Phil Garner and Tim Purpura fired in Houston (Merged: Astros to name Cooper Permanent Manager)

[Bruce Ciskie]

Just got that word from someone in Houston. Report came from SportsRadio 610 down there. I'll link when I find one.

 

 

(updated thread title; added tags --1992)

[brewers255]

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/7160596?MSNHPHMA

[gmanspack]

Coop is the interim manager in Houston. I'm happy for Cecil to get the chance.

[Bruce Ciskie]

Cecil Cooper's the interim manager.

 

Announcement now: http://www.click2houston.com/video/10913036/index.html

[TooLiveBrew]

Nice scoop, Bruce. Wow - let the 'Scrap Iron in for Yost TODAY!' threads/chants begin, huh? McLane must have had some time to think about what it's going to be like shelling out big-money to El Caballo when his 'range' only covers balls hit from the right side of the Crawford Boxes to the LF foul pole - I don't see Purpura as that bad of a GM. Lost season frustrates owner; owner lets heads roll.

[TooLiveBrew]

COOOOOOOOOOOP!

[Bruce Ciskie]

Here goes Coop's audition for the Milwaukee job next year. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

[HebrewHammer]

So this sets a precedent. It is OK to fire a manager in late August/early September if it's below .500......

[naivin]

A direct flight from Houston to Chicago can't cost more than $150.

[patrickgpe]

nice, bruce you beat espn by 13 minutes. I guess it makes sense only in the sense that now the astros can see what cooper can do for the final month. I was always a garner fan and wouldn't mind him coming back here, but I know that would never happen. He is atleast an experienced manager that took his team to the world series.

[SeriesFinale]

I had my fill of Scrap Iron in the 90s, thanks

[TooLiveBrew]

amen to that, SF

[moofnelson]

I had my fill of Scrap Iron in the 90s, thanks

 

I wouldn't want Garner back either. But in his defense, Sal Bando was his GM. 'Nuff said.

[sgtcluels]

When are the Brewers going to call a press conference? (Flame bait alert)

[whizkid]

So this sets a precedent. It is OK to fire a manager in late August/early September if it's below .500......

 

No, it sets a precedent. It is OK to fire a manager in late August/early September if it's below .500 and out of contention and you fire the GM knowing the new GM will want his own manager.

[brewmann04]

good luck to Coop

[davego]

We could hire Greg Brock and they could have a grude match.

[clancyphile]

I had my fill of Scrap Iron in the 90s, thanks

 

I wouldn't want Garner back either. But in his defense, Sal Bando was his GM. 'Nuff said.

Garner managed to make the most of what scraps Bando left him (when Bando wasn't busy with a fire sale of talented players).

 

If the Crew collapses over the rest of the year, I would not object to seeing him return as the Brewers' manager.

[TheBrewer]

seems like the Astros Owner is very quick with things. Those 2 guys did a decent job over the past few years. Garner got them into the WS. I really don't know there GM all that well, and what moves they've done other than signing Lee and losing Clemens and Pettite, but I will say Garner can only do so much. If you look at past managers, it seems they have a lifespan over there of 2-3 years tops.

[Invader3K]

I think Garner was a good manager for the Brewers, given what he had to work with, but I'm not interested in seeing him back in Milwaukee at this point.

[rluzinski]

Garner was a good manager when Houston made the playoffs with him but now he obviously forgot how to manage. And the wheels keep on turning.

[JohnBriggs12]

"If you look at past managers, it seems like they have a lifespan over there of 2-3 years tops"

 

That's because their owner demands results, not excuses and they have the playoff and World Series appearances to attest to the success of his methods. And I love the fact that he sits right behind home plate at every Astro game in Houston.

[crewcrazy]

Wow, short tenure for Pupura -- he was hired in November of 2004, and didn't really do much. His biggest moves were probably bringing in Clemens and later Lee, but the biggest trade he put together was Ben Zobrist and Mitch Talbot for Aubrey Huff. I remember Astros fans were always complaining more about Pupura's inactivity rather than the moves he actually made.

 

I know Astros fans who were extremely tired of Phil Garner starting in the year after they reached the World Series, and this probably comes as welcome news to them. One of the biggest complaints about Garner the past couple years was that he basically refused to take Craig Biggio out of the leadoff spot when he probably shouldn't even be playing every day. Scrap Iron didn't seem to be too fond of the younger players in Houston, which rubbed a lot of fans the wrong way.

 

While I'm not a Fire Yost guy, if they were to fire him, I would sure hope that they did it because they knew they could get an improvement fairly easily. Phil Garner wouldn't be an improvement, IMO.

[Brian the Automator]

Phil Garner's the epitome of retread. I never thought he was that bad.

 

He's vanilla soft-serve.

[Invader3K]

Well, Houston will be in rebuild mode to a point after this season, so it might not be a real bad idea to change manager's at this juncture.