Great: Sox to fire Little; Yankees to hire him!

["Stephen Beauregard" <sb@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Little left to say: Manuel, Remy are candidates to replace Grady
By Michael Silverman
Monday, October 27, 2003

Preparations were under way last night at Red Sox [stats, schedule]
headquarters for today's expected announcement that Grady Little will not be
brought back to manage the ballclub next season.

     ``I don't think anyone wants to prolong this,'' a Red Sox official said
yesterday. ``It's going (to be announced) sooner than later.''

     Two candidates to succeed Little emerged last night, according to a Red
Sox source. A target of the ballclub is former Indians manager Charlie Manuel,
currently a roving hitting instructor for the Phillies. Another name - and
this one is more exploratory - is former Sox second baseman Jerry Remy, an
analyst for NESN.

     Others to be on the Red Sox' list when Little's fate is finally announced
are Yankees third base coach Willie Randolph, Yankees first base coach Lee
Mazzilli, Dodgers third base coach Glenn Hoffman and former Phillies skipper
Terry Francona.

     Since the Red Sox were bounced out of the ALCS in Game 7, the Red Sox
have been discussing how to handle the matter of Little's 2004 option. There
have been zero indications that the club has wavered on its stance to seek a
new manager.

     With the World Series ending on Saturday night, the news vacuum
encouraged by Major League Baseball ended and the club is now free to make
official what it apparently decided to do long ago.

     The Red Sox' ownership troika and management team have said little
publicly about their manager since the season ended.

     In the interim, reports have surfaced of player dissatisfaction over
Little's potential departure, while Little himself has expressed his annoyance
at his treatment and the expectation that he is a goner.

     Just to illustrate some of the despair that Little's Game 7
decision-making provoked among some of the Red Sox' principals, reports also
have begun to trickle in about the scene in the stands at Yankee Stadium in
Game 7, when the Red Sox lost their lead in the eighth inning. As the lead
evaporated, several eyewitnesses reported seeing and hearing team president
Larry Lucchino saying, to paraphrase, ``What is (Little) doing, what is he
doing?'' And general manager Theo Epstein was spotted shaking his head
repeatedly as the inning dragged on with the Yankees continuing to score runs.

     The decision is not all about ALCS Game 7, club sources maintain. The Red
Sox are believed to be unanimously disenchanted with Little's lack of reliance
on the statistical information and analyses provided him by the front office
all season long. They believe him to be over-reliant on his instincts. No one
has disputed that Little's gentle and deft touch in the clubhouse was a real
plus this past season, but the club would like a more hybrid-type manager who
uses statistics more often.

     As far as Little's future goes, he would immediately become a candidate
for the vacant job in Baltimore, where he was a finalist before Mike Hargrove
got that job, and in Chicago. Also, with Don Zimmer resigning Saturday night
as Yankees manager Joe Torre's bench coach, do not be surprised to see his
name surface as a candidate to replace Zimmer. Torre is known to be fond and
respectful of Little.
Thanks,

Steve
sb@xxxxxxxxxxxx