The Reds lose and the Bob Boone "bashing" continues?!
Shouldn't we rather blame the players, like Reitsma, Moehler, Hamilton, Rijo, Chen, Larkin, Casey, LaRue and others instead of making it easy and putting all the blame on only the manager? It's still the Reds players who don't get the job done on the field.
What makes a good manager? Good question ... but can someone really give the "right" answer for that? Was Jim Leyland during all the Pirates' losing seasons not a good manager? Can success solely be judged by the winning record, disregarding a low payroll, what kind of players the GM gets you, which injuries occur, which players have bad seasons, etc. etc. And what about Don Gullet? Is he a bad pitching coach because Reitsma, Hamilton, Rijo, Chen and Sullivan struggle? Or where is the difference?
Was Sparky Anderson such a bad manager during his days with the Tigers? Or had he just a weak team to manage?
Most of the Boone criticism which I read here is pure second guessing. Wow! After a certain pinch hitter struck out in a close game I could as well easily say: "Hell, why didn't he leave the starting pitcher in instead" or "Why didn't he pinch hit so and so for him". Best example is Reggie Taylor. A lot of posters were against him from the day he was acquired for Hector Mercado. We have enough outfielders, he will struggle ... and so on.
Now that Reggie has a very good season for the Reds (I think he is currently even among the top five reserve outfielders in the game) all the critics have sudenly silenced. No admittance from someone who blasted Reggie earlier, that he was wrong. I still remember the grand slam Taylor hit or other crucial pinch hits where he won games for the Reds. And this only because Boone knew how valuable he can be to the team and because Bob Boone put him in the lineup when few of the fans here would have.
As for there constand lineup shuffeling by Boone. Bob Brenly, the Diamondbacks Manager, does the same and his team isn't hurt one bit by it. So why should this have a negative effect? Why is Boone a micromanager for doing this and Brenly a great manager because of it?
What I like about Bob Boone:
- He is an intelligent baseball mind (I know that this makes some fans jealous)
- He has the respect of the players (which is imo very important!)
- He gives young players a chance
- He is carefull with his pitchers, not overusing them
- He doesn't see the game through rose colored glasses. Asked why Stinnett starts more and more instead of LaRue he tells it like it is.
- He surrounds himself with good baseball people (Lefebvre, Knight), not afraid, that they could take his position.
- He lets players go through slumps because he knows they belong to the game and therefore gives players confidence and a chance to recover
- He makes good use of the running game.
- And yes, he just loves and wants to manage no matter if he is underpaid for it.
I know that most people who don't like Bob Boone will not listen to any arguments for him anyway, so I will just leave it at that. I think he has done a solid job so far for the Reds and I am very happy to see him back next year.