Poison in the Reds club house?
by spudsmckenzie17 on May 3, 2008 10:44 PM EDT
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PrintThe Reds have been playing flat, Dusty has been flip flopping anyone he can find to get something started and Castellini has his chop block ready to let heads roll and Rob Schneider is due anytime to pop out of the smoke stacks and quote his Waterboy line, "OH NO, WE SUCK AGAIN!". WTF is going on.
I read prosportsdaily.com and on there is several articles of how good a presence Juan Castro is in a clubhouse and his head rolled down the DFA lane. My best guess is something is stirring in the club house, Hatteberg is pissed, Freel is Pissed, Castellini is pissed and still they play flat. With all these negatives flowing who is trying to make things positive? Griffey is aiming at 600 while he does his best impression to mimick Will Ferrell or is it Adam Dunn in Left field, by watching the at bats he gives I think its Ferrell. Patterson is close to finishing his impression as a Major Leaguer, the bench coach needs to do away with whatever luxory items they have on the bench there because everyone who comes off it seems to want to hurry back to it. Paul Bako, ummm yeah that Paul Bako at this time last year if someone told you he'd be our starting catcher you would have buried your head in your hands and cried like a baby, but there is no reason to cry about Bako, just everything else at this point.
What do the Reds do? My suggestion is they make the team watch the JTM Arroyo and Welsh commercial until everyone in the room realize watching them now is almost as bad as watching that commercial.
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i've been saying for a long time that this teams problem is that they DFA'ed Juan Castro.
He is a defensive specialist who is now plays below average defense. Maybe 5 years ago he was an asset, because he was nice to have because he could come in during the late innings and play any infield position and play it well, and he could play solid defense. Now he is just a waste of roster space.
The Dusty Path to the World Series!*
*Note this is not an endorsment of Dusty Baker.
Next Bench Coach
Maybe they should have made JC a bench coach then. Why have a “clubhouse” guy actually on the roster. Bench coaches get to wear uniforms too!
-Do not play golf behind Dave Parker.
no idea
Griffey is aiming at 600 while he does his best impression to mimick Will Ferrell or is it Adam Dunn in Left field, by watching the at bats he gives I think its Ferrell.
Ok, I know Dunn looks like Will Farell but other than that I can’t make heads or tails of this sentence.
I'll say again
I don’t think Adam Dunn looks like Will Farrell. I see why people make the comparison, but I think it’s rather a superficial likeness.
'cause something is happening here, but you don't know what it is.
by Man Mountain on May 4, 2008 10:43 AM EDT up reply actions
Ok, but the drummer for the Red Hot Chili Peppers?
Total Ferrell lookalike.
Actually, now that I think about it, he also kinda looks like Big John from “Rock of Love.”
Big John
Chad Smith, drummer for RHCP
Here’s the comparison made even more explicit.
by Brendanukkah on May 4, 2008 11:12 AM EDT up reply actions
white men all look alike to me.
Everybody's a jerk. You. Me. This jerk.
by andromache on May 6, 2008 12:43 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
Last week...
...Paul Janish was interviewed by Bats radio after his 6 RBI, 4 for 4 with two doubles and a grand slam game. Interviewer Jom Kelch commented that everyone on the Louisville Bats seemed to get along great, and always talked about the team rather than their individual accomplishments.
Janish replied that yes, it was a good group, a good mix…but the real reason everyone got along so great was because they were winning.
The only poison in the Reds clubhouse is that they’re losing.
All Things Bubba: Because how can you not love a baseball player named Bubba?
Castellini's "Win now" PR move is really getting old
Not just because the Reds suck but it seems as if every time the press is around him and an upper management guy he says ” I want to win now or tonight!”. Ugh just shut up.
Norris Hopper's #1 fan!!!
Adam Dunn Is Not...
...the problem on this team. The guy we have out there in the OF who plays like Julio Franco did last year is one of them. So is the rotating roster of CF, while our organization’s best hope is rotting down in the minors. So is the pitching, which depends too heavily still on reclamation projects and a couple of legitimate arms. And our 10 cent head manager, who seems to be a graduate of the John McNamara school of management, when what this teams needs is a Tom Kelly.
