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Dallas Paper: Narron Might Not Survive the Housecleaning

Mostly speculation and nothing earth-shattering. The headline makes a change sound more imminent, but the column seems to point to 2007 and a Piniella takeover. Interesting (to me anyway) that it comes from Narron's old stomping grounds in Dallas.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcont...y.27638e1.html

Quote:

Ex-Rangers manager Narron might not survive Cincinnati housecleaning

07:52 PM CST on Saturday, January 28, 2006

Poor Jerry Narron. He's about to have the trap door opened underneath him again.

When Narron took over as Rangers manager during the 2001 season, he and general manager Doug Melvin had a clear plan for rebuilding the franchise. That ended when owner Tom Hicks, listening to outsiders, dumped Melvin on the final day of the season and brought in John Hart.

Narron made it through one miserable season with Hart, who left it to the manager to explain all the bad decisions. Narron, who championed infielder Michael Young when others wanted to dump him, was fired after the 2002 season in favor of a bigger name: Buck Showalter.

The scenario is repeating itself for Narron with Cincinnati.
He replaced Dave Miley during last season and turned a lifeless 27-41 team into a respectable group. The Reds were 46-46 with Narron.

The general manager who hired Narron, former Rangers executive Dan O'Brien, did not make it through the winter. Three days after buying the club, new Cincinnati owner Bob Castellini fired O'Brien last week.

Castellini said he made the move out of a desire to bring in his own man and should not be seen as an indictment of O'Brien, whose trading of first baseman Sean Casey and signing of free-agent left-hander Eric Milton were unpopular moves. O'Brien said he felt "deep disappointment" at not being allowed to continue.

"Winning right away was not a realistic goal," O'Brien said. "But the Reds have good minor league scouting in place and a Latin American presence that should lead to success. We did quality work that will stand the test of time."

Narron remains, but for how much longer?

Castellini is enamored with former Reds manager Lou Piniella, still a hugely popular figure in Cincinnati. If Florida executive Dan Jennings gets the job, Piniella could return to Cincinnati in 2007. Piniella's divorce from Tampa Bay included an agreement that he would not manage this season.
Jennings and Piniella developed a good relationship during their time with Tampa Bay. Piniella was unhappy when front-office friction caused Jennings to leave the Devil Rays.

Jennings is highly regarded. So are other candidates: Minnesota assistant general manager Wayne Krivsky, the former Rangers' executive who was passed over for O'Brien two years ago; and Chicago Cubs assistant general manager Gary Hughes.

The Piniella factor could swing the decision.

Re: Dallas Paper: Narron Might Not Survive the Housecleaning

I'm not a fan of Narron, but I wonder how many articles like this we're going to see this year?
"Reds lose 5th straight, Pinella seen at a Cincinnati Burger King"

Not real fair to ole Jerry.

Re: Dallas Paper: Narron Might Not Survive the Housecleaning

If Narron can show improvement in the performance of this team, then he can possibly become Castellini's man. That is all it's about. But I'm sure Jerry is not worrying over it. He realizes that it's simply part of the game. Especially if the owner has his sights set on Pinella.

Personally though - I don't think we will see Lou back here in Cincy at all. After an "off season", I think he has set his goals higher then that.

He fought with the Seattle owners because he felt they weren't serious about winning by spending more money (on an already 90+ mil payroll)... left and went to TB (due to family considerations), where they had the lowest payroll in MLB, and fought with them over the same.

I'm not sure he wants to take that on here in Cincy. But I could be wrong.

Re: Dallas Paper: Narron Might Not Survive the Housecleaning

Nothing against Pinella but second tenures with a team that you had sucess with are almost always failures. Look at Earl Weaver as an example off the top of my head. Lets bring in some new blood, maybe a Jayhawk Owens or someone like that.

Re: Dallas Paper: Narron Might Not Survive the Housecleaning

Quote:

Originally Posted by redsfanmia

Lets bring in some new blood, maybe a Jayhawk Owens or someone like that.

Yeah. Bringing in a minor league manager with no major league managerial experience worked so well last time.

