Dusty Baker to the Reds

[SlimKibbles]

Re: Dusty Baker to the Reds

...I have a feeling he's one of those guys that are really fun to hang out with but as a manager he's HORRID. BTW did the Reds even interview anyone else? It seems to me they targeted Baker and got him. Baker is all wrong for that team and you think his handling of pitchers is bad? Just wait and see him handling them at the GABP.

That is the question. They never even called Pete Mackanin, apparently. I'd rather have him back than Baker! Talks with Bob Brenly didn't go far for some reason. They didn't want Girardi. Why? I have no idea. To my knowledge they never really interviewed anyone else. I think this is a horrible move. From what I've read, he's a big fan of speed guys and players with experience. That means Ryan Freel is going to stick with the Reds and get playing time over Josh Hamilton and Edwin Encarnacion. It also means the younger players, like Votto and Bruce, may not get much of a chance to play. Based on that and his history with handling pitchers, this was the worst hire the Reds could have made. Girardi and how he worked with the young guys and vets in Miami would have been a better choice. This won't end well...

[J.R. Locke]

Re: Dusty Baker to the Reds

I like Dusty and all the crap he has taken for Wood and Prior is ridiculous. Players play the game and this 100 pitch count baseball mentality is making the game pretty weak in my book.

Dusty is well known and lord knows that retreads have done well throughout the league.

[SlimKibbles]

Re: Dusty Baker to the Reds

I make that one post above and then read this. The columnist makes some good points. I feel ashamed sometimes to fall into the same traps most of the fans around here do. I should have educated myself a little more about it all.

Daugherty: Give Baker a break
BY PAUL DAUGHERTY - CINCINNATI ENQUIRER

No love for Dusty Baker. Nothing but bile for a man with more than 1,100 career wins, whose teams have finished either first or second in eight of his 14 seasons as a manager. A guy who has been NL Manager of the Year three times, who took the Chicago Cubs closer to the World Series altar than any manager in almost 50 years?

He stinks, you say. Terrible pick. You won’t go to the games, you won’t renew your season tickets. You’re done with the Reds.

Ownership believed you’d love their choice. An established manager with clubhouse cred, a players manager, a guy who co-existed with the world’s most ornery athlete, Barry Bonds. You wanted someone who wasn’t an afterthought, a fill-in, a finger in the dike of losing. Well, here he is.

You’re more than irritated. Judging from the comments to Cincinnati.Com's message board, e-mail and callers to my radio show on 700 WLW, you’re offended.

How come?

What do you want?

Do not say Joe Girardi or Tony La Russa. Reds ownership judged Girardi not worth the trouble, which says a lot. Girardi won 78 games two years ago, with a $15 million payroll. You’d think miserly Florida Marlins ownership would have locked him up forever and beyond. Instead, they fired him. Red flags all around.

La Russa, ultimately, was not going to come here. He’s 63, doesn’t want to start all over. If he does, it’ll be with a team he thinks can win immediately. Probably, he’ll be in St. Louis next April, or at home.

Point is, prospective managers don’t grow up dreaming of managing the Cincinnati Reds. So tell me, again, why Baker is the least popular choice since Vern Rapp.

Burns out pitchers, you say. Look at Mark Prior and Kerry Wood. Well, Wood was a time-bomb, a hard thrower with lousy mechanics. Prior might have been ridden too hard, but this was 2003 and the Cubs were chasing their first Series since 1945. Baker’s not the only guy making the calls on Prior’s pitch count. You could say it was a total team effort, from ownership on down.

Favors veterans, you say. No, more than that. Pampers them. Could be. Question: Could Junior Griffey be coddled any more than he is already? What veterans, exactly, would Baker spoil? The Reds are going to be younger than an Olympic gymnast. Adam Dunn? By inside accounts, Dunn is ready to lead, not be led. Who else might Dusty spoil? David Ross?

Part of Baker’s image as a butt-kisser of older guys comes from having to deal with Bonds. What would any manager have done differently with Barry? Do you really think a Lou Piniella or a Joe Girardi would have stood up to Bonds’ act? Doubtful.

What else? It could be this age of quicker-than-instant communication exaggerates everything, especially anger. Baker is the first manager hired in the offseason since Bob Boone, in 2001. In the six years since, chatrooms and message boards and such have exploded. It’s much easier to let the world know your anger now.

