AP reporting Dusty Baker out as Reds manager

[joncarlos]

http://www.fox19.com/story/23608279/dusty-baker-out-as-cincinanti-reds-manager

Interesting development.

[Don Quixote]

This was mostly unexpected here in Cincinnati. Like most people here, I assumed that owner Bob Castellini, for all his talk of championships, was like Bagels owner Mike Brown, content to just make the playoffs and count his money. We figured that Dusty was the right manager to do that, someone who could get a team into the post-season and then wilt, just like Bagels coach Marvin Lewis.

This was not an unjustified firing/resignation, though. The Reds made the playoffs, they won a lot of games, but they looked dull and lifeless most of the year, even when they were winning. This September, when they could have run away with the division after winning 3 of 4 against the Cardinals and sweeping the Dodgers, they tanked, losing series to the likes of the Cubs, Brewers, and Mets before the final debacle against the Pirates both here and in the playoff game in Pittsburgh. Someone had to go, although I figured that as is typical for a big corporation, it would be those on the staff who were least responsible, maybe the base coaches and bullpen coach, even the bench coach and minor league "development" staff. Certainly not Baker, the nexus of the blahness.

What really had me convinced that Baker would stay is that he's under contract for $3.5 million for next year. That's pocket money to many franchises but not the Reds. Even under Castellini, by far the most free-spending owner the Reds have had (the bar is very low), that's major money.

Who will take over? Here's a link to the initial candidates--

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20131004/SPT04/310040066?nclick_check=1

Price is the current pitching coach, a good soldier and Baker loyalist. You all know Riggleman's record; especially after the way he left the Nationals, I can't see the players accepting him. Bell has the local roots the natives here over-value so highly (this being a city that judges people by where they went to high school, for gosh sakes), since he was born here, went to the "right" high school here, and his father and grandfather both played here; I've never heard of him as a serious candidate for any managerial job before, but I guess the writer had to throw in a "local".

[joncarlos]

Can they go get Barry Larkin?

[Don Quixote]

Perhaps, but Larkin has zero managerial experience. He's also generally come across as a "company man", the kind who wears a suit well off the field, says all the cliches that the owner wants, and takes the money that's offered. I won't get into what my black friends used to call him when he played for the Reds.

But he does have a ton of local connections, for those here who are obsessed with such things--born and raised here, went to one of the favored high schools where he was a star, prominent local athletic family, played his whole major league career here.

I'll concede that he's a very smart guy who knows his stuff. IMO he could be a fine manager if he'd take off the suit, put on the uniform, and learn the day-to-day stuff of being a manager in the minors. And even if he doesn't do that, I think he'd be a better choice than Riggleman. I just don't think he'd take the chance of tarnishing his local legacy.

[chancellor]

And every pitching prospect in the Reds organization breathes a sigh of relief.

I will miss Bodz's Dusty Baker rantings if he does his Tiers again.

[Bodhizefa]

And every pitching prospect in the Reds organization breathes a sigh of relief.

I will miss Bodz's Dusty Baker rantings if he does his Tiers again.

The Mariners have a managerial opening. If you really want to watch me flip my shit, wait till the M's hire Baker. That may be my final breaking bad moment -- Walter White won't have nothin' on me.

[chancellor]

The Mariners have a managerial opening. If you really want to watch me flip my shit, wait till the M's hire Baker. That may be my final breaking bad moment -- Walter White won't have nothin' on me.

LOL...you mean you don't wanna see Taijuan throwing 133 pitches in a 11-0 shutout?

[Don Quixote]

That's pretty embarrassing for Reds fans, in my mind.

With the possible exception of St. Louis, Cincinnati has always been the most racially abusive city of the pre-expansion NL. This is the city that booed Jackie Robinson so hard that shortstop Pee Wee Reese (a native of nearby Louisville) gave him the famous hug around the shoulder to quiet the hecklers. This is the city where most of the realtors in town refused to do business with the team's first black player, Chuck Harmon--and the organization did nothing to help him. This is the city where owner Bill DeWitt, tired of Frank Robinson's complaints about open harassment of himself and his wife by team employees, traded the former ROY, one-time MVP, and team best hitter for dross, claiming Robinson was an "old 30". This is the city that unofficially segregated the stands at Crosley Field well into the Sixties, selling walk-up tickets near home plate to whites while consigning blacks to the outer reaches (at the same prices). This is the city whose team refused to hire blacks as ushers or concession stand workers until the late Sixties. This is the city in which owner Marge Schott openly called the team's black players "boys" and "field hands" in the 1980s and 1990s.

Now, this does not mean the organization is racially prejudiced now. Marge was two owners ago, and while Carl Lindner was renowned for his "economy", he was also known for his fair hiring practices and charity across racial and religious lines; and Bob Castellini has never been accused of bigotry to the best of my knowledge. The days of trading black players who complained, such as Robinson in the Sixties and Dmitri Young in Marge's tenure, while keeping white players who were clubhouse lawyers, seem to be gone.

There is still a lot of bigotry in this town. My black high school classmates (my class being about 60% black) tell me about it a lot, but they admit that it's neither as bad or as open as it used to be, mostly little stuff that they can brush off when it's isolated instances. I'm sure there was some racial hate mail to Dusty; such pigs exist in every city.

However, I don't think the anti-Dusty sentiment that so dominated local talk radio lately was purely racially motivated. IMO the motivation was the listless appearance and indifferent results of the team. A lot of fans simply felt that Dusty couldn't motivate this team if he shoved cattle prods up the players' rear ends and set them on 11. Dusty's own demeanor really irritated the fans, too; he just didn't seem to give a sh**, just sitting there, chewing on his toothpick, game after game. They didn't want a Bobby Valentine/Larry Bowa type, going off game after game, ranting and raving, but they wanted someone who occasionally looked like he cared--or at least looked awake.

If this account is true, Baker picked the wrong coach to defend. Jacoby needed to go. Hitting coaches invariably get player shout-outs when the player is hot, but I don't remember one interview with a player the last two years in which they gave Jacoby the least amount of credit. Again IMO, he seemed to be another do-nothing coach. Even more than Baker, he did not have the respect of his players. And I cannot recall a hitting coach here who the fans so disliked; some pitching coaches, but not a hitting coach.

Dusty would be best off by shutting his mouth, taking the money, and exiting while he still has the respect (if not the love) of most of the fans. Playing the race card is cheap, unjustified, and tawdry on his part. This is no paradise for black people, but his being black is not why he was canned.

[Bodhizefa]

Word on the street is that Baker has put feelers out to the Nats' organization to let them know he's interested in their opening. Stephen Strasburg (who's #1 comp on BP is Mark Prior) couldn't be reached for comment -- but there were howls of fear coming from his last known location

[Don Quixote]

One of those times I wish we had a "like" button here. Good stuff, Bodz.

Amen to that. I doubt that Strasburg is the only one howling at that idea.

However, the idea of Baker managing next year is a little odd. He can sit back (like he always does) and collect his Reds salary by doing anything except managing. Spout cliches on ESPN for a year, collect that salary plus $3.5 million--why not do that?