Dusty Baker it is.

 
Great hire, the guy wins wherever he goes. Its not his fault Bartman got in the way.
 
Elks48 said:
Great hire, the guy wins wherever he goes. Its not his fault Bartman got in the way.
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As a Cardinals fan, I love the hire. It's nice that the Reds have hired one of that very small number of managers who actually cost their team games.

I think I should ask Mark Prior's shoulder and Kerry Wood's elbow what kind of manager Dusty Baker is. Or maybe I should just consult one of those ESPN broadcasts where he talks about "clogging up the basepaths". I love it; I can see a Reds lineup with a .265 team OBP next year because he doesn't want the basepaths clogged up.

Was Cito Gaston not available to interview or what?
 
Homer Bailey's pitching line

145 pitches/ 89 strikes

He's a disaster with pitching staffs... the Cubs haven't recovered
 
Dusty Baker is the worst possible hire. Griffey and Dunn will get a free pass on their laziness, plus Homer Bailey will be ruined by the end of next season.
 
Not a big fan of this hire, but am willing to give him a chance. HIs leash in my opinion should be short.
 
Immortal said:
As a Cardinals fan, I love the hire. It's nice that the Reds have hired one of that very small number of managers who actually cost their team games.

I think I should ask Mark Prior's shoulder and Kerry Wood's elbow what kind of manager Dusty Baker is. Or maybe I should just consult one of those ESPN broadcasts where he talks about "clogging up the basepaths". I love it; I can see a Reds lineup with a .265 team OBP next year because he doesn't want the basepaths clogged up.

Was Cito Gaston not available to interview or what?
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At least he doesn't get DUI's like the Cardinals' manager
 
Elks48 said:
At least he doesn't get DUI's like the Cardinals' manager
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Take LaRussa, please. I never have liked the guy, and it pains me to attempt to watch a Cardinals game with him around. It'll be July 11 against the Pirates and he's shuffling 14 pitchers into the game.
 
Elks48 said:
Dusty Baker has been to a World Series, 3-time manager of the year, obviously he's a scrub manager. :thumb:
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He was made the scapegoat for a terrible Cubs organization. Trust me, I work with a Cubs fan who visited the firedustybaker.com site multiple times daily. Baker took the heat every time Kerry Wood or Marc Prior strained their labias and for a terrible bullpen and for awful players.
 
reporter07 said:
He was made the scapegoat for a terrible Cubs organization. Trust me, I work with a Cubs fan who visited the firedustybaker.com site multiple times daily. Baker took the heat every time Kerry Wood or Marc Prior strained their labias and for a terrible bullpen and for awful players.
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Dusty really takes it easy on stars and is an enabler of laziness, IMO. He was terrible as the Cubs manager, especially as it concerned the pitching staff. However, my favorite Dusty comment of those years still is, "You can't turn your back on Hollie," in response to questions about why he continued to start Todd Hollandsworth in left field despite his poor play. Basically he never punishes anyone.
 
Elks48 said:
At least he doesn't get DUI's like the Cardinals' manager
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I agree that getting a DUI is an evil thing... but I'm NOT certain what that has to do with LaRussa's ability to manage a team of professional athletes.

If we were talking about a college sport, perhaps there should be some "pause"... a high school team??? DEFINITELY give him the boot. But a professional manager/head coach with a DUI??? With all the other nonsense going on in professional sports???

I just don't think it's very relavent in this particular discussion. :shrug:
 
What is relevant is the fact that LaRussa fails to recognize that continually bringing in pitchers for a lefty/lefty matchup (or righty/righty), at best, prevent between 3-10 runs over the course of a 162-game season. Here are the problems with what he does.

1) It requires the team to have a larger than normal bullpen, at the expense of enormous extra cost (since good relievers command a huge premium any more) and also at the expense of having good hitters on the bench
2) By not having those hitters on the bench, it forces the regular players to be used more than they should. With regulars (Edmonds and Rolen, for example) needing time off, there is a huge shortage of players able to step in. This forces the aging few to play every day and also prevents younger guys from getting a good look
3) Not having that offense in the lineup costs the team runs produced, and certainly a lot more runs than the 3-10 that are saved by having a bunch of relievers
4) The games just drag on and become a miserable experience. If I was told I have 24 hours to live, I'd want to watch a game with Tony LaRussa managing since it would seem like an eternity.
 
He was obviously attacking Baker's character, blaming him for Wood and Prior constantly being hurt. If the manager of his team goes out and get a DUI, he has no business questioning the character of other managers.
 
It's a miracle that Dusty Baker has been as successful as he has with all the discipline problems and poor pitching management he seems to have. Get a clue you guys, the Reds have been hiring internally since Lou Pinella left and look where it's gotten them, 12 consecutive years without playoff appearance, 7 consecutive sub .500 seasons. The Reds need an outside, big-name, hire if they want to keep any fans.
 
Elks48 said:
He was obviously attacking Baker's character, blaming him for Wood and Prior constantly being hurt. If the manager of his team goes out and get a DUI, he has no business questioning the character of other managers.
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I'm not attacking his character, nor will I. I absolutely will question his intelligence and ability to run a baseball team. Decrying "clogging up the basepaths" certainly shows a lack of knowledge of what makes a successful baseball team.

I'll throw something else in there about Prior and Wood. If you look at the two of them and their obviously flawed mechanics (Tom House's stupidity and "expertise" be danged) and continues to have them pitch insane amounts, that comes on the manager who leaves them out there. Wear and tear on a pitcher isn't linear, where pitch #110 is a set amount more damaging than #100, and #120 is as damaging in relation to #110 as #110 is to #100. You get to a certain point and the damage done accelerates very rapidly. That's why pitch counts are becoming more important; good managers realize this and good mechanical pitchers (of which there are practically none) are better able to recover.
 
Elks48 said:
He was obviously attacking Baker's character, blaming him for Wood and Prior constantly being hurt. If the manager of his team goes out and get a DUI, he has no business questioning the character of other managers.
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Huh????

So let me get this straight... you're bringing up a DUI of LaRussa'a because a fan of his team (who BTW doesn't like TL) said unkind things about Baker?

Is that correct?

Ain't that a bit of a "reach" when we're discussing whether Dusty will be good (or bad) for the Reds??? :confused:

That would be like me blaming the Centerville football coach because YOU attacked the character of the football coach in MY town. :shrug:

Like I said before... the DUI has zero/zip/zilch to do with this discussion. :)
 
Count me as one of the fans Daughtery was refering to in the fish wrap this morning (i.e. complaining about the Baker hiring). I don't like the hire for reasons most others cited. Namely, he's bad with pitchers. As for winning % he's mostly had good talent. A winning record in 8 of his 12 seasons doesn't impress me.

I wish I knew if the Reds even made a run at Girardi or LaRussa. I would have taken either in a heartbeat over Baker. Girardi is supposed to be a potential problem since Florida fired him after one season. The guy took a low salary Marlins club and turned them into winners. I'll take my chances. As for the negative comments on LaRussa: yeah he's a jerk, recently had a DUI, micro manages pitchers and matchups at times and....all he does is win. I'd take him in a heartbeat over Baker too. Maybe the Reds made a run at one or both and they weren't interested (I doubt LaRussa was interested) but with as quick as this is happening is appears Baker was the #1 option.

I hope Baker can turn this club around but I smell more mediocrity.
 
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