You are right Dunn isn't the problem
The problem of this team has been; Joey Hamilton, Paul Wilson, Jimmy Haynes, Jimmy Anderson, Juan Accevado, Todd Van Poppell, Lance Davis, Corey Lidle, Ramon Ortiz, Eric Milton, Ryan Demptser, Shawn Estes, Brian Mohler, Luke Hudson, Jose Rijo, Brian Reith, Jim Brower, Danny Graves, Dan Sareffini, John Bale, Seth Etherton, Josh Hall, Joe Valentine, John Reidling, Brandon Claussen, Kim Jung Bong, Jesus Sanchez, Jeff Austin, Scott Randel, Bruce Chen, Carlos Almanzar, Luis Pinedia, Jared Fernadez, Elmar Dessens, Rob Bell, Octival Fernadez, Denny Reyes, and Scott Winchester.
That is a list of the many many people who the Reds trotted out to the mound in an attempt to impersonate a starting pitcher since 2001. THrough in guys like Ty Howington and Chris Grueller, and the losing is really easy to understand.
The Dusty Path to the World Series!*
*Note this is not an endorsment of Dusty Baker.
by justin007000 on May 5, 2008 11:54 AM EDT up reply actions
That's World Series MVP, Jose Rijo to you, Mr. Smart Guy
...okay, so that was seventeen and a half years ago.
by Brendanukkah on May 5, 2008 12:07 PM EDT up reply actions
You actually read through Justin's lists?
'cause something is happening here, but you don't know what it is.
by Man Mountain on May 5, 2008 12:57 PM EDT up reply actions
isn't it close to your naptime?
The Dusty Path to the World Series!*
*Note this is not an endorsment of Dusty Baker.
will you read me a story?
I want the one where you remember watching Jimmy Anderson struggle to get through the first.
'cause something is happening here, but you don't know what it is.
i remember when he was lights out in spring training
and turned into a pumpkin in april. But that is nightmarish.
The Dusty Path to the World Series!*
*Note this is not an endorsment of Dusty Baker.
didn't rob bell get us edwin?
In the end, life and business are about human connections. And computers are about trying to murder you in a lake. And to me the choice is easy.
by chandrathan on May 5, 2008 1:06 PM EDT up reply actions
yep
and he got us Ruben Mateo, Edwin was just a low level minor league throw in.
The Dusty Path to the World Series!*
*Note this is not an endorsment of Dusty Baker.
7 losing years= lots of managers, GMs and owners and players - leadership is where I put the blame.
The Reds have lacked internal leadership from the field, dugout and pen. Leadership= Both requiring your teamates to step up and be a pro and also -as a leader giving pro ABs, pro, Starts, Pro relief appearances. A pro stays focused, thinks through the situation, works to make every pitch important, evry SB propely executed etc.
Guys like Greg Vaugh, Barry, Larkin, Tony Perez didn’t put up with bullshit from the peanut gallery. We could use a Greg Vaugh or Perez desperately at this time.Jr. isn’t wired to be a total leader, Harang isn’t, BP certainly isn’t. On the other hand Josh Hamilton has great leadership potential, and I believe Dunn does too. Hatte is a good leader but he doesn’t have a spot on this team anymore. Murker and Castro are great clubhouse guys but neither are leaders.
Winning cures many ills. Even lack of leadership. But to sustain winning a team needs some guys who can be instrumental in pulling the team together (and also come through a few times themselves) in tough game situations.
I totally believe that management and leadership are really only important during the tough losing streak times. the rest of the time a good manager or leader stays out of the way and enjoys the team success.
"There's more to being in the big leagues than just stats. Everyone is so stat-conscious." Dusty Baker
I don't know how much of this I can buy.
First of all, we don’t really know for certain who is or who is not “a leader” in the clubhouse. I realize that the Reds have acquired this reputation as a leaderless team but have any current or former players ever offered a firsthand account verifying this rather unquantifiable notion? Has a beat writer ever stated that they thought this team could win more games if it had “a true leader”? It seems to me that not even Marty and Brantley raise this point when they run down their lists of concerns.
