McLaren had to go

I thought Sexson would be gone first, but frankly McLaren was getting to be an even bigger problem than Ritchie's double plays.

The last thing the team needs is to make an even bigger mess in the club house. McLaren's move to make Ichiro a right-fielder made the team worse, and now adds to the combustible material a new manager will face.

When a competent manager is put in place, do you then tell Ichiro to march back to center? Does this hurt the relationship between your star player and the new manager?

McLaren created this problem, and he chose to do it on the day his boss got canned. He also did it without consulting with his new boss, which in my mind is career suicide.

McLaren was a lousy manager. We said it all last year watching him manage the game. Bullpen use. Substitution use. Bench use. Catcher use. You name it, he sucked at it.

But the decision on his own to move Ichiro to right field should have been the nail in the coffin for his short managerial career.