[EmpireWF]

Breaking news courtesy of ESPNews....Ken Macha has been fired after leading the Athletics to being swept in the ALCS.

AP Story

[MVB]

A lot of A's fans hated Macha, so I don't think anyone's really that upset.

[ThePundit]

I don't think I watched one full A's game this year so I couldn't tell you what kind of manager he was. I will say though, it's tough to get fired when your team makes the semi-final round. It goes to show you, when your a manager or coach, your always in danger.

[legend]

Macha almost left on his own last year, but came back to the A's when he didn't get the Pirates job. And like I said, he didn't pinch hit for Marco Scutaro with the bases loaded and two outs the other day in the eighth inning, but did pinch hit for Jermaine Dye in 2004 in a bigger spot, using Adam Melhuse to hit for him. He deserves to be fired just for that, but I am sure he just wasn't on the same page as management to begin with.

[chsbletz]

Macha may not be the best manager in MLB, but he had very few options vs. the Tigers. Whoever was responsible for putting that team together did a dramatically-less-than-sensational job. They had relatively little speed; they couldn't hit-and-run very well; and, against the Tigers at least, they were waiting for long balls that never came. (In fact, they're still waiting for them.) A big league manager has to have a few options at his disposal if his baseball intellect is going to come into play. Macha just seemed to have a lot of guys who could do basically the same things. In other words, there wasn't much versatility in evidence. I defy any manager to get very much more out of that group than Macha did. They just didn't have championship potential.

[Lefty Noob]

I don't know much about Macha personally, but to speak along the same lines as Pundit did -- I personally can't see firing a manager if his team was one of baseball's final four. Whatever mistakes Macha made during the ALCS, he helped his team to get there, and that has to count for something. That should be at least a one year get out of jail free card.

[EmpireWF]

From all reports leaking out, it appears Ken Macha was fired for two reasons. One, he didn't get along with GM Billy Beane. Two, he wasn't a good communicator. Supposedly, he didn't communicate well with his players.