I don’t think anyone disagrees that Brian Fuentes was wrong to spout off about Bob Geren to the media the other night. Even Fuentes agrees, saying in his apology yesterday that he still believed everything he said about Geren’s lack of communication skills, but that he merely shouldn’t have shared it publicly like he did.
Sharing his distaste for Geren publicly today is former A’s pitcher Huston Street, who had many of the same complaints that Fuentes had. Only he, in a text sent to Chronicle reporter Susan Slusser, was a lot more expansive when it came to his feelings about his former manager:
“Bob was never good at communication, and I don’t want to speak for anybody else, but it was a sentiment reflected in many conversations during the two years I spent in Oakland, and even recently when talking to guys after I left. For me personally, he was my least favorite person I have ever encountered in sports from age 6 to 27. I am very thankful to be in a place where I can trust my manager.”
The Chronicle’s John Shea goes on to remind us of a blowup Street had with Geren on a road trip in 2008 and how, on that same trip, Mike Sweeney went after Geren too due to what he felt was, again, a lack of communication and ultimately poor treatment. This being the same Mike Sweeney whose primary mode of expressing himself is via hugs.
There are a couple of players quoted who, while not giving Geren a ringing endorsement, don’t slam him either. But yeah, it does seem like one of those situations that is gonna snowball. There aren’t many “the manager is losing his team” stories that end well for that manager. And that’s true whether the manager is best buddies with the GM or not.
