MACHA AND THE SPINNERS

Everybody's talking at me
I don't hear a word they're saying
Only the echoes of my mind


People stopping staring
I can't see their faces
Only the shadows of their eyes

So, Ken Macha and Billy Beane broke up. And the Jones Junior High denial game keeps perpetuating itself. If you read a lot of the following quotes like two people ratting each other out to their friends at their lockers and being snotty about it - makes for a little more fun.


From BASEBALL PROSPECTUS:


The Week In Quotes

October 16-23
by Alex Carnevale



"I'm a human being. Just treat me like one, OK? My son gets on the Internet, he's 25 years old, he's reading all this stuff, he's looking at what happened and he calls up my wife and says, 'Do you think Daddy's going to be able to learn from this?' How's that for shock factor?"
--former Oakland Athletics manager Ken Macha, fired after signing a three-year contract with the A's last winter.


"There were things that transpired over the course of the year that the players were unhappy about. There's no question there were things throughout the year, but the fact of the matter is that that by the end of the year, the players didn't have the same feeling about the manager as they did at the start of the year--and that was at a point you'd think everybody would be happy, with a six-game lead. ... I believe there was friction."
--A's center fielder Mark Kotsay, on Macha.


"The whole thing was a weird situation for me because ever since he came here we had a pretty good relationship, but over the last couple years, I could see things unfold, and I kept hearing things. He's always been very open and communicative with me, and with some other players that wasn't true. I heard some things that were kind of disturbing. I think there are going to be a lot of guys who are happy about this."< />
--A's third baseman Eric Chavez


"I wasn't fired because these players were upset. I know that. Billy Beane knows that. And I'm OK with that decision."
--Macha


"The atmosphere wasn't positive, for some reason. That was hard for us to deal with--here we are, winning the division, we're banged up but we're still doing what we should be doing, and every time he spoke to us, he'd say how much appreciated the effort, but then you'd read things where he was always smashing people. ... This negative cloud was just eating at everybody.''
--Chavez


"The fact is, when you have someone leading people, you want them to be a visionary, to forge ahead and be on the front lines. We felt like we were on the front lines, and he might have been with us but he didn't have the same conviction or faith. I think it was a fear of failure. He was a little more focused on the pessimistic stuff than on success."
--Barry Zito


"Jay Payton was disgruntled in Boston; he was disgruntled here. He came in my office; I gave him the answer. As a matter of fact, at the beginning of the meeting we were kind of shouting at each other. But we aired it out, then he stood up, and he said, 'I just wanted you to know my frustration.' He shook my hand and left. I told him, 'Payton, you start producing, you'll be in the lineup.' And he did."
--Macha; Payton posted a .296/.325/.418 line on the year.


WE SUGGEST USING MAGNUMS NEXT YEAR
"I felt like he didn't protect me. I know a lot of managers do--Paul Konerko told me that Ozzie Guillen would take a bullet for his players. I was upset, but Macha was fighting his own battle and he probably couldn't process that kind of pressure, so, OK, I'll wear it."
--Zito


"I know that the one thing any player wants from his manager is to be protected. If there's a bang-bang play at first, even if you're out, if you're arguing you want someone there behind you. If you argue a pitch, even if you're wrong, you want someone joining in. And I'm not sure Macha did that."
--A's Jason Kendall


"Well, that's not my style. I truly believe these umpires are trying to do their best, and I think in the back of your mind, if you're feeling they're trying to screw you, you have missed focus. You're letting something that you have no control over affect how you play."
--Macha, on Kendall's assertions that his manager didn't back him up in disputes with umpires.


MUTINY IN OAKLAND-ALAMEDA COUNTY


"I don't want a mud-slinging match. I want to take the high road. When I bowed out, I thanked Billy. I hope they do well next year and the year after and the year after."
--Macha


"When I got injured, I felt disrespected. The 'puzzling' comment really threw me. My manager didn't have my back, and every manager's first business is to protect his players. That totally lost my trust in that relationship, between us as player and manager."
--Mark Kotsay


"Bad backs are mysterious. That was basically my comment. It was not derogatory in any manner toward Kotsay as far as him not wanting to play or his desire to play."
--Macha


YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE REASON!
"I can't come out and say that, because Billy didn't come out and say it. I think you can figure it out, though."
--Macha, on the reason he was fired.


"I don't want Billy to take heat for this because this is what needed to happen. If Billy is comfortable with it, we're behind Billy. Maybe Billy saw the same thing the players saw. If Billy gets blasted in the media, it's ridiculous. Billy's going to get a lashing, and he shouldn't."
--Kendall


"I heard Steve Phillips on ESPN saying, 'I don't understand this move because those guys were playing for Macha.' Well, we didn't play for him. This collective group wanted to win together, we felt we have a chance to win together, and we provided the leadership. The core guys who went out and played every day were the leaders of the team and carried us through the uncertainty. If there were problems, they were dealt with among the 25 guys."
--Kotsay, calling into question what studio personalities know or don't know.


ALSO, THERE WAS A GROWING CONSENSUS THAT KEN MAY HAVE BEEN PART OF THE DHARMA INITIATIVE


"Everyone thought it was weird Kotsay didn't hit against left-handers the last two months of the season, he's so great defensively. And it was unfair to sit him two months against lefties and then all of a sudden throw him in there in the playoffs against tough lefties like Santana and Kenny Rogers. I don't think Macha handled that correctly."
--A's pitcher Dan Haren


"How do you judge a manager? Was the team prepared to play? Did we win? Listen, 25 guys aren't going to love you, but did they play hard every day and go out and produce to the best of their ability? Really, that's the way you should be judged."
--Macha (Boston Globe)


"Deep down inside, I think he cared about the players, he just didn't have a good way of communicating. He was always asking me about guys, he wanted to know if they were OK, but I was always the one he talked to in his office and I was probably the one who least needed to be in there."
--Chavez


IT'S CALLED A TOP-DOWN ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE, PEOPLE
"I don't know how he put up with it for that long. Everybody has to answer to their general manager and you want feedback and suggestions from the organization. The best organizations are the ones who do things together and are on the same page. But in the end, it's the manager's decision who to play, when to play them."
--an A.L. executive, on Macha's toleration of Beane's "interference."


"Billy wanted Kielty in the postseason, and I play Kotsay, and then Kotsay comes out and says bad things about me while I basically got fired because I played him. It's kind of sad."
--Macha


"That's one instance, but it happened a lot."
--Macha


"It's a total fabrication. The A's have moved on. Unfortunately, Ken's memories of some things and the A's memories of some things are a little different, and the most important thing is that we've gone our way and he's gone his way."
--A's general manager Billy Beane, on Macha's comments.


"Haren had pitched all these big games for us, and now I'm telling him he has Game Four. ... If Harden gave up eight runs, are you going to come in and ask, 'Why did Billy pitch this guy?' No. Fortunately, Kotsay made two great catches and kept the game close."
--Macha, on being told to start Rich Harden in Game Three.


THAT'S A PRETTY LOW HIGH ROAD THERE, KEN


"What I want to do is take the high road. Let's focus on the eight years that I was there, the four years I was the manager, and what we did, all the success and the Rookies of the Year and the players we developed and all the other stuff. Let's not just look at the last day. Don't judge me by that. Don't do that. I know why I was fired and Billy knows why I was fired."
--Macha
 


We'll come back and discuss what is to believed the situation in the A's clubhouse the last few seasons.