Joe Mikulik Fired

I was surprised this afternoon to learn of the firing of Asheville Tourists Manager Joe Mikulik by the Colorado Rockies organization. Mikulik had been the Asheville Tourists manager for 13 seasons which is unheard of at that level of professional baseball. His managerial record speaks for itself. He won his first championship in 2012 with the Asheville Tourists. He has helped so many players make it to the majors and his teams were always fundamentally sound. According to the Asheville Citizen-Times neither side could be reached for comment and from what I can gather, the move was made a few weeks ago but for whatever reason, the decision was kept quiet by both sides. Numerous times throughout the season, Mikulik had commented that he was looking at making a move, preferably moving up in the Rockies organization, and doing something different in his career. 29 years in the minors as player and manager is a long career and he is only 48 years old. In his 13 years in Asheville, Joe became more than the Manager of the Tourists, he became a member of the community. He more or less raised his family here and made himself accessible to various charities and organizations in Asheville and he also made himself available to the local media. He had his on field meltdowns like any other baseball man has ever done but he did it with style. The Colorado Rockies can replace him but he will be sorely missed by fans and players alike.