TOOTHPICKS AND WRISTBANDS NO MORE

[WvuDieHard]

HOT DAMN! We did it! We did it! Somebody, somewhere listened to the continual pounding of the drum to fire the retard known as Dusty Baker! a.k.a. The Toothpicker, Wristband Man, Retard, Dumbfuck, Loser, Idiot, Maggot and a host of other names. He single handedly took one of the most talented franchises in baseball and drove it in the ground with pure stupid, idiotic moves of epic proportions. This season alone I counted 8 loses directly related to this idiot. Thank god he and his band of retarded coaches are getting the fuck out of Cincy! Oh well, now I have to honor a bet by running thru town in my underwear carrying a Reds pennant. BY GOD I WILL! Its a great day to be a REDS FAN!

 

[redsfan03]

Great day indeed. I'm wondering if Banana Bob was so disgusted by what he saw in Pittsburgh that he overrode Walt's decision. It appeared Walt was going to bring him back unless Walt was being coy with the media, which I guess is entirely possible. I saw the headline on ESPN and I've got to say, I haven't smiled that widely in a WHILE. That's probably why my mouth still hurts...

Hopefully, they can get a good replacement. They need to look at the areas where Dusty had shortcomings - accountability, strategy, and fundamentals being the most important imo - and they need to find someone who stresses those.

 

[JohnU]

Dusty has agreed to hang around as an adviser.

 

[eburg5000]

 

[Redsfan1507]

Hey, to be fair- Dusty helped bring the Reds out of the gutter and back to respectability. He was a name guy that made Griffey move to RF, and eventually elsewhere. He helped get rid of lazy azzes like Encarnacion, Dunn, and bums like Patterson, A-Gone, Jerry Hairston...oops maybe not so much.

Dusty is better at taking low bar teams and leaping expectations in them with short jumps where urgency isn't an issue.

He's not a decathlon type manager. It's hard enough to keep getting 2 year deals when they don't expect you to not embarrass your team by forgetting the closer is on deck with 1b open, or the whole L/R matchup thing, or if a minor league 7 hitter can't hit 2nd in his 2nd year without hitting .227...much less actually win when the other team refuses to admit they aren't as good as we are. I mean it's hard to make a turn on the bases without homers, 2 out hits and not getting any walks or errors with the bases loaded. That lousy azz Joey Votto only hit .302 with RISP and they blame Dusty.

It just ain't fair is it ?

NOT !

 

[JohnU]

I think that where I drew a real issue with Dusty was his inability to fix problems that were clearly obvious.
When a team hits as poorly as the Reds did, replace the hitting coach. It's not the end of the world and it might just work.

Instead, he kept trotting out the same offensive strategy game after game and the 4-hit games were just too common to ignore. IF this was a case of having to fire the manager just to get rid of the hitting coach, then ... fine. I don't much care who manages the team, so long as it plays with some enthusiasm, heart and every so often pounds the crap out of somebody. Having the top two OBP guys in the league and an offense that lame, let's get real.

 

[JohnU]

Great day indeed. I'm wondering if Banana Bob was so disgusted by what he saw in Pittsburgh that he overrode Walt's decision. It appeared Walt was going to bring him back unless Walt was being coy with the media, which I guess is entirely possible. I saw the headline on ESPN and I've got to say, I haven't smiled that widely in a WHILE. That's probably why my mouth still hurts...

Hopefully, they can get a good replacement. They need to look at the areas where Dusty had shortcomings - accountability, strategy, and fundamentals being the most important imo - and they need to find someone who stresses those.

I think you have to consider when the question was asked.
I would guess that a day after the loss to the Parrots, somebody queried about that.
Walt would have said "we plan no changes."
Which was one way of saying, we don't fire managers at 10 in the evening on a Tuesday.
Clearly the decision had been made sooner than that, just wasn't a reason to announce it while the team was still in competition.

 

[Redsfan1507]

Walt told the truth at the time. Dusty had a contract for next year.

Maybe Walt was tired of making statements like Chapmans future is in the rotation, or Renteria is a utility infielder not a starting shortstop, only to have Dusty march in immediate reverse. I guess the suggestion that something was ineffective with the hitting coach was just too much for Dusty. Possibly, it was the suggestion that someone that might not think that pulling every pitch for a homer was the best idea didnt digest with Dusty. Like I said earlier, I've never seen a hitting coach that kept his job as long as Jacoby, that wasn't on the same page with the manager. Obviously, that was true in this case too.

I don't think this is the only move the Reds are making. I'll stay tuned. I thought it was odd last year that David Bell had been groomed through the entire minor league system as a manager. and when Dusty was given the 2 year contract last year, he bailed to the Cubs. He might be back if they want a young high energy guy. If they want a good no-nonsense veteran baseball guy, Jim Riggleman is in Louisville. If you want a familiar name without a résumé, Barry Larkin or Joe Morgan will pick up the phone. I wouldn't buy LaRussa or Torre as more than a clueless media minion rumor. Girardi isn't a Reds guy anymore than Baker was. There are dozens of people better acclimated than Dusty was, and in sure the Reds will sign one, and not a single Reds impact player will ask to be traded because Dusty is gone.

Choo and Arroyo are unanswered questions. Ludwick didn't win any popularity with his senseless indictment on fans that weren't cheering enough to motivate his slumping ass to play with some energy. I'd say Billy Hamiltons chances of PT just went up tremendously with Dusty's demise...and all the coaches except Bryan Price better tune up a résumé. Think Aroldis Chapman might reconsider life as a SP now ?