Re: Dallas Paper: Narron Might Not Survive the Housecleaning

I wouldn't mind a Jennings-Piniella duo in 07.

Re: Dallas Paper: Narron Might Not Survive the Housecleaning

Quote:

Originally Posted by lollipopcurve

I wouldn't mind a Jennings-Piniella duo in 07.

Oh, just shoot me in the head. Double-barrel style.

Re: Dallas Paper: Narron Might Not Survive the Housecleaning

Quote:

Jennings and Piniella developed a good relationship during their time with Tampa Bay. Piniella was unhappy when front-office friction caused Jennings to leave the Devil Rays.

http://frontier.cincinnati.com/blogs...47717927747796

Quote:

Yeah, Hal is slipping a bit. He mentioned in an earlier story what a great working relationship Jennings and Pinella had in Tampa Bay before Jennings left for Florida. Jennings left for the Marlins before Pinella got to Tampa Bay.

Re: Dallas Paper: Narron Might Not Survive the Housecleaning

Quote:

Originally Posted by westofyou

http://frontier.cincinnati.com/blogs...47717927747796

imagine that. :help:

Re: Dallas Paper: Narron Might Not Survive the Housecleaning

Quote:

Originally Posted by KronoRed

"Reds lose 5th straight, Pinella seen at a Cincinnati Burger King"

:laugh:

The sad part is, we'll probably see stuff like that. If the Reds are out of it early you can expect the rumor mongers to be out in full force. Sort of like the UC/Skip Prosser rumors now.

I'd still like to see Piniella come back to Cincy though. :)

Gerry Fraley is a fraud

Wow!!! That is almost clinching proof that this was made up on the spot. At first I thought he might have been right (a few months of overlap). But I looked it up, and it wasn't even close:

Jennings was hired by the Marlins in July '02 (and presumably wasn't working for the Rays by this point)
http://www.marlinbaseball.com/news.php?newsid=248

Lou Piniella was hired to be Tampa Bay's manager on October 28, '02
http://tampabay.devilrays.mlb.com/NA...fid=9251021456

If I'm Gerry's publisher, I'd call him to the carpet for this, and demand to know how he made this "error."

Re: Dallas Paper: Narron Might Not Survive the Housecleaning

Quote:

Originally Posted by westofyou

http://frontier.cincinnati.com/blogs...47717927747796

Did Hal initiate this or was it the Dallas Morning news guy?

Whoever it is, needs to be slapped around a bit.

Re: Dallas Paper: Narron Might Not Survive the Housecleaning

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chip R

Yeah. Bringing in a minor league manager with no major league managerial experience worked so well last time.

It worked pretty well with Sparky Anderson in 1970. The Orioles did okay with Earl Weaver and the Dodgers did okay with Walter Alston as well.

Re: Dallas Paper: Narron Might Not Survive the Housecleaning

Quote:

Originally Posted by RedsBaron

It worked pretty well with Sparky Anderson in 1970. The Orioles did okay with Earl Weaver and the Dodgers did okay with Walter Alston as well.

Yep. And what kind of players did these managers have? Many on here roll their eyes when Jack McKeon's name is mentioned (in any way, shape or form!), but he won a WS. I wonder if a manager might be an overrated job?

Put any man living or dead at the helm of Tampa Bay for instance and tell me that he can make the difference and win the division over Boston, NYY or even Toronto. And for that matter would it make that big of difference with the 2006 REDS? I might be going out on a limb by saying that a manager might have made a difference years ago. But today... not that much. Unless we are comparing the manager of the NYY vs. the manager of the Red Sox. Or we could even compare the managers of the REDS vs. the Pirates. So if Jerry Narron takes over the NYY's, would he have a winning record?

Re: Dallas Paper: Narron Might Not Survive the Housecleaning

Quote:

Originally Posted by RedFanAlways1966

So if Jerry Narron takes over the NYY's, would he have a winning record?

Probably -- but he'd still insist on playing the veteran Miguel Cairo over Robinson Cano and likely bat Alex Rodriguez 6th for some reason.