Ned Yost Fired

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

Desperately trying to awaken a sleep-walking team that has damaged its chances of making the playoffs after a 25-year post-season drought, the Milwaukee Brewers fired manager Ned Yost on Monday with only 12 games left in the season and replaced him with third-base coach Dale Sveum.

General manager Doug Melvin acknowledged that it was an unprecedented move, firing a manager at this late stage with the team 16 games above .500 and tied for the lead in the National League wild-card race. After the team lost 11 of its first 14 games this month, however, Melvin and owner Mark Attanasio decided that desperate times call for desperate measures.

Sources within the organization indicated that Attanasio was the driving force in the decision to fire Yost. Attanasio is an aggressive businessman and money manager who is not shy to make bold moves when he thinks the situation warrants them.

"When we talked to (Ned), he didn't have all the answers as to what's gone on the last two weeks," Melvin said at a news conference at the team hotel on an off day before the Brewers begin a three-game series tonight against the Chicago Cubs.

"I'm not sure I have all the answers. I'm not sure this is the right one, either. I don't think any of us know, but I'm going to turn the managerial position over to Dale Sveum and hope we can kick-start a ballclub that we feel has a lot of talent."

The Brewers also reassigned Ted Simmons, who was in his first year as Yost's bench coach. Simmons will be offered an advisory role if he so chooses.

...Sveum admitted that there was intended shock value to making the managerial switch.

"We're hoping it's a shock reaction to get (the players) to perform up to their level," Sveum said. "We're trying to send a shockwave through this team."

...The team's decision-makers aren't sure the move will turn the team around, but don't want to kick themselves later for not taking action should the slide continue. Some people around baseball labeled the decision a "panic move," but Melvin and Attanasio turned aside that characterization.

"It could be construed that way because we are 16 games over .500 and are tied for the wild card," Melvin said. "It could be viewed that way. In the end, we hope the message to the players is that we think we can turn it around."

Attanasio said he couldn't worry whether others in baseball thought the move smacked of desperation.

"We have worked hard to get the organization to a place of 'now,' " he said. "We're making decisions for today. We're hoping the team responds to it."

Melvin did concede that it was somewhat strange that a 14-game period could determine a manager's fate after five mostly successful months.

"It does seem funny, it does seem odd to let someone go that has given his heart and soul to the organization," Melvin said. "I didn't have any other options at this point. I didn't know what else to do, the way we were performing.

So Yost is out with 12 games to go.

It's unusual to make such a dramatic move with the team still in the pennant race, but I suppose the team had nothing to lose by letting Yost go. It does seem like a desperate move, a knee-jerk response, and a decision based on panic and frustration.

Things couldn't get worse I guess. There's a problem when a team goes 3-11 in September after having such a great August.

It's one thing to go into a bit of a slump and it's another thing to go into complete collapse and put a playoff spot in jeopardy.

True, Yost isn't the guy who catches, throws, or hits the ball; but the buck stops with Yost.

Still, his dismissal is a gamble. Is this drama, at this point in the season, wise?

Sveum said that the firing of Yost is intended to shock the team, to jolt them into performing well again.

The shock aspect is there but I'm not so sure that the managerial change this late in the seaon will translate into more wins.

Does being shocked make players perform better?

I would think that the desire to make it to the playoffs would be incentive enough. Doesn't personal pride kick in? Do the players really need a shock?

I question whether the shock will be helpful or just a distraction.

Was this the right decision?

It won't be long and we'll know, only 12 games left in the season.