The discussion should be what moves Ed Wade might be considering for right now. I think (IMHO) that he has three things to consider right now to make the team more competitive:
1. Improve the defense - it is horrible up the middle, primarily at shortstop. Shortstop is the key position up the middle and right now, Houston has perhaps the worse option in the entire NL. You want better pitching? Improve the defense first.
2. Improve the bullpen - a team with a bad bullpen will not be competitive. Far too often this past week, I saw Houston lose games late because they could not hold a lead. Is it a tired bullpen or a bullpen made up of guys out of their comfort zone (re: middle relievers now are setup men, setup men are closers, etc)? If Houston has options in the minors for good setup men and maybe a closer, then now is the time to experiment with some changes.
3. Adjust the rotation - Houston has no stopper, the closest thing is Wandy and he failed yesterday (regardless of the unearned runs factor... see item #1). Having far too many of the same pitcher in the rotation (guys trying to find themselves) is hurting this team. It's time to try and find a solution and insert a player who is sure of themselves into the rotation. Someone of Moehler, Ortiz, Hampton and Paulino is going to lose his job because two months is enough time to evaluate and make a change in the rotation. No time like the present to do so.
With these moves by the GM, then the excuses built in for Cooper must go away. If they continue to lose, then it's time to consider reloading with young players and jettisoning the high payroll players like Tejada (who I hope has a great season this year). With the early changes and then the mid-season changes, you'll get a very good look at Cooper's prowess as a manager. And then a decision can be made about his abilities. Right now, with a veteran team, Cooper is a hinderance. His excuse about "players need to come to me, I've got an open door" is nice, but you must avoid hypocrisy is such statements. If you want players to come to you, then you must avoid the temptation to throw players under the bus at those after game press conferences. Dierker had the same problem of losing the clubhouse because he was too direct about his feelings about player performances to the media. Better to avoid the media "he said/he said" type of scenarios. Talk to your players first, explain to them what happened in certain situations, at least talk to your veterans.
I can't believe Cooper doesn't really understand how bad he looks when he fails to bunt in a key situation or sits on his duff when a full blown situation is happening before his eyes. If he thinks that the players should come to him and say "Skip... you got a minute, I'd like to talk to you about tonight", then he's being too one-sided and he'll lose the clubhouse. Instead, shouldn't Cooper say to the media "no comment" or something very generic in these situations and then gather around the players and/or his veterans and say "I made a mistake and frankly, I was a bit confused as to what to do in that situation... so Geoff, thanks for picking me up, I owe you one... next time though, It's mine to handle". You want it one way only, where players come to you, then you're going to lose.
