Sympathy for the Cap'n

The Tavares-Bowden putsch continues. Speaking of the Nats coaching staff in today's Post, Trader Jim says,

I recommend to all of them that they seek employment elsewhere. There are no guarantees here. I put a memo out to all the other clubs, providing each of our coaches' phone numbers, so that those clubs can notify them if they're interested in hiring them. Their situation is extremely clear.

Except that it's not. Bowden talks as though the coaching staff has less job security than the front office staff, which just isn't so. The front office's stated reason for doing this is to give the fabled "new owners" the flexibility to name their own coaching staff. But that's a bit of a canard. The new owners would always have the right to fire the existing staff en masse and put their own people in place, including replacing Tony T. and Trader Jim. It seems to me that this is really about what Tony & Jim would like to do with the coaching staff, namely firing everyone who's not Randy St. Claire.

It's no secret that I'm not a fan of Medal of Freedom winner Frank Robinson's "manage by gut, dance with the arthritic veterans that brung ya" school of management. I've been calling for the ritual sacrifice of hitting coach Tom McGraw for months, and if he takes 3rd base coach Dave Huppert with him fine by me. But just because I have issues with our coaching staff that doesn't mean I'm okay with our pseudo Team President and pseudo GM running them out of town under the guise of ownership autonomy.

Trader Jim can make player personnel decisions, because someone has to. But as he so elegantly said, the coaching staff doesn't go to work till February anyway, so why not at least put them on temporary 3-month contracts (much like his own)? Giving them the right to negotiate with other teams is the right thing to do. Leaving them in limbo about their future with the Nats is not. Because in case he hasn't noticed, they're all in the same boat with Cap'n Hook.