UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Tuesday, October 1, 1996
3B
Rift ends with manager's firing
ALLSPORT
Jim Fregosi, former Philadelphia Phillies manager, felt that general manager Lee Thomas wasn't doing enough to add talent to the young team, he said.
Tension resolved; Jim Fregosi fired
PHILADELPHIA — When the phone rang at 7:30 a.m. yesterday, Jim Fregosi realized his days as manager of the Philadelphia Philies were finished.
The Associated Press
"I knew exactly what it was," Fregosi said. "When you've been around long enough, you know what it is."
"It was the news that had been rumored for several days. Fregosi, who led the Phillies to an unlikely National League title three years ago, was fired by general manager Lee Thomas.
"He's still a fine manager," Thomas said. "And before anybody begins to think otherwise, still a friend."
That may be true, but the rift that had developed between Thomas and Fregosi foreshadowed the change, which came a day after the Phillies finished the season at an NL-worst 67-95.
The Phillies, following the 1983 pennant with three consecutive losing seasons,
Then Lenny Dykstra's back and Darren Daulton's knees were injured, leaving the Phillies with huge holes in their lineup.
came into the season with shaky pitching and with four projected starters still recovering from surgery on opening day.
Thomas tried to patch the team with prospects, but found very little help in a farm system that hasn't produced a star-quality player since Daulton became the starting catcher in 1986.
Thomas also brought in young players that organizations had given up on, such as outfielders Glenn Murray and Ricky Otero, and shortstop Desi Relaford.
Fregosi, who has a reputation for working best with experienced pros, found it frustrating to field a team of mistake-prone youngsters. Publicly, he said he could only play the hand dealt him. Privately, he wondered why Thomas wasn't doing more to add talent.
Both men insisted yesterday that friction between them was overstated.
"We've had disagreements all the time," Fregosi said. "Disagreements are healthy. An organization needs a lot of meetings and open-mindedness to be successful."
The bickering between the two stayed within the team until three weeks ago when Phillies president Bill Giles publicly confirmed the rift and said the two had to settle their differences or he would for them.
"At this time, it's best for the club to make a change," Thomas said.
"I probably shouldn't have said what I said, but at times I'm too candid," Giles said.
Giles said he decided shortly after that Thomas would stay. He left Fregosi's fate to his general manager.
Fregosi preferred to have strong clubhouse leaders who would set the standard for teammates and let underachievers know when it wasn't met.
A number of the team's veterans, including pitcher Curt Schilling and catcher Benito Santiago, defended Fregosi.
"It's always tough when you get released, fired, whatever you want to call it." he said.
Thomas said he had not settled on a replacement, dismissing reports that third-base coach Larry Bowa would be the next manager.
Slow start costs Red Sox manager job
The Associated Press
BOSTON — Kevin Kennedy was fired yesterday after his second season as manager of the Boston Red Sox.
General manager Dan Duquette blamed Kennedy for the team's worst start in history and criticized his ability to integrate young players and veterans and to support the rest of the front office.
"Our relationship was not one that was going to be productive for the team." Duquette said at a news conference. "We cannot gamble the future of this franchise, the future of the Red Sox in the Eastern Division."
The Red Sox, who won the AL East title with an 86-58 record in 1995, finished the season Sunday at 85-77, seven games behind the New York Yankees.
The Red Sox had the best record in the American League in August and September, 38-18, but missed the playoffs, largely because of their 6-19 start.
"Coming out of spring training our team just was not prepared to play." Duquette said.
Kennedy, 42, went to the Red Sox after he was fired by the Texas Rangers following the 1994 season.
Despite the strong finish this year, the Red Sox never recovered from their start, as Kennedy jugged 55 different players on a roster constantly shuffled by Duquette.
Kennedy met with Duquette for about an hour today
Kennedy was fired with one year left on the contract he signed when he became manager on Oct. 18, 1994.
The firing caps a rocky week in which Roger Clemens and Mike Greenwell, the Red Sox players with the most seniority, sounded off about their contract situations while the team was still involved in the wild-card race.
Neither is signed for next year, and Greenwell criticized Duquette for poor communication with players. Duquette was upset that Kennedy didn't advise the veterans not to speak out.
Duquette has stressed building up the farm system and indicated that Kennedy had failed to foster the development of prospects once they reached the majors.
Kennedy, who led Texas to a 138-138 record in 1993- 94, became Boston's 40th manager after Butch Hobson was fired.
Before joining Texas, Kennedy worked in the Montreal Expos organization, also under Duquette. He was director of minor-league field operations from Oct. 31, 1991 until May 22, 1992, when he became Montreal's major-league dugout coach under manager Felipe Alou.
Kennedy established himself as a future major league manager in the Dodgers organization, serving as a manager at various levels and compiling a 533-373 record.
Former Boston Red Sox manager Kevin Kennedy was fired yesterday after being blamed for the team's worst start in its history.
ALLSPORT
During that time he won one overall league championship and finished in first place five times in the first or second half of the season.
As a player, Kennedy was caught in the Baltimore, St. Louis and Los Angeles organizations from 1976-83. He never made the major leagues.
Baseball's post-season begins today
Match-ups were set Saturday and Sunday for competition
The Associated Press
The NL East champion Braves left Montreal after their last regular-season game Sunday, not knowing where they would wind up. They planned to fly to Detroit for refueling, then remain on the ground until they found out who they would face in the playoffs.
The answer came a little later when the San Diego Padres beat Los Angeles 2-0 in 11 innings to win the NJ. West title.
That sent the Braves to Los Angeles to meet the wild-card Dodgers, whereas the Padres will go to St. Louis to play the NL Central champion Cardinals.
Joey Hamilton will start for the Padres against Todd Stotleymire today in Game 1 of the best-of-5 first round. The Cardinals went 8-4 against San Diego this season.
"I think you've got to throw the records out." Cardinals reliever Rick Honeycutt said. "That just shows at that time we played well against them. You definitely can't say because we beat them in the regular season, we should beat them now."
Then again, look at what happened in the 1995 playoffs. In all six matchups, the team that won the head-to-head series in the regular season also won when they played in the postseason.
The defending World Series champion Braves will begin Wednesday in Los Angeles. John Smoltz pitches for Atlanta against Ramon Martinez.
The Braves are playing in their fifth consecutive postseason. They were 5-7 against Los Angeles.
"I think we all like our chances," said Tom Glavine, Atlanta's starter in Game 3. "Pitching and defense are supposed to win games for you in the playoffs, and we feel as though we're real good in those areas."
In the AL, the matchups were set on Saturday.
The AL East champion New York Yankees will be at home tonight against the Texas Rangers, making their first-ever playoff appearance.
David Cone starts for New York while John Burkett pitches for the AL West champion Rangers, who were 7-5 against the Yankees.
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