Bulls and Steers

Kirk Gibson was named Arizona's bench coach today, ostensibly replacing Jay Bell, but really to jump start a moribund clubhouse deflated by Bob Melvin's unaccountable governance.

The wooing of Gibson, a man of mythic, almost cartoonish intensity, trumpets significant front office impatience with the team's ongoing ennui, a hallmark of Melvin clubs.  If intensity wasnt an issue, the perfunctory appointment of a local field rat like Matt Williams would've enabled Josh Byrnes more time to focus on the off season's most pressing concerns. Instead, Byrnes went out of his way to pursue a man with no franchise ties who will inevitably alter the dugout atmosphere.

While such personality insertion is long overdue, we wonder exactly when the Dbacks came to our longstanding conclusion. Was this shortcoming a recent revelation, exacerbated by the late season exodus of veterans Counsell, Batista and Gonzo? Or was the gaping gash in organizational morale evident earlier, in July for example, when Bob Melvin's contract was curiously extended ?

Mark Grace and Thom Brennaman thought so, lamenting players' systemic lack of urgency in 2005, and airing similar criticisms this year against a retooled roster, urging someone, anyone, to "grab the bull by the horns".  The announcers would  exempt only Hudson and E Byrnes by name, silently implicating the remaining twenty three players, while amusingly failing to publicly steer any blame whatsoever toward Melvin, the obvious target considering the encompassing scope of the problem.   

No matter. The brass has made yet another move to kind of address the issue, inking hyperkinetic Kirk to grab the bull - freeing Bob, presumably, to continue to shoot it.