Managerial search over. It's Dusty.

[pedro]

Coaches? players? both? neither? groupies?

John Lee Hooker

[Falls City Beer]

John Lee Hooker

I'd be fine with that.

[Tom Servo]

C.Trent, man of the people, asks Dusty about his reputation for hurting young pitchers.

[BRM]

C.Trent, man of the people, asks Dusty about his reputation for hurting young pitchers.

What was the response?

[OldXOhio]

Jeff Brantley: "I know what it’s like to play for a young manager"

Good for you cowboy....what's that got to do w/ this hire?

[Wheelhouse]

As usual, no beat writer has the sack to ask meaningful questions. 1) Does the coaching staff stay, or go? 2) Dusty, who are some of these players who you could get to come to Cincinnati? 3) Bob, in polls conducted by the Dayton Daily News and the Enquirer, 70% of those who responded disapprove of this move. Does this concern you? 3) Why did you not wait until you had a chance to interview ALL of the best available candidates for the job?

[RedsManRick]

You know what really bugs me? That I keep hearing how so many people wanted a "name manager".

A. Why is that relevant? Shouldn't the Reds be hiring a manager on their own terms?
B. So what? Lots of people want us to spent $100M per year and we aren't doing that.

This isn't a democracy. Assuming WK and Castellini actually are the experts here, than the wish of the common man is irrelevant. It just bugs me that this point is made at all.

Either Baker was hired because Bob &/or Wayne felt he was the best available option, in which case I seriously question their logic, or they caved to get a guy who they thought would go over well with the general public, in which case I seriously question their motives. In any case, to me, this move reflects poorly on them. What the fans want is a winning Cincinnati Reds team.

If knowing how to do that was common, we'd all be GMs. So step up, claim that you are the experts, explain why Dusty was the best choice, and forget what us fans say. Because if you are really listening to the masses, now is an odd time to start. And if you are really listening to your most fervent, well educated about the game fans, you probably can tell by now that you missed the message completely.

[M2]

As usual, no beat writer has the sack to ask meaningful questions. 1) Does the coaching staff stay, or go? 2) Dusty, who are some of these players who you could get to come to Cincinnati? 3) Bob, in polls conducted by the Dayton Daily News and the Enquirer, 70% of those who responded disapprove of this move. Does this concern you? 3) Why did you not wait until you had a chance to interview ALL of the best available candidates for the job?

Them's hardly tough questions.

1) We're assessing our coaching needs and will be making decisions in the coming weeks.

2) I'm not the GM and we're not officially allowed to talk about players on other teams.

3) I know fans in Cincinnati will appreciate winning baseball. Dusty Baker knows what it takes to play winning baseball.

4) We interviewed the best candidate and hired him. There wasn't any reason to put on a dog and pony show when we found the absolute right man for the job.

Pressers are notoriously poor places to get meaningful answers anyway. The main questions, IMO, are whether fans should expect an active offseason and whether the club is willing to spend more money if the right talents become available. Probably someone ought to try to get Castellini or Krivsky to make a definitive statement about 2008. What is your expectation for the 2008 Reds? What is the minimum you expect the club to accomplish?

Other than that it'll be a lot of gobbledygook about fundamentals and commitment to winning.

[Ltlabner]

M2 appears to be on the right track that hiring Dusty is the opening move towards making more serrious steps to contend and build a solid team. Of course, now they have to implement.

Maybe the path they've taken isn't such a bad one afterall. They've weeded out a lot of chaff, added some interesting tallent along the way, not burdened themselves with long-term anchor contracts, and not traded away key players for nothing. Yes, they've made mistakes along the way, no doubt. But it's been the slow and steady approach so many of us have advocated.

But making incremental improvements, especially as big contracts are comming off the books, and the status of the division changes, makes a whole lotta sense. The Cubs seemingly shot their bolt last year and now they've pretty much locked in on their team. It's a good team, but they aren't going to make any huge splash this year (I wouldn't think) The Cards, Pirates and Astros are in shambles. The Brew Crew made big strides so they'd be considered competition. But by hanging back, making smaller moves the Reds are in a better year to make a bigger splash.

If, in fact, that is what they are planning on doing, and if they can implement effectivley. That's a couple of big if's.

[Puffy]

Let me start by saying that I understand all, and I mean all, the people who are so negative about Dusty Baker being named manager. On some levels I agree with them all. Baker wouldn't have even been a candidate in my book and would be somewhere around 100 on my list of who I would want running the Reds.

But realistically, he's better than Boone (anyone is better than Boone) so what the hell, right.

The way I see it the Reds are never going to be any good on a consistent basis as long as Krivsky is the GM anyway. Krivsky is the most dangerous type of GM there is. He's not Dan O'Brien awful. He's just good enough to find great pickups like Phillips and Arroyo (although I still feel WMP is going to be a beast - see his last month and a half with regular PT in Washington). But he has no concept of what he values. He values defense but doesn't know what it looks like. He doesn't understand the value of getting on base and seems to focus on gap power and batting average (Gonzalez, Cantu, Conine, Phillips). He cannot build a bullpen to save his life and he values arms that don't miss bats.

