So, in reference to you last Hindsights post:

Do we have your permission to criticise Ron Washington's bullpen management now? If not now, when?

I'm sure, or at least, I hope, that Mike would agree it's fine to criticize Wash while acknowledging that his job is much more complicated than plugging in the "right" choice to pitch or hit in any situation and that there are factors we may not be aware of guiding his decision.

Well- he did say that for one week he wanted to hear no "nitpicking" of Wash bullpen management, which seems worse than most beer league softball managers.

Wash is a terrible, terrible tactical manager and should be fired. Let's all just agree to that.

Sorry Scooby Dude. I just can't agree with that. Wash makes his fair share of mistakes, but so does Girardi, Bud Black, Gardenhire, Scioscia, Francona, Cox, La Russa, Charlie Manuel, Maddon, Leyland, Showalter, Gaston, Ozzie Guillen, Dusty Baker (don't even get me started on him), and yes, even Bochy. I think you can make the case that Wash makes more mistakes than some of those guys, but he also keeps his team ready to play as well or better than anyone else in the game.

Why didn't Washington just tell the players to score some runs off in games 2, 4, and 5?

Jim Reeves is my sworn enemy. I'm too lazy to find the links, but go to ESPN Dallas and find the Reeves articles from the cocaine incident where he was calling for Washington's head, and then find his articles from mid season on. Mind blowing.

I like Washington's style of baseball. You can put all the blame on him that you want about our pitching staff, but if you don't think that Maddux has some say in what pitches are doing, then you're a drunk person.

Wash's job is to manage players, hence the title of MANAGER. Look at the respect he gets from his players. They followed Wash into battle every night and bought into his style of baseball. Say what you will, but we won the AL this year. I'm disappointed that we lost the WS, but we made it further than any of us guessed at the beginning of the year and I'll have a smile on my face all winter.

For my money, all this "go to war" stuff is leadership, not management, and is overblown. Management is tactical, and in this regard, with defensive lineups, batting orders, and bullpen management, Wash is playing checkers while others play chess. He's just terrible at it. This was a 90-win team with 96-win talent. I can't point to a playoff game that he won with a good managerial move, but I can see 3 or 4 that we lost but might have won with better management (ALDS Game 3, ALCS Game 1, WS Game 1, and maybe WS Game 2).

Maybe WS Game 5 as well, if you were sitting there at the time screaming "Walk Renteria!"

Mike, I am not gifted in contracts lingo, so, if Young is such a loss at 3rd, why cant we just cut him, put him where we want him, or send him to AAA. ? IF he is a drag at 3b, dont let him hurt the club.. I figure we will have to pay him, BUT why let him hold us back?? that dosent sound smart just to save a dollar.

@Scooby - I'll take a good leader over a good manager any day. I wish there was some supersaberstat to prove it, but it's clear to me that teams play better baseball when they're loose and having fun.

@ Adam

That's chicken and egg talk. Do teams play better because they are loose and having fun, or are teams that win have more fun and become more loose?

Amazing to hear a person criticizing Washington up to the point of calling for his job. He is a great manager. I hope he turns out to be the Texas Ranger Bobby Cox when its all said and done. I can not begin to fathom how someone could honestly say to fire Ron Washington.