Dusty Baker, Reds Manager

[HeatherC12]

Yes, he wins a lot of games - but at what cost to the long-term future?

The team he had with the Giants was probably the perfect situation for his style, not a lot of youth. There will forever be questions on how he handled the young pitchers in Chicago - and those asking the questions are right to do so.

If I had a veteran team that I thought was ready to take the next step, I'd hire Dusty Baker in a heartbeat. If I had a young team with young pitching, I'd go in another direction. Not 100% sure where the Reds rate on that scale.

The Reds do have a few young guys who are working their way to the big club (only two pitchers come to mind right now, Bailey and Ceuto) but they also have quite a few players who have been here a while (Dunn, Griffey, and Harang to name three) so it's a decent mix of youth and veteran right now.

[DrungoHazewood]

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.

Well, at least for one year. Until everyone's arms fall off and he's engulfed in another firestorm of criticism. Maybe he's the new Billy Martin, just without the fights with marshmallow salesmen.

[HeatherC12]

Here's a couple of articles from today's Cincy Enquirer about the hiring of Dusty and from the press conference earlier this afternoon. He seems excited to be here and the players are all ready responding positively so I'm going to reserve any more judgement on this situation until the man actually does something in a game, LOL

Article about Fan Reaction: http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071015/COL03/710150380

Press Conference: http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?

AID=/AB/20071015/SPT04/310160001/