From the OP: but (Baldelli) was good at the vital functions of the job: communicating with players, the media, and his bosses in the front office.
Balderdash. Hogwash.
These are not the "vital functions" of a baseball manager.
The vital functions of a baseball manager are
-to ensure his team knows how to play the game, and does.
-making decisions on playing time.
-strategy
And these are precisely the areas Baldelli sucked at.
Long overdue canning. It's one critical step on the road back to respectability.