Nick Krall

[BillDoran]

His poor fielding was pivotal in today’s game. The numbers so far this year are brutal. It was easy to overlook them because the Reds were slugging over them and pitching well. That is no longer the case.

I know India hit a homer today, but I think the Reds need to start thinking of calling up Garcia and sending India down.

Was it the .059 OPS in spring training or the .400 OPS last season that made you realize it was time to give Garcia a chance?

[757690]

Was it the .059 OPS in spring training or the .400 OPS last season that made you realize it was time to give Garcia a chance?

It’s Suarez being a butcher at SS that is costing the Reds wins, like today. Decent infield defense and this team has a few more wins easily this year so far.

[Coopdaddy67]

This is a cop out. It’s Krall’s job to put a competitive team on the field with the resources he has at his disposal. People are acting like ownership told him the payroll had to be below $50 million. They have a middle of the pack payroll. Over $100 million. Instead of thinking outside the box Krall did absolutely nothing this offseason. He didn’t even do the one thing that was absolutely necessary, which was acquire a major league SS. Instead he just threw his hands in the air and said “welp, none of the three options we looked into signed for peanuts. Let’s start a DH at short!”

No. I reject this notion Krall is not at fault for this mess. He could have made some difficult choices, like trading Suarez for holes that needed filled like SS and relievers. Or SP depth. HE DID NOTHING.

Nobody said being a major league GM is easy, it’s why he is paid millions of dollars. The sooner the reds move on from Krall the better IMHO. He is completely and utterly out of his depth.

Nearly all of the Reds' payroll was already tied up in existing contacts. This isn't MLB The Show where you can dump contracts and get teams to trade you whoever you want. It's a little bit tougher than that.

Maybe the price was too high on the trade market to acquire an adequate SS and/or teams weren't willing to deal them? I think it's safe to say Krall considered adding a SS in a number of ways. Clearly nothing was a fit.

Also, you're completely ignoring the fact that Bob Castellini has spent his entire tenure interfering in trades.

[KronoRed]

Does anyone think Castellini would approve getting rid of Suarez? or even Barnhart? he wants the names he's familiar with.

[Kc61]

Does anyone think Castellini would approve getting rid of Suarez? or even Barnhart? he wants the names he's familiar with.

Team finances seem, obviously, to have been major concerns of late. Not sure owners would rule out trades that might help the club and save some payroll.

[757690]

Team finances seem, obviously, to have been major concerns of late. Not sure owners would rule out trades that might help the club and save some payroll.

But Cast has specifically said that trading the names actually losses the team money. It may not be true, but he seems to have convinced himself of that.

[Revering4Blue]

Does anyone think Castellini would approve getting rid of Suarez? or even Barnhart? he wants the names he's familiar with.

Williams and Krall convinced him to move on from Hamilton and Scooter - two of "his" guys. So, I'm no longer buying the 'Bob controls the roster' narrative, though it obviously held some water, oddly enough, during Jocketty's tenure.

While I cannot definitely declare him as in over his head - early returns aren't promising - the relative inaction of the past offseason is totally on Krall.

[Revering4Blue]

I agree that Krall was under tight financial constaints.. It appears he only had 3 million to spend.
That went to Bedrosian and Dolittle. I think that's one reason why Noe was cut.. Noe made more than
the minimum. If Gordon or someone else was kept, that money would have likely come out of the 3 million budget.

At the same time though, look at the A's last winter. They were under financial constraints too and needed a SS and figured out a way
to swap bad contracts to get one. The really good GMs find a way. Think about it, Krall had the option to trade, and all he did was dump
Ingelsis and pick up some guys that were at the end of other team's 40 man rosters. He did not trade really for a single piece that is going
to actually help us. Dolittle was a good sign, Bedrosian was a disaster. Krall was pretty inactive, so I think he needs to take some blame for
the sad state of affairs too. The Reds have had other GMs that were financially constrained, but they managed to improve the team.
Trade Aquino for a bullpen arm. Try to trade an expensive vet for an expensive vet reliever or SS. At least try to do something.

This is a cop out. It’s Krall’s job to put a competitive team on the field with the resources he has at his disposal. People are acting like ownership told him the payroll had to be below $50 million. They have a middle of the pack payroll. Over $100 million. Instead of thinking outside the box Krall did absolutely nothing this offseason. He didn’t even do the one thing that was absolutely necessary, which was acquire a major league SS. Instead he just threw his hands in the air and said “welp, none of the three options we looked into signed for peanuts. Let’s start a DH at short!”

No. I reject this notion Krall is not at fault for this mess. He could have made some difficult choices, like trading Suarez for holes that needed filled like SS and relievers. Or SP depth. HE DID NOTHING.

Nobody said being a major league GM is easy, it’s why he is paid millions of dollars.

Couldn't be more accurate, guys!

[757690]

Williams and Krall convinced him to move on from Hamilton and Scooter - two of "his" guys. So, I'm no longer buying the 'Bob controls the roster' narrative, though it obviously held some water, oddly enough, during Jocketty's tenure.

While I cannot definitely declare him as in over his head - early returns aren't promising - the relative inaction of the past offseason is totally on Krall.

