On-field brawling, awesomeness, and Mientkiewicz

[Richie the Rally Goat]

What's even more ridiculous is that Mientkiewicz isn't even involved in the physical play on the field. He's supposed to be a person of authority in the organization and he set a very bad example. Would it bother you if Terry Ryan ran out from his suite to start throwing punches at Billy Beane or Brian Cashman?

 

I'm in general not a fan of fighting in sports. I prefer the collegiate and Olympic hockey games to NHL for the very reason that I think hockey is a better sport without the fighting. I think Doug M. deserved to get punished for a single act of stupidity, and he did.

 

I also like his fire and accept that it may lead to the occasional outburst. It is fine, as long as he learned to keep his temper in check as to not let it go so far as fighting again.

 

All that being said, I would buy tickets to Terry Ryan vs. Billy Beane in a 10 round bout.

 

Nothing below the belt!

Ding! Ding!

Let's get ready to rumble!

[twinssouth]

Some of you guys have taken this to a whole new level. Calling for Mientkiewicz resignation or to be fired is absolutely ridiculous He was caught up in the game , heat of the moment and both, I repeat, both Managers lost it. After the incident, he apologized, was embarrassed and if I'm not mistaken, even offered to resign. It was last year, his first year Managing, a rookie Manager makes mistakes. He learned by it and became a better person.

 

It's his passion for winning that created two post seasons of playoff baseball, the last resulting in a Championship in his first two years of Managing a team. That is impressive by any standards.

 

I feel that it was childish behavior and from what I read, he learned greatly from it. But, to create an analogy of behavior in an office setting to this is absolutely crazy.

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

I don't know about Nick, but when did I say anything like this about MIentkiewicz?  I did say quite a few things like "sports is controlled aggression", though.

A small leap of logic which I apparently tripped over. My bad. Nick cites the brawl as a positive example of Douggie's passion, you agree with Nick that Mientkiewicz would be a good choice for manager, which therefore means that you believe all baseball managers must instigate brawls and mass chaos on the field.

 

In truth, I think Douggie's resume is pretty compelling - all the championships you cited, plus the success in Fort Myers. I'd like to see him interviewed for the Twins job but then turned down, if only to give him practice handling it. The brawl seems to be part of a pattern. It would be really odd to suddenly reward that behavior with a big promotion. Let him continue to build on his success in Fort Myers and revisit the matter down the road.

 

Also I just think another fiery personality as manager is counter productive going forward.

[jokin]

A small leap of logic which I apparently tripped over. My bad. Nick cites the brawl as a positive example of Douggie's passion, you agree with Nick that Mientkiewicz would be a good choice for manager, which therefore means that you believe all baseball managers must instigate brawls and mass chaos on the field.

 

In truth, I think Douggie's resume is pretty compelling - all the championships you cited, plus the success in Fort Myers. I'd like to see him interviewed for the Twins job but then turned down, if only to give him practice handling it. The brawl seems to be part of a pattern. It would be really odd to suddenly reward that behavior with a big promotion. Let him continue to build on his success in Fort Myers and revisit the matter down the road.

 

Also I just think another fiery personality as manager is counter productive going forward.

 

 

I'm not even sure that Dougie would be the first choice for manager, either mine, or the organization's.  I do think that the next manager needs to be younger, have a 21st Century grasp of baseball by the numbers,  a demonstrated history of pitchers improving under his watch, and upon his naming, be able to quickly rally support as a change agent from the players, fans and organization.  I honestly can't say that I know that he would fill up that entire checklist.

 

I've been operating on the assumption that the Twins, if they do move on from the current regime, will look first to hire from within, in which case, TR's backing throughout the incident last year indicates that he, at the least, would be in the running.  I think it also obviously helps that he has been working with a number of the best prospects that the organization has in the system- it might be nice to have him around to reinforce the good and successful habits that he's helped to instill in Ft Myers.  Tom Kelly worked with a number of up and coming players before a 3+ year tenure as a Twins bench coach, this might be a potential career path for Dougie.  Whereas, Mike Redmond came up to manage the Marlins after only one year of A-level ball.

[bird]

You folks must have hated Billy Martin.

 

As much as he entertained this young boy when he managed, I distinctly remember my mother shaking her head with disdain and explaining to me that she was quite sure the man was running on empty when it came to "the virtues".

[bird]

I agree 10000000000% with birdwatcher.

This is getting embarrassing.

[TheLeviathan]

Some of you guys have taken this to a whole new level. Calling for Mientkiewicz resignation or to be fired is absolutely ridiculous He was caught up in the game , heat of the moment and both, I repeat, both Managers lost it. 

 

I'm ok with how his whole situation was handled and I don't hold it against his candidacy.  I do, however, think it's silly to credit him for that as a reason to hire him.

 

Nothing about what he did should be celebrated.  It was buffoonery.