I'm not sure exactly why I'm bugging out so much about firing him. I guess I just want the bad movie to be over.

So the possible reasons for keeping Dusty for the rest of the season include...

*    "The guys we might want to manage next year aren't available, so we might as well keep him."
*    "We're not sure if any of the guys `in-house' would do any better, so we might as well keep him."
*    "There's not much time left in the season and he can't screw them up any more than he has, so we might as well keep him."
*    "He's going to continue to be manager next season and beyond."

Although I see some merit to each of these, and while I believe that Hendry will wait until the season is over to "not re-sign" Dusty, I don't think choosing him to be the manager for the remainder of the season (and it is a choice) contributes to the development of any of the guys who will be on the roster next year, which in turn, means that we're not taking any steps closer to winning a world series.

From where I'm typing, which is a long way from the clubhouse, if we're not getting closer to the world series, than we're wasting our time. Even if we have a major overhaul of the roster (12-14 players or so) that still leaves a core group of guys on the big league roster who will be with us next year. And, currently there are players here in September who won't be on the big league roster, but who will remain in the organization in Iowa or West Tennessee. These two groups of players and their individual and collective development are what really matter to me.

The questions for the next few weeks then are "How are we going to help them improve so that we're going to get closer to our goal, a world championship?" and "Is the guy we have leading them helping or hindering their development?"

To me, dusty clearly is hindering them.

So, if we look at the first two reasons, "the long-term guy isn't available" and "the in-house guys might not do any better", I would respond, "In Dusty, we currently don't have a long-term answer," and "We don't know for sure if in-house guys would do better, but we know they won't do worse." These arguments seem to be rooted in, as well as placing a value, on stability and predictability. That is, "we might as well stick with the poison we got, because we know how it'll kill us. We're prepared for it."

That just seems like non-sense and a waste of time to me. If we agree that the focus of the last few weeks of this horrendous season are about helping a core group of guys get better and we identify those guys as players who have jumped back and forth from the minor league and big league roster all year, then why not give one of the minor league managers some big league experience for a few weeks, and, at the same time, continue his guidance and tutelage that many of our core guys have had this season in West Tennessee or Iowa? And, really does the way dusty manage provide any sort of stability or predictability that would enable some of these core group of guys to learn and get better?

The third possible reason, "there's not much time left in the season, so why bother," is exactly the kind of attitude you don't want your players or organization to develop. No day should be a waste toward the ultimate goal. In firing dusty now, Hendry could send the message that even though this season is the absolute worst one the organization has endured in many, many ways, the organization still has the goal and commitment to work toward excellence - to improve each and every day - in small and large ways. It's been obvious that under dusty's guidance, the players - individually and collectively - haven't taken steps toward excellence. He's not leading him there.

As for the fourth reason, "he's going to manage next year," god help us if that's true.

Like I said, I'm resigned to the fact that dusty will finish out the season, but I still haven't heard a good reason why that should be. And, I know that many of you we're calling for his firing long ago, but I'm a patient man and I guess it took awhile for my frustration to boil over. But, man, I'm just tired of the team I root for doing things in such an unprincipled, surface-deep, and ad-hoc way. Fire dusty now and set the tone that excellence and improvement are demanded in this organization, because if they are not, why bother?