Question 1:
Anyone else surprised by this? I hope Krivsky was not. Nothing says "hey pal, you're on the hot seat" like hiring a "special adviser" in the off-season. Especially one whose track record far exceeds your own. The only way WK could have kept his job is for the Reds to be 17-4 at this point. Personally, I think it was getting swept by the Pirates that did it.
Question 2:
Will it make a difference this season? The Reds have a lot of money invested in the team that's on the field right now. Not many moves to make, unless he starts shipping out some big names and eating a ton of payroll.
Question 3:
Time to panic? I say no. We all knew there was a chance that this season was a setup for next year.
Thoughts?
ps. Bronson Arroyo...yikes!
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7 comments:
Fuck Yes. A meaty Norwood House topic if ever there was one.
I have many thoughts. Originally I was surprised by this, having forgotten about the Walt hire in the off-season. Now it only makes perfect sense. Krivsky was going to have to bury the needle from the get-go this season to last out the year, and he just didn't.
I say it does make a difference this year, but only on two points (Griffey and Dunner).
Jocketty is not a wizard with trades. In his last three years with the Cards, he made a total of ten deals, only two of which were multi-player swaps. Mostly cash, bats and player-to-be-named later stuff.
Having said all that, I do think Dunner is gone now, though. Maybe he gets traded into the AL for a left-handed arm. I don't know what goes on in Walt's head, but he seems like an old school guy, the kind of guy that would consider a big contract left over from 3 GM's ago (Griff) as an albatross around his neck, and one that he'd be happy to unload at the break if the right package came along. He's probably got some financial leeway since he and the owner are buds.
I say no panic. It's not even May. This firing would have been more damaging farther down the road, closer to the trade deadline. Now, I think it's a bit of an unpleasant awakening, but not a disaster.
I have many a thought on the subject, but for now, I'll try to stick closely to Ian's original questions.
1)I was shocked by the timing, quite honestly. We'll hear lip service about wanting to win, but I think there must be a deeper reason for the timing. Hell, look around baseball and you can't help but notice a lot of "good" teams struggling. I think the main reasons behind the move were major league roster construction and Castellini's immense fondness of Jocketty. The win now at all costs mantra is a convenient fallback excuse in this situation.
2) This season is pretty much going to depend on the current 25 man roster plus maybe 5 guys in the minors (Bruce, Bailey, Bray, Roenicke, etc.) Dunn and Jr. basically have no-trade clauses and cannot easily be shipped. I am sort of hoping, in a dark way, that not much can be done to the roster this year and the team goes on to win 85-87 games. Maybe unlikely, but I will say this is the best Reds team since 2000.
3)Panic time? Hard to say. I'm a little paniced that the Reds owner pulled the trigger on his GM 21 days into the season, but as I stated earlier, I don't think winning was the main cause of the move. Can't be, or this is the worst case of Adult ADD I've ever seen. So I'm not paniced about this season, because honestly, my expectations weren't exceptionally high. I'm a little nervous Jocketty might get trigger happy and deal some kids for vets in an effort to "win-now," but he's a smart dude who isn't in his first rodeo.
Ultimately, I think Jocketty was the man ever since he got let out of STL. As I read on another blog, Wayne's biggest strength's were finding talent, and building/stabilizing the farm system. He should be thanked for his service, notibly his ability to advance prospects while keeping them healthy and his ability to acquire impact talent for peanuts. Basically, he got the franchise turned around and headed in the right direction, but I doubt he was the man to put them over the top.
Enter Walt Jocketty.
I just want to point out that my comment about Arroyo was posted 6 hours BEFORE his first pitch.
Ian, predicting Arroyo is going to get shelled is like saying in advance that Dav is going to genuflect in social situations.
It's GOING to happen, the question is HOW INTENSE is the incident going to be?
I think Arroyo is destined for middle relief, by the way.
I think Arroyo is headed for Dr. James Andrews.
Right now he looks like a tell-tale Tommy John candidate. Inability to locate his pitches combined with the lack of decline in his 'stuff.' (24 K's in 28 IP).
It's really not shocking either. The guy was abused by Jerry Narron to the tune of 440+ IP in two years, not to mention many games with inflated pitch counts.
What is shocking, though, is how quickly his public perception has changed. This is a guy who has been a huge asset to the Reds the last two years (yes, he pitched well last year despite the W-L record) but now finds himself with the popularity of Eric Milton. Baffling.
And one other remark not related to anything:
Edinson Volquez has the best 'stuff' on the Reds, and it's not really even that close. Dude is straight muddy.
Voltron is straight narsty.
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