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BOSTON -- Boston Red Sox manager Grady Little said he is not sure he wants to be back with the team next season, according to a published report.
Little, second-guessed for keeping Pedro Martinez on the mound in the team's 6-5, 11th-inning loss to the New York Yankees in Game 7 of the AL Championship Series after Martinez struggled in the seventh and eighth innings, will not be surprised if he's fired.
"I'm prepared for the likelihood," Little told The Boston Globe. "I am not sure that I want to manage that team. That's how I felt when I drove out of town."
Little said he has not heard from the team's management since returning to his North Carolina home.
"All I know is that when I left there, there was some hesitation," he said. "That's all I need to know."
The club has an option on Little's contract for next season. In his two years as Red Sox manager, they were 93-69 and 95-67, and qualified for the playoffs this season for the first time since 1999.
"Right now I am disappointed that evidently some people are judging me on the results of one decision I made -- not the decision, but the results of the decision," he said. "Less than 24 hours before, those same people were hugging and kissing me. If that's the way they operate, I'm not sure I want to be part of it."
Many of the team's key players, including Todd Walker and Manny Ramirez, have publicly said Little should return.
If he had to do it again, Little said he would keep Martinez in to pitch the eighth inning, when the Yankees came back from a 5-2 deficit to tie the game.
Little, 53, became the Red Sox's 43rd manager on March 11, 2002 after Joe Kerrigan was fired. Kerrigan had taken over late in the 2001 season after Jimy Williams was fired.
Little managed 16 seasons in the minors from 1980 through 1995 and was San Diego's bullpen coach in 1996. He spent the next three seasons as Williams' bench coach in Boston then had the same job the next two seasons with Charlie Manuel in Cleveland.
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He is exactly right about being criticized for "the outcome of a decision". Leaving Pedro in was a good choice. Pedro screwed it up and Little takes the fall. Typical
Little, second-guessed for keeping Pedro Martinez on the mound in the team's 6-5, 11th-inning loss to the New York Yankees in Game 7 of the AL Championship Series after Martinez struggled in the seventh and eighth innings, will not be surprised if he's fired.
"I'm prepared for the likelihood," Little told The Boston Globe. "I am not sure that I want to manage that team. That's how I felt when I drove out of town."
Little said he has not heard from the team's management since returning to his North Carolina home.
"All I know is that when I left there, there was some hesitation," he said. "That's all I need to know."
The club has an option on Little's contract for next season. In his two years as Red Sox manager, they were 93-69 and 95-67, and qualified for the playoffs this season for the first time since 1999.
"Right now I am disappointed that evidently some people are judging me on the results of one decision I made -- not the decision, but the results of the decision," he said. "Less than 24 hours before, those same people were hugging and kissing me. If that's the way they operate, I'm not sure I want to be part of it."
Many of the team's key players, including Todd Walker and Manny Ramirez, have publicly said Little should return.
If he had to do it again, Little said he would keep Martinez in to pitch the eighth inning, when the Yankees came back from a 5-2 deficit to tie the game.
Little, 53, became the Red Sox's 43rd manager on March 11, 2002 after Joe Kerrigan was fired. Kerrigan had taken over late in the 2001 season after Jimy Williams was fired.
Little managed 16 seasons in the minors from 1980 through 1995 and was San Diego's bullpen coach in 1996. He spent the next three seasons as Williams' bench coach in Boston then had the same job the next two seasons with Charlie Manuel in Cleveland.
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He is exactly right about being criticized for "the outcome of a decision". Leaving Pedro in was a good choice. Pedro screwed it up and Little takes the fall. Typical