9-News: 37.090 – Richards On the Outs?

[RonCo]

Manager May Be Moving
While no one is talking about details, rumors are the YS9 GM Ron Collins met with Bret Richards, the team’s manager, today. Given that Richards is at the end of his contract, and that there’s been no word of a commitment from the team, most insiders are saying it appears the 68-year-old Richards will be moving on.

The Nine were 80-82 this season, missing the playoffs by a considerable margin. It was the club’s first sub-.500 season in Richards’ tenure, and the only time it’s not made the post-season. Much has been written and spoken regarding the talent that the team lost to the free agent market this past year—and it’s true that some pundits were predicting this kind of result, but it’s also true that most fans still expected better and that the team’s ownership was expecting to print post-season tickets. The Nine launched the 2037 season, however, with an atrocious 9-18 April crater that they were never able to climb out of. Injuries to three of the team’s starting rotation and a mysterious dead-ball season from Lucas McNeill sealed the fate of the club.

This performance has already claimed the job of pitching coach Dan Walker, and contacts close to the team say that generalmanager Ron Collins is willing to do about anything to protect himself from the wrath of owner Bo Jordan, who publicly noted that he expected a Landis quality season from the team (at the same time as he suggested he might run for president in a non-presidential year…so take that for what it’s worth).

Richards has been talking in the press about having interest in returning to the Yellow Springs bench, but his price tag of something near $1.6M represents a 25% raise over his past contract, and his request for multiple years is thought to be an additional sticking point. Add to this that the team is much younger today than in any time in the past leads many to say that Richards’ hands-off approach might be out of date, and a poor match for the team.

If this is the end for the veteran manager, it would be the most successful managerial run in the history of the franchise. Richards is 863-595, good for a .592 winning percentage. His teams made the post season eight straight seasons, and made it to the Landis Memorial Series twice.

Given the tight-lipped nature of the team regarding Richards’ future, it’s probably no surprise that no word is being floated about who might succeed Richards whenever such a decision is made.