Brewers Hire Ken Macha

The Brewers announced the hiring of Ken Macha as their new manager today.

Macha proved to be a good manager in his 4 years with the Oakland A's leading them to two playoff appearances and two near misses. He clashed with GM Billy Beane in Oakland and that was a big reason for his ouster there.

So one would think that I might be excited about this hire. I can't say that I am though because of a few of the details surrounding the deal.

The first issue is the Brewers will be retaining most of their coaching staff from last year, Nothing against these guys, but you'd think Macha would be allowed to assemble his own staff. To compound this problem the Brewers intend on bringing back Dale Sveum who was their interim manager and passed over for the job. Sveum made it no secret that he was crushed by not getting the job.

The other issue is Macha was only given a two year deal. This means that if the Brewers falter early on Macha could be on the hot seat as the Brewers wouldn't have to eat too much of a contract to dismiss him.

I think these factors cast Macha as a weak manager and I can envision a divided clubhouse if a player has an issue with Macha as he will appear weak in their eyes.

This could all work out well, but it's not hard to see trouble spots from the outset.