Dusty's Managerial Gaffes 2013 Season

[WvuDieHard]

Well it should come as no surprise that I am not a fan. I dispise that no good piece of dung. Now that has been said. My reasons are all along the lines of Redsfan1507 and particularly not taking blame for really dunderhead moves. We have already seen 6-7 of those this year and 2 cost you games. I mean like buntiong a pitcher who hasnt had a sac in 7 years and then lifting him the next inning. Can anybody in their right mind justify that? I can see any justifiable reason for such an idiotic move. Yet, we will see more. My question is what that crap does to moral of players who know better.

 

[JohnU]

TV announcers for other teams are quick to point out all the same-old, same-old about Dusty, how he always has a smile, is well-liked, chews toothpicks, has 15,003 wins or whatever and on and on ... I hear the same stuff 25 times a year.

But Ron Darling of the Mets team was real quick to question not bunting Izturis last night.

 

[chico ruiz]

watched yankees play on tv v. rays a couple weeks ago. ken singleton did the play by play w, lou pinella, and david cone. entire broadcast team was ex-ball players and a manager. they don't let anybody off the hook. paul o'neill is very good with YES as well. paul would be a great addition to reds broadcasts. on a unrelated note, and positive tip: ondrusek looked unhittable last night. his downhill mechanics were very effective. must of looked deceptive to mets hitters. starts tall out of the hand, from a 6' 8'' pitcher, and what must look like a thigh high fastball , ends up at the bottom of the knees. only one inning, but logan had it going on.

 

[Redsfan1507]

Personally, I prefer honesty, and insight in any profession...The media however, IMO has been trending away from both those attributes. They are either strangled by censorship or out for shock journalism. Marty Brennaman is about as close to telling it how he sees it as it gets in Reds world, and he still spouts the company line 98% of the time.

I like Sweet Lou, also a humorously brutally honest guy. O'Neill was a frequently frustrated perfectionist as a player, as all perfectionists must inevidibly be frustrated. I imagine he might be interesting to listen to.

Just an observation: Every great manager or head coach I ever knew or knew of, was a perfectionist...that always strived for more, and only "settled" for winning. They were respectful of better teams, but were sore losers. They used terms like execution, dedication and self determination...On the flip side, every single status quo, laid back guy I knew was great at making excuses and placing blame, and sympathetic to underachieving. They used terms like heart, and chemistry and "breaks". Peer pressure is important in baseball, but leadership starts from the top. Leaders lead by example, and winners insist on winning. They both expect working toward continual improvement, and don't care that they have a guy on the DL or get bad calls on the road. They believe no team is static-they're either getting better or worse, and they don't accept worse well.

I want one of those in the Reds dugout, with the kind if talent they have currently.

 

[chico ruiz]

that's an interesting post 1507, but why does it have to be one or the other? why can't a manager be both of those things? you present your argument as if there is only a x alternative or a y alternative. there are xy's. who do you think the below quote is about?

“not everybody, but certain people said, ‘i believe in you — maybe this coach doesn’t, but i do,’ and i remember how it makes you feel, and how it makes you respond,” “i remember being recruited and one coach coming in and saying, ‘well, you can play the second division games.’ i said, ‘well, i’m not going there.’ i just remember people having belief in me.” for blank, those experiences instilled the idea that players who feel supported will perform better. in six seasons as the blanks manager, his default setting has been unwavering support. blank says “i believe in my guys” so often, especially when things go wrong, you start to wonder if it is blind faith, based only on wearing the same uniform as the players. “blank’s been around here, and he realizes that there are no excuses,” general manager blank said. “no matter what bad stuff happens, we’re supposed to find a way.” “things stay fresh in my mind,” manager x said. “i’ve seen blank hit home runs to left-center in big parks; i’ve seen him pull balls; i’ve seen him work counts. i’ve seen blank be a double monster his whole career and play great defense at first base. i remember saying, ‘oh, my goodness, can you believe how close he’s playing to second base?’ i remember seeing blank hit balls out on us. i remember blank taking blank deep. one of manager x’s strengths has always been managing the workload of his veterans, making sure they play enough to stay fresh, but not so much that they wear down. player x, who arrived in a trade during the winter, said manager x’s honesty makes a difference. “he’s upfront with you, he’s not afraid to let you know exactly what he’s thinking and what your situation’s going to be. when you do that, as a manager, it puts your players at ease. they’re able to just relax in their roles and know what’s going on. it allows you just to go out and play and not worry about anything else. that’s comforting.” not all former players (now managers), player x said, are as understanding as blank. player x had two bad seasons with team xy, hitting .200, but he said manager x did not hold that against him, and recognized that he had made adjustments to his swing. “he tells you, ‘look, i’ve got a lot of faith in you, i really respect what you’ve done, and i know that you can play, [FONT=&quot] [/FONT]he flat-out tells you. he’s very good about building people up. no matter what’s going on, he’s always very positive as far as his guys. he stays really cool and levelheaded.” manager x is wise enough to recognize that panic has no purpose, and that managing by intimidation would not work with modern players.
“i don’t ever think about that because i don’t worry about how people judge me,” manager x said, adding that he seeks approval only from family and others who truly know him. “i’m going to do the best i can every year, and that’s all i can do.”

