Player reactions

One of the most interesting storylines to come out of the firing is the reaction of the players and the insight it's giving us into how the dugout has been. The quotes come from this story on Brewers.com

JJ Hardy, for instance, said it took him a couple of years to warm up to Ned, but that lately he'd seen an improvement:

"This year, I thought he was doing a lot better job of being relaxed," Hardy said. "I saw it. I don't know if everybody else saw it, but this is one of the first years I started to understand him"

He also added that Ned wasn't Mr. Popular with everyone and that left Ned in limbo with a lot of guys.

"I liked Ned," Hardy said. "I think there were guys that didn't and some guys that did, and I think that's the way it is with every manager on every team. I think there are a ton of players around the big leagues that are playing for managers they don't like."

Yost was in a no-win situation with some of his players, according to Hardy.

"Whatever he did, some of the players were looking at him too much," Hardy said. "If he was quiet and in the corner, they thought, 'Maybe he's nervous and he doesn't want to say anything.' If he was snapping his fingers and talking, it was like, 'He's nervous because he's snapping his fingers.'

Hardy also said that he thought Ned was starting to understand. I find that interesting because, you know, Ned has been there for how many years? And he's just beginning to understand?

Craig Counsell said that Ned's dugout demeanor didn't effect the teams wins and losses:

Counsell declined the notion that Yost's dugout demeanor had anything with the team's poor play.

"I would disagree with that," Counsell said. "Look, you're not going to lay this all on Ned, that's for sure. We need to play better. We need to start hitting. We need to start pitching. They have chosen to make a change to try to stir something up and I don't think Dale is going to be the savior if we don't start hitting and pitching. As players, we need to quit making excuses."