Dick Williams

[mth123]

Its hard to judge. The Reds have made updates to how they run things, but the entire industry has. Not sure how much credit they should get for doing what everybody else is doing.

Compared to my expectations, he's a lot better than I thought he'd be. Still not convinced the team is over the hump or just falling for the latest fad.

[RedCanuck]

If this thread says anything, it's that people don't know Dick.

So all you are saying, is give Dick a chance....?

[Kc61]

Its hard to judge. The Reds have made updates to how they run things, but the entire industry has. Not sure how much credit they should get for doing what everybody else is doing.

Compared to my expectations, he's a lot better than I thought he'd be. Still not convinced the team is over the hump or just falling for the latest fad.

Whatever people think about Williams, the team hasn’t reached .500. It’s a bottom line business. Ideas may sound great but if they result in losing seasons, well, as Parcells said, you are what you are.

So far I find this off-season active but unlikely to lead to playoff contention. Reds could reach .500 but it’s no lock. Winter isn’t over, so let’s call it incomplete, only an interim report card.

Jury still out on Williams. Let’s see more results on the field.

[Mutaman]

there are other cooks in the kitchen

That's the problem with this organization right now. There needs to be one guy in charge and the owner needs to give him complete control and stay out of his way.

[Aland]

Dick was promoted to Assistant GM in nov 2014
He was promoted to GM In 2015
Then in dec of 2016 svp and Sole GM

Since dick Williams has had any manager type of role for the reds, they are 126 collective games under .500 and 140 collective games out of first (over 5 seasons)

He’s doing great. Lol

[Nasty_Boy]

How long has he been able to make moves without training wheels? There's been more than a handful of documented instances where Castellini has prevented certain moves... Also, the main trade pieces that this team had after 2010-2013 run were moved by Jocketty. The players acquired from those moves where expected to be major league contributers the last few years. I felt like last offseason was the first time that Dick was given the freedom to make moves and change the way the Reds were doing business. There was a clear change in philosophy last offseason with hiring of Bell, Johnson, Ward, Cotham, etc... They seem to have doubled down this offseason by bringing in Boddy and making sweeping changes to organizational procedures when it comes to coaching evaluation and player development. As I said in my earlier post, it may not work... But if feels as if there is a plan and some direction. It took Jocketty 3-4 years to get the team to the postseason, and he inherited a loaded minor league system. I have the patience to see it through with Williams because it feels like the organization is trying.

[Bob Sheed]

If Dick defines himself as someone who orchestrates winning baseball in Cincinnati, then based on the results, Dick hasn't done Dick.

[BillDoran]

Yesterday, C. Trent posted a nice story about a new young front office employee: https://theathletic.com/1883966/2020...iving-a-dream/

She sounds like a really sharp young woman (Northwestern grad). The story had a link to another piece from last year about another young man being brought on board (a former Duke and USC baseball player), and it's hard not to think Williams and Krall are trying to collect as many sharp, young folks to develop for future roles in the front office. I know they've done a good deal of hiring in analytics too. It feels like they're trying to build a deep bench of baseball minds, which seems valuable in keeping the thinking fresh and looking to the future.

Throw in the system-wide approach to pitching and hitting; bringing on board Derek Johnson and Kyle Boddy; and I thought they had a great offseason wrt the roster. I like the cut of Bell's gib as well. All the pieces look promising, and it's hard not to be optimistic. It feels like they have a foundation for some sustained success. The only thing missing are the Ws.

[Bruce Berenyi]

I think it is very hard to be optimistic, they are one of the worse performing franchises in the league,,

[REDREAD]

[Mr X] has brought the reds into the 21st century re: tech, coaching, and international presence. He also completely revamped scouting and development, which was very clearly the Reds worst area.

.

Hey OhioBarge, this is not directed at you. But just a comment.
I took out William's name and replaced it with "Mr X" because on this board, we have heard that comment made for just about every new GM.

