Oh Cincinnati, what have you done?
I don’t think that’s a song lyric, but if it was then it would probably be set to a slow, mournful 12 bar blues, with percussion being provided by several thousand Reds fans banging their heads against brick walls.
Cincinnati have officially announced Dusty Baker as their new manager today and Reds fans must not know whether to laugh or cry. After his ignominious exit from Chicago at the end of the 2006 season, you would have been forgiven for thinking that Dusty had managed his last Major League game. But you should never underestimate a sports team’s ability to pick up a known name from the scrap heap. In every sport, some managers’ faces seem to fit and, regardless of their track-record, they always find someone else willing to give them another try. They become fixated on a manager with “experienceâ€, despite the fact that their experience generally consists of failing elsewhere and getting the sack.
2007 was a very tough season for Cincinnati, particularly coming off the back of a third place finish in 2006, but it was hardly a reason to lose all sense. The Reds do have several talented young players coming through their system, most notably Homer Bailey, Joey Votto and Jay Bruce. Quite why they have appointed a manager who has proved himself to be ill-suited to the task of bringing through prospects is beyond me.
The NL Central is the weakest division in the majors right now and with a few additions and a bit of luck, the Reds could bounce back in 2008 and at least make a run at the pennant. Whether they will do it with Dusty at the helm is another matter.
1 comment
Baker’s appointment has prompted Nate Silver at Baseball Prospectus to do a bit of research on the usage of pitchers by certain managers in relation to a stat they call PAP: pitcher abuse points.
http://www.baseballprospectus.com/unfiltered/?p=605
As Silver concludes:
“when you hire a manager like Dusty Baker, one of two things ought to be true: either you’ve considered his philosophy on pitch counts and signed off on it, or you’ve given him the Birds, Bees and Labrums lecture and expect him to change his ways. If the careers of Bailey and Cueto are ruined by high pitch counts, it will be Dusty who pulled the trigger — but the Reds who hired the assassin”