Crazy how long ago that was.
I loved Dusty as a manager, but I was ready to move on. The narrative was that Dusty managed during the postseason as he did the regular season. I forget the exact scenario, and he even had a quote (I think it was after his Reds tenure) where he didn’t use his closer in the 9th inning down a run in their elimination game, whereas their opponent had used all their best bullpen arms from the 4th inning. Asked about the discrepancy, Baker said (something like) “Well they will be at a disadvantage their next round because their pitchers are tired.” He did not get to that next round though. But Dusty was a fantastic regular season manager, and without him the team can’t even make the playoffs.
This so far has been such a disappointing season. They can’t afford enough FA bats this offseason to make themselves competitive, and the young bats have all regressed which dims my view not just on the current team, but the future as well. Which of these bats, if they perform as they are right now, would be starters on a playoff caliber team next year? Elly and Friedl and the catchers? What a mess. But maybe they go on a run, Tito has done it before.
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Reds suck nothing new about that.
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Agree on Dusty. His two years in Washington were more of the same winning the East both years but failing to advance in the playoffs, while there he set the record for losing the most series clinching games in the playoffs. Washington fired him as well after two seasons. I think he ended up with a record of 2-7 in series deciding games. He’s the Reds version of Marvin Lewis. Maybe things would have been a little different had they picked someone other than Bryan Price as his succesor.
The Freds. Take a wild guess what the F stands for
Is it…Fred?
Yep. A reference to former Reds manager Fred Hutchinson.
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So what do I win?
(A 78 win season!!!)
The point is Dusty was a HOF manager who got a crappy franchise to the postseason regularly. Eventually guys like him, if left alone, figure out how to get to the next level. It is the same lack of understanding and impatience with a really good coach that caused most of the posters on here to call for
Chuck Martin to be fired. They were simply not patient enough or understanding enough to allow the time for things to develop. Since then he got to the MAC championship game 3 times in 6 years. We still don’t know if he can take us even higher, that requires us to raise the program to an even higher level. Dusty won 2 world championships you know, if patient he well might have gotten the Reds there too. Quite frankly, those of you calling for Dusty after they lost to the Giants were as wrong as could be, the same with those of you calling for Coach Martin’s head were wrong then. I said so loud and clear on here in both instances at those times.
I clearly remember back in 1971 and 72 when people wanted to get rid of Bill Mallory because we could just not get over the 7-3 record. Then we finished in the top 20 three years in a row and lost 1 game in 3 years and beat Florida, South Carolina, and Georgia in Bowl games. When you have a good coach doing a good job and you see some weakness ( you talk with him and get him to correct that and stand by him) . That happened with Chuck, who had a big issue with bad special team play which many on here including me complained about and now we probably had the best special teams in the nation over the last two seasons combined. I also complained about his failure to use our best relievers in the post season, but certainly never advocated firing an outstanding coach like Dusty. He eventually got that right too and ended up with 2 World Series championships to go with all the other great seasons where his teams fell just short of going all the way. The next decade of Reds baseball could have been so much different than it ended up.
I never said we should get rid of Tito. I said the Reds didn’t plant any seeds in the off season so there will be no awards to harvest in the fall. Tito is the least of their issues. Big upgrade from Bell. They just need to build a team and not be afraid to spend.
Ps, I love Chuck and have since day 1. I want that notes in my fan review.
It only took Dusty 25 season to hit his post season stride! Kidding aside I think you can have that patience with a younger manager but when the guy already has 20 years under his belt his reputation is very likely who he is.
FWIW Dusty only won a single world series, not two.
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Who should they have realisticaly signed from last years free agent pool?
After the big signings like Soto, Adamas and Bregman a ton of the guys signed are absolutly abysmal. So then they have a second Cadelerio contract on their hands. Teoscar is the one that stood out to me as he would fill a big need and is actually performing but the Reds would have had to really overpay him to get him out of LA.
They leaned into their young core and unforunatly have not be rewareded for that. I don’t particularly blame them for doing it.
To me they just seem like a team that doesn’t click for whatever reason. Their record based on runs score and allowed should be better but they lose a lot of 1 and 2 run games and win some blowouts so that’s likely distorted. There’s nothing they can do now but ride out the next month and change and try to get the offense going to match the pitching. If it doesn’t happen you have two very nice trade pieces in Martinez and Singer to move at the deadline.
June is definitely make or break
My rant is not directed at anybody in particular but towards fans in general, the lack of appreciation they show towards coaches who have done great jobs because they did not win a championship in a particular season. As I was writing that post I had a discussion of the Knicks firing Tibbs today on ESPN. Exact same fan reaction, maybe in the NBA some from the players got him fired? He just finished the two best seasons in Knicks basketball since sometime last century. Big Perk was expressing the exact same opinions and feelings that I had about Dusty and Chuck. Personally I think the Knicks overachieved. The Celtics best player got knocked out of the series. What they should have done was discussed what additions they could make so that they could be better defensively and then tried to incrementally improve the roster. For 2xHawk, I understand and agree with the criticism of Dusty not utilizing his bullpen appropriately during the playoffs. something easily correctible and something the GM should have been able to handle. That is what should have happened, then all of the great seasons Dusty had elsewhere might have happened in Cincy. I do now and have for a long time felt particularly strong about this issue.
I tend to agree with the notion dusty was Marvin Lewis. You had to try to get farther. For the Bengals, the switch in coach largely has. For the Reds, not so much (from Dusty). But, I do think Tito is a big upgrade.
As a Guards fan, I’m feeling like Tito is not having a good time🙂. Not just with the wins and losses, but the vanilla nature of the organization. He’s used to having a few more big personalities on the team to create the culture. I also wonder how he feels about not having his own guy as pitching coach. Seems kind of ridiculous. And there is his health.
I haven’t been impressed with Tito this season and wouldn’t be surprised to see him resign at the end of the season for “health” reasons.
He should thank the Reds for the pitching coach he inherited. The development of good, young starting pitching has been the only bright spot this year.
Just in the past couple weeks, Tito has failed to pinch hit for Espinal and Garrett Hampson in the 9th inning of 1-run games, and then seemed surprised to be questioned on it after the game. I expect better from a HOF manager.
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He does look healthy to me, and I have watched him closely both when he was and was not healthy. He made a move yesterday which I have been thinking about for awhile. Our best offensive weapons have been Friedl and Elly, but the spot in between them has been horrible all year. Lux does not seem very good in the field but I like his hitting approach this year, he is not swinging hard, just putting it in play and spraying it around. Most of the time he has been used in a power or RBI spot, he looks to me to be a perfect #2 hitter type now. He gets on base and would be excellent in hit and run with Friedl. #4 spot is still a terrible spot, although the answer is on the roster if they could just keep him healthy. With that top 4 the other guys might fall into place. Keep Lux and Hayes healthy the offense could make a big jump.
Another complaint about Tito….hitting Espinal 2nd and leaving him there even after struggling for weeks. Not a good season for Tito thus far.
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The Reds were loaded when he was there.
The Giants were loaded when he was there.
The Cubs were loaded when he was there.
The Nationals were loaded when he was there.
The Astros were loaded when he was there.
It’s criminal that he only won one World Series in the decades he was a manager.
And he made me watch Lennis Harris and Jose Macias in tight pants.
Nice guy, great career, not a prime time manager.
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