Murray Cook, Quinn, Jim Bowen, Trader Jack, Dan O'Brien (initially), Wayne K, and Walt were all touted as heroes when they first arrived. It's natural to want to like the new GM of your favorite team. Then when the GM leaves, he's maligned by fans and blamed for everything that went wrong and there's new hope with the new guy.

Other than the big FA spending spree which ownership authorized, I am struggling
to find anything to give Dick Williams/Krall a lot of praise for, other than the Sony Gray/Castillo and getting lucky with Scooter. I believe Dick Williams officially took control of the team in November 2015. That's what his wiki page says. So if that's true, the Frasier and Chapman trades are on him. But even if you discount that,
Williams was in charge during one of the worst tanking periods I have ever sat through as a fan. He did very little to try to change it. Hiring stat people does no good if that knowledge is not leveraged and the team is one of the worst teams in baseball for 5 years.

Nick Senzel will probably turn out to be a good (or at least usable) player, but he was the 2nd pick overall. Taylor Trammel was called a "bust" by most of the board here. IMO, it's too early to judge that pick, but the majority of the board does not consider that a win. Greene was a high risk pick that was babied all through high school and immediately got hurt. Sure, he might come back, but again, that's not a feather in his cap. India is a toss up too. Too early to really say on the other guys.
But the point is.. right now "rebuilding the farm".. all he's done is Senzel so far.
Maybe some more guys will emerge, but "rebuilding the farm" is not something he can hang his hat on. The farm system is rated as one of the worst in baseball.
Part of that was the trade for Puig/Kemp, Bauer and other guys.

So let's talk about trades.
Puig/Kemp trade was a disaster.

Shed Long for Gray. Fantastic

Trammel for Bauer.. Since this trade was done for 2020, and 2020 might not come, not really fair to judge this one either way. I was in favor at the time, but if Bauer does not pitch for us because of the virus, not really fair to call it a win or a loss

Roark for Hannah.. not really significant enough to call a win or a loss

Mesorocco for Harvey.. Not a bad trade, but really had no impact other than getting us a inning eater rental. Push.

Duvall for Sims. Not bad, but not exactly a win, at least not yet.. Push. Might be a win if Sims becomes a reliable reliever.

Rainey for Roark. Win for the reds

Stralley for Castillo. Huge win.

Trading Cingrani away for nothing. Minor loss. Cingrani should have been kept as a bullpen arm.

Getting Josh VanMeter for a rule V pick. Minor win.

Getting almost nothing for Todd Frazier loss (Dec 2015, Williams took over in Nov, based on wiki page)

Chapman was traded on Dec 28, 2015. So according to William's wiki page, he was in charge then.
Now, I know he was forced to dump Chapman so I will go easy on him, but definitely a loss.

Signed Alfredo Simon prior to the 2015 season.. Not a franchise altering move, but horrible decision which was forced due to poor planning in the offseason (not having enough arms to man the staff).

Signing Stralley off waivers.. Good move in isolation, even though Stralley was fool's gold, we were desperate for innings eaters. I give him credit for Castillo in another line item.

[REDREAD]

Rome wasn't built in a day... The player development issue would clearly fall on the previous leadership group. .

That is true, but how much more time does Williams/ Krall get? they have had over 4 years (Williams was named GM in Nov 2015) and the Reds have one of the worst farm systems in baseball. Last year they cashed in a bunch of prospects and only won 75 games. If there is a 2020 season, they will probably have a good year, but they have a lot of pending FAs too. They are going to need another big spending spree to be competitive in 2021.

This sounds like of what previous regimes were accused of.. Horrible farm system and building the team on short term rentals. I don't necessarily disagree with that approach, it can work, but I think most of the board does disagree with it.

[REDREAD]

I'm so glad we can have this thread again. It is an entirely new perspective filled with ideas that definitely don't get expressed in literally every single thread in which his named is mentioned.

No one is forcing you to click on it.
Not much else to talk about, not sure why you are offended.

