The Associated Press is reporting that "Willie Randolph finally got..."

Hmmm.

{voros goes through pockets looking for change}

Do you guys take Canadian money? Ummm...

Well anyway something important happened with Wille Randolph's managerial status today.

One of the common themes you'll see the next couple of days are folks talking about the "spark" teams tend to get when they fire a manager and hire a new one. My opinion on this is that this probably just the principle of regression at work.

Managers tend to get fired when teams perform below expectations, and teams performing below expectations tend to improve whether their managers get fired or not. It would be a somewhat difficult thing to study, but I suppose some generalities could be worked out by someone enterprising enough.

As for Willie Randolph, my ignorance on what exactly are good qualities in an MLB manager circa 2008 is pretty huge. Player evaluation and acquisition is handled almost entirely in the front office now and even some of the more traditional managerial duties now are heavily influenced by the front office. Does that mean the manager is a "scapegoat?" Yes, probably, but that's more or less in the job description.

It seems to me the most accurate thing to say when a front office fires a manager is that they are being critical of themselves as well as the manager.