Heads Up

We're were going to wait until Monday to go over the recent Thad Bosley flap...Billy Beane is forcing the issue (with Thad not, us, in retrospect that is probably a dumb way of inserting the issue, but, it's too late now, so we might as well just continue - sort of like Billy Beane leaving T Long in the lineup EVERY day, anyway).
Thad Bosley was recalled to Oakland to meet with Billy Beane late last night.
This is not a good sign - even if Thad keeps his job.
If it means enough that the A's administration (not the front office of Beane and R & D) called Thad back then it is beyond serious. It is critical.

Thad's comments in the recent media swarm have not been taken with any sodium chloride.
The A's get an unusual buffer from the local media...Michael Lewis published that fact in Moneyball.
Perhaps the media wanted to make its presence felt and decided to attack.
There really is no other path to follow to have Thad Bosley's job suddenly up in the air. There has to be other issues involved. There could be serious personality quirks, drinking, gambling, abusive language...something has to be the cause of why they A's are suddenly taking aim at Thad's work.

After all, the A's haven't been hitting for weeks and the trio of Eric Chavez, Terrence Long and Ron Gant/Adam Piatt are looking more like fodder than hitters.
Why Thad?
Why now?
Would firing the hitting instructor do anything? NO. Not really. It probably would make things worse as Thad is well thought of in the clubhouse and organization as a whole. Even if Steve Schott actions are true (Schott is rumored to have made a call to have Thad fired last week).
Our original take on the issue was to see things tighten up. For Ken Macha to take a more personal role in batting practice (instead of roaming the outfield with a fungo chatting it up with the pitchers), for Bob Geren to work with the guys on the bench and the right handed hitters and for Terry Francona to work more with left handed hitters with Thad working his tail off.
A few weeks ago, just prior to the Jermaine Dye injury, Thad starting working (we're not going to call it reconstructing) with Chris Singleton's swing. Thad had mentioned it was a three-week process.
Singleton is still doing well, so it may have worked.
Anyway, in the three weeks Singleton's swing was on blocks the A's nose dived.
Ken Macha mentioned that the A's hitters weren't slumping.

He's right. You have to have an upturn in production to ever differentiate a downturn.
The A's have been under-performing for quite some time. Especially at the plate. With the win in KC today, that they are a game over .500 for May points to the now usual late Spring swoon.

That stinks.

Numbers

April 2002

Batting	OnBase	Slugging	Walks	K’s	HR	OPS
.267	.346	.463	99	175	42	.809

A few numbers stick out here. Namely the long ball number and strikeouts. The batting average was a little low (seemingly) which is only a concern because the on-base percentage is a tad lower than one would like. Still good, solid numbers.

May 2002

Batting	OnBase	Slugging	Walks	K’s	HR	OPS
.246	.320	.397	92	181	29	.718

Eww. Down right smelly. The on-base percentage is only slightly more alarming than the slugging percentage. The May 22nd purge of 2002 did make things a little different for the summer push.

April 2003

Batting	OnBase	Slugging	Walks	K’s	HR	OPS
.262	.337	.425	100	153	28	.762

Ick. These numbers aren’t very pretty, either. Yah, the A’s were 7 games over .500 for the month, but they could have done a little better in situations that proved to be Ken Macha standards. The drop in homeruns is sickening.

May 2003

Batting	OnBase	Slugging	Walks	K’s	HR	OPS
.251	.313	.402	77	131	25	.715

Don’t peek, heads will roll.
Here’s where we are…and here’s where the story ends. Somebody needs to get fired over numbers like these.

Should it be Thad Bosley? Should ol' Boz have to fall on his sword because Jermaine Dye, Terrence Long, Eric Chavez, Ramon Hernandez, Scott Hatteberg and Mark Ellis stunk up the team plane in May?
On the surface, again, NO.
But according to media reports Thad's been in Macha's office several times (three confirmed closed door meetings since late April) to discuss the fact that Bosley's job is/was on the line.
If it were not for Eric Byrnes, Bosley would have been fired, no questions asked. Just a surface swipe to clean up a mess that may very well be a Ken Macha origination. Macha or Beane. Depends on what books and newspapers you read.
Again, we have to ask, where would this team be without Eric Byrnes?

Had The A's gone with Piatt-Gant/Long/Singleton instead of inserting Byrnes on a regular basis, who know how many games behind the Texas Rangers the A's would be right now.
Who knows?
If Byrnes didn't get a hitting streak started - he may have been sat back on the bench instead of being able to hit .380 for the last three weeks.

Media, Darlings, Media

Mark Saxson of the Oakland Tribune started things off on May 25th with a little slap;

”Eric Byrnes and Singleton have been happy surprises for A's hitting coach Thad Bosley, but the middle of the order is dragging the team down. Of the middle six hitters in the A's lineup, Hatteberg's .267 average leads the bunch.“

Normally that’s not that big of a deal. Except Saxson was laying the blame for the production lull at Thad Bosley’s feet, not Ken Macha’s. Clearly. In the next few lines he sways the reader to hear Ken Macha state that the offense needs to get going. Insinuating that Macha is pointing the finger at Boz, too.
May 29th brought the article that started the flap flipping at high, extended volume with philosophy the background culprit. Saxson tries to blame the approach to hitting the A’s, for the most part, utilize as faulty. Saxson points to two games in a 48-hour period (Darrell May’s Sunday performance and Kris Wilson’s first appearance as a starter the previous day) as proof positive. Saxson points to a pitcher getting ahead with first pitch strikes and casts the A’s as standing around waiting for walks as evidence that the A’s ‘philosophy’ and therefore, Bosley and Beane are somehow to fault.