 

[JohnU]

tl;dr

 

[chico ruiz]

you're the last person i would have expected that response from john. that post would take you all of 2 minutes to read, even if you're reading slowly. did you learn a new acronym that you wanted to try out? i've read every one of your long winded posts. why? because they usually have a process of thought on a baseball topic, and i might find a pearl of wisdom, in them. seriously? too long? you don't have the time? your number of posts indicates otherwise. that's a repost i would have expected from that other board's participants. that's a little weak john.

 

[JohnU]

Try for some paragraphs.
And capital letters. It's easier to follow.

 

[Redsfan1507]

Chico, in my opinion, faith is important, but it can't be unfounded or more importantly, undeservedly entitled. To be worth something, the effort has to be first, going in the direction of improvement, and secondly technically sound in methodology, otherwise, it's just blind faith in random chance or Devine intervention that has to produce the results. Dusty has the faith, he just doesn't display the technical know-how to improve anything but maybe attitude.

Your plumber can be a great guy with lots of faith, but if he can't diagnose and repair a failed septic system, youre going to be swimming in shit soon, and all the feel good rapport with the plumber won't fix it.

I agree, I'd love a manager with both x and y as you put it, but if you can only have one, I'll take the plumbing expert, because when things are working on their own, I'll feel good anyway... But won't feel too good for long if I'm unhappy with being unable to flush my toilet.

It's all about expectations and satisfaction level I suppose. Employees that keep getting raises and contract extensions justifyably assume they are doing fine. I get the impression Dusty believes playing around .500 and waiting to make a run at the playoffs occasionally, and embarrassing himself when he gets there is good enough. I think it's underperforming. I see no evidence that what I see as obvious fundamental flaws are even acknowledged by Dusty, or in fact by his superiors who keep reinforcing its ok. It's disappointing to me, but if course as a fan, I have higher goals than the Reds have achieved in the last quarter century or so.

 

[JohnU]

Dusty goes with Latos 2 hitters too long today, evidently thinking 7 full innings with a tie or worse is better than getting the side out with the lead.

 

[bengaldoug]

Dusty was bragging before the game that he had the whole bullpen available today. So why wait so long to use it? Murphy and Ankiel were having good days already, so why the hell isn't Marshall ready to face them?

 

[Redsfan1507]

Just Dusty showing that faith in his guy again, maybe.

Makes a good story though.

According to the story, God gave Moses faith to accomplish the impossible, but Moses still had to swing the staff... he didn't just watch it.

 

[Redsfan1507]

Mark Prior wondered why the bullpen wasn't up in the Bartman game too. I thought maybe Dusty was having a small stroke in game 5 NLDS last year, while Latos was arguing every call during a 5 run inning, without Dusty even coming to the mound.

Reminds me of a joke with a moral about faith.

An elderly lifelong, God fearing couple was told to evacuate their home because a dam had broken upstream and would flood within the hour. They said "we'll stay here and have faith God will protect us". As the water rose, they climbed to a second story, just above the water line. A boat arrived to rescue then, but they shouted out the window that they would stay with faith in The Lord. A few minutes later, they had to climb out on the roof, as a helicopter hovered, begging them to climb the ladder to safety. Again they declined.

The flood drowned both, and their bodies were never recovered.

At the pearly gates, they asked The Lord why he had forsaken them. He responded that he sent them a messenger, a boat and a helicopter, what more did they expect ?

Faith isn't worth a fart in the wind without some action.

 

[bengaldoug]

 

[bengaldoug]

Well, looks like he got away with it. Still, Sparky won a ton of games (and championships) known as Captain Hook. Guess we can call Dusty corporal clown.

 

[JohnU]

Mets basically shot themselves in the foot in the 9th inning.

That is not going to be a very competitive team this year after Ankiel starts striking out every other time up and they pitch around Wright to throw Duda curve balls.

 

[WvuDieHard]

Dodged another Dustmop bullet today huh fellows? Wow--Ankiel has 2 doubles against Latos and you leave him in? Really? Why? Luck as hell to get away with that BS move. These are the moves that get overlooked because the Reds win the game. I mean really--How good is this team with an idiot manager?The Reds are real good and the weak link in the armor is on the bench filling out the lineup card.

 

[Redsfan1507]

Dusty should be nicknamed The Rock. He's unchangeable almost regardless if the environment, doesn't move under his own power, mostly just sits there getting in peoples way, waiting to break a sharp tool working in his vacinity, and is dense as hell. Once in a millennium a rock is gold. More are petrified dung. Most are just rocks, easily replaced unless you want gold or dung.

 

[Redsfan1507]

Better talent won today. Dusty "wins" a lot of those. He had a tougher time against equal talent, where something akin to strategy has to decide the outcome. He doesn't do do well in those.

 

[Redsfan1507]

The good news- Reds on pace for 99 wins !

Bad news-they've played 60% of their 47 games against sub-.500 teams. They're playing like .300 against .500 or better teams. Just off the top of my head, if half the teams play .500, and the Reds maintain their dominance against bad teams and incompetence against good teams, they'll have about 65 wins against the dregs and 25 wins against teams with a playoff chance. That's about 90 wins. Might make the playoffs, where we'll see teams we play .300 against ? Hmmm. Is THAT ok ?