Bringing this thread back to good things about Carlos Tosca....

His highlight, as far as I was concerned, was his first week on the job, when he benched the Buffalo's ass after he showed up late for a team meeting or something similar. Mondesi went ape, mouthing off about this "career minor leaguer" who had no business disrespecting him like that. A week later, Mondesi was gone and Tosca was on top of the world. Sweet.

Tosca first impressed me as a cerebral third base coach, and when he benched Raul Mondesi right after taking over as manager, I was delighted. For the rest of that season, the team played very well.

All I knew about Tosca came from the media; he struck me as serious and thoughtful -- the no-nonsense Little General. When I met him briefly, the day before the 2003 season, I joked that he'd probably be happier in the NL, stealing bases and doing double-switches, and to my surprise, he laughed out loud. Despite the slow start (which last year was a quirk of scheduling) and with that flammable bullpen, he presided over an exciting young club. He sure was a wonderful manager last May and last September.

Since then, I've talked to Carlos often, observed him more closely and listened to him in several media scrums. He's smart, honest, classy, knows the game as well as anyone and has a wicked sense of humour. Was he solely to blame for this disappointing season? Absolutely not. Did he "deserve" to be fired? No way. Was it inevitable? Yes.

Best of luck, Skip. If I was 20 years younger and had any talent, I'd play for you any day.

Sense of humor -- check. What was it he said in that media scrum that had all the writers comparing notes afterwards, trying to figure out the saying he had used as a summary of what had gone on the day before? Something about foxes ruining grapes. There were at least three or four guys arguing over the wording and then realizing that they really had no idea what he meant at all.

I swear, he laid that on everybody and left, smiling as he thought about the ensuing chaos.

I feel pretty bad for him, but hopefully he'll catch on somewhere else quick and parlay that into another gig as the boss.

I appreciated the absence of histrionics in Tosca's management style. Grace under pressure is a fine attribute that will serve him well in his next posting. I hope that it is not too long in coming.

My girlfriend and I were in Buffalo when we found out about Tosca's firing. We held a brief moment of silence in the car before heading to dinner. I remember last season when his son Matthew performed the national anthems with his violin at the Dome and the proud look on Carlos' face on the Jumbotron afterwards. I never met the man but he always seemed to be accountable to the media and brought class and decency to the organization. It's too bad a good man had to pay for this Season From Hell.

Tosca really seemed to care about improving himself as a leader and he is a great speaker who has an air of intelligence and integrity about him. You never feel like he's looking down on anyone and he has a good way of putting things in perspective.

I will only say this : the vagaries of the manager merry-go-round are always difficult to predict, and they can be cruel to a low-profile guy like Carlos Tosca. But he deserves another chance as a skipper.

I remember last season when his son Matthew performed the national anthems with his violin at the Dome and the proud look on Carlos' face on the Jumbotron afterwards.

Oh yeah, that was fabulous. Thanks for reminding me about that! I took my Dad to that game.

Anyone who has the balls to bench Mondesi will always have my respect as a major league coach.

Best of luck in your future baseball career.

My best Tosca memory was his son playing the anthems on Father's Day last year.

Those were the best renditions of the whole season.

I will forever remember a picture from last year of Carlos standing toe to toe with an ump who was easily twice as big. I think it may have been one of those games late in the season with Tampa when Doc got thrown out. I think Tosca was also subsequently thrown from the game. Like the Mondesi incident, Carlos showed he would stand up to anyone regardless of how big they were literaly or otherwise. I respected him for that.

Great coach who had to fight without ammunition.Some smart general manager will give him another shot and arm him with a good team and then we will all see his talents as a manager.GOOD LUCK CARLOS!

The three years he spent managing here in Portland , Maine were the best three years for the Sea Dogs[1994-1997] We have not made the playoffs since. When he got the job in Toronto it was front page news here. I had the opportunity to meet him at Fenway Park and he said that his three years here were the one of the highlights of his career. I know he meant it. Many of the Marlins who won the World Series trained under him. I recall seeing him working daily with Luis Castillo to get him to hit down on the ball. It finally paid off. He is especially great with Hispanic players. When I saw him on TV..he did not look like a happy camper. He looked like he needed a rest and a change of scenery. He is better off. Some smart GM will pick him up as a coach.