July 14, 2004, 11:18AM Astros to fire Williams; Garner to be named manager By JOSE DE JESUS ORTIZ Astros manager Jimy Williams and his coaching staff will learn their fates at 1 p.m. today with former Milwaukee Brewers and Detroit Tigers manager Phil Garner set to become the franchise's 14th manager. The Astros have scheduled a news conference at 1 p.m. today to make it official. "I just got fired," hitting coach Harry Spilman said this morning. Citing commissioner Bud Selig's orders to not take attention away from the 75th All-Star Game, which was held Tuesday night at Minute Maid Park, McLane would not say Tuesday night whether Williams will be fired. After the American League beat the National League 9-4 before a sellout crowd of 41,886, Williams remained holed up in the home clubhouse's coaches room until he was assured all the media had cleared out. Through a team spokesman, he declined comment. "Remember what the commissioner has said," said McLane, who didn't deny he would fire Williams. "There will be no comment to take away focus from the All-Star Game. The entire focus for us has been the All-Star Game. We'll wait until after the All-Star Game to discuss it." Class AA Round Rock manager Jackie Moore was another potential candidate to replace Williams on an interim basis. Garner, a former Astros infielder, also cited Selig's edict on Tuesday. Asked specifically if the club had contacted him, the 55-year-old Garner was a bit vague while admitting to having had conversations with team officials. "Well, I talk to the Astros off and on on all kinds of things," he said. "I wouldn't say it's any different than anything else." Williams, who served as a coach for the NL All-Stars, was greeted by a chorus of boos when he was introduced to his home crowd. San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds was the only other player or coach booed in the Midsummer Classic on Tuesday night, but Williams received the loudest jeers. As reported by the Chronicle last week, McLane reiterated he will decide Williams' fate in a meeting today. "After we get in the office, we'll all talk," McLane said. "But I have two (meetings) before that." After McLane signed premier pitchers Andy Pettitte and Roger Clemens this winter, the Astros entered the season with more excitement than anybody involved with the club could remember. The starting lineup also returned intact, but the Astros are fifth in the National League Central, 10 1/2 games behind the division-leading St. Louis Cardinals. 215-197 with club The Astros headed into the All-Star break with a 44-44 record, even after acquiring All-Star center fielder Carlos Beltran on June 24. In all, the Astros had four All-Stars on the NL squad. Williams acknowledged that worrying about his future didn't make much sense anymore. "I guess that's for you folks to write about," he said before Tuesday's game. "I can't worry about that. The only thing we can get ready for now is that practice that we've got on Thursday to get ready for Friday's game." The Astros hired Williams on Nov. 1, 2001. He replaced former Astros pitcher and broadcaster Larry Dierker, who managed the Astros to four NL Central titles in five years before he resigned. Under Williams' guidance, the Astros are 215-197 with no postseason appearances. Garner, known as Scrap Iron during his playing career from 1973 to 1988, has a 708-802 record as a manager. Garner had his best season as a manager in his 1992 rookie campaign with the Brewers, who finished second in the American League East that year with a 92-70 record. The Brewers fired him after 112 games in 1999. The Tigers hired Garner in 2000 and fired him after they lost the first six games of the 2002 season. "I have just not wanted to be part of any speculation or anything else," Garner said. "I have a great deal of respect for Jimy. I know when times get tough, a lot of things get asked about, get questioned. I think it's easier for managers to just focus on what has to be done instead of answering all of these questions." Avoided the game The Pittsburgh Pirates traded Garner to the Astros on Aug. 31, 1981. He played in Houston until he was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers on June 19, 1987, but he kept his family in the Houston area. He coached for the Astros from 1989-91. Asked if the contact with the Astros addressed a managerial opportunity, Garner was adamant he didn't want to take attention away from the All-Star Game. For that reason, he decided against attending even though he had tickets.
I just can't imagine that Baylor was ever an option for this season since the Astros will be (hopefully) competing with the Mets for the wild card. Can you imagine the outcry from New York if the Astros beat the Mets out by a couple of games had the Mets allowed Baylor to walk? It will be interesting to hear the terms of the contract, but I bet it is more than the rest of this year. I am sure they wanted someone with experience and Garner was a convenient solution. Is he the best for the long haul? Probably not. Is he the best for the rest of this season, among those that were truly available? Probably so.
But I think with baseball, if you have a talented team that is individually perorming up to their capabilities, then the team kind of manages itself. Football to me...as far as offense and defense, require so much structure which is dictated by the head coach (i.e. this player has to be in this exact position and this exact time........). Ive always thought this would be an interesting HANGOUT topic. Out of the 4 major sports, which coach/manager has the least impact on his team's performance???
I don't like the hire of Garner..... but I LOVE THE FIRING OF JIMY! GOOD RIDDANCE!!! What did that guy ever accomplish with this team? NOTHING! At least Dierker could get the Astros to the playoffs. True, baseball managers have the least control of how their team does, but we saw what this team could do before Jimy, saw no results with him, and saw (somewhat) what they could do after (Hidalgo). I expect the Astros to finally turn it on, at least just for the sake of change.
Man, I was hoping for Jesse Barfield as hitting coach. Anyone have anything to say about Jim Hickey? You think Scrap Iron will demand respect from our older guys? Does he need to? He's more a high-energy guy and I don't doubt he'll try to light that fire in the clubhouse, but I don't know how the players will really respond. I think the biggest change will be the 'feel' in clubhouse. There's not that big age gap between Garner and some of the players like there was between Jimy and everyone else. Usually, if the coach is younger, he tends to be a players coach.. here's to hoping that's a good thing.
