When I heard Chambliss was fired, I thought well okay, Krivsky wants to bring in his own guy. Probably not a knock on Chambliss or anything. Surely Chambliss isn't taking the blame for the offensive nosedive at the end of the season.
Really, I should know better:
That wasn't at issue with Chambliss, though. The former big-league outfielder said Narron told him the Reds' offensive slump over the final six weeks - and possible factors behind it - played a large part in the decision."He wasn't happy with the fact that players didn't make good adjustments in the second half, especially down the stretch," said Chambliss, who added that he heard no such concerns prior to his firing.
"If they thought something else should have been said to them, it wasn't relayed to me," he said. "I worked with the guys, I talked to them in the cages every day. I don't know what's going on, I really don't, as far as that's concerned."
So there you have it. If Chambliss is telling the truth, and I really can't imagine him lying here, the front office is blaming the hitting coach and the players for not making good adjustments in the second half.
The offense sucking in the second half had nothing to do with Wayne Krivsky trading 25% of the starting lineup (for some magic beans), or Royce Clayton playing all the time, or Ken Griffey Jr. hurting his big toe. No, it was apparently all about not making good adjustments.
You have to honestly wonder if it's crossed Krivsky or Narron's mind at all that Adam Dunn might not have gone into a tailspin if guys like Kearns and Lopez were still in the lineup. What was the incentive to pitch to Dunn in September? There was no Ken Griffey Jr. Other players were slumping. Kearns and Lopez were long gone. If I'm an opposing coach I sure as hell wouldn't be giving Dunn anything to hit.
And remember what I said about communication? Here we've got a hitting coach getting fired for problems that weren't relayed to him at the time they were occurring.
This is not at all a promising development. I've got a bad feeling about all this, and all I can hope is that I'm not giving Krivsky enough credit.
Oh, and I'll leave you with this:
The Reds have begun the search for new hitting and pitching coaches, but both Narron and general manager Wayne Krivsky said Wednesday the process is in its early stages.
I sure as hell hope Krivsky is just playing nice, because letting Narron have significant input on major decisions isn't at all a good idea. Surely he knows that, right?