Sounds Suspiciously Like a Foreign Affairs Policy I Know

From Diamond Leung, a great quip from Luis Gonzalez, 2007 Dodger:

Luis Gonzalez spoke with Dan Patrick on KLAC-AM (570) today and had this to say about the idea of a split clubhouse:

"It was not as bad as the media made it out to seem. That was not the issue."

Then Patrick asked what was the issue, and here's Gonzo's answer:

"We went away from a game plan. We had no game plan.

"If you look at our record, we had the best record in the National League at the All-Star break. And we brought up a lot of young kids, and when they brought the kids up, they did well. There's no doubt these are all great young players. They were hitting .340, .350. Loney, Kemp, Martin, Ethier - they're all great players, but we weren't winning games. They're getting three and four hits, but you're not winning games.

"So in baseball a lot of times people look at the numbers instead of the results, and the results for us were we were not winning games, but that's what the organization wanted. They wanted to develop these young kids. And instead of us going out there and winning games, we ended up finishing in fourth place and the fans are ticked off, and the organization is now going to continue to this youth movement, which is great for them. I mean, they've got great young players."

Commenters on Diamond Leung's blog have made the comment that Gonzalez's quote lacks logic (which it does) and may make no sense (true). But what is really striking to me is the point that there was no gameplan uniting the team that this player could understand. Is that the player's fault, or management's?

Without clear direction and leadership, should we be surprised that the players could not understand crazy lineup decisions, or why Brett Tomko and Roberto Hernandez were allowed to pitch, or why Shea Hillenbrand was the answer for our power bat woes, or why Juan-For-Four Pierre was even in the lineup at all? Without a clear vision, whispers of dissension metastasize into rampant discontent.

And if Grady and Ned and Frank won't stop the cancer from spreading, well, who will?

(By the way, I'm still bitter about the 2007 season, if you can't tell from my posts.)