Dead Horse, Volume 300

The Brewers reacted to their apparent collapse today by firing Ned Yost. No doubt these guys are happy.

I'm not really sure how I feel about this. On the one hand, I always kind of thought Yost was a pretty OK manager. He didn't run the team into a ton of stupid outs (although it seemed like this year he has put on more hit and runs, to my eternal frustration) and he always stuck up for his players in the media and seemed to be universally liked by the team.

That said, it's become pretty apparent over the last couple of seasons that he doesn't handle a bullpen all that well and has a nasty tendency to stick with the (in his mind) established heirarchy, especially in the cases of his stubborn refusals to see the writing on the wall with guys like Turnbow and Eric Gagne. Since managing the bullpen/pitching staff is the most important (and impactful) aspect of a manager's job, it makes sense for the Brewers to finally give him the axe.

It is, however, a little strange to see the move made now. I suppose that Doug Melvin thinks that a shake-up in the clubhouse will re-energize the team and get them back on track for the still very winnable Wild Card. I hope so, but I think it's a very real possibility that the opposite happens, and the team kind of continues the slump towards the end of the season. Hopefully I'm wrong, and Dale Sveum can get these guys out of their collective funk (a tough task, considering how many slumping hitters he's got right now, especially 3-5 in the lineup) and get them into the postseason.

One thing's for sure, though. If the Brewers hire a guy like Dusty Baker or one of his ilk, I'm quitting baseball forever.*



*Not really

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