I think the interesting dynamic in all of this with Hart in charge for the interim (and in the short-term if he decides to take the job in the short term or as in advisory role), is how he truely evaluates Fredi as a manager and how he handles the situation going forward. The questions that need to be answered is just how much have some of the decesions that have been made over the past few years on the baseball field been influenced by a egotistical control freak in charge.
Again I will repeat myself that I've been one of Fredi's biggest critics but if the organization had some internal workings and a sour attitude and lack of communication amongst those in charge, then maybe Fredi isn't as bad as it seem, but there needs to be some explaning done.
I've considered Fredi to be a manager much in the mold of a Mike Hargrove, a nice human being who can win some games with talent but isn't tough enough or strong enough to be a leader. Basically the team needs to be in cruise control and can win on its own, and that's what Cleveland had with one of the all-time dynamic offenses. The interesting thing in all of this is that Hart had Hargrove as his guy in charge for many of his years in Cleveland, although it wasn't necessarily a great working relationship. They got a long but many inside the organization, Hart included, thought that those teams during that era should have accomplished more than 2 World Series and 0 rings. Many will point to the fact that Hart never acquired or gave Hargrove a front line starter to matchup against a Maddux, Johnson, Cone, Brown, etc and many of the rotations were patched with middle of the rotation type veterans like Nagy, Burba, Hershisher, and Dennis Martinez. They really didn't have a legit #1 guy until Bartolo Colon came on late in the decade, but by that time their window was closed despite still winning a lot of games and winning the AL Central. Ultimately it all came to a head when Hart made the decesion to let Hargrove go after a collapse against the Red Sox in the playoffs, will Fredi have the same fate? We will find out.
Hart and Schueholz were basically the same GM, and interchangeable with the exception that JS had a pitching rich organization that was loaded with HOF starting pitching and great pitching depth but failed miserably at times to put together a complete team and fill holes and put together a complete roster with competant hitters that lead to only one WS title. Hart on the other hand was on the other end of the spectrum, he acquired and built a team around a dynamic offense with HOF caliber players up and down the lineup, but failed to fill the needs and acquire a frontline starter to matchup against the other great teams off that era.
