Most Overqualified Rookie-League Manager Ever?

by Charlie on Jan 15, 2008 6:49 PM EST in News Comment 7 comments

The Pirates' minor league managers next year will mostly remain the same, the Post-Gazette reports. The only change comes at State College, where Turner Ward will be replaced by Brad Fischer. This may not seem like an interesting story, but follow me here.

Fischer was announced as the Pirates' catching coordinator last month, but I missed that announcement. I just Googled him for the first time and got confused because the guy Google turned out was this guy, who's way overqualified to coach a rookie-league team. Well, it turns out that he's our guy. This will be Fischer's 12th season as a minor league manager, and three of those were in Class AAA. He managed a bunch of guys who had good, or at least useful, big-league careers, including Jose Canseco, Mark McGwire, Terry Steinbach, Tony Phillips, Eric Plunk, Curt Young and Tim Belcher (although Belcher, a top draft pick, struggled with control issues until he left the A's, then battled them intermittently later in his career). Fischer also had an above-.500 record as a minor league manager, and his teams reached the minor-league postseason seven times.

He was an assistant director of player development for the A's in 1994 and 1995, then began coaching at the major league level in 1996. He's been either a bullpen coach or a first base coach for the A's ever since.

This offseason, the A's dismissed Fischer (along with two other coaches) after 29 years with the organization. I can't find any good reason he was dismissed - sometimes these things just happen - and to the extent that anyone noticed, all I can find about it on the internet is anger from fans (see the comment thread here, for example).

So, to summarize, Fischer has eleven years of minor-league managerial experience, two years working in player development, and over ten years of coaching at the big league level for one of the smartest and most successful organizations in baseball. He's also only 51 (he started managing while he was still in his early 20s), so he's way too young to be past his prime as a coach. To put this hiring into perspective, Fischer's resume is probably more impressive than John Russell's. And the Pirates just hired him to manage one of their rookie-league teams. I'm confused - this hiring looks so ridiculously good, it's suspicious.

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Scapegoats?

Oakland's farm system has deteriorated badly the last few years. The problem is poor drafting and the complete collapse of their Latin American scouting, which used to be very good. Maybe Beane is just looking for somebody to blame. He may be a genius and he may not, but there's no reason he wouldn't be susceptible to standard human failings.

by WTM on Jan 15, 2008 7:27 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

The Fremont genius may not be

Despite Moneyball, Beane may be less than a genius. As he has steadily sold off the A's players he has accumulated a huge number of draft choices. Yet the A's were only marginally better than the Pirates last year (before Beane traded away their best players) and had a bad minor league system. Below are the A's draft positions since 2002:

16th, 24th, 26th, 30th, 35th, 37th, 67th, 98th
25th, 26th, 33rd, 62nd, 92nd
24th, 26th, 36th, 40th, 49th, 67th, 97th
21st, 36th, 53rd, 69th, 101st
66th, 98th
26th, 41st, 59th, 74th, 90th

In contrast, the Pirates have never had more than three of the first 100 picks.

Oddly, the A's are always described as a small-market team, even though they consistently draw over 2 million and broadcast into the whole Bay area (6.7 million people). They should be a small-market team next year though. They've got the combination of a team that promises to be truly bad and they've invited their Oakland fans to go *%$& themselves while they build a statium in Fremont.

Viva Clemente!

by Roberto on Jan 16, 2008 9:19 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Genius or not . . .

. . . he has a career record of 901-718, with five playoff appearances and only two losing seasons in 10 years, despite consistently low payrolls. Whether the low payrolls resulted from a small market or cheap owners doesn't matter. I'd give a lot for that track record in Pittsburgh.

by WTM on Jan 16, 2008 9:29 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

And . . .

. . . I meant to add that he isn't afraid to rebuild when it's necessary to do so. I'd rather have a GM willing to make a tough call like that than one who, year after year, pursues pitiful little plans to scrape together one .500 season and in the process ensures that the team never gets better in the present and never builds for the future.

by WTM on Jan 16, 2008 9:32 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

A lot of people...

...seem to want to dance on Beane's grave. I think they're going to get an unpleasant surprise around 2010 or so.

The biggest problem with the A's and the draft is that even though they've had a large number of extra picks, they haven't chosen in the top of the first round since 1999. There's a big dropoff between pick #5 and pick #25, you know?

The brain drain at the top of their front office probably hasn't helped, either. DePo and JP left to take GM jobs elsewhere, and Texas tampered in order to swipe Grady Fuson (and while Fuson may not have always gotten along with Beane, he had a good eye for talent).

by Vlad on Jan 16, 2008 10:31 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs