I damn well hope they don't "know" the window is closing. I don't know it's closing and I sure hope that the long range plan is continued success over the long term, as stated.
But let's say they know it's closing. And they have a plan to win it all next year. Have they had secret communication with Joe Girardi, he's leaving the Yankees and coming here? Probably not (though that would be nice). Then what? I think they eliminated the best chance we had of winning next year. Why? Not that Dusty is that great, but because there is nobody available who gives us better odds of winning it all.
With the young talent in the system, the Werth contract rolling off, and two aces locked in for the foreseeable future, I don't see the window closing. The Harper window is closing, so they need to mitigate that. This is an interesting move. I have mixed feelings. I have never liked Dusty, but it seemed that his ability to be a players manager was what this talented team needed to at least perform during the regular season, stay loose and focused. I can second guess a lot of Dusty moves, but he wasn't the one failing to hit. Any really critical decisions shouldn't be left to a manager anyway. That seems ridiculously old school. The organization has the responsibility to make sure things are managed within certain parameters if they are seen as important (e.g. decisions on starters, when certain bullpen guys should be used, etc.) If there is a fundamental baseball disagreement on things, then you can't let the manager go rogue. Everything else looks like second guessing and 20/20 hindsight. If the brain trust didn't want Gio to start or Max to relieve, then it shouldn't have happened anyway. But doubtful that was the case.
This is one of those "standard decisions". When you have an expectation to progress to the next round and fail, you dump the manager. Rizzo getting axed would be the next "standard decision." Doesn't always seem fair or logical, but it happens all the time. They just better have a quality replacement in mind, or they risk blowing up the chemistry, which seemed like the one thing Dusty was good at handling. If on the other hand, certain key players were less than supportive, then that could have factored in as well.
