And how. Curious how the whole thing came down. Pity the decision couldn’t have been made Sunday then two guys wouldn’t have had to get on a plane to fly Cleveland only to turn around and come back after losing their jobs. Baseball is not always the nicest of sports. Not sure what happened other than knowing that there have been plenty of meetings the past couple of weeks including a couple in the last two days with the skipper, general manager and assistant gm. Wilkerson was not at the park when we got there, but Norton was. He was not told until around 4:00 and was a bit stunned by the news.

A lot of people are asking me why Norton and not Cairo. If Norton stayed there would be only one guy (Willie) on the bench who could run. Mac has said repeatedly that he felt hamstrung in his use of Willie last year because there was no one else who could run. Today Mac said that Norton mirrored Vidro too much and that basically they would be the same person on the bench. Some would say why Vidro? Well, while he is not exactly what you want in an everyday DH, as a part time DH and bat off the bench he is a nice albeit expensive piece of the team. Interestingly enough, no one on this team is hitting better than Vidro with runners in scoring position. I hope Norton gets picked up by another team as it looks like with the configuration the M’s are going with, there will be little use for him now. He did a nice job with the bat, hopefully enough clubs saw that. He should be playing somewhere.

As for that configuration, get ready for more mixing and matching than we have seen in years. We will start with the easy part. Wlad will be the everyday right fielder. This will put Willie back into his do everything role on the bench and take him out of his short lived part of the right field platoon. How about Clement? Well here is where things will get interesting. Mac said that Clement will play a lot. He will see his time at DH and catcher. I personally think it will be mainly at DH at least in the early going. Take first base out of your mind for Clement as he has never done it before and he is not going to learn the position at the big league level. This move does not completely spell doom for Vidro or Burke. With both Joh and Clement on the field at the same time the majority of the time the club must have a third catcher. I don’t think he will just sit either. Burke has already been told he will catch Bedard Friday in New York. As for Vidro, Mac told us he will get at bats at DH, first and second.

Mac said he had several conversations with players today telling them what to expect with the moves. Communication will be critical here for Mac as the guys who have been on this team the last couple of years are used to playing every day. It can work if handled correctly. Look at Anaheim and how Mike Scioscia has juggled his line ups to get Chone Figgins in the past couple of years, then managing four outfielders this year. It will be very, very interesting to see how this is managed here. Mac said yesterday that he is managing to win ball games. Mac as a bench coach was known for his communication and as a player’s guy. He is going to need those skills as he could have a delicate mix on his hands.

Other stuff…If you live in Cleveland, Tower City Center, the mall attached to the Ritz Carlton, is the place to see athletes. Monday, the Mariners and Yankees were there, today, well let’s just say I took two elevator rides with the Washington Wizards. I am so clueless in the basketball department these days that Sean Green had to point out that it was Gilbert Arenas who smiled and said hi to me this morning. The town, as it was last year, is all decked out for the NBA playoffs…There have been tons of upgrades to the stadium including an impressive Hall of Fame walk. Additions to the visiting clubhouse as well with huge recycling bins prominent in the main walk way. Raul walked through with a used paper plate, started to throw it in one, stopped, then read the others, then threw it in the trash. He shrugged his shoulders and said he tried. I think he did the right thing. You can’t recycle paper with food waste on it can you? What’s next in the clubhouse, compost bins...I ran into JJ and his folks in the lobby today. JJ was happy. Mom insisted on driving the two and a half hours from their home in Michigan to have lunch with him. “They came here just to have lunch with me. They are not even going to the game!” Pretty cool…