Anyone else feel a bit bad for Ned?

[DuWayne Steurer]

If Melvin and Attanasio have a falling out about the Ned firing, Melvin can blame himself. The mustached one's greatest weakness is his seeming unwillingness to sever bonds with people when it's in the best interest of the business. Had he (almost certainly rightfully) fired Ned last year, he wouldn't have been in the awkward position of having his owner telling him to drop the hammer with 12 games left.

 

How many Texas retreads has he brough back? How many stupid, STUPID contracts (Brady Clark, Wes Helms, Derrick Turnbow) did he give out to guys who were fluke one year wonders that he claimed off the (s)crap heap?

 

From an outsiders perspective, I get the impression that Doug does allow some amount of personal attachment to at times drive his business decisions, and this is the fallout.

 

Ned, too bad you didn't get to ride the wave out to the end, as a manager, I don't feel bad for ya, but as I person, I can definately see how it would hurt.

[sargennm]

Ned had to go, although I still am unsure if I think it was the right time to do it. But he did a lot to help get this franchise turned around. He provably never would have won a title in Milwaukee, but I hope folks will look back at his years with the appropriate amount of appreciation for what he accomplished.

[giffted1]

I feel bad for Ned. Ned gave his heart and soul to this team for the better part of the decade and couldn't be part of it when everything came together. He was fired very unprofessionally and handled the situation with nothing but class. No one knows where this team would be if Ned had kept his job til the end of the season, but if Ned's firing leads to Doug parting ways with the organization, it will be very unfortunate, IMO.

[Invader3K]

Yeah -- This sort of thinking is why we have Jeff Suppan. I certainly would give Dale an interview, and he may be the best candidate, but I'd want a wideopen hiring process.

I wouldn't be opposed to them interviewing other people, but I don't think your Suppan comparison is relevant at all. Suppan was signed to fill a big need at the time. I don't think you can look at the hiring of a manager in the same context as signing a free agent player.

 

(cleaned up code --1992)

[Bring Back the Stein]

I'd feel worse for Ned if I thought he felt bad. Every interview I've heard-including this morning with Harold Reynolds (I know, I know)-has him impervious to self-doubt and, thankfully, still rooting for the team as much as he roots for, say, Greg Biffle. My bet is that he sees himself as a sort of Moses figure, having taken us to the Promised Land so whatever the Brewers do to succeed from here on is partly his doing. Which is partly right. Partly.

[owbc]

I feel bad for Ned as well.

 

I completely agree that he wasn't the man to take us over the top, but he worked hard in the offseason to analyze his flaws and improve his managerial skills. His decision to leave starting pitchers in games longer this year helped to keep our bullpen rested and ensure that our pitchers had enough in them to finish out the year--and they barely did. His decisions over the years to stick with struggling players were sometimes a problem--but it also allowed JJ Hardy to develop into a solid baseball player. It just came down to the fact that he couldn't break loyalties with his young players.

 

I have no doubt that Ned will learn from his mistakes and be back in the majors as a big league manager. Hopefully he will get a standing ovation when he returns.

[splitterpfj]

I do feel bad for Ned, but I still support the decision, which I thought was overdue.

 

Ned deserves a great deal of credit for helping this franchise, he came here when the team was flat on its face, and he brought passion, an honest desire to be in Milwaukee at a time when almost no one took them seriously.

 

It's too bad things worked out the way they did, but the chips were all on the table - how could you justify sticking with Yost after you'd gone big to get Sabathia in here? Go for it - or don't.

 

They did...and they were right.

[TooLiveBrew]

I do feel bad for Ned, but I still support the decision, which I thought was overdue.

 

I think splitter sums it up best for me. I feel bad for Yost in the sense that he was a big part of the ride for some time. However, I don't feel bad in that he sealed his own fate by not performing at a level consistent with retaining the job. The timing was, of course, bad... but I agree that it was a move that should have been made, just earlier.

