Well, isn't THIS interesting

From yesterday's Salem Evening News: Kennedy's pissed!

...Nor does the 65-year-old Kennedy know why North Shore Spirit owner Nick Lopardo fired him after the season.

"He just wanted to get rid of me. I won too many games," Kennedy said, tongue-in-cheek.

In his four seasons at the Spirit helm Kennedy won 221 and lost 142, made the playoffs three times, reached the finals twice, and in 2005 didn't qualify, but had the second best overall record in the league.

Popularity, it turned out, was part of his getting a pink slip, according to Kennedy.

"I knew when Vic Davilla (the successor) came aboard something was going to happen," he said.

Did he mean when Davilla came out of retirement after one game in 2006?

"No, three years ago, when we first got him," Kennedy said.

"Lopardo likes Vic. Lopardo told me the reason I was let go was for economic reasons. I can only assume he didn't want to pay me and for my benefits. I don't know what he's paying Vic (to manage) and what Vic's benefits are, but that's what Lopardo said to me.

"The owner also said Vic Davilla is the most popular player there. Evidently," Kennedy said, "I wasn't popular. Vic has spent his whole career in independent league baseball and I spent a decade in the big leagues and some of it down the road in Boston and I wasn't popular enough? I don't get it.

"The owner also said something about advertising. Does Davilla get along with advertisers? When they signed me on nobody said I had to sell tickets and advertising and what not. That was brought up a couple of times in discussions we had. There were others who did those jobs. It had nothing to do with me."

Lopardo had told Kennedy the Spirit could be sold in one talk they had at the end of the season.

"He told me there were some people interested," he said.

"The next time we spoke (about possible changes) I said to him, 'Whatever's going on I'd like to let the staff know right away, so they could go out and make contacts about new jobs, as opposed to waiting in January."

It turned out Spirit pitching coach Jeff Ware got a job elsewhere before the ax fell and that Kennedy and first base coach Jim Tgettis, who doubles as the Lynn Classical baseball coach, were the only two staffers who were dismissed.

Tom Donahue, the batting practice pitcher and third base coach, and Frank Carey, a consultant, batting coach and administrator, both survived. Carey also is the nationally known high school baseball coach in North Reading.

"I couldn't throw batting practice every day, same for Tgettis, you need a guy like Donahue, who can," Kennedy said.

When Lopardo did give Kennedy the word, Kennedy said, "He told me he was making the move from top to bottom, starting with me."

Although Kennedy said he often saw Lopardo and Davilla "huddling," and Kennedy suspected something was awry, it still was a little surprising.

"He wants loyalty, and all of a sudden it's see you later," Kennedy said.

"He simply wanted to get rid of me. That was the bottom line. He wanted Davilla in there. Hey, I have nothing against Vic. I heard things that were passed along to me. But that's neither here nor there. That's the way it was, that's what Lopardo wanted. He sure didn't say we didn't do the job on the field. No way he could say that.

"Generally, if you're winning games you don't get fired, unless he felt that we should have won the championship the times we were in the playoffs," Kennedy said.

Kennedy, named CanAm League Manager of the Year for 2006, declined to hint at his salary, but said league managers were paid from $30,000 to $50,000.

Kennedy said he's through with baseball.

"The only reason I did it (with the Spirit) is because it was close by. I'm formally retiring," he announced. "Hey, this was Nick's prerogative. The owner should have just said he wanted Vic to be the manager of the team, and not talked about these other things, like advertising. He wanted to make a change and make Vic the new manager. Say it. That would have been the end of it."

Kennedy played with Washington, the Dodgers, Yankees, Seattle Pilots and Red Sox in his 10 major league seasons. He managed in the Red Sox system for three years and later scouted for 12 years with the Yankees, Phillies and Detroit, through 1996. He also worked for the State Treasury for five years.

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Interesting stuff. Looks like the waffling over the team's future led to the loss of Jeff Ware. In that case, that was a major screwup by the Spirit.