O'Brien fired! Kullman interm GM, announcement at 5pm

[traderumor]

Maybe you can sell it to this guy.

I thought it was going to take me to this guy

[traderumor]

It is really hard to have sympathy for someone who was overemployed, thus overpaid. It isn't like we're rejoicing that middle manager Bob making 40 grand a year with five kids, two of which are in college, lost his job due to downsizing.

shaudenfreude: delight in the misfortune of others

[Falls City Beer]

It is really hard to have sympathy for someone who was overemployed, thus overpaid. It isn't like we're rejoicing that middle manager Bob making 40 grand a year with five kids, two of which are in college, lost his job due to downsizing.

Well said. I worry about the 30,000 Ford workers who will be looking for work as early as next year. But a guy who has gotten by on wealth and connections his whole life? I'll save my tears in a little jar for him (I just won't tell him they're tears of joy).

[Cedric]

It is really hard to have sympathy for someone who was overemployed, thus overpaid. It isn't like we're rejoicing that middle manager Bob making 40 grand a year with five kids, two of which are in college, lost his job due to downsizing.

If you think that his life goal was to obtain money and not his succeding at his dream job then maybe I would agree. I feel for anyone that fails at something they claim to have dreamed of their whole life. What's wrong with that?

[SandyD]

shaudenfreude: delight in the misfortune of others

Since I'm a cynic, I'm worried about the other shoe dropping. But it sure has been a long time since we've been in the right direction.

Give Big Donkey rep points for breaking this story (not the first time). I can't give him anymore.

Worry about that tomorrow. Just enjoy the moment for now. Right now, just heading in a "new" direction is worth a few cheers.

[M2]

I second RedsBaron's zillion emoticon post.

It's still a long way to the top if we want to rock'n'roll, but at least they dumped the tuba player.

[Krusty]

Man, I thought I was celebrating seeing the Steelers win and heading to the Super Bowl and now this.

I don't know if my liver will be able to hold up for the remainder of the week.

[CincyRedsFan30]

Castellini opens door for new Reds GM
Candidates include interim Kullman, Krivsky, Hill

By Hal McCoy

Dayton Daily News

CINCINNATI | Owner/CEO Bob Castellini has a list of candidates to become general manager of the Cincinnati Reds and plans to send out invitations for interviews.

The invitations are not gold-embossed, but several candidates consider the job a golden opportunity and emerged quickly after general manager Dan O'Brien was fired Monday morning.

Names surfacing immediately included Brad Kullman, Wayne Krivsky, Gary Hughes, Jack McKeon and Michael Hill, among others.

Kullman was named as interim general manager, a spot he filled for the last half of the 2004 season after Jim Bowden was fired.

Under his interim tenure, he acquired pitchers Aaron Harang, Brandon Claussen and traded Kent Mercker to Atlanta for Matt Belisle, then helped Mercker come back to the Reds as a free agent.

"The qualities Bob threw out as to what he is looking for, I feel I fit all the criteria," said Kullman. "I just have to prove it to him."

As for now, Kullman said the club had no trade prospects on the horizon under O'Brien, "But we'll try to re-open some talks and maybe a different voice and a different approach will make a difference.

"We want to win in 2006 but we can be in the mix by 2007," he said. "We'll do what we can right now for '06 and we do have a good nucleus."

Krivsky, assistant general manager of the Minnesota Twins, thought he had the job in the winter of 2004. He was told by Chief Operating Officer John Allen that he was Allen's choice and was preparing his acceptance speech on a flight from Cincinnati to Minneapolis.

When he got home, he received a call from Allen telling him, "We've decided to go in another direction." That direction was the direction CEO Carl Lindner wanted — the hiring of O'Brien.

Krivsky would bring a solid baseball background and serves as Twins GM Terry Ryan's right- and left-hand guy, a guy who not only works in the Minnesota front office dealing with personnel and contracts but still serves most of the season as a major league scout.

"It's a tough racket, but I'm certainly still interested in the Reds," said Krivsky. "There are a lot of things I'd do differently to put that great franchise back on track.

"It isn't going to be easy for (the Reds) at this late date to get permission from other teams to talk to people, but I'd take that job if they offered it to me the day before spring training begins."

Hughes, a personable baseball lifer, is assistant general manager of the Chicago Cubs and a close confidante to general manager Jim Hendry, both acknowledged as two of baseball's top minds.

Hughes served as a special adviser to Bowden before the Cubs hired him as their assistant general manager.

"I love that place, that city, that team, the people there and it's a shame what has happened," said Hughes.

McKeon, another baseball lifer, served as Reds manager from mid-1997 through the 2000 season and the Reds finished second his last two years. In 1999 the team came within one game of winning the National League Central title, then lost a one-game playoff with the New York Mets for the wild card spot.

"We had it going in 1999 and we were only a couple of pitchers away from being able to take it all," said McKeon.

"But they decided to go another way (trading for Ken Griffey Jr.)."

McKeon left after 2000 over a salary dispute, and the Reds haven't had a winning season since. The 76-year-old McKeon managed the Florida Marlins to the 2003 World Series championship.

