Walt talks about the plan

[nate]

From Jnho FYA:

The Reds have gotten beaten up a lot lately for not having a long-tem plan. That happens when you trade away young pitching for a 34-year-old third baseman like Scott Rolen at the trade deadline, even though you’re 10 games out of first place at the time.

The Reds have since traded away veterans David Weathers and Alex Gonzalez.

I put The Plan question to Walt Jocketty Tuesday.

“The plan is . . . we have a plan, let’s put at that. . . The plan is to try and develop quality young players and build a foundation for the organization for the long-term, not just the short-term.

“We’re also trying to be fair to our fans and be competitive as much as we could this year. I think we were until we were hit with a lot of injuries in the middle of July. We didn’t have the depth to compensate for it.

“The plan is to continue to sign quality young talent and develop it to the major league level. That’s simplifying it. But that’s the plan.”

Do you think you can compete next year?

“I don’t know,” Jocketty said. “I don’t know what the competition will be next year. I would hope we would were competing this year until we got hurt.”

[dougdirt]

That leaves me feeling no better. Sounds like they still don't have a real plan other than praying things fall together perfectly.

[Sea Ray]

They fell out of it long before mid July.

How does continuing to play .279 OBP Willy T fit into that plan?

[Benihana]

[edabbs44]

Sounds scarily like Wayne-speak...and he sounds frustrated.

I did like hearing this:

“The plan is to continue to sign quality young talent and develop it to the major league level. That’s simplifying it. But that’s the plan.”

But trying to do both just doesn't work. Burn it if you have to but, just for once, go 100% in one direction.

[corkedbat]

Our plan is to plan to plan and once we have that plan planned we will stick to the plan - unless plans change.

[Spring~Fields]

So Walt, does that mean we will stop seeing the over 30 crowd continue to trickle onto the Reds roster? Since you are using that word "young" again. It would seem to have some naturally assumed inferences that come from your implications. Walt, you even used the word "talent", is that defined by the talent that you brought to the Reds organization this year? Is that your definition of talent?

[KoryMac5]

Patchwork until the kids are ready to come up and play. Unfortunately there aren't many impact kids ready to come up and make a significant impact. Be on the look out for that Gomes 3 year extension soon.

[Kc61]

Be realistic. Walt is not going to turn this team into a tryout camp for 21 year old prospects. He isn't doing it.

Everyone says the fans will love it. Baloney. They will love it until the team is 15 games out on June 1. Then they will ignore the "kids" like they ignore the current team in September when the games are meaningless. Except the ignoring will start in June. Or maybe May in a bad year.

And to really start from scratch effectively, you have to get real, real bad. For quite awhile. You have to be in a position to draft the number 1-3 players every year for several. And then wait three years to see if they pan out. And hope they can anchor your team or you are back to point zero.

Walt is saying he is emphasizing youth but wants to add good veterans to the extent possible. That's realistic. Nothing wrong with it.

What is wrong is bad player choices and incorrect talent evaluation. That is a problem if it happens. The other problem is not spending a few extra bucks to get short term fixes that will help the team be reasonably competitive.

But the overall concept is the only way they can go, real world.

[Spring~Fields]

Be realistic. Walt is not going to turn this team into a tryout camp for 21 year old prospects. He isn't doing it.

KC,
We all know or assume that he can't afford good veterans. The only way he can get those is by trades or bring in another Rolen or Tevaras type. We already saw what he could do during his rein last year, after the all-start break, into the offseason, and the spring training. One should be able to assume realisticaly, that Walt did the best that he and his stafff could, and without the resources to make it any different, it should be more of the same.

[Brutus]

Originally Posted by dougdirt

That leaves me feeling no better. Sounds like they still don't have a real plan other than praying things fall together perfectly.

Actually I thought it sounded like he knows exactly what he has in mind. He said he didn't really want to say what it is. He's not going to say "we want to upgrade this position, spend money on that position, etc."

I thought he seemed pretty defnitive that he at least has some methodology to what he wants to accomplish. Clearly, following through will be another issue. But it's a start.

[paulrichjr]

How did this man do so well in St. Louis. He sounds completely clueless. Where's DanO when we need him? JK

[wheels]

So... In other words, they aren't sure if they want to seriously rebuild, and they don't have the money to actually go for it.

We all knew it, and it sort of explains the Rolen deal.

If it seems like they don't know what they're doing, it's because they actually don't know what they're doing.

Occam's Razor or somesuch.

Good Gravy.

[CarolinaRedleg]

How long have we been stuck on Phase 2?

[wheels]

Originally Posted by CarolinaRedleg

How long have we been stuck on Phase 2?

Man....Do I love that one.