Sept. 22, 2011: Grade Jocketty's tenure so far (A-F)

[WMR]

A
B
C
D
F

Does Jocketty earn a passing grade from you for his work so far as Reds GM? Why or why not?

Anonymous voting.

[REDREAD]

Based on his entire body of work (not just this year)

He gets an A, for winning the division title last year.

That's something that hasn't been done in Cincy since 1995 (when the payroll disparity wasn't so bad).

I know everyone is down about this year, but the team has a bright future for at least 2 more years..

[bucksfan2]

A as well from me.

Playoff baseball for the first time in 15 seasons gets that grade.

I am kinda glad he held onto Alonso and that his bat "should" be in the lineup next season.

This off season he must improve the club. And if he doesn't it could really effect his grade from me.

[marcshoe]

B. He has the team on the verge, but not there yet. Things look good for the future.

[Mario-Rijo]

I can no longer grade the man from an overall perspective, I have no idea how handcuffed he may be. Let me just say I believe in his ability to GM the right club, one with resources and good talent evaluators to support him. But he isn't a good fit for a small market club with owners who aren't real adept at putting the right people in place. So I'll grade him by his skills that I have seen.

He's basically the exact opposite of Wayne Krivsky. Wayne sucked with people, Walt is maybe the best I have ever seen at handling people. Walt handles contracts well, Wayne I'll give an incomplete on at best. Walt simply has never impressed me with his ability to evaluate a non known commodity. And IMO the latter is thee most important trait to have, if you don't have that you better have the former 2 and a great organization with deep pockets to support you.

[RedsManRick]

Assuming that he has a significant amount of control, I gave him a 'C'.

I'm thrilled we made the playoffs last year. But he came in to a very good situation and that team was largely one he merely shepherded. Most of the talent on the roster was already here. Unfortunately, 2011 became a lost year in large part due to his inaction and lack of creativity. We could have reinforced; instead we (presumably) hoped the young players would take another leap forward to offset some of (presumably) expected regression from the veterans. Maybe, in the long run, we'll be happy we hung on to all the minor league assets. But the Arroyo extension in particular signaled to me that Walt felt we pretty much had the talent we needed and was willing to sit tight. It reminds me a little too much of the Mariners big miscalculation a few years back.

For me, 2012 will really cement the story of this era. Was 2010 the peak or was 2011 a bump in the road?

[OnBaseMachine]

He gets a D from me. Hopefully he wakes up from his 18 month long nap this winter.

[Raisor]

He gets a D from me. Hopefully he wakes up from his 18 month long nap this winter.

I'm right there with you buddy.

[icehole3]

I gave him a solid B, this year drafting 11 pitchers out of the first 15 was brilliant, they should do that every year IMO.

[Edd Roush]

Assuming that he has a significant amount of control, I gave him a 'C'.

I'm thrilled we made the playoffs last year. But he came in to a very good situation and that team was largely one he merely shepherded. Most of the talent on the roster was already here. Unfortunately, 2011 became a lost year in large part due to his inaction and lack of creativity. We could have reinforced; instead we (presumably) hoped the young players would take another leap forward to offset some of (presumably) expected regression from the veterans. Maybe, in the long run, we'll be happy we hung on to all the minor league assets. But the Arroyo extension in particular signaled to me that Walt felt we pretty much had the talent we needed and was willing to sit tight. It reminds me a little too much of the Mariners big miscalculation a few years back.

For me, 2012 will really cement the story of this era. Was 2010 the peak or was 2011 a bump in the road?

Rick, you did a good job of articulating what I was thinking. I had very high hopes for Walt and he started out great and I would have given him an A at this time last year, but I don't know if we can blame this very average year on bad luck. An "A" GM would have made the appropriate moves in the off-season and paid for it by not extending Arroyo.

[bucksfan2]

Assuming that he has a significant amount of control, I gave him a 'C'.

I'm thrilled we made the playoffs last year. But he came in to a very good situation. Most of the talent on the roster was already here. And unfortunately, 2011 became a lost year in large part due to his inaction and lack of creativity. Maybe, in the long run, we'll be happy we hung on to all the minor league assets. But the Arroyo extension in particular signaled to me that Walt felt we pretty much had the talent we needed and was willing to sit tight.

For me, 2012 will really cement the story of this era. Was 2010 the peak or was 2011 a bump in the road?

The playoffs alone put me over the top with his grade. He did come into a nice situation but then again there are very few teams devoid of talent. The good GM's use what they have and then add to it. I look back to last year and realized they aren't winning the division without Nick Masset, Miguel Cairo, and Ramon Hernandez. And that isn't even getting into the Scott Rolen addition.

2012 is a very important year for the club. The past 18 months have been pretty lackluster. Although I think you can say that the contract extensions of both Cueto and Bruce were two huge positives as well as Volquez's ill fated decision. For the most part the young guys have been allowed to progress through the minors and onto the big league club. Alonso has shown to have a quality MLB caliber bat, Francisco has shown to have improved, Heisey has made an argument to be something more than a 4th OF, and Sappelt has proven to be a nice guy to have around. But more importantly moves must be made to make this team better. Something needs to be done with the current rotation. It also would be nice to get another live arm in the pen, especially if Chapman is moving into the rotation. If they do a little tweaking then if they fail it will be on Walt and Dusty.

[Roy Tucker]

Assuming that he has a significant amount of control, I gave him a 'C'.

I'm thrilled we made the playoffs last year. But he came in to a very good situation and that team was largely one he merely shepherded. Most of the talent on the roster was already here. Unfortunately, 2011 became a lost year in large part due to his inaction and lack of creativity. We could have reinforced; instead we (presumably) hoped the young players would take another leap forward to offset some of (presumably) expected regression from the veterans. Maybe, in the long run, we'll be happy we hung on to all the minor league assets. But the Arroyo extension in particular signaled to me that Walt felt we pretty much had the talent we needed and was willing to sit tight. It reminds me a little too much of the Mariners big miscalculation a few years back.

For me, 2012 will really cement the story of this era. Was 2010 the peak or was 2011 a bump in the road?

That's my take as well.

I loved last year and WJ can take some credit and I'll give him a 2010 A.

But he did a Bill Bergesch this year and really sat on his thumbs way too long and pretty well flushed the season down the toilet with inaction. So I'll give him a 2011 D.

Average it out to a C or a C+. 2012 will tell if this is an ascending or descending arc.

[Rojo]

Walt simply has never impressed me with his ability to evaluate a non known commodity. And IMO the latter is thee most important trait to have, if you don't have that you better have the former 2 and a great organization with deep pockets to support you.

Or as Princeton put so aptly the Minnesota model plus money was a better idea than the St. Louis model minus money.

For years, when people were pining for WJ, I made the point that I'd rather have the Card's marketing department. Similar markets, different results.

[RollyInRaleigh]

That's my take as well.

I loved last year and WJ can take some credit and I'll give him a 2010 A.

But he did a Bill Bergesch this year and really sat on his thumbs way too long and pretty well flushed the season down the toilet with inaction. So I'll give him a 2011 D.

Average it out to a C or a C+. 2012 will tell if this is an ascending or descending arc.

That's where I am too, Roy. My only difference is what he didn't do this season may pay dividends this winter and next year. He has a lot resting on his shoulders this off-season, in my opinion. It's time to show us something.

[lollipopcurve]

B

Berkman or Greinke would have been nice. But that's not all on WJ -- ownership has to help. Then again, they got Chapman.

Other than that, I think they've shown excellent patience getting this wave of talent more or less through AAA, ready for the bigs. As Randy said, now it's time to do something. I suspect they will.