Where There's Black Smoke...

After Padres hitting coach, Wally Joyner, resigned prior to his likely dismissal at seasons end, the stability of the entire coaching staff is in question. The Padres extended manager Bud Black's contract through the 2009 season this spring, however the Sandy Alderson's and Kevin Tower's in the organization are refusing comment and not publicly supporting their skipper.

FF has regretfully slowed the frequency of posts due to the most disappointing season in recent memory. It takes a lot of poor play and lack of franchise direction to turn two lifelong Friar fanatics into those who can't stand to watch the on field product.

Whether it is right or wrong there are scapegoats when a season falls this shy of expectations. The head that usually rolls is that of the manager, and in this case FF completely supports the idea of going a different direction. Let the domino's start to fall, rip this thing apart and rebuild quickly (possibly starting with the 1st pick in the draft).