Little out as Red Sox Manager

ESPN TICKER ^

[rs79bm]

The Boston Red Sox, still smarting from a bitter seven-game loss to the rival Yankees in the ALCS, fired manager Grady Little on Monday, a high-ranking team official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

ESPN's Peter Gammons, who reported earlier Monday that Little would be fired Monday, reports that the team will formally announce the move at a 3 p.m. ET news conference at Fenway Park.

Monday's Boston Herald, citing a Red Sox source, reported that two candidates to succeed Little could be former Indians manager Charlie Manuel and former Red Sox second baseman Jerry Remy, a television analyst for NESN, a regional sports network partly owned by the Red Sox.

According to the report, others on the Red Sox list are Yankees third-base coach Willie Randolph, Yankees first-base coach Lee Mazzilli, Dodgers third-base coach Glenn Hoffman and former Phillies skipper Terry Francona, now the A's bench coach.

[JimVT]

That's an organization that knows how to lose

The leadership(?) anyway.

The Sox won 98 out of a total of 169 games this year.

They won 3 out of 7 games in the AL finals and lost by one run in 11 innings in the last game.

And all these jerks can do is fire the coach!

[brewcrew]

They're firing him because he stuck with the game's best pitcher (Pedro Martinez) in a critical ballgame, rather than go to a shaky bullpen. And if he'd pulled Martinez and his replacement had given up a home run, they'd have fired him for that, too.

Yep. Either scenario gets you fired, because in both they LOSE! If they had won....you get my point. It's not the decision that got him fired, it's the outcome.

[Steve_Seattle]

"Shaky bullpen? Don't think so. They did pretty good in that series."

Oh they had a string of good innings in the postseason, which was overdue to come to an end, but throughout the year they struggled mightily at times. When a team has to change its closer once or twice in the season, you know the bullpen isn't very strong.

[rs79bm]

I would hate to think that it had anything to do with talent (tongue firmly implanted in cheek).

Pedro has been used very tenderly the past 2-3 seasons. This is no secret. If you don't believe me, look at how many complete games Pedro has had the last few seasons. Obviously, a fresher arm in the 8th would have given the Sox a better chance. Statistically speaking, Pedro is not as good in the eighth or ninth depending on his workload and pitchcount. He pitched his heart out for 7 innings, and that should have done it for him. He didn't have much left. A pitching change in that situation would have been called for. Timlin and Williamson were pitching lights out.

[TheBigB]

They fired him because he didn't keep up with stats on players' performances. After six innings, Pedro had thrown 79 pitches. After seven, he was up to 99. Opponents this season batted .370 against him after he hit that 100-pitch mark.

[TheRedSoxWinThePennant]

I vote for Remy!!!

[j_k_l]

I guess, as they say, you cannot fire the players.

In a 7 game series, 99.999999 % of the time, the team with more talent wins.

[stop_fascism]

Pretty harsh for one bad decision.

[southernnorthcarolina]

Unbelievable. As the old question goes: "What have you done for me lately?"

Here's an idea. Since Charlotte-based Bank of America just bought FleetBoston for $47 billion, maybe they could toss in an extra billion and move the Red Sox here. A package deal. And keep Grady on -- after all, he managed our minor-league team back in the '80s.

[Az Joe]

The fact that he actually went out to the mound and didn't take him out was ridiculous.

[katana]

I've always liked Grady Little. He was a long time bench coach with the Indians and seemed to always do a great job when he had to fill in. That being said, even if you discount his leaving Martinez in after the 7th inning of the 7th game, his overall management during the ALCS was pretty awful. Specifically the hit and run and steal decisions early in the Yankees series were terrible. The Sox should have won that series before it ever got to a 7th game.

[rs79bm]

They did do good the last couple of seasons, but I found myself bashing my head more than a couple of times for some of the decisions Grady made this year. I would actually say, to the contrary, that they did as well as they did because of the talent the team possessed, and not necessarily managerial decisions. However, I did find it odd that the management came out this afternoon and said that even if the Sox made it to the Series, he still would have been fired. I found that kind of odd. Maybe I took it the wrong way, but that's how I understood it.

[CdMGuy]

Don Zimmer for Red Sox Manager.

[grania]

I'd vote for the Rem-dawg

He's probably the most well-liked person in Massachusetts. He could probably win any political office. He could probably even manage the Red Sox to everyone's satisfaction.

Minority view...it wasn't Grady Little's fault...Pedro just was not of World Series caliber, either was Nomar. Randy Johnson won three for his team when it mattered; that Florida pitcher held up for two relatively close games.

What did Pedro do? Well, everyone seems to be forgetting that he was pitching a lousy game when he started headhunting in that earlier game. Then, in game 7, Grady Little left him in until he had no chance of winning. If he had been taken out, and a reliever messed up, media and fans would be blaming Grady Little.

There were three innings after Pedro was pulled where no one on the Red Sox could manage to score...that's Grady Little's fault??

[TheRedSoxWinThePennant]

steinbrenner would never let Torre come to boston while still under contract.

[TheRedSoxWinThePennant]

Don Zimmer

probabaly the only guy who would get a colder response from than fans than little would

[rs79bm]

Don Zimmer for Red Sox Manager.

I heard Pedro and Zimmer don't get along.

[j_k_l]

I have a hard time believing a manager wins or cost teams games. Little is a "players manager". He is pretty much hands off. You can blame him for that but that is who he is and why they hired him.

[Pearls Before Swine]

Even if you discount his leaving Martinez in after the 7th inning of the 7th game, his overall management during the ALCS was pretty awful.

I agree. In the prior series, he left Derrick Lowe in one inning too long also against Oakland. You could see Lowe start to struggle after six masterful innings, and Grady was very slow to get the bullpen going and, later, to ask for the ball.

[rs79bm]

He is a players manager, and that's why they won so many games. However, they could have won even more with better decisions throughout the year. Because of his hands off approach, the Sox lost on many occasions throughout the season.