[Thurston Fluff]

Ned's biggest weakness was how wound up he was. His personal history with the team may have caused him to feel the need to carry the burden of 25 years of futility on his shoulders. That only exacerbated his weakness. I do feel bad for Ned because of how much he cared about the Brewers in particular. I have no doubt he will get another job somewhere. He has shown he can learn form his mistakes and improve on them. If he goes someplace without the personal history he could be a very good manager IMO.

I hope he does get the chance to win a championship someday and wish nothing but the best for him. I also personally thank him for being a good steward of this team. He took a very terrible team and made it better from day one. He also left it in far better shape than when he came. Thank you Ned. You have every right to be proud of the work you did with the Brewers and I am proud to have been a Nedophile for nearly six years. You will always have a place in my Brewer heart.

[BrewerTerp]

ESPN reporting that Doug sent an e-mail to Ned last night thanking him for putting the team in a "position to win".

 

On the bottom line now...

[tigerbrew]

I bet DM gets a contract extension this offseason, seriously doubt he will leave the Brewers over Ned. I think DM's comments to the media about Ned has more to do with helping Ned get a managerial job with another team.

I think Sveum's comments about Ned is out of courtesy... If the Ned was such a great buddy of his, why did he accept the job then.

Braun comments about Ned is also out of courtesy. The players didn't seem really upset about Ned's firing. In fact, they seem genuinely happy about having Sveum as the manager and even urge publicly for him to be the manager next year.

Edit: btw, I totally agree with those who said that the Yost firing was overdue. DM should've fired Yost last offseason instead of picking up his 2009 option, which was a million dollar mistake.

[Brewcrewin07]

Well as one who wasn't a big Yost guy, let me just say that as far as I know, he never threw one pitch, botched one ground ball, or struck out with the bases loaded to end a game even ONE time when he was the Manager. Did I agree with most of his decisions?? Not at all, but at the end of the day it still comes down to the players performing.

 

Yeah, a part of me feels bad for him.

[GormanHarvey]

Not one bit

[brewizard]

Yeah. I feel bad for Ned.

 

Knowing what I know about him, I don't think he would've done some of the things that got the team some crucial wins - namely the way Sveum handled the pitching. Ned wouldn't have put McClung in there.

 

I don't think that Ned should have been fired. But I also can see that Sveum has a certain style... (I doubt Dale would play smallball for a whole season, and he does seem more adaptable than Ned already...)

 

May Ned manage elsewhere with all the dodgy stoic integrity he had here.

 

GO BREWERS!!!!!!!

[dlk9s]

I definitely feel bad for him. I didn't particularly like him as a manager, but that has nothing with how I feel about him as a person. Now, I don't know him, but I have no reason to think he's a bad guy or anything. So, for him as a person, I feel very bad. It's got to be really hard for him to sit at home and not experience the joy with his team. I'm sure he feels happy for them, and even for himself a little bit, but it must be very tough.

 

He is a human being, after all.

[Jimbo]

Nothing personal, just business.

 

I appreciate how Ned took a team no one respected and made them into competitors. I remember reading fans sites of playoff teams like the Cubs and Giants and their posters frusterated that they couldn't put down the sub-.500 Brewers, at least with ease.

 

The Brewers overachieved in Ned's first three years, but hit a plateau as the talent reached playoff caliber. But like a guy running a mom-and-pop store (Seligs) and as the business grows, he gets in over his head and a change is needed. Yost is a manager that will make a team competitve, but won't win any pennants.

 

Finally, he was in one World Series as a player and many others as a coach. It's not like he's missing his first playoff run.

[Tbadder]

Yost is what he is. A very good people person, one who is loyal, shows respect to all. He believes in hard work and doing things the right way. He has patience and the ability to plan long range. This is the Yost I feel bad for.

 

He strikes me as coach, but he doesn't strike me as a manager. His thinking is entrenched at times and he lacks the subtlety to make the correct in-game decisions. He lacks flexibilty. And this Yost is the one who I don't miss. This is the Yost that was his undoing, and this Yost, even this Yost, I feel bad for.

 

It's got to be eating at him. I know what he thinks of Simmons. I wonder what he thinks about Sveum.