And he has general manager credentials, too, serving in that capacity with the San Diego Padres, where he earned his nickname, "Trader Jack."

Castellini said the club will follow Major League Baseball's directive to interview minorities, and there is a strong candidate in Florida.

Hill, an African-American and a Harvard graduate, is assistant general manager with the Marlins. He is a native of Cincinnati, where he was a three-sport star at Cincinnati Country Day School.

Lou Piniella is not a candidate. Castellini wanted Piniella to serve this year as a special adviser, but his contractual agreement as manager of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays specifies that he must stay out of Major League baseball this year.

"I didn't realize that when we talked about him coming here, so it isn't going to happen this year and I would expect Lou to go back to managing," said Castellini.

"I'd like to have a man in place for spring training, but it is going to take three or four weeks of interviewing six or eight candidates," he said.

If Castellini wants to dip into his recent background as 10 percent owner of the St. Louis Cardinals, he could be interested in St. Louis vice president of personnel Jerry Walker or special assistant to the general manager Bob Gebhard, who served as the first general manager when the Colorado Rockies came into existence.

[CincyRedsFan30]

'I was very surprised'

By Hal McCoy

Dayton Daily News

CINCINNATI — Dan O'Brien plans to chat with the media this afternoon concerning his abrupt removal Monday as general manager of the Cincinnati Reds. But he had a few words Monday.

"I haven't had much chance yet to reflect on all this," O'Brien told The Dayton Daily News after returning a telephone call.

"I will say it is certainly is a new owner's prerogative to make a change and I respect that," he said. "I am disappointed, yes, and I was very surprised."

O'Brien, on the second year of a three-year contract, was told Monday morning by new owner Bob Castellini that he was no longer general manager of the Reds.

"I told Dan he has worked hard and has worked diligently to rebuild the farm system and the scouting organization," said Castellini. "The entire Reds organization is grateful to Dan and wish him the very best. I just wanted somebody in this vitally importation position to lead the team who I selected."

[CincyRedsFan30]

What Dan O'Brien's firing means to the Dragons

By Marc Katz

Dayton Daily News

Let's hope there aren't two men in baseball who believe the low minors need to have tandem pitching systems and batters taking a strike before swinging.

One of them was let go by the Reds on Monday. Dan O'Brien was a nice guy — a man you'd love to have as a father. He was conscientious. He visited the Class A Dayton Dragons several times last summer to look over the prospects.

He also made it nearly impossible for the Dragons to win. He instituted a system he used as an employee with the Texas Rangers, even though the Rangers don't use that system anymore.

It was designed, O'Brien said, to get pitchers into more games while preventing injuries as well as teaching batters to be patient. With it, the Dragons lost 92 games in 2004 and 79 last summer. That's during a 140-game season.

Although none of the Reds development people would ever say so, the system was not popular. There apparently was a movement in the works to cut back on the first-strike decree, but farm director Tim Naehring must now wait to see what direction the new general manager wants to take.

At least O'Brien's two draft classes appeared to be better than the previous four. If players such as pitcher Homer Bailey, outfielder B.J. Szymanski and infielders Paul Janish and Adam Rosales eventually make it to the majors, O'Brien can be hailed for that.

As for the hard-line tandem system and first-strike edict, a half-million fans who watch the Dragons annually will be thrilled to see something different.

[KronoRed]

I feel very, very badly for O'Brien.

Same here, like it has been mentioned here before, I'm sure he's a nice guy and a good baseball guy..just not a GM.

[Jpup]

I've been working all day and haven't had a chance to react to this, but I don't think I even need to. I heard it on XM on the way to work and I almost wrecked my truck.

I wasn't suprised. It was blatantly obvious that O'brien was toast and here is the funniest thing I have ever read O'brien say:

"Whenever you have a new owner, it's their prerogative to make changes and have their own personnel," O'Brien said. "It's a difficult part of the game but I respect the decision. With that being said, I was somewhat surprised."

Should I put my old sig back?

Out With DanO And In With DePo

[Sabo Fan]

It's still a long way to the top if we want to rock'n'roll, but at least they dumped the tuba player.

That's a keeper.

[Topcat]

I feel very, very badly for O'Brien. Hate to see anyone lose his job. I mean, did the boy DanO dream of someday being a GM of a major league baseball team? And think of dinner at the DanO RanchO tonight. Everyone sitting around quietly picking at their plates ... not quite sure what to say ...

But there's a little piece of me going inside anyway, and I'm actually looking forward to the season again.

Best of luck, DanO, in your future endeavors. And a big thanks to Mr. C.

He's at this moment downloading tell me why I don't like Mondays

[Ron Madden]

As much as needed. I don't care. I just want someone capable in place.

I'm planning on writing a letter to Mr. Castellini to let him know how much I appreciate what he's already done in THREE days. He's done more in three days than the prior admin. did in more than three YEARS.

Believe me I share your joy.

IMHO the same praise can and should be said for Brad Kullman.., He did more to help our pitching staff than Bowden and O'Brien eighther one.And he did it Under Fire. With Allen and Lindner more worried about cutting payroll and aquiring Ca$h.