Secondly, the primary reason that this team has not won more than eighty games in the past seven or eight years is the lack of quality pitching. I don’t think that any amount of sound and fury from a logistically located locker could have motivated some of the National League’s most slapped together rotations and bullpens from the past decade to suck much less than they were destined to suck.
If we’re looking for a true leadership vaccuum that has probably had the most detrimental effects on the Reds, let’s look at the fellas whose job descriptions clearly call for leadership skills. I’d agree that the number of managers, general managers and owners is usually going to be inversely proporrtional to the amount of wins that any MLB team will accrue in a given length of time. And the Reds have had fourteen or fifteen of those over the past twelve years. The number of division titles in that time?...
Zero.
I don't know how to paint a banana gourd to look like a Power Ranger.
by Fat Vegas Alan on May 5, 2008 1:13 PM EDT up reply actions
Well as usual you are correct in asking the salient questions.
I sure don’t know who’s a leader and who isn’t i the classic sense of the term. But…I tend to think of leader from a more business owner/manger point of view. And a leader in most business (not all for sure) situations requires maturity ,a hard-nosed work ethic, confidence and productivity. E.G. a successful sales manager isn’t always the best seller, but has the interpersonal and teaching skills to help those he/she works with increase their own productivity. In every successful situation that I’ve been involved wit, there are always persons who do their jobs well and consistently AND are helpful to those around them.
Now it sure helps to have a real good car if you’re going to race in the Indy 500, because no matter how good the driver and pit crew are if you ain’t got the car your chances of winning are really diminished – ergo you’re comments on the ‘slapped together bull pens and rotations is right on the money.
Yet I can’t believe that the personnel on this team is as bad as they are playing. The bench is pretty unbalanced; Bronson’s struggling, true and Fogg ain’t too good nor is CoPat…bu this is an improved rotation and pen AND offensively: Votot’s showing signs of being the real deal, Bako’s done well and so has Kepp, BP’s not bad, EdE’s growing into a decent hitter. Maybe it does boil down to Dunn, Giffey and whoever else is in the outfield not hitting? I don’t know. I do firmly believe that professional ABs etc. are what leaders do best and that’s one way to try and turn this thing around.
"There's more to being in the big leagues than just stats. Everyone is so stat-conscious." Dusty Baker
i agree with you
in 95, Barry Larkin won the MVP because of his leadership. sure, his numbers weren’t bad, but there were players with much better numbers. larkin carried that team on his shoulders the whole season. when things went bad, he called team meetings. he kept people in line. he fired people up. you see shots of the team in the dugout now and they’re just sitting there with blank looks on their faces. that’s where the impression comes from. a leader has the ability to fire his team up. there is no fire on this team.
larkin should be in that clubhouse. he played with dunn and griffey and they respect him. why not make him a bench coach or something? get him away from old leatherpants, if he’s even still working for him. john allen is gone now, so it’s safe to return to the water.
i see votto developing leadership skills from the few interviews i’ve heard from him, but he’s too young for that role now. although they say tulowitzki did it last year as a rookie, so why not votto?
Leadership....
....is only as good as your talent. You can be the periodic outlier and have a great roster but a lousy manager, like Chuck Tanner of the ‘79 Pirates, and yet still win. But without a roster, leadership is inconsequential. Casey Stengel was no worse of a field manager for the ‘62 Mets than he was for the ‘60 Yankees. The difference was his ‘62 team was an inferior product. You give me a good team, with a manager that retains favorable player-personnel management and motivation skills, and you will win. But the greatest pitching coach in the world is not going to rescue Charlie Puleo or Josh Fogg. Everything is a determinant of having a roster with the talent.
by tonywf on May 6, 2008 8:45 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
Exactly!
The only coach I can think of that did the most with close to no talent was Bob Knight at Texas Tech. He took a lousy team to an elite 8 and made them respectable every year he was there. In baseball and football that is tougher to accomplish because in basketball one good play can carry a team easier then in football or baseball.
Norris Hopper's #1 fan!!!
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