Huh, funny.

Wilson was on a strict pitch limit Saturday since he was making his first start after being in the bullpen. May, also new to the starting role got a number of hitters out on less than three pitches. Throwing strikes was a means for the pitchers to survive. Saturday was fraught with bad play and Sunday the A’s pulled out the win after wearing down May.

If guys are swinging early in the count, they aren’t working the count. Necessarily if the hitters are out on less than four pitches. Especially since guys like Terence Long and Ramon Hernandez are first ball swingers (notice, we didn’t write ‘hitters’).

Then came Thursday afternoon and Bosley’s explosion at questions he was on the way out…

"If I'm not, then why did Ken Macha call me into his office three times, the first time on April 25, and tell me that my job is in jeopardy? Why would he tell me that Billy Beane called him and said that Steve Schott called him in the seventh inning Sunday and said they should fire me? Ken is the instigator of this. So at this point, fire me. If Steve Schott and Billy Beane and Ken Macha feel somebody else can do better, go get him. It's really that simple. I've got a resume, I know what I've done for this team and what I've given to the organization."

Too much said to just call it a bad week and a little touch of the flu. This leaves a bad taste in the mouth of the entire organization.

Friday came and Billy Beane, deep in the middle of draft preparations for Tuesday was heard from:

"I saw some of the comments. This part of the game is a distraction and not something I want to focus on. What we want to do is to focus on winning baseball games. But this is unfortunate."

No GM, let alone anyone in a decision making capacity for a MLB team wants to deal with this crap in the week leading up to the Amateur Draft. Especially Beane, who rarely sleeps days before the draft and has more to lose and to gain than anyone else next Tuesday and Wednesday. The A’s rely on the draft to re-stock their farm system and keep their roster full of cheap, replaceable parts.

Thad Bosley was given an opportunity to respond to the Thursday comments

”I'm a major-league hitting coach. My commitment is totally to the ball club. Why would I be here if I wanted to be somewhere else? Sure, I have other interests, but I don't commingle them with baseball. Personally, I don't feel there's a rift. I just feel that, hopefully, we're on the same path. The Oakland A's gave me an opportunity to come back to the major leagues and coach, and I appreciate everything I've been given the opportunity to experience. I think, in some of the things we've accomplished, in some small way I've made a contribution."

Here’s where we start to connect the dots (not that crap ice cream ‘treat’ that looks and feels like silicone in your mouth). Rotowire, the AP, MLB and the Armenian Grandmother’s Association had Ted Lilly pitching Friday night and Tim Hudson pitching Saturday. When we checked the score as we were leaving our various jobs Friday night, thoughts raced – Lilly is stinking up the joint. Until we heard Bill King on KFRC commenting on Hudson’s inability to get his pitches down. Ken Macha’s response to media questions on the switch

”There was a glitch with the media relations department.”

Looks like there is a glitch in the communication department with ken Macha and it’s costing the Oakland Athletics on the field.

Thad Bosley’s name didn’t come up the last two years when the A’s forgot their bats in the late Spring swoons.

So, we ask, again; Why Thad, why now?

We learned in Moneyball that the A’s were willing to look over Jeremy, the Giambi who would not side, getting busted in Nevada for trying to board a plane in possession of marijuana (ugh, marijuana’s bad, M’kay). It wasn’t until he was rumored to be drinking too much on the team plane and when Billy Beane saw an advantage to getting rid of the defensively challenged and much maligned, ugh, guy who hits left-handed.

Is it a similar situation with Thad Bosley? Is it other issues that are going to force an action?
To be a fly on the wall would make for good subject matter on a psychological and sociological setting. Otherwise it’s a good time to complain about that tricky bladder, very much down the hall.

The writing appears to be on the wall as a press release was out before the A’s 7-6 win over KC today.

”Oakland's offense has been struggling. The club entered the game Saturday with a .257 batting average -- 11th in the American League. They were 10th in four other key offensive categories: .414 slugging percentage, .325 on-base percentage, 743 total bases and 248 runs.

The team batting average had dropped from .265 on April 27 to .257 entering the game Saturday. The team was hitting .251 in May and had scored three or fewer runs in seven of the past 16 games.

Miguel Tejada, last year's American League MVP, was hitting .225 after 53 games. Eric Chavez had a .161 average in his past 15 games, dropping his average to .241. Jermaine Dye, who was activated Friday from the disabled list, has a .179 average with one home run in 22 games.”

Well, we can only wait, wonder, and then expect Bob Geren to be named hitting coach on Monday.

Thanks for the time, Boz. You were better than you got treated…