Ken Macha never connected with A's

0 Comments | Oakland Tribune, Oct 17, 2006 | by Josh Suchon, STAFF WRITER

OAKLAND -- Ken Macha would often explain that, no matter what he did, four or five players would be upset at him every day because they weren't in the starting lineup.

But, as one A's player put it Monday night after the dismissal of Macha as A's manager, "if he was more personable with players, they wouldn't be upset."

General manager Billy Beane used the word "disconnect" when he told Macha that he was fired Monday morning and used the same word frequently with the press, providing few details.

Macha wouldn't provide details either. When pressed why he would be dismissed over a disconnect just one year after Beane rehired him -- after the two parted ways for a week over non-existent contract negotiations -- Macha said "that's a question for somebody else."

"I wouldn't do anything differently," Macha continued. "We won 88 games, two divisions, we developed a lot of kids. I can't say enough positives things about it."

Yet, despite all those positives, Macha said getting fired "didn't shock me at all."

"(I suspected it was going to happen) well before the season was over," Macha said. "One of the things I can say is it was ... well, I have no regrets on how I handled anything. None. This was such a great experience for me. It was tremendous."

The firing didn't shock multiple players either, who said Monday evening they'd heard over the past few weeks it could happen.

"You can't say he did a bad job," one player said.

"We did win the division. But it's not about what's gone on right now. It seems like a future thing. Will the players respect this guy in the future? To me, I think that was the call. A lot of guys weren't respecting him. There was a total lack of communication."

In a close, tight-knit organization, Macha didn't always embrace those who lacked a traditional baseball background -- individuals that Beane welcomed with open arms for their fresh outlooks and outside-the-box thinking.

The uneasy relationship between Macha and Beane was well-known throughout the clubhouse and organization.

And since the players knew Beane's word was final, that didn't help Macha's standing.

After managing partner Lewis Wolff talked about parade routes during a corporate sponsors luncheon in February, Macha admitted that he felt enormous pressure to win and expected to be the fall guy if they didn't.

The final week of the regular season, after losing a third straight potential clincher, Macha vented to the press about front- office personnel congratulating him for winning the division before it was over.

Two days after the champagne flowed, Macha hadn't received a congratulatory phone call from Beane. Livid at the disrespect, Macha decided to take the opposite road, launching into unprompted lengthy praise for Beane.

The contrast was drastic three days later. When asked to talk about the job Macha did, Beane said "him and his entire staff" and quickly changed the subject to what a trying year it was, ending his answer with "if this was my first year as GM, when I wasn't Gandhi, it would be different."

"After all that is said and done," one player said, "it's not like I wished any bad things on him. Hopefully, he'll get another job somewhere with another team and be very successful.

"But we got as far as we did this year because we played for each other, not for him. The other coaches were there for support. It seemed like Macha was ... well, you didn't know what his deal was."