So I don't see the Reds ever being consistently good under Krivsky. I think he'll continue to find bargains, but those bargains will be .280 average driven, on base empty hitters. I think he overpay for defense, only the defense is perceived defense and not actual defense. And I think the bullpen will be, in his best years, average - I don't think he can spot what an above average bullpen should be.

Baker's here - he is a players manager who gets people to overplay. Thats good. Give Dusty Baker a team with average talent and he can make that team a contender - we haven't had a manager who could do that since McKeon, I don't think people realize that. But Krivsky and Baker working together to acquire talent - thats what scares me.

[flyer85]

But Krivsky and Baker working together to acquire talent - thats what scares me.

The problem I have had with WK all along is his propensity to acquire(as I see it) the "wrong type of players", especially pitchers. All we can hope is that WK has learned from the debacle he created in the bullpen in 2007 ... but I am not holding my breath.

[RedLegSuperStar]

As usual, no beat writer has the sack to ask meaningful questions. 1) Does the coaching staff stay, or go? 2) Dusty, who are some of these players who you could get to come to Cincinnati? 3) Bob, in polls conducted by the Dayton Daily News and the Enquirer, 70% of those who responded disapprove of this move. Does this concern you? 4) Why did you not wait until you had a chance to interview ALL of the best available candidates for the job?

1) Does the coaching staff stay, or go?

I think Pole will stay in some form whether it's pitching coach or moved to the pen. If the team can get a Mazzone could I see Pole moving to the pen. But back to the question.. Like Dusty said, their is only so much he can do while still being under contract with ESPN. Once the baseball season is over.. (which is what i've read to believe is the end of his contract with ESPN) he can then start putting the pieces to the team together.

2) Dusty, who are some of these players who you could get to come to Cincinnati?

What does it matter? When is the last time we could say we had a manager have players call him up and say I would love to be apart of your team and help you win..

Dusty spoke about leaders.. which is something this team hasn't had since Larkin. Dusty scares me by being a players manager.. but also intrigues me by being a manager players want to play for.

3) Bob, in polls conducted by the Dayton Daily News and the Enquirer, 70% of those who responded disapprove of this move. Does this concern you?

Cough.. Redszone.com's Poll ..Cough

But I think majority of us are basing that on the Wood and Prior situation.

Perhaps what Jeff Brantley said might change those thoughts:

"Everyone’s knock on Dusty is not understanding pitchers, but the thing about it is he does understand. But when you have your main pitcher is basically hurting himself, which was Prior and you have another guy with the worst mechanics in the game in Kerry Wood. Those guys were going to get hurt, no matter who was manager. He just ended up getting kicked in the teeth for it."

Will there be 70% of people at seasons end saying the same thing when we see results and improvements to this team? I believe the same (probably less percentage due to the situation) felt the same way when Mackanin took over. I remember people stating that even if he turn the team around and got us into contention that we would still look for another manager. We all feel sorry for Mackanin.. but for Pete sake.. err.. for his sake it's a business and he will find work. For the Reds? Hopefully; he has a great knack for the game and is ballsy with a smidge bit witty.

4) Why did you not wait until you had a chance to interview ALL of the best available candidates for the job?

I agree.. but i'm being open minded or maybe just brain washed about the whole situation and buying into what Krivsky, Castellini, and Baker were saying. If Baker never likes to lose and always has to win then I'm happy he's putting on a Reds uniform. We all want to see winning baseball and we all deserve it.. tax payers especially.. Dusty's record proves he wins more then he loses.. so we could at least give the man a chance to prove himself before we hang him at the stake in Fountain Square.

[Matt700wlw]

What was the response?

He was trying to win, and did what he thought he had to do for the franchise and the city...

Pretty honest response....

[BRM]

He was trying to win, and did what he thought he had to do for the franchise and the city...

Pretty honest response....

Thanks Matt.

[jojo]

Let me start by saying that I understand all, and I mean all, the people who are so negative about Dusty Baker being named manager. On some levels I agree with them all. Baker wouldn't have even been a candidate in my book and would be somewhere around 100 on my list of who I would want running the Reds.

But realistically, he's better than Boone (anyone is better than Boone) so what the hell, right.

The way I see it the Reds are never going to be any good on a consistent basis as long as Krivsky is the GM anyway. Krivsky is the most dangerous type of GM there is. He's not Dan O'Brien awful. He's just good enough to find great pickups like Phillips and Arroyo (although I still feel WMP is going to be a beast - see his last month and a half with regular PT in Washington). But he has no concept of what he values. He values defense but doesn't know what it looks like. He doesn't understand the value of getting on base and seems to focus on gap power and batting average (Gonzalez, Cantu, Conine, Phillips). He cannot build a bullpen to save his life and he values arms that don't miss bats.

So I don't see the Reds ever being consistently good under Krivsky. I think he'll continue to find bargains, but those bargains will be .280 average driven, on base empty hitters. I think he overpay for defense, only the defense is perceived defense and not actual defense. And I think the bullpen will be, in his best years, average - I don't think he can spot what an above average bullpen should be.

Baker's here - he is a players manager who gets people to overplay. Thats good. Give Dusty Baker a team with average talent and he can make that team a contender - we haven't had a manager who could do that since McKeon, I don't think people realize that. But Krivsky and Baker working together to acquire talent - thats what scares me.

Give him a good team and he'll probably get them to play like a good team. Give him garbage and they'll play like garbage.