Ned Flounders

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2225383

With the hiring of Ned Colletti as the new GM of the Dodgers, we finally have confirmation that McCourt had no real plan when he canned PDP. You just don't get rid of a Paul Depodesta to replace them with a Ned Colletti.

I have no prejudgements about Ned, but the early returns aren't good. Why does Colletti's hand in the Giants sub-par 2005 season get a pass (when they were hurt by injuries) while PDP's even more injury marred season gets him fired? What was Colletti's role in moves like trading Jerome Williams and Dave Aardsma for set-up man Latroy Hawkins or signing Moises Alou, Edgardo Alfonso, Armando Benitez and Omar Vizquel to contracts they will not justify in their final years? I'm trying to think what great moves the Giants have made since resigning Bonds (not really a tough decision, right) and trading for Jason Schmidt? What have the Giants done where someone from the outside would say "Hey, that organization is headed in the right direction. We should go get someone who embodies that philosophy and get him to run our organization."?

It will take some serious bungling to screw the Dodgers up these next few seasons, given the resources and plentiful young talent already in the organization. Should it be expected that if Ned's team has a 85-90 loss season (regradless of reason), Ned can expect a pink slip? Or is he going to be such a great guy to hang out with, he'll be able to sufficiently politic to keep his job?

So in light of how everything has turned out, here were PDP's downfalls:

-He wasn't the personality that Billy Beane was, which is what F-McC really wanted and thought he was getting after he read "Moneyball"
-He's not the life of the party
-He doesn't feel compelled to get approval from anyone, from old bitgods, to owners who have no baseball knowledge to a media that is swayed at a whim
-He used a computer instead of carbon paper and binders
-He didn't make people feel good by not running to every camera to shout that he bleeds Dodger Blue
-He didn't believe in chemistry, believing instead that talent was more important than feelings and personality. What tomfoolery.

I'm hopeful the Dodgers will do well, but I don't have the same optimism and excitement I had 20 months ago. We'll see how it plays out.