Not sure I buy this. Hamilton and Scooter were really bad when they were let go, like really, really bad. I’m guessing you could have convinced Cast to move on from them, with an email.

[Coopdaddy67]

Williams and Krall convinced him to move on from Hamilton and Scooter - two of "his" guys. So, I'm no longer buying the 'Bob controls the roster' narrative, though it obviously held some water, oddly enough, during Jocketty's tenure.

While I cannot definitely declare him as in over his head - early returns aren't promising - the relative inaction of the past offseason is totally on Krall.

The problem is that he didn't relent until those two guys were negative players.

Money and/or prospects are necessary for action. The Reds didn't have money and they weren't going to trade one or more of their top 4-5 prospects.

[RedTeamGo!]

Nearly all of the Reds' payroll was already tied up in existing contacts. This isn't MLB The Show where you can dump contracts and get teams to trade you whoever you want. It's a little bit tougher than that.

Maybe the price was too high on the trade market to acquire an adequate SS and/or teams weren't willing to deal them? I think it's safe to say Krall considered adding a SS in a number of ways. Clearly nothing was a fit.

Also, you're completely ignoring the fact that Bob Castellini has spent his entire tenure interfering in trades.

It annoys me when people say “this isn’t the show” - I didn’t say anything unrealistic. I didn’t even give names of players. I specifically said it wasn’t easy in the post you quoted. Again, it’s Krall’s job to do difficult things, he did nothing.

Anyways, I am not defending Cast, he’s clearly a major part of the problem as well, however there’s no proof Cast interfered this offseason. All we know is Krall failed to fill the holes that needed to be filled.

[757690]

While he’s the GM and the buck stops with him, I can’t fault Krall too much this offseason if it’s true that Cast cut the payroll.

The A’s comparison doesn’t work for me because they had a tradeable contract to work with. What contract did the Reds have that they could trade and not make the team worse? It’s clear he tried, but the deals just weren’t there. I actually commend him for not making a move just to make a move. That had to be hard to resist given this was his first year at the helm.

The key is that while he didn’t improve the team, he didn’t hurt it either. Look at what the Cubs did this offseason. The Reds look to be about as good as they were last season, and they lost the Cy Young winner in the off season. I am not happy with what Krall did this offseason, but I’m not too upset either. It could have been much worse.

[Revering4Blue]

Not sure I buy this. Hamilton and Scooter were really bad when they were let go, like really, really bad. I’m guessing you could have convinced Cast to move on from them, with an email.

The problem is that he didn't relent until those two guys were negative players.

Money and/or prospects are necessary for action. The Reds didn't have money and they weren't going to trade one or more of their top 4-5 prospects.

Hamilton was basically really, really bad throughout his 5 year tenure as a full-time player, though he did fill a role as a defensive-minded CF during a rebuild fueled by a host of young pitchers who were idiotically rushed, and subsequently ruined as starters. Yet, Cast was making noises about keeping Hamilton "forever" after 2017 or so. A bad 2018 hardly swayed Cast one way or another.

I'll grant you Scooter's precipitous fall, and he perhaps wasn't the best example. But he was still beloved by Bob and many fans when he was dealt. IIRC, there was a good amount of hand-wringing over that deal.

But hypothetically, if Suarez and/or Barnhart (for example) could have been dealt to fill holes, not that I'm necessarily advocated for such. An effective POBO could not have convinced Cast that such a move was in the best interest of the franchise - to say nothing of, for example, dealing Aquino for an established reliever? Not buying it.

Again, I'm not suggesting that Cast is above reproach at all. He's meddled in the past to the detriment of the franchise. No doubt about it. But the extent of his meddling is also overblown and too often utilized as an excuse to paper over the many galactic failures of his GMs/POBOs over the years.

[Revering4Blue]

While he’s the GM and the buck stops with him, I can’t fault Krall too much this offseason if it’s true that Cast cut the payroll.

The A’s comparison doesn’t work for me because they had a tradeable contract to work with. What contract did the Reds have that they could trade and not make the team worse? It’s clear he tried, but the deals just weren’t there. I actually commend him for not making a move just to make a move. That had to be hard to resist given this was his first year at the helm.

The key is that while he didn’t improve the team, he didn’t hurt it either. Look at what the Cubs did this offseason. The Reds look to be about as good as they were last season, and they lost the Cy Young winner in the off season. I am not happy with what Krall did this offseason, but I’m not too upset either. It could have been much worse.

Fair enough.

The saving grace is the fact that, unlike SPs and offense (without paying through the teeth), relievers are always available at the deadline. But will this pen's poor performance knock the team out of contention by then?

[WVRedsFan]

Was it the .059 OPS in spring training or the .400 OPS last season that made you realize it was time to give Garcia a chance?

As an old guy, I Remember guys like Eddie Kasco manning shortstop. Fielding in what you look for. Offense is or was a secondary object. Put Suarez back at Thursday’s and go with Garcia. The thinking here is faulty. In order to save money. BCast doesn’t want to win, he wants to make money. How many times do hobbies make money even if the team is good. In most places and situation it’s never.