I am hustle obsessed because I have watched Junior and Dunn for the last several years...and during that time the organization tip toed around them...I respect Junior for his courage to come back after the injuries but he needed to hang it up a couple years ago.
BP isn't only hustle, he has a little fire in him too and don't forget he isn't a horrible performer on the field.
Not saying he didn't follow the leaders on the team before, just saying now he has the opportunity to step into the role of leader.
The talent hasn't and isn't here right now to win...still they have some good parts and I do believe with a young team like the Reds have that Junior and Dunn were both minus factors to everyone else.
I am in favor of the team making wholesale changes to move forward...meaning "winning"...even if that means Arroyo, Phillips, Harang and Cordero all gone...if that is what it will take.
If you look at the team as it is now and was 48 hours ago...I'd say of those left you look at BP as a/the leader...is he perfect? Nope..but having worked for leaders who are RAH RAH, LAID BACK and PATTONESQUE in some very competitive fields for 20+ years I can tell you that like I said that the "team" will respond only to the type of leader they believe...Junior is a great individual athlete who never has won anything...Dunn was a QB who turned his focus to baseball when he saw he couldn't win the number 1 spot on his team...he wasn't good enough at executing and he wasn't a strong enough leader on THAT team...could he have gone elsewhere and played? Maybe...Thing is, he is not a leader...he is not a player who is to be the center of any organization., he is a piece...a VERY GOOD PIECE but he is NOT the centerpiece of an organization at all.
Every team has a heartbeat and the Reds with Junior and or Dunn as the leader(s) were on life support...I in no means think this will turn the team around overnight but I do believe it is a HUGE step for the organization in the right direction.
"Sometimes, it's not the sexiest moves that put you over the top," Krivsky said. "It's a series of transactions that help you get there."
"You can't let praise or criticism get to you. It's a weakness to get caught up in either one."
--Woody Hayes
I guess I just don't think a baseball team is about the "leaders" or about the "centerpiece." It's about the total talent of the team, 99 out of 100 times. Dunn and Junior could have been the best leaders in the history of the sport and this team probably still wouldn't have won baseball games. That means they are also NOT to blame for the losing. We should wish them well on their new teams. The Reds will have a difficult time scoring without them.
“Every level he goes to, he is going to compete. They will know who he is at every level he goes to.” -- ED on EDLC
I get what you are saying but every organization has a foundation that it has to build on...a culture it has to establish and the Reds STILL need to do that.
I think the team has some good talent that has underperformed DRASTICALLY this year...A good example of a good leader is how Greg Vaughn helped a pretty average team in 1999 over perform...he did that by threatening to beat down anyone who slacked...was he liked by everyone? Nope but he was able to motivate the team that allowed Mack to say "I just let them go out there and play"..that's the only example I can come up with in recent Reds history.
"Sometimes, it's not the sexiest moves that put you over the top," Krivsky said. "It's a series of transactions that help you get there."
+1
Leadership takes many forms. It can be silent or overt. And I don't think you have to have a vocal leader in order to be a successful team.
But as you said, it takes talent, plain and simple. And those talented players have to be more concerned about the team than their own egos.
I also agree about the Reds scoring potential for the rest of the year. They've substantially weakened their ability to get runs across the plate.
The Reds need to bring players in with winning attitudes.
If you think small, you'll go nowhere in life.
My only surprise is that the "Greg Vaughn in 1999" card wasn't played until page 63. That's one of the biggest misconceptions I've ever seen in Reds fandom. If that team had a leader it was Barry Larkin.
And that team was far from average. That was a damn good team, and after the fact it came out that most of the players didn't like Vaughn at all. His style was abrasive and he didn't have many friends in the clubhouse. The Greg Vaughn folklore was debunked years ago.
Grape works as a soda. Sort of as a gum. I wonder why it doesn't work as a pie. Grape pie? There's no grape pie. - Larry David
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