It's never actually the manager's fault.

But he will be blamed for it anyway by credulous fanbois who don't realize this central truth.

Seriously, where was this carping backbiting when the A's were 8 games over .500 in mid-June? Was Geren a much better manager then? If you want to vent, vent about the players. It may still be unfair to them, but at least they exercise a statistically significant influence upon the outcome.

I don't think there was much talk about Geren when we were winning because there were no issues...but how a man handle adversity will tell a lot about that man.
After the MB thing in mid-June, adversity in the clubhouse was brought to the forefront and Geren hasn't handled it appropriately.

I was told that Kendall told Geren to "go F#$k himself" after Geren denied that JK would start losing time to Suzuki.  Telling a veteran like JK that he's going to be losing time when the youngster is brought up would be tough on any manager... however...When you deal with professionals in a way that the players themselves may deem as less than professional and blowing smoke up their ass because you're doing a "job" based upon being the "Best Man" and not the best man then it can hurt the clubhouse... especially when things are going bad.
I like the post....

The lack of talent definitely has something to do with the team now, but what is really different about the players the A's have now and the ones that were playing in mid-June?

I'm not sure Geren is a good manager or not....and I don't think any manager can win with a mediocre team unless they get incredibly lucky, and/or play over-their-heads for an entire season. I just question whether it is a good organizational move to hire one of your dearest friends to be the manager.  That guy, in a sense, can't win.  If the team loses, it's because of cronyism and he hasn't got the stuff to be a manager.  If the team wins, he had very little to do with it, except to be a cheerleader.  Now, granted, with Beane micromanaging the team, any manager is pretty much a cypher (sp?), but to put your friend into such a position---well, there is something creepy about it.

... but I thought Macha should have stayed, Thomas should have stayed, and Kendall should have stayed.  Jermaine "I never won anything in Oakland" Dye should have stayed, at nearly any cost, in part because he was the only one I saw on an Open House who really seemed to enjoy himself with the fans.  And he plays like a dream.  Washington should have stayed, even if it meant favoring him over a favored man Best Man.

I could give two craps out the backside for Kotsay and Kielty.  Especially Kotsay.  Not them personally, as I don't know them and don't care.  But for their talent and the disingenuous behavior of one.

Who should not have stayed:
Larry Davis
Kotsay (did I say that already?)

I like Suzuki just fine.

I imagine the clubhouse has changed, the finances have changed, the lure of a new ballpark has changed attitudes, and it'll be 3 years before we see a 95-win season.  And when we do, Beane will be gone, Geren will be long gone, and the clubhouse big-mouths will find themselves in more-advantageous jobs elsewhere.

Talent will drain from this club over the next few years like a seeping wound:  Street, Ellis and an underrated bullpen staff will slip away like stolen sailboats to better clubs in friendlier ports.  And ANers will lament their loss at the tactical level, without bothering to comprehend the strategic implications.

//I know plenty of (most of) the AN Crew are far more intelligent than me about the club and its players and its game and its history, but right now, I don't care to know squat except what the frick is wrong with Chavez and why we retained him over Tejada.//

I'm pissed off at what's happened to this club and ringing the fire bell, although I'm in such a remote place I'm not sure who is around to hear.  Maybe the bell is just in my head, and I need a cuppa tea and a lie-down.

And I'm really furious about what passes for the A's medical staff.  Were they recruited from the worst VA hospital in the country?  (I'm a vet so please don't dog me out for not knowing WTF the VA can sink to in terms of standards.) Did they go to medical school in Lower Buttswana?  I have a minor data point about the A's referred medical staff:  someone I know well had an elbow problem and saw a specialist the A's (and Raiders) use. Diagnosis:  mis-diagnosis.  It took one time trip back home to the Islands to figger out the problem.  Maybe there should be a MedEvac flight to Honolulu every time an Athletic gets hurt.  Here, they know injuries.  Injuries-R-Us, down on Kapiolani, can fix what the fat-ass, jogging-to-the-infield lardbutts in the stadium can't comprehend.  So much for East Bay pro sports doctors and their half-bright Coliseum monkeys.

While I'm ranting, I'm also still pissed off about the possessive apostrophe in the A's logo.  What exactly are the "A's" possessing?  A chance at last place?  

Grammar, people, grammar.  Please!

OK, that's my piece peace.