Managing

From Ed Eagle's notebook:

McClendon denies that he has become a more aggressive manager this season. According to him, he is just finally getting a chance to make significant decisions late in games.

"I'm managing the same way I have always managed. The only difference now is I'm getting an opportunity to manage." said McClendon.

"The first couple of years, I just sat there [twiddling] my thumbs, watching us get beat. We were out of every game by the fourth inning. There was no managing involved. Now, we've got an opportunity to do some things. We're matching up. We've got some talent."

McClendon's a fine manager but he could learn a thing or two about presenting himself as such to the press. He was eaten alive by the snickering set when he made a comment, earlier in the year, that appeared to take credit for Craig Wilson's emergence as a hitter.

Also, it's not true that the Pirates were "out of every game by the fourth inning" when he started managing. They've won some games every year he's been the man. There's real danger in exaggerating the weakness of earlier clubs - it only sounds like Mac blaming his career win-loss record on his players. That's not what he meant, but the whole texture of these comments seem careless and maybe thoughtless to me. It will turn off the fans and maybe, down the road, embitter some players. The way he talks to the press may be the weakest part of his game as a manager.

He could learn or thing or two by studying Danny Murtaugh. Mac will be Mac, and I'm not suggesting Mac has to be Murtaugh, but any Pittsburgh manager could learn a thing or two from Murtaugh, especially when it comes to handling the post-game press conferences. Murtaugh, for example, made fun of managers who took credit or talked like they had a significant role in the outcome of the game. From my Pirates Encyclopedia by David Finoli and Bill Ranier:

He credited his players for the success of the team rather than taking the spotlight, often caricaturing himself. Lampooning a quote attributed to Dodger manager Charlie Dressen, who told his charges that if they kept the game close, he'd figure out a way for them to win, Murtaugh said, "Blow everyone away. Don't expect me to outmanage anybody. If you keep me close in the eighth inning, I'll blow it every time."

If you've never heard of Danny Murtaugh, click here.

...P.S. Twenty minutes after posting this, I found Joe Starkey's essay on the same subject. He quotes Jim Leyland:

"Nobody really knows strategy," Leyland said. "Managing is multiple choice. I managed a long time, and I can tell you this: When I had good players, I did OK. When I didn't, I wasn't worth a crap."

I don't agree with that. A manager can make a difference. The best managers let the team be the team; the worst ones meddle and provoke competition among the players that does not help the players compete as a team. It's not possible for a manager to add much to a team, but it sure is possible for a manager to screw everything up and ruin a team.

Anyway, even though it's not exactly true, Leyland is damn smart to say this when someone asks for his opinion on the subject.

Another sign that Mac still has some learning curve ahead of him:

"When it works, nobody says a (expletive) thing," McClendon said. "When it doesn't, it's all over the (expletive) talk shows: 'What a dumb (double-expletive) he is.' "

Mac says that like it's news. Hey Mac, guess what: the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. If you want to get out of bearing the responsibility for failed gambles, claim no responsibility for the successful ones.

Only the wins and losses will have much say in the city's final opinion of you as a manager. Talking about the difficulty of your job will not change that.