there were signs that some players may not have Macha’s back.
Yes, Casey McGehee voiced some rather emphatic support for Macha in a Brewers.com story after Sunday’s game. “I think the manager’s biggest job is to make sure he’s getting effort out of his guys, and I’d be hard-pressed to find anybody that questions the effort that’s taking place out there,” McGehee said. “It might not always look pretty, it might not always go our way, but I think the way we battle says enough about the coaching staff and our manager.”
But in that same story, Prince Fielder seemed to decline his chance to come to Macha’s defense. Asked whether he worried about a potential shakeup, Fielder gave this lukewarm response: “That happens at times if things aren’t going right, but that’s not something you can dwell on,” Fielder said. “That’s the business side. When you come to the field, you’re paid to play baseball. Those aren’t even my decisions anyway, so I try to stay out of that.”
From a guy who’s supposed to be a clubhouse leader, that’s a strikingly nonchalant approach. Given an opportunity to back his boss, he instead chose to stay out of it?
And if your best player has a take-it-or-leave-it attitude, then you can bet others do. And if enough players do, then you wonder once again if Macha’s the best man for this team at this time.
We’ll find out soon enough. The players will tell us with their performance. Melvin and Attanasio will tell us with their actions. And 162 games will tell us who was right.
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