[Rolando]

Hey OhioBarge, this is not directed at you. But just a comment.
I took out William's name and replaced it with "Mr X" because on this board, we have heard that comment made for just about every new GM.

Murray Cook, Quinn, Jim Bowen, Trader Jack, Dan O'Brien (initially), Wayne K, and Walt were all touted as heroes when they first arrived. It's natural to want to like the new GM of your favorite team. Then when the GM leaves, he's maligned by fans and blamed for everything that went wrong and there's new hope with the new guy.

Other than the big FA spending spree which ownership authorized, I am struggling
to find anything to give Dick Williams/Krall a lot of praise for, other than the Sony Gray/Castillo and getting lucky with Scooter. I believe Dick Williams officially took control of the team in November 2015. That's what his wiki page says. So if that's true, the Frasier and Chapman trades are on him. But even if you discount that,
Williams was in charge during one of the worst tanking periods I have ever sat through as a fan. He did very little to try to change it. Hiring stat people does no good if that knowledge is not leveraged and the team is one of the worst teams in baseball for 5 years.

Nick Senzel will probably turn out to be a good (or at least usable) player, but he was the 2nd pick overall. Taylor Trammel was called a "bust" by most of the board here. IMO, it's too early to judge that pick, but the majority of the board does not consider that a win. Greene was a high risk pick that was babied all through high school and immediately got hurt. Sure, he might come back, but again, that's not a feather in his cap. India is a toss up too. Too early to really say on the other guys.
But the point is.. right now "rebuilding the farm".. all he's done is Senzel so far.
Maybe some more guys will emerge, but "rebuilding the farm" is not something he can hang his hat on. The farm system is rated as one of the worst in baseball.
Part of that was the trade for Puig/Kemp, Bauer and other guys.

So let's talk about trades.
Puig/Kemp trade was a disaster.

Shed Long for Gray. Fantastic

Trammel for Bauer.. Since this trade was done for 2020, and 2020 might not come, not really fair to judge this one either way. I was in favor at the time, but if Bauer does not pitch for us because of the virus, not really fair to call it a win or a loss

Roark for Hannah.. not really significant enough to call a win or a loss

Mesorocco for Harvey.. Not a bad trade, but really had no impact other than getting us a inning eater rental. Push.

Duvall for Sims. Not bad, but not exactly a win, at least not yet.. Push. Might be a win if Sims becomes a reliable reliever.

Rainey for Roark. Win for the reds

Stralley for Castillo. Huge win.

Trading Cingrani away for nothing. Minor loss. Cingrani should have been kept as a bullpen arm.

Getting Josh VanMeter for a rule V pick. Minor win.

Getting almost nothing for Todd Frazier loss (Dec 2015, Williams took over in Nov, based on wiki page)

Chapman was traded on Dec 28, 2015. So according to William's wiki page, he was in charge then.
Now, I know he was forced to dump Chapman so I will go easy on him, but definitely a loss.

Signed Alfredo Simon prior to the 2015 season.. Not a franchise altering move, but horrible decision which was forced due to poor planning in the offseason (not having enough arms to man the staff).

Signing Stralley off waivers.. Good move in isolation, even though Stralley was fool's gold, we were desperate for innings eaters. I give him credit for Castillo in another line item.

Well Bob Quinn won the world series and Jack McKeon was never the GM so I don't know how they the the list.

[westofyou]

Instead of focusing on player moves why not focus on player development growth?

The Howsam years were successful because he pulled the Reds into modern age and the team really spent money on the structural parts of what makes a franchise successful. That success carried on until others thought that that part of the game was organic and that just making deals was the way to success. Culture matters, innovation matters, having some people who have their hands on the purse strings that recognize that is refreshing.

[bucksfan2]

It wasn't until 12/27/2016 when Jocketty stepped down from the day to day operations that Dick Williams really took over. He may have had GM in title, but Jocketty ran the show as President of Baseball Operations.