Chairman shakes up Sinon Bulls

The ax fell hard on the Sinon Bulls' front office and senior coaching staff earlier this month, sending former General Manager Ren Chung-jeh (任中傑), skipper Chen Wei-cheng (陳威成) and pitching coach Liao Jung-ming (廖俊銘) packing without any prior warning.

Yang Tien-fa (楊天發) chairman of Sinon Enterprise let go of the men that took his beloved Bulls to the championship series less than a year ago, despite losing the series to the Brother Elephants in a 4-2 effort, and replaced them with former Vice President of Operations Zhou Hung-wem (趙宏文), former assistant Liu Rong-hua (劉榮華) and former conditioning coach Tsai Chung-kuang (蔡重光), respectively.

While most would agree that Ren deserves to be fired for his inability to find a solid replacement for former ace closer Ramon Morel and the team's collaborative effort with the Los Angeles Dodgers not having aided the squad, the parting of skipper Chen was unforeseen and poorly accepted by the players and the fans.

"Something just wasn't working in this ball club -- I had to make a change quick and give the younger guys a chance," Yang was quoted in the local Chinese-language media following the decision.

"Whether it's now or at the end of the season, I would still be shocked to learn that he [Chen Wei-cheng] is let go," Sinon's wonder boy Chang "the Prince of the Forest" Tai-shang (張泰山) said after learning of the firings.

The proper role of the owners in professional sports has long been questioned.

Sad as it may seem, such decisions often boil down to clashes between massive egos and not the lack of technical or coaching expertise.

Some have speculated that the firing of Chen was directly related to his reluctance to make pitching changes when folks watching from the box suites wanted them.

Even though neither party would answer specific questions on this particular issue, nor would anyone argue that mid-inning relief had not been a problem for the Bulls all season long, the fact that a manager's authority on the field should not be challenged at any time remains one of the golden rules in sports. Violating such a fundamental belief, as many have done in American professional sports, has led to more disasters than successes in recent years.

"If ownership can't trust the decision that the coaching staff has made on the field, then why was the coaching staff hired in the first place? I strongly believe that I have total control whenever I step onto the field as the manager for a ball club -- there simply is no other way!" Chinatrust Whales manager Hsu Sheng-ming (徐生明) said.

Only once in a blue moon will there be an owner that has enough baseball sense and experience to match the professional skill and knowledge of a professional manager.

Yang Tien-fa has been around the game long enough to realize this. Instead of second guessing a competent man like Chen, Yang should focus more on getting his team the necessary resources and personnel to sustain its success, and less on the coaching decisions that are meant for a baseball man.