Reds hire Dusty Baker

Agreed, and people have long memories.
I know Mackanin pretty well, and I'll always remember the day (after McGwire hit 70 in St. Louis and Felipe Alou knew there would be a big audience for it), that Felipe "quit" as manager.
End of my first season on the beat.
Of course, all the coaches were asked about whether they wanted the job, etc.

Here's how you play the game:
Mackanin was honest; he said of course he wanted Felipe back. But if he really was quitting, of course he'd love a shot at the job. Honest.

Tracy's P.C. response?: God damn, I'll be loyal to Felipe until the day I dahhhhhhh. I can't even imagine him not managing. I won't even talk about it.
Even as the drama unfolded, and I spoke to him, same response.

But all the while, Tracy was working on feathering his own nest, talking to the Dodgers about their vacancy. The millisecond the Expos "convinced" Felipe to return (2 million big ones will do that), he was announced as the Dodgers manager. All that loyalty, it seemed disappeared into thin air. Poof.

Mackanin was a lame duck the following season, but they torched him before it even ended. Felipe had a long, long memory. Mackanin was perceived as going after Alou's job, when in reality he did no such thing.

But even while Alou was the manager, Mackanin made some pretty good points off the record. He had outmanaged him time and time again in winter ball. He had about 1500 wins as a minor-league manager. He knew how to manage, and he knew how to win. Yet he was never getting a shot.

The same old names were always getting recycled. And he was white, which didn't help his case.

It's really how you play the game, and it's really an old boys' network. But that's kind of a reflection of life in any business, isn't it?

 

Not at all, he won't. But the Reds could hire Sparky Anderson and have John McGraw and Connie Mack as assistants, and with the management they have there, they wouldn't win.

 

Correct. Dusty has to love the spot. Expectations are low, and he can rake in that big managerial cash for a coupla more years, patting players on the fanny while they go
75-87.

 

Dusty didn't do anything before?

Giants had not been to the WS since 1989 when they got smoked by the A's (and the Earthquake); they won 104 games in '93 his first year, then won the division in '97, made the playoff for the WC in '98, won division in '00 and were within 5 outs of title in '02.

Then he got the Cubs to within 5 outs of the WS in '03 when they had not been to the WS since what '48?

Yeah he can't manage.

Is he going to take Cincy back? Doubt it, but at least they have a competent manager now.

Dusty was great for SF and the players never backstabbed him.

Bonds in Cincy with Jr.? Great memories but lousy baseball.

 

Sure, Dusty has managed some good teams. But he's never gotten a team over the hump. He may be a good catch for Cincinnati, but be real -- this team would've waited and gone after LaRussa if the organization wasn't held hostage by an iconic broadcaster and piss-poor management.

Baker is a decent manager. He's not good enough to turn Cincinnati around with what he's got to work with. Hell, I don't know if anybody is.

Cincinnati's problem is much more than a manager. The Reds screwed up two or three years ago when they didn't decide what direction they wanted to go. They should have either built around Dunn or dealt him, and they didn't do either. Instead, they've got a limited amount of young talent (Phillips, Harang, Bailey, maybe Norris Hopper) and an aging superstar who's little more than a name to put butts in seats. They've failed miserably with Dunn -- he's good enough to be a solid four hitter but not good enough to be the heart and soul of the lineup -- and they have guys who'd be decent role players in roles where they have to carry the team (Arroyo, Freel).

And in the last four or five years, they've mismanaged what was a top-tier farm system, leaving it in complete shambles. They promoted Narron -- who was great in Louisville -- when they should have left him in Triple A and gotten a manager with a sense of where the organization needed to go.

The Reds are a fire sale away from contending, but they'll never do it because the owners are more concerned with filling seats than winning games.

 

How does Brenneman hold the team hostage?

 

Because it's pretty well-known that Marty would throw a fucking fit if they hired LaRussa. He hates the guy, and he'd quit if the Reds hired TLR.

 

An announcer is not bigger than the franchise. Don't care that he's been there 30 years, let him walk.

 

I agree on most of that, but you are underestimating the young talent there. Joe Votto and Jay Bruce are both big-time, major league ready prospects who should be in the opening-day lineup next year. There are some pieces to build around there. Of course, Baker is probably the worst possible manager for the development of those two.

And he is probably going to ruin Bailey and Harang.

 

yeah, you don't know as much as you think you do

 

Baker can be a decent manager IF he has veteran players who know what they are doing.
The 2003 Cubs playoff roster had Joe Borowski (32 years old), Mark Guthrie (38), Mike Remlinger (37), Dave Veres (36), Paul Bako (31), Damian Miller (33), Alex Gonzalez (30), Mark Grudzielanek (33), Eric Karros (35), Moises Alou (37), Doug Glanville (33), Tom Goodwin (35), Troy O'Leary (34) and Sammy Sosa (34). They got Kenny Lofton (36), Randall Simon (28) and Aramis Ramirez (25 but with six years of experience) in the trade with Pittsburgh. The starting pitchers were the only part that was young but Matt Clement was almost 30, and Kerry Wood had been in the league for a few years as well.
Two and three years later, most of those players were gone, and you saw what happened.
If Baker doesn't have a number of veteran players - which might be the case in Cincinnati, he'll be useless with the younger players. He won't teach them how to play, and the team will suffer. Baker will also make excuses for his team's bad play and never call it like it is.
Along with Neifi, I can bet there are calls to Todd Hollandsworth, Lenny Harris and Jose Macias going out from the Reds' offices.
Also, expect one of the players to start using steroids, HGH or whatever so Dusty can pull his best Sgt. Schultz ... "I see nothing .. I know nothing."