Just when you think you have seen it all...

The Oakland A's today made public the hiring of Rene Lachemann.

"I think it was important to have someone in the position who had previous managerial experience, and Rene obviously fits that bill. He is an outstanding baseball man with a tremendous amount of experience both as a manager and coach. He will be very helpful on the bench and in the clubhouse." - Ken Macha, on the hiring of SCAPEGOAT Bench Coach, Rene Lachemann

What was it that I said last week about "he's a good baseball man"? Well, Lachemann is an "outstanding baseball man"...

What does this mean? You really need to take the blinders off. Re-read the Press Release.

Notice that Billy Beane is not quoted. It is Ken Macha who is quoted.

Could this be a sign that Benae is giving Macha as much slack as he wants to hang himself?

One could only hope to guess.

Usually there is some interplay between Manager and Bench Coach. So it goes without saying that Beane is lettign Macha choose his own bench coach. When it hits the fan in late April/early May and if A's are failing, Macha has no more excuses.

Billy Beane has not fired a manager in his tenure, but he has had an itchy trigger finger in the past. Lachemann would not be a choice as manager should Macha be sent packing, no matter what Macha thinks. Lachemann has never managed a team that finished above .500 or a team that finished better than 3rd in its own division.

Somewhere in the MLB article/press realease it states the A's have retianed Ron Washington, Curt Young, Dave Hudgens, Bob Geren and Brad Fischer for at least one more year.

In the short term it means that Ron Washington and Bob Geren are denied chances of moving up. Also, Tony DeFrancesco in Sacramento is kept at bay...in the valley.

On a trivia note:Bob geren was once involved in a trade for Nick Swisher's father, Steve Swisher.

December 10, 1980: Sent by the San Diego Padres to the St. Louis Cardinals to complete an earlier deal made on December 8, 1980. The San Diego Padres sent a player to be named later, Rollie Fingers, Bob Shirley, and Gene Tenace to the St. Louis Cardinals for Terry Kennedy, Steve Swisher, Mike Phillips, John Littlefield, John Urrea, Kim Seaman, and Al Olmsted. The San Diego Padres sent Bob Geren (December 10, 1980) to the St. Louis Cardinals to complete the trade.Information provided by Baseball Reference