That's quite a change of heart, FCB. IIRC, you were highly supportive of his hire.
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That's quite a change of heart, FCB. IIRC, you were highly supportive of his hire.
Wow, I thought I'd be the harshest critic, but I'm not. :MandJ:
I give him a D-. The only thing saving him from a failing grade is that he didn't do anything monumentally stupid, like trading Dunn for bad pitching prospect.
Resigning Miley, botching the Reitsma trade, wasting all the payflex, not locking up the core, ignoring the pitching and 3b problem, poor draft, not moving us forward on inch this season give him a very bad grade.
That by far overshadows his few minor positive moves: Todd Jones, Gabe White (nice low risk deal, attempt to improve bullpen), and the longshot prospects he got from the Phils.
Does anyone really think we are better off than we were a year ago? I don't.
Everyone that is good is one year closer to being priced out of town, no talent was added.
Yes, he did it twice :MandJ: He even broke his "no negotiation" rule to do it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Raisor
:MandJ:
And why in the heck did he already commit to Miley for 2006? Miley's agent must've given the FO a heck of a deal to give Miley some security.
Good to see you have a sense of humor in the face of disaster Raisor. I predict that within 2 years, Miley will be despised more than Boone. In fact, I'm sure he'll have a worse W-L record too.
I would have to grade O'Brien a C. He did re-sign Miley, brought back Gabe White( the Reds were still in it at the time) and got Machado and Hancock for basically nothing in Todd Jones and Corey Lidle ( correcting the original mistake in signing him). On the flip side, he should have traded Paul Wilson ( or re-signed him, which i would've preferred) and moved Danny Graves and made more of an attempt in bringing back Aaron Boone.
I'll give him an F since PU is not really a grade.
GL
Wow, you guys are rough
To give O'brien a "F" after 1 season is typical Redszone chicken little "I know everything" attitude. Considering the little money and value he had to work with, he gets a C from me. He didn't wow me, nor am I overly surprised by his lack of activity his first year with the Reds.
D
Did nothing to help the MLB product. Non-tendered Branyan without a legit option at 3B. Two "big" moves were bringing in an old part-time OF and a non-projectible SP. Knew about Juan Cruz' availability and didn't move on it. Took a step forward with the Reitsma deal and two steps back with the draft and inability to figure out how to get value for Paul Wilson. Supposedly had a bunch of PayFlex and didn't spend a cent of it.
Was 1-for-a-bunch on waiver wire pickups. Didn't bring a single productive MLB player from outside the system who was here at the end of the season. Implements minor league development strategy and then backs off of it.
Lost binder sometime around June.
Decision-making process appears to take four times as long as one needs to dissect of one of his oh-so-politically-correct-and-never-to-the-point doublespeak quotes.
Dislikes children and old people. Treats animals poorly. Ok, I made those up. He might like children, old people, and animals. Makes no difference. He's a General Manager. I just want him to like good players. Pitchers mostly.
The only reason he gets a D is because I think he can do worse.
That scares me.
Should scare kids too. Maybe animals as well.
I dunno.
The fact that he didn't trade Paul Wilson when he had the chance elicits a failing grade from me.
Trading a guy like that could have really paid dividends.
And don't get me started on the draft.
What was Wilson going to bring? Nada, maybe not as much as Lidle brought by Augest.
Just because O'brien didn't make "moves" to upgrade in 2004 is exactly what your describing. Rebuilding. The sad thing is, the Reds didn't have a player outside Dunn who would bring in the kind of talent you want.
One doesn't rebuild with Elmers glue, paper mache, duct tape, and bailing wire. One patches with those- and badly if they don't know what they're doing.Quote:
Rebuilding.
Rebuilding is done with brick, mortar, concrete, sturdy wood, hammer, and nails.
O'Brien didn't "build" in 2004. He didn't "rebuild" in 2004. He stuck a Band-Aid on a gushing head wound.
That doesn't fix anything. It only makes it appear that one's "trying" while the patient bleeds to death.
Nope. Was in the WOY "give the guy more than a month before bashing him" camp. I've seen close to twelve of those months and I don't like what I see...at all.Quote:
Originally Posted by MWM
Thanks for clarifying. I thought I remembered making a comment about how you were glad they brought in someone with great intelligence (Rhodes Scholar) who knew how to think, etc...Quote:
Originally Posted by Falls City Beer
Aha, I found it. I don't meant to throw this in your face, FCB, but I thought I remembered you saying something like this and I found it, so here goes.
Quote:
Outside of DePodesta, O'Brien is the guy I want.
This may sound like snobbery, but I respect a GM who combines ambition AND intelligence/restraint, things that O'Brien's vita suggests he has.
I think it's an out-and-out fallacy to believe there is a necessary connection between office rank (gm, asst. gm, third in command, etc.) and qualifications. I think intelligence and success (Rhodes Scholar, drafting history) are FAR better criteria to judge a candidate by.
I'm happy with the Reds' choice and wish O'Brien the best.
You've created a nice little strawman for yourself there. By pretending others expect a cornucopia of talent for Paul Wilson, you give yourself permission to ignore the Reds' failure to work any sort of deal for the guy.Quote:
Originally Posted by Aronchis
Minnesota got a great young arm for Doug Mientkiewicz for cripes sake. Even guys like Carl Everett and Ismael Valdes fetched live bodies.
Teams work deals. Prospects get traded for veterans every season and often it's unexciting veterans they're dealt for. If I had told you in mid-July the Mets would trade Scott Kazmir and another arm for Victor Zambrano, you'd have responded, "Try Carlos Zambrano and then maybe you're talking." Successful GMs find the other teams who covet their tradeable commodities and get something for them. It's been that way since the invention of the game. It doesn't have to be a Scott Kazmir or even a pitcher for that matter. No one's asking DanO to fix everything with one deal or in one year, but he needs to identify moments of opportunity and convert them into real gains if wants to perform any kind of rebuilding. Catergorically he did not do that this summer.
Inventing false expectations in others doesn't alleviate him of that responsibility.