Why do I write about sports a good bit at the Capitalist? Because you won't find a more public laboratory
with great lessons in managing a workforce than what you find in professional sports.
Case in point - professional baseball's Milwaukee Brewers. In an unprecedented move, the Milwaukee Brewers fired manager Ned Yost on Monday, hoping to pull out of another late-season slump that has jeopardized the team's chance of making the playoffs for the first time since 1982.
The Brewers are currently tied for the last playoff spot in the National League. It marked the first time in major league history -- except the strike-split 1981 season -- that a manager was fired in August or later, with his team in playoff position, the Elias Sports Bureau said.
At 83-67, the Brewers have just 12 games to rebound. Milwaukee came into this month with a 5½-game lead in the wild card, but since has lost 11 of 14 -- including a four-game sweep completed by the Phillies over the weekend.
From Michael Hunt at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
"Beyond losing public credibility for his refusal to acknowledge any fault whatsoever, Yost was guilty of being overly loyal to players — Rickie Weeks comes to mind — and giving them too much rope in the clubhouse. Therefore, not one player could honestly say Yost lost the team or that any of them quit on him, because he gave them every reason to want to play for him. If anything, Yost lost his job because he put the development of young players who didn’t always merit such latitude above his own career.
So you applaud Ryan Braun for the blunt things he said Sunday, but right about now would be a good time for him to hit in the clutch. You, too, Prince Fielder, because what have you done lately? And Dave Bush and Jeff Suppan and the rest, because as of 7 tonight at Wrigley Field, Yost’s scapegoat designation expires.
General manger Doug Melvin, who has done his job in getting a small-market team more talent than anyone could reasonably expect, freely admitted that the managerial change might not be the answer to the Brewers’ puzzling fade. That isn’t to completely minimize Sveum’s role, because he is charged with holding the defibrillator over a patient about to be declared DOA."
So the team's in the hunt, the manager's loyal to his players and puts development at the top of his to-do list. The team's tied for the last playoff spot, the ultimate sign of a successful season, but a recent slump causes them to make the call for change.
And the guy making the call isn't sure the change is the answer. WOW.
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