Tuesday, July 03, 2007

Wayne and Bob's Press Conference

I just finished watching the Reds' press conference on Jerry Narron's departure. I usually avoid trying to read too much into what is said at these meetings, much less the body language of the actors, but emotions were so high that I can't help but have a few impressions:
  1. Everyone loved Jerry, even if he wasn't doing a good enough job.
  2. Wayne Krivsky seemed tired and stressed. Not so much so that he was exhausted, but certainly enough to be a bit overly emotional. It was also interesting to count how many times he said the words "as long as I'm here." He's definitely feeling the heat.
  3. Bob Castellini looked pissed. He did not seem particularly warm towards Wayne, or even all that collegial.
Bob's quip about firing himself, and his statement about how involved he planned to be in the hiring process for the new manager, might indicate that he's stepping in on Wayne's authority a bit more than he has in the past. That could be a good thing, as it could ensure that dissenting views have a chance to be expressed. But it could also paralyze Wayne's ability to do anything over the coming weeks, and this is a critical time for the team.

Bob's statement that they intend to put a contending team on the field for the remainder of this season is also a bit troubling, because it might indicate that the Reds aren't following the path that they should be at this point in the season. This season is lost, and the Reds should spend the rest of the season, including especially this month's trading flurry, doing whatever they can to get a core of talent ready for the coming two seasons.

That does not mean some sort of long-term rebuilding plan that will doom the Reds to mediocrity for years to come (those 5-year plans don't have a great track record of success). But it does mean trading away (for good return) players that are peaking in value right now and are unlikely to help us two years down the line (Griffey, Hatteberg, Weathers, etc) and investing, both in terms of money and playing time, in those that might be able to help the team the next few years--even if it means growing pains this year. Let's hope that statement by Bob was more one for PR than an actual statement of executive direction.

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I spent the last hour or so working on the month of June report, but motivation is not exactly in high gear given how bad it was. I think that, like I did for May, I'm going to forgo the sort of in-depth analysis I've done in the past and stick to some basic reporting. More should be ready by tomorrow. But for now, I'm going to go live in fantasyland, where my team is tied for first and entering a five-game series with the co-leader of its division. It's a lot more fun than reality.

2 comments:

  1. Justin,

    Found this over at Craig Calcaterra's ShysterBall blog:

    BizBall: Lastly, the Indians recently hired one of my Baseball Prospectus colleagues, Keith Woolner, and I know that Vince Gennaro has worked with the Indians in the past. How do you approach the use objective analysis along with the advice from your scouting department? Some say that it is a black and white area, and it clearly isn’t…

    Shapiro: That’s the biggest mistake. I risk the temptation to brand us as one type of organization and just call it a balanced organization. My philosophy has always been: Why limit yourself to one type of data? Why not seek to get the best information in every area? What we start to do is seek out the best objective analysis available and then frame it properly and utilize it. To seek out the best subjective analysis or scouting information available then frame that and utilize that in decisions. Medical; personality; and psychological; financial – all those variables that exist within a decision making framework. Then with the creative, or when the artistic side of that comes in, that is how you weigh those variables in the decision making process.


    I would be a lot more sanguine about the direction of this organization if our GM talked like Mark Shapiro. If Kriv is definitely feeling the heat and Bob is pissed, someone should point the owner in the direction of Shapiro's philosophy.

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  2. i ment to put this here but i messed up so here it is again:


    wayne showed so much emotion because he knew he was making a bad decision. narron did the the best job he could, with a team that krivsky was to afraid to work on making better earlier this season. poor krivsky... poor poor krivsky.... I bet he'll regret this for the rest of his life! jerry narron will have an outstanding career and will manage many world champion teams. if the reds knew what was good for them, they'd beg him to come back.

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