Bye Bye Duquette

Fran, you ever see <a href="http://www.bostondirtdogs.com" target="_blank">this site</a>?

Duquette actually could be a pretty good GM in the right situation. Problem was, in Boston he had no adult supervision and so there was nobody to keep him in check. He was drunk with power. Add to that his non-existent people skills and you had the makings of a fiasco. Why did people take an immediate disliking to Duquette? It saved time.

As a GM he made some good moves and some not so good moves. One of his biggest problems baseball-wise was his bad case of "Tiantitis." He grew up in the Boston area and remembered how the Sox found Luis Tiant on the scrap heap and, well, giving "<a href="http://www.eltiante.com/" target="_blank">El Tiante</a>" a second chance was one of the best moves they ever made. So Duke kept combing through the "leftover bin", hoping he'd find another Tiant. IMO that mostly resulted in wasted energy. He would have done far more for the team to just build up the farm system which pretty much went to hell on his watch.

[ 03-01-2002: Message edited by: roger_ramjet ]</p>

<a href="http://www.bostonherald.com/sport/sports_columnists/gee03062002.htm" target="_blank">Sox make change for change's sake</a>: Team stuck in the interim
by Michael Gee
Wednesday, March 6, 2002

[quote]FORT MYERS - Joe Kerrigan was hired as manager of the Boston Red Sox as an afterthought.

Kerrigan got fired yesterday pretty much the same way.

The former pitching coach wasn't made the skipper last Aug. 16 because Dan Duquette thought Kerrigan was the indispensable field general for the stretch drive.

Kerrigan wasn't even Duquette's first choice. The GM wanted to fire Jimy Williams no matter what. After that, it didn't much matter to him who stepped in as manager.

The Sox' new management had nothing against Kerrigan. We should all be praised as highly when we get canned. New team president Larry Lucchino went so far as to imply Kerrigan's old job might be available.

''We suggested he take a few days off before making any future plans,'' Lucchino said.

Do nothing 'til you hear from us, Joe.

But through no fault of his own, Kerrigan was the symbol of the Duquette regime that ran the Sox with an iron, if erratic, fist for the past eight years. He was Duke's first hire, the baseball man the former boss liked and trusted most.

So Kerrigan had to go. Fast. Nothing personal, but the new guys want to obliterate any trace of Duquette's presence from the franchise. They sincerely didn't like the way Duke ran the club, and they know it's the easiest way to curry favor with their fan base. Aside from winning, the Sox faithful like nothing better than a good guillotining on Yawkey Way...<hr></blockquote>

Cool. That's like the time my buddy and I rolled the dice and went up to Fenway without tickets hoping to score a pair when we got there. The game was sold out but after it started they opened the ticket office again and sold us a pair half way up behind home plate. We were sitting down when Nomar hit a homer. It was the bottom of the second inning. A little while later this amazingly hot woman sat down in the seat next to me. Wow! Was that a great night! And the Sox won too. This was the first or second game after Kerrigan took over. They beat the Mariners. That was about the last game that they were still in the race. After that, the bottom dropped out.

Kerrigan did three things right as manager. He wasn't afraid to run - unlike Jimy. He made Urbina his closer. And he started Mirabelli instead of Hatteberg. Those last two were absolute no-brainers. I could never understand why Williams stuck with Lowe and Hatteberg so long - Hatteberg especially.

Oh well. Good luck, Joe. You're a nice guy. You deserved better.