A Lot of Clubs Deciding That Change Is Good

Behind a batting cage in Chicago the other day, an old sage observed that the end of the regular season brought the usual conclusions by the men who own baseball’s 30 franchises.

“Fifteen,” he said, “hate their general managers and managers. Seven aren’t sure. The other eight made the playoffs.”

The assessment did not account for George Steinbrenner, who fits into at least two of the three categories.

It would appear to be a reasonably accurate appraisal, however. And now, perhaps more than ever, owners are willing to act on their restlessness; there is money and status in it.

At least five teams and as many as eight could have new general managers by Thanksgiving. As a backdrop to October baseball, seven organizations have held or are conducting interviews for new managers, and there could be more openings.

The right men in the right places have changed the courses of franchises, in cities such as Anaheim and Chicago, whose teams are playing to full ballparks into the middle of October. While the Angels and White Sox play, owners in Philadelphia, Tampa Bay, Arizona, Texas and Baltimore search for new leaders, owners in New York and Boston are in sensitive negotiations with their own general managers, and there is speculation about changes in San Diego and Seattle.

In some cases, there are new stadiums to justify, or new stadiums to procure. There can be new owners to satisfy. The standings and the economic bottom line, over time, don’t lie, and Major League Baseball has become a $5-billion industry.

“The stakes are so high that transience is the end result,” said one American League West official. “The old family ownership, the days of being patient, are over. It’s not the same.”

The new days have led to some oddities.

Over less than a week and a half, the Oakland A’s broke off negotiations with Manager Ken Macha, interviewed new candidates, then hired back Macha. The Tampa Bay Devil Rays are without a manager or general manager, and have chosen the peculiar strategy of hiring the manager first. San Diego Padre General Manager Kevin Towers is on Arizona’s list of candidates, though Towers still has a job in San Diego. And then there are the Washington Nationals, who don’t have an owner yet, and Manager Frank Robinson and General Manager Jim Bowden sit in limbo.

“It’s like everything else in life, it runs in cycles,” Commissioner Bud Selig said. “I don’t know that there’s any specific reasons. We’re just at a time where we have a lot of clubs that feel they have to make a change. And, I do think there is pressure from the amount of money at stake.”

The advent of six divisions and wild-card playoff teams also have raised the expectations of owners and fans; the competition for postseason berths has never been more fierce or so broad.

“You had a lot of teams that thought they could win and didn’t,” Selig said. “So you’re seeing the manifestation of that.”

So owners mix and match and cast off general managers, who in turn go through managers, most in the quest for stability, which never comes. Looking for fresh, forward-thinking ideas, owners hire younger general managers; Jon Daniels, who this month replaced John Hart in Texas, is 28.

Yet White Sox General Manager Kenny Williams said, “There are probably more patient owners than there are patient fan bases and media bases. Sometimes, ownership has to cede to the outside pressures they are facing, which harms the franchise in certain ways.”

Williams has been Chicago’s general manager for five seasons. Every year at the GM meetings, Williams looks around at the other 29 and sees a couple of new faces, notes the absence of a couple familiar faces, and said he thinks to himself, “I must not have too much longer.”

*

The New York Yankees were gone before the second week of October was, and in the first moments after defeat, their general manager stepped into the losers’ clubhouse. His eyes were red, his bottom lip was unstable -- the new look of Yankee baseball.

Brian Cashman had built them tens of millions of dollars at a time, stacking thick contracts atop thicker contracts at Steinbrenner’s urging, until the roster shuddered and the season collapsed.

The manager, the eminently likable Joe Torre, called this October more regretful than last, when the Yankees needed a single win over four games to advance to the World Series, and didn’t. The rest is Boston Red Sox history.

All that payroll, all that talent, and all of those expectations bought them two playoff wins, when only 11 was acceptable.

Torre had always said he would take his chances with the baseball ends of things, to let them play out and live with the outcomes. But, this season wore on him like no other. Maybe it was the team itself, undone by injuries to -- and ineffectiveness by -- his starting pitchers, and the grind of playing back from two huge deficits in the AL East. But there seemed much more to it than that.

Perhaps it was the pressure on Cashman, and Cashman’s lost opportunity to win and walk away that brought him such sorrow. Instead, he could just walk away, five years after they last won, 19 years after he became a Yankee intern.

As usual, the playoffs after the Yankees’ departure have meant the occasional baseball game, sprinkled with carping, intrigue and speculation from the New York and Tampa Yankee factions. In this installment, Steinbrenner chided the manager, the departing pitching coach defended the manager, a key baseball advisor got restless, the bench coach shopped for work and, for laughs, Don Zimmer lobbed insults.

Pay attention, because it all reflects on Yankee ownership, and if the Dodgers ever get good, this is what it will look like.

In something like chronological order after Yankee elimination Monday night, Steinbrenner dictated a statement that congratulated the Angels “and their manager” for winning the division series, which most took as a not-so-clever poke at Torre.

“I laughed,” Mel Stottlemyre, the pitching coach, said on his way to retirement.

Gene Michael, an advisor to Steinbrenner and one of the savvy baseball minds left in the organization, was said by the New York Post to be trying to free himself from the remainder of his contract, which brought a pointed response from Zimmer, the Yankee ex-pat.

“That’s what’s wrong with the Yankees,” Zimmer told the Post. “You get a guy like Gene Michael and he knows more about baseball than anybody around Steinbrenner. He knows more about baseball than all those guys put together.”

As of Saturday, Cashman was still under contract, amid reports Steinbrenner was attempting to extend his deal. Cashman is expected to use his new leverage to demand greater authority and quiet the Tampa voices that can confuse Yankee strategies. Torre was under contract, and owed $13 million over the next two seasons. Michael was under contract, for four more years. Bench coach Joe Girardi had interviewed for manager jobs in Tampa Bay and Florida.

Bats and Pieces

If the Yankees and Hideki Matsui do not agree on a contract extension by midnight Nov. 15, Matsui will become a free agent. He has said that he would prefer to remain with the Yankees, and the Yankees remain interested, though reports they have already offered their left fielder a three-year extension worth about $35 million are erroneous. As a free agent, Matsui is believed to be most interested in staying in New York, with the Yankees or the Mets, or coming to Los Angeles to play for the Dodgers. He probably will seek a deal of more than three years.

The Devil Rays reportedly are considering changing their name. Best suggestion so far: The Tampa Bay Double A’s.

Don’t be surprised if Nomar Garciaparra, who turned down Dodger overtures last winter to play second base, becomes an option to play third base for the Dodgers next year. Garciaparra is said to be convinced a move to third will extend his career.

White Sox GM Williams believes good leadoff hitters -- such as his Scott Podsednik -- will become even more valuable in the future, as the game returns to its all-natural roots. In the first year of punitive steroid testing, home runs were down, and many believe there is a correlation.

“There are a number of variables involved, and I don’t exclude any of them,” Williams said. “How’s that answer?”