Keep Schaefer

Art Howe got his interview yesterday. Baird and Glass have already interviewed Indians coach Buddy Bell. They've set up meetings with Jerry Manuel and Terry Collins. And according to Bob Dutton and Jeff Passan, "The Royals appear on track to hire a permanent replacement for Pena within the week."

I don't really understand why though. While I don't believe that Bob Schaefer is the guy for the job, what's it going to hurt to leave him in place for the rest of the season? Isn't this season a wash already anyway? Schaefer is a slightly different version of Pena, but the guys do seem to be responding better to Schaefer's "be aggressive at the place" approach. He has earned his spot in the sun and we certainly have nothing to lose by letting him get a nice tan for the remaining four months.

Joe Posnanski has a funny line in his column this morning about the rush to find a new manager:

"They are considering Bob Schaefer and Art Howe and Terry Collins and Buddy Bell, we know that, and they are probably considering others such as Gene Lamont, Don Baylor, Jim Riggleman, Ryan Lefebvre's dad, any of the Lachemann brothers, Frank Lucchesi, Mike Ditka, Lou Brown from 'Major League,' the late Walter Alston and any other manager with the grand experience of being fired."

What happens if we bring in a new guy in the next week and then a month later trade Sweeney? This team is doomed without Mike Sweeney. In fact, they look doomed with him, but if it is possible to make a distinction between doomed and destitute-hopeless-no-chance-in-the-world-to-be-competitive-doomed, then that's what this team is without Mike Sweeney. You could bring in Joe Torre to manage this team for the remainder of the season—with or without Mike Sweeney—and it wouldn't matter.

So why hire someone now? Why not wait until after the season when fans like me can always find a way to muster up hope for a new season? After this dismal season is over, I want to hear a newly hired manager talking about how thrilled he is to be in KC and that he can't wait for Spring Training to open. I want to hear him say that we have a shot at the Twins. I want to see him implementing his style of baseball during Spring Training. I want the fantasy. Hey, sometimes dreams come true and don't try to convince me otherwise. I'm quite happy with fantasies that border on insanity. But the fantasy will be tarnished if the new guy loses two-thirds of the games from here on out.

Instead, let's allow Schaefer to ride off into the sunset, or down the bench a spot, believing that he did what we needed him to do--he held down the fort when we were under attack and took the pressure off the young guys...and in the process allowed them the freedom they needed to become legitimate major leaguers. We have no expectations of this team turning things around this year. We know it's a developmental season. We know they are going to lose 100 games. And while that's not okay, it's okay enough for the rest of this season if Schaefer stays on board.