Ned officially announced on Tuesday that Grady Little wouldn't be coming back in 2008 and then thanked him for all he did for the team during his two year tenure. Ned was peppered with questions about why Grady was unable to make it to the end of his contract.
" Was it the fact he played Juan Pierre 162 games and usually batted him 1st or 2nd?"
" Was it the fact he continued to used Furcal and Pierre at the 1 or 2 spot all year and hamstrung the offense all year by having two sub optimal OB hitters trying to start up the offense?"
" Was it the fact he benched Betemit after his dismal April and then when Betemit regained his stroke never gave him a chance to regain his starting job and used a punchless Nomar instead?
" Was it the fact that once Kemp came back healthy and hitting he employed a strange 3 man rotation of Ethier/Kemp/Gonzo, but the worse outfielder of the 4 by far continued to play everyday.?"
" Was it the fact he kept using Hendrickson and Tomko in the rotation?"
" Was it the fact he actually used Roberto Hernandez?"
" Was it the fact he was unable to control his clubhouse and get the veterans and rookies working toward a common goal?"
" Was it the fact that just about every tactical decision during the Sept meltdown all seemed to backfire on him?"
" Did they blame Grady for Schmidt being damaged goods?"
" Did they blame Grady for Kuo going down again?"
" Did they blame Grady for Wolf going down again?"
" Did they blame Grady for Nomar being signed to play 1st base and leaving Loney in AAA at the start of the year?"
" Did they blame Grady for leaving Meloan in the minors instead of using the Minor League Relief Pitcher Of The Year instead of trading their best utility player for a middle relief pitcher?"
" Did they blame Grady for the bizarre communication meltdown between Abreu and the front office regarding his hernia injury?"
" Did they blame Grady for not teaching the kids to bow whenever a PVL entered the room?"
" Did they blame Grady for Jason Werth doing a bang up job for the Phillies instead of the Dodgers"
" Did they blame Grady for having the biggest malcontent in baseball playing 3rd base during the August slide?
" Did they blame Grady for Martin's all-star season, for Kemp/Loney break out season's, for Billingsley's breakout in the 2nd half?"
Ned said "Hell No he grouchingly exclaimed, most of those were miscalculations by the front office. No this was basically a case of Grady having to many knifes sticking out of his back and that it would have been hard for Grady to sit comfortably in the Dodger dugout going forward. We've asked Grady if he wouldn't mind removing those knives and send them back to Kent, Gonzo, and Lowe but so far we've had no reply. Plus Frank has tired of his Boston fetish and now wants some tired Yankee blood. You can understand that, can't you?"