Yeah! That's great. We need a Clubhouse Linebacker. "I told you not to ground into a double play with the bases loaded! Whoooo!"
honestly... the biggest impact a manager can have is in his handling of the pitching staff. Jimy, in 2002 and 2003, basically made the most of nothing, with a staff that had players like an aging Shane Reynolds, Brian Moehler, a hurt Roy Oswalt, a hurt Wade Miller, a headcase Tim Redding, Pete Munro, Kirk Sarloos, Ron Villone, Jeriome Robertson, etc. I felt he did a remarkable job with this team last year, and would have gotten some manager of the year consideration, had this team not choked away the division lead in the final weeks. We may remember him most for yanking pitchers early, but with that bullpen... he always made a high percentage move. This year, he managed less with that strategy (granted, not having Wagner had much to do with that), and it burned him a few times as well... with some Oswalt games lost in the 8th inning, and the fact that this team has gone winless in extra innings. Ironically, this was the one year where he didn't really have to "manage" the pitching staff (as he'd done the previous 2 years), and he summarily gets fired... but a change was needed. Unfortunatley, they couldn't just can Spillman much earlier in the season... that would have at least been a start (and if it didn't pan out, THEN fire Jimy). Things I WILL attribute to Jimy as a success of his managing: 1.) The development of Brad Lidge as a lights out pitcher. Jimy was never afraid to throw him in tight situations in 2003, and its paid off big time this year. 2.) Improved defense... before he came, this club lacked severe fundamentals in the field, and the development of Adam Everett helped shore up a huge problem. Also, any team that could have won consistently with Lance Berkman and Craig Biggio playing CF must have had some good teaching. 3.)Strategy - while it would sometimes never pay-off, it was always interesting to see times when he'd employ the 5-man infield, the 4-man outfield, the righty-lefty shifts, situational leftys, situational rightys... the stros couldn't come close to sniffing out these plays with Dierker as manager. Needless to say (again, even though it didn't always result in success), I learnt a lot about how the different strategies that can be employed in this game under Jimy. I wish him luck... too bad the players didn't perform this year, but once again... change is needed.
Dierker routinely used the 4 man outfield (moving Biggio - at the time, playing 2nd - to left center field) when McGwire was playing. As a matter of fact, Biggio caught one his flies on the warning track and the box score notation was F-4.
I'm excited about Garner although I don't know anything about him. On an interim basis, why would we not give this guy a shot? Rudy was hired as an interim coach and turned out the be the greatest coach in franchise history.
Here's news from the AP: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ED?SITE=TXHOU&SECTION=SPORTS&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT Astros Fire Williams, Hire Garner HOUSTON (AP) -- The Houston Astros fired manager Jimy Williams and replaced him with Phil Garner on Wednesday, a last-ditch effort to rescue a season that started with World Series expectations. Garner, a former player with the Astros, told The Associated Press about the move in a telephone interview. The Astros scheduled an afternoon news conference to make the announcement. "I'm excited. I'm a Houston boy and I'm looking forward to it," said Garner, a former manager with Detroit and Milwaukee. "We got some boys on the team that I think can do something really special. This is an opportunity that I've been waiting for." Williams' job security had been the subject of speculation for about a month, right about the time Houston's surprising slide down the NL Central standings began. Houston was 44-44 heading into the All-Star break, a remarkable disappointment for a team that was tops in the NL Central for the first month and a half of the season. The season began with expectations of the club's first World Series appearance in its 42-year history after the offseason acquisition of former New York Yankees teammates Andy Pettitte and Roger Clemens. The Astros went into the All-Star break losers of six of their final eight games, finishing the first half of the season in fifth place in the NL Central. Houston is 10 1/2 games behind division leader St. Louis - the first time they've faced a double-digit deficit in the standings at the break in 11 seasons. During pregame introductions at the All-Star game Tuesday night, a sellout crowd at Minute Maid Park voiced its frustration by booing Williams. Williams doffed his cap, but was clearly embarrassed. Williams, 60, has guided the Astros to two second-place finishes, losing the division race last season in the final week. The Astros made the postseason four of five seasons before his arrival from Boston in November 2001, but have failed to clinch a playoff berth since. The Astros have been surprisingly punchless on offense, ranking only 19th in the majors in scoring. Their highly touted pitching staff has struggled as both Pettitte and Wade Miller have spent time on the disabled list. And Carlos Beltran hasn't been the quick fix they expected - the All-Star center fielder is hitting .263. The fans' booing of Williams likely didn't escape the attention of McLane or Hunsicker either. Hunsicker has repeatedly emphasized that the club has loaded up solely for an autumn finish - Beltran is a free agent, Clemens was coaxed out of retirement, Jeff Kent and Craig Biggio are in the final years of their contracts and Jeff Bagwell is nearing the end of his career. Garner, a former Astros infielder from 1981-87, was hired as Milwaukee's manager in 1992, leading the Brewers to a 92-70 record and a second-place finish in the AL East. That proved to be his best season as a manager, and Garner was ultimately fired by Milwaukee after 112 games in 1999. The Tigers hired Garner in 2000, going 145-179 over the next two seasons before firing him after they lost the first six games of the 2002 season. Garner, 55, and his family have kept a home in the Houston area since his playing days with the Astros. In recent days, many of the Astros were bracing for the managerial shake-up. No one was taken aback when the sellout crowd at the All-Star game booed Williams on Tuesday night. "That doesn't surprise me. The manager always gets the blame," Beltran said after the game. "I think Jimy is doing the best he can. There's nothing else he can do."
