Dusty Baker, Reds Manager

[Moose Milligan]

Per Rosenthal, just announced it during the game.

[HeatherC12]

I'm not sure how I feel about this news. He's has some successes in the past but several pitchers have gone down with bad injuries during his tenure too. I guess I'm a little apprehensive until I hear more about this tomorrow and Monday.

[Boy Howdy]

Good for Dusty. He may not be a favorite of the sabermetric community, but he's got a .527 career winning pct & players seem to like him.

He's the only manager I'm aware of that got quoted in the NY Times using a Reggae song to make a point in the midst of a World Series. (It was a Mutabaruka song in 2002). That'd earn him rep points from me if he ever joined the board.

I don't care one way or another about the Reds, but I wish Dusty the best of luck.

[beaner]

Good for Dusty. He may not be a favorite of the sabermetric community, but he's got a .527 career winning pct & players seem to like him.

He's the only manager I'm aware of that got quoted in the NY Times using a Reggae song to make a point in the midst of a World Series. (It was a Mutabaruka song in 2002). That'd earn him rep points from me if he ever joined the board.

I don't care one way or another about the Reds, but I wish Dusty the best of luck.[/QUOTE]

Well said. I completely agree.

[The Wedge]

I also wish him the best of luck.

I also wish the Reds pitching staff the best of luck, too.

[HeatherC12]

If you're wishing Dusty well, then it seems like you'd want his new team to do well too but maybe that's just me reading too much into things, LOL

I hope Aaron Harang beans him with a fastball if he tries to beat up my team's pitching staff.

[Pedro Cerrano]

Homer Bailey, we hardly knew ye.

hehehe

[longflyball]

Woo-Hoo! One crappy ESPN analyst down, many more to go.

[orioles119]

So much for Joey Votto, Norris Hopper, and Aaron Harang. Dusty hates to play guys with no experience (how the heck do they get experience though) and, as well documented, screws up pitchers beyond belief.

[Migrant Redbird]

I also wish him the best of luck.

I also wish the Reds pitching staff the best of luck, too.

I'll reserve my best wishes for the Reds pitchers. Outside of that, I don't see him making much difference in Cincinnati. If the Reds want to compete in the NL Central, the difference will come from the players developed by the organization or from a boost in payroll, or both.

Over the last 13 seasons (the Jocketty era), the Cubs and Cardinals are in a virtual dead heat for total payroll. The Astros are in third place, about a hundred million behind. The Reds are about two hundred million behind -- not too far ahead of the Brewers and Pirates.

In those 13 seasons, the NL Central has produced 4 wild card teams. Of those 4 wild cards and the 13 division winners, all but one have come from the "Big Three" of the Cubs, Cardinals, and Astros. That one exception was from 1995, the first year of the Jocketty era, when the Reds had the highest payroll in the division.

The dominance of those three teams in the NL Central has been nearly as impressive as that of the Yankees and Red Sox in the AL East. A high payroll doesn't guarantee a championship, but it does tend to give an unfair advantage, and it's rare for the bottom feeders to be able to overcome several teams in their division who have higher payrolls. A large crop of good young players can make the difference, as it seems to have done this year with the Rockies and Diamondbacks. Signing Dusty Baker won't.

[Tank]

Terrible signing by the Reds IMO. I'm not sure why any team would sign Dusty Baker to be their manager. This could set them back a few years.

[Boy Howdy]

I know it is en vogue to blame/credit "the sabermetric community" for just about everything that happens nowadays, but it isn't just the "sabermetric community" that doesn't care for Dusty Baker. Even many casual fans know his history when it comes to abusing pitchers.

Point taken, but I was only writing about the sabermetric community, of which I am a card carrying member.

Please allow me to shamelessly plug The Bill James Guide To Baseball Managers once again. I just re-read it and can't get enough. He makes the point in the book that the first required trait of a successful manager is the ability to command the respect of his players. I think Dusty's got that covered.

HeatherC12 - Think about this.

The Giants were 72-90 the year before Dusty arrived & 103-59 his first year.

The Cubs were 67-95 the year before Dusty arrived & 88-74 his first year.

Things may be looking up for the Reds.

[beaner]

Point taken, but I was only writing about the sabermetric community, of which I am a card carrying member.

Please allow me to shamelessly plug The Bill James Guide To Baseball Managers once again. I just re-read it and can't get enough. He makes the point in the book that the first required trait of a successful manager is the ability to demand the respect of his players. I think Dusty's got that covered.

HeatherC12 - Think about this.

The Giants were 72-90 the year before Dusty arrived & 103-59 his first year.

The Cubs were 67-95 the year before Dusty arrived & 88-74 his first year.

Things may be looking up for the Reds.

Clearly, this fact cannot be disputed by anyone. He had the Giants 6 outs from a World Championship and the Cubs 5 outs away from the NL Pennant the next season. In 2004, the Cubs collapsed the last week of the season to lose the Wild Card. The guy's a proven winner, and that's the bottom line.

Things are certainly looking up for the Reds.

[rolliefingers]

/drops Homer Bailey from keeper fantasy team

[HeatherC12]

Thanks for the good wishes to my guys to those of you who actually meant it. I appreciate it.

Here's a recent article about the hiring with some quotes from the players. They don't seem to be that upset about the hiring of Dusty so I'm going to trust them right now. The Reds may not have the best record or the best pitching but the guys are really good guys and they're not stupid either. I'm reserving any further thoughts on this until I hear more from the front office and Dusty himself at the press conference tomorrow.

Story: http://cincinnati.reds.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20071014&content_id=2265626&vkey=news_cin&fext=.jsp&c_id=cin