I'm teaching an evening course Tuesday through Thursday at a community college this semester. It's about a half-hour drive, and there's something about driving through the city at night that puts me into an introspective mood.
Tonight, I was thinking about the Reds. I haven't really considered myself a Wayne Krivsky fan for a while. But I'm more bothered that he was fired today than I would have ever expected.
Somehow, the fact that he's no longer at the helm makes me feel like I don't know this team anymore. It doesn't make any sense, as it's the same set of players and largely the same set of personnel.
Maybe what's happened is that this move crushed the final bit of enthusiasm I still had left over from that exciting time back in early '06 when we got a new owner and a new GM within a month's time. Or, maybe it's just that I don't think that this was the right move for the ballclub--I remember having similar feelings of detachment and general bummitude after The Trade. Or maybe it's just that I'd finally gotten a pretty good read on Krivsky and his operating style, and now I don't have a clue what to expect from Jocketty...
It's nothing that a little winning won't fix, of course. Hopefully the Reds'll go on a little winning streak here and put everyone (or me, at least) in a better mood.
If there's one advantage that Jocketty has, it's that he is through-and-through Bob Castellini's guy. Wayne has seemingly been living on the edge since the Narron firing of last July. But it's going to take a lot more than a losing streak or two for Castellini to start exerting win-or-else pressure on Jocketty. Hopefully that means that Jocketty will be more free to do his job than Wayne may have been...which, for this franchise, means first and foremost continuing to build the farm, steadily moving the youth into leading roles on the big league team, and figuring out what the heck to do about the outfield problem that's coming in the fall.
Have you guys found is good in depth analysis that is not on a Reds blog or Ohio newpaper? SEems like Foxsports, ESPN, and SI are pretty much blowing this off. Does that mean the Reds are irrelevant??
ReplyDeleteThere's a pretty scathing column about it on CBS. I actually mostly agree with him, though I think he's being a bit harsh.
ReplyDeleteAs for relevance, until the Reds start winning, they will always be irrelevant. The only teams that can get coverage even when doing poorly are those in the Northeast...and their payrolls are such that they have a pretty large margin of error...
-j
I've had the same thoughts, Justin. (I suspect mine are also partly feuld by Hilary Clinton's "triumph," but that's another blog).
ReplyDeleteIt's not that I liked Krivsky, but I think he had laid the foundation he wanted, and was at least done fooling around. Now I'm worried that Jocketty is going to have to "put his stamp on the team" and pull some stupid stunt like trading Jay Bruce for Joe Blanton.
It's a bush league move. I agree more with the CBS guy. Krivsky's reputation as a scout is fantastic, not just with the twins but with the rangers before that. Jocketty's reputation...in terms of scouting...is in general quite the opposite.
ReplyDeleteI'm guessing that Krivsky will stay on in a scouting capacity until his contract is up. That might be a saving grace. But he'll get a better job elsewhere.
I'm kind of bummed out by this. Still.
If your Walt what are the first 5 things you do?
ReplyDelete1. Fogg/Coffey out - Bailey/Brey in
2. Trade Hatteburg and Freel and prospects for a VALAUBLE RH bat
3. Get rid of 3 freaking catchers
4. Hire a freaking baserunning coach
5. Look good
5. Look good
ReplyDeleteYahoo.com had a funny article last night called "Reds go Gucci," which compared Jocketty's stylish dress vs. Krivsky's bad Hawaiian shirt business. But I've searched for about 10 minutes and can't find it anymore on their site, and only a passing indication that it existed on a google search.
Justin, I wish I could've read that Yahoo article. Maybe they removed it because it was kicking a guy while he's down, but it sounds funny and I need to be entertained.
ReplyDeleteThe timing of the firing was idiotic, as were Castellini's stated reasons for making the move. If it was Bob's intention to bring in Walt Jocketty as GM all along, as I believe it was, it would have made a whole lot more sense to do that from the outset, instead of bringing him into a wait-in-the-wings position initially. That way, Jocketty would have actually been able to make some pre-season moves to improve the team. And it would have been better if he had just said, "Nothing against Wayne, but Walt is who I wanted all along, and he became available" instead of blithering on about "refusing to lose" like some tin-pot Steinbrenner.
ReplyDeleteI almost wonder if the issue this offseason was Jocketty. He had made some comments about not being sure if he wanted a GM job again at the time. Maybe he said that he needed a few months to think on it, get back into the groove, etc.
ReplyDeleteI can imagine this job being one that can burn (at least some kinds of) people out after 5 years or so. Ultra-competitive, 24/7, etc...
-j
Yeah, maybe he was offered GM initially and turned it down. This still could have been handled a lot better IMO.
ReplyDeleteCompletely agree. :)
ReplyDeleteJockety has already said one thing that chimes with me - that this team has a problem knocking runs in. Duh, but what that boils down to is that a certain left fielder is taking walks and doing the sabermets thing while runners are stranded. We need people who make contact. Maybe Jockety sees this.
ReplyDeleteThat absolutely, positively is NOT what it "boils down to." I don't even know what "doing the sabermets thing" means.
ReplyDeleteOh but it is ... a certain guaranteed strikeout in the lineup who happens to walk alot and have his value inflated ... sabermets says he is valuable, but W/L says not so much.
ReplyDeletea certain guaranteed strikeout in the lineup who happens to walk alot and have his value inflated
ReplyDeleteOhhh, you're talking about Brandon Phillips. Now I get it. I mean, he does lead the team in strikeouts. But wait, he doesn't walk hardly ever. Now I'm cornfused.