There are legitimate concerns about this "new wave" of young g.m.s taking over. A writer can, if he chooses, make intelligent arguments for why a Paul DePodesta needed to be fired in L.A., why the hiring of a Jon Daniels or a Josh Byrnes may be a mistake.
Bill Plaschke, who has been one of the most prominent DePodesta critics in the L.A. media, has a column today that completely fails to do that:
Paul DePodesta has been fired as Dodger general manager, days after the organizational meetings, days before he was going to announce a new manager, weeks after the end of an awful season.
Some will say this means the Dodgers are in chaos. I say this means they are finally seeking order.
Some will say DePodesta wasn't given a fair chance. I say he never should have been hired in the first place.
Some say this makes Dodger owner McCourt look like a man who has lost control. I say this is about him finally taking control, however clueless and callous he appears.
Some say, a hasty firing. I say, a smart trade.
DePodesta and his strange managerial candidate list have been dealt into our memories for Pat Gillick, Orel Hershiser and Bobby Valentine.
Here's guessing Gillick and his World Series rings will be the new general manager. Hershiser and his World Series ring will be the assistant. Bobby Valentine and his World Series appearance will be the manager.
None of this would be possible if DePodesta were still around.
The kid's computer, once foolishly hailed by McCourt as the organizational savior, had become little more than a flashy box blocking the door.
McCourt should have known better. Or, at least, he should have asked someone other than Oakland's Billy Beane, the most famous general manager who has never won a playoff series.
It seems that some in the L.A. media are unable to reference DePodesta without following it with "and his computer."
In contrast, Ken Rosenthal has a thoughtful, flame-free column that analyzes this recent trend, and points out some of the potential problems when promoting to g.m. someone who has scant experience and hasn't run his own department within an organization.
Jon Daniels, of course, gets a mention in the Rosenthal column, as Rosenthal touches on the chain-of-command problems inherent if Daniels and Arizona g.m. Josh Byrnes are, as some believe, just proxies for Buck Showalter and Jeff Moorad, respectively.
Still, Rosenthal's column is a sober and thoughtful counter-point to the pro-new-wave editorials, and one of the few that doesn't have juvenile cracks about Clearisil, snide comments about computers, or contain swipes at "Moneyball."