...

Here’s what Baker has to do to make you eat your bias: Lead. Identify a few vets capable of doing your bidding in the clubhouse. Set a tone of professionalism that is absent now. Insist on it.

When Joey Votto goes 1-for-20, stay with him. When Homer Bailey hits 100 pitches, remove him. Get yourself a good pitching coach. Leo Mazzone’s available. Other than that, get yourself a figurative flak jacket. You’re gonna need it.

[ghm125]

Re: Dusty Baker to the Reds

Congrats Reds. As a Cubs fan, good luck with him. He is just awful, and I cant understand how a team thats in the same division couldnt see his bumbling nature.

the entire organization is a mess....

[oldpro]

Re: Dusty Baker to the Reds

Why not Dusty? Most of you are idiots if you think Dusty is not a good manager. As always you red n__ks are simply being bias.

[Lintyfresh85]

Re: Dusty Baker to the Reds

first off it's biased... second off, what's the over/under on pitchers on the DL by the end of the year?

[PhantomPain]

Re: Dusty Baker to the Reds

Why not Dusty? Most of you are idiots if you think Dusty is not a good manager. As always you red n__ks are simply being bias.

Well at least you aren't being offensive to a couple million Reds fans. Seriously, this is ok in this forum?

[Sandman42]

Re: Dusty Baker to the Reds

Well at least you aren't being offensive to a couple million Reds fans. Seriously, this is ok in this forum?

He got an infraction for it. You can see the little red box at the bottom right of his post.

[mjb2124]

Re: Dusty Baker to the Reds

He got an infraction for it. You can see the little red box at the bottom right of his post.

He's also taking a break from the forums.

[ESPNdeportes]

Re: Dusty Baker to the Reds

That is the question. They never even called Pete Mackanin, apparently. I'd rather have him back than Baker! Talks with Bob Brenly didn't go far for some reason. They didn't want Girardi. Why? I have no idea. To my knowledge they never really interviewed anyone else. I think this is a horrible move. From what I've read, he's a big fan of speed guys and players with experience. That means Ryan Freel is going to stick with the Reds and get playing time over Josh Hamilton and Edwin Encarnacion. It also means the younger players, like Votto and Bruce, may not get much of a chance to play. Based on that and his history with handling pitchers, this was the worst hire the Reds could have made. Girardi and how he worked with the young guys and vets in Miami would have been a better choice. This won't end well...

Yeah, I think peoples big concerns are obviously overusing pitchers and not playing the young guys.

The Reds do have some nice talent coming up, but it needs to be nurtured. If Votto and Keppinger aren't playing pretty regularly next year, fans are gonna be upset.

[fugazi]

Re: Dusty Baker to the Reds

yeah, i don't care what anyone says about Bartman or AlexGonzalez's error, Dusty cost us that series in game 5 when he sat and watched Prior get hit hard yet left him in for the 7th....

it is like the mirror image of Lou's pulling Zambrano this year...though this year's team was a mental joke.

[rsox]

Re: Dusty Baker to the Reds

I don't really think that Baker playing the veterans over the young guys is going to be a problem since the Reds probably won't spend much money on brining in veteran players.

[NYJets]

Re: Dusty Baker to the Reds

Homer Bailey was a really good young prospect.

It's sad to see his career come to such a sudden end.

[sportsdude]

Re: Dusty Baker to the Reds

I posted this in the Reds official thread, but wanted to say it again because I think it sums up well the decision to hire Baker as manager:

I can't believe Dusty Baker is the Reds manager. Worst decision ever. Here's what's gonna happen, and I'm calling it right now.

Year 1: will win a lot of games in first half of season, team will miss playoffs but everybody will regard it as a positive year and a step forward.
Year 2: Some people pick Reds as sleeper team and the Reds start out will hot and be one of the better teams in the NL. people start talking playoffs until Baker continually abuses his starters, misuses his bullpen and the Reds sputter to a third or fourth place finish.
Year 3: People think it was bad luck what happened to the Reds and that they could be a fringe playoff team. But the Reds are never able to get on track and finish in fourth place.
Year 4: Having completely abused his starters and mismanaged his bullpen, the Reds have trouble staying out of last place. Baker is fired in August.

[pistoldill]

Re: Dusty Baker to the Reds

First move: Reds trade for Neifi Perez.