Cecil Cooper fired, but who's more incompetent: Coop or the Astros' brass?

Several possibilities come to mind.

(1) Perhaps some type of conflict arose between Wade and Cooper over day-to-day operation, like the issue of playing call ups. Given that firing Cooper was a foregone conclusion, perhaps Wade and McLane figured there is no harm in doing it now.

(2) Maybe there is some strategic benefit in getting ahead of other clubs which may fire their managers and, thus getting a better chance at hiring the best available manager. (nice thought, if true.)

(3) Maybe McLane had enough after two straight sweeps.

I figured that the entire city of Houston had thanked their collective lucky stars that there was a team in town worth caring about

The Rockets don’t start camp for a few more weeks, silly.

1. Scuttlebutt over at spikesnstars is that Coop was told that he would be released at the end of the season, but Coop decided that he would be released earlier. Whether this has anything to do with going out with a winning record (171-170) is up in the air.

2. I heard so many conflicting accounts on how the call-ups would be played that I wouldn’t be surprised if that was the final straw.

3. Yesterday, during the game, Brownie relayed that Coop was acting the sadsack, turning down interviews, and saying stuff to the effect that he didn’t know what he could do to make the team better. It’s possible that Coop found out yesterday that he wasn’t going to get to fulfill his 2010 contract.

4. Keeping Coop on until the end of the year made some sense. It’ll be easier for Wade to find the right guy by doing a thorough search during the offseason rather than in the middle of the season. Since it wasn’t clear that Clark would do anything different/better than Coop as an interim manager, it might make sense to hold on to the devil you know.

5. If the final straw was about playing the callups, then Dave Clark has a pretty good roadmap for how to be taken seriously as a candidate for the managerial position next year.

http://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/2009/9/16/1031195/houston-astros-2009-payroll

That’s one of the worst VOC’s we’ve conducted yet and it might actually be worse than the Royals.

Personally, I like Cecil Cooper. I admired his Post Game comments and his demeanor. Unfortunately, that doesn’t have a lot to do with winning baseball games. His managerial decisions were always suspect with me, and rarely was I impressed by moves he made. I coached Little League, played baseball till I was 38 years old, and all that means is I understand the game. And when I watch the game, I usually see the intent of a manager in his moves on the field. Cecil never really made sense to me.

I understand he is a victim of Roy O not having a season to remember, and I realize the pitching staff struggled. It’s obvious we couldn’t get the clutch hit, and I’ve seen more games lost after having them won than I can remember in one season. But these things are in fact the manager’s responsibiliy.

It did take too long for the firing. I agree it should have been done some time ago. After surging to the top of the division, we began a tailspin that gleemed of imminent crashing the first week. Can’t put my finger on it, but it was obvious the mentality and drive in this team was lacking, and I saw no sign of recovery. I blame the manager for this type of team mentality.

Who next? I couldn’t say. But one thing is for sure, the best and most successful managers we have had were ex-Astros. And does a Jeff Bagwell fit there? Only the opportunity would tell us yea or nea, but one thing is for sure. The time Bags has spent in a locker room and dugout is all the experience he would need. Lord knows he has seen managers work, and I’m sure he has already said to himself many times……“If I were the Skipper, I’d do it like this…”, and there is the way a manager is born.