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At issue was Macha’s ability to relate to his players as manager of the Oakland A’s, a four-year run that included four winning seasons, two division titles and one abrupt departure.
Indeed, when Macha left Oakland after the 2006 season, fired by heavy-handed general manager Billy Beane after the A’s were swept by Detroit in the American League Championship Series, he did so accompanied by newspaper stories filled with unflattering quotes from players about his inability to communicate.
After naming Macha to replace the fired Ned Yost, Brewers general manager Doug Melvin dismissed those reports as overblown.
“I received calls from people that said it wasn’t that much of an issue,” he said. “Every ballclub will have issues over the course of the year.”
At first, Macha said he didn’t think he had to “sit here and defend myself in that area.” Then he quickly launched into a defense, telling a story about outfielder Jay Payton storming into his office one June day.
“I very much welcome people to come in and complain if they’re not playing and I’m going to be honest with them and tell them why,” Macha said. “So Jay came in and said, ‘I want to know why I’m not playing.’
“I said, ‘Jay, you’re on-base percentage is .289, you’re swinging at everything and you’re all over the place. I’m not going to bury you on the bench. I’m going to play you, but you’ve got to pick your game up a little bit.’ I said, ‘I don’t drive to the ballpark every day wondering how I’m going to stick it to Jay Payton. I don’t do that. I’m an equal-opportunity employer. If you go out there and produce, you’re in the lineup.’ He said, ‘Fine,’ and walked out. He wound up hitting .300 for me that season.”
Actually, Payton hit .296, but Macha’s point was on the mark. Even though players always say they want their manager to be honest with them, a straight-shooting boss walks a fine line between motivating and alienating players.
Yost blurred that line by coddling the Brewers’ young stars during their formative years. When the team got off to a slow start last season and Yost started making tough decisions on playing time, the players couldn’t handle the change and some of them tuned him out.
For that reason, the no-nonsense Macha is a solid choice for a team that is no longer has the excuse of youth. He will make demands from the first day of spring training and he won’t worry about ruffling feathers in players don’t produce.
“The job of the manager is really not to be buddies with all the players,” Macha said. “You have to make very difficult decisions over the course of a year. ... Sometimes players think it’s a little personal and it really isn’t.”
Macha, who had eight winning seasons in four years as the bench coach and four more as the manager in Oakland, said he’s had very few issues with players. With the A’s, Macha appeared to lose the clubhouse only after the players began to believe Beane was dictating on-field moves from the front office.
Beane cited a “disconnect” between Macha and the players when he fired him. But Macha said the A’s loss to the Tigers was very frustrating for everyone in the organization and that some of the players who let that frustration out, including Brewers catcher Jason Kendall, have talked to him since then and their relationships are fine.
“I think if you go back to those players now, they might have a little bit different take,” Macha said.
Even if they don’t, who cares? Macha is a proven winner and, given owner Mark Attanasio’s absence from Thursday’s news conference, Melvin’s clear choice for the job. That should give Macha something he didn’t have in Oakland — ultimate power in his clubhouse.
“The bottom line is the manager’s responsible for wins and losses,” Macha said. “The amount of respect you get from players is shown by the intensity with which they play. You can take a look at our teams that we had in Oakland, they always played better as the season went on.”
In the end, that’s the only defense Macha needs.
Tom Oates is a sportswriter for the Wisconsin State Journal in Madison.
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