In uniform and on the bench tonight.......

[balk]

Jerry Narron
Bucky Dent
Chris Chambliss
Mark Berry
Billy Hatcher
Tom Hume
Mark Stefanski
George Foster
Eric Davis
Tom Browning
Mario Soto

How many coaches/instructors does a team need? One for every player? Is it common practice for organizations to have so many former players in uniform and sitting along the bench during spring training games. I haven't noticed it if it is. I don't know if I'd be too excited if I were one of the current coaches, say Chris Chambliss, to see George Foster hanging around camp and working with some of the hitters, or for Vern Ruhle to see Tom Browning tell Eric Milton which side of the rubber he should try working from. Who is accountable if one of these guest instructors screws up Adam Dunn's swing, or if Harang injures himself trying to implement a mechanical change suggested by Mario Soto? Strikes me as too many cooks in the kitchen.

[Big Klu]

I'm in favor of anything that keeps Eric Davis in a Reds uniform. We never should have let him go the second time, after 1996!

[KronoRed]

Strikes me as too many cooks in the kitchen.

Same here, I get the whole "we love our past greats" rah rah..but not over the coaches.

And anyone messing with Dunn should be tared and feathered.

[jmcclain19]

It's spring training.

Every club does this.

You can't swing a bat at Legends Field or in Dodgertown without hitting a Yogi or Tommy Lasorda.

The Cardinals have former greats crawling over their camp like ants on a picnic basket.

As long as everyone remember's who the ship's Captain is, it shouldn't matter how many former admirals and commanders want to stand on the bridge for a while and soak in the memories.

Besides, from the sound of it Mario Soto had quite the effect on a few guys and Tom Browning made it his personal spring project to work with Eric Milton. Those are good things.

[Heath]

The previous regieme believed that more control and less distractions would create winning ballclubs.

This new regieme is doing a 180. I'm all in favor of it.

[redsmetz]

I suspect that there is a good bit of coordination with these extra folks down there. We've done it to some degree in the past (think Johnny Bench), and I think it's long overdue for this organization. It would be interesting to hear from one of the writers who this is taking place logistically. I do know that there was a problem during the Boone managership where there were too many cooks messing up some of the players swings and such.