Loading ...Like many of us, Wayne Krivsky was shocked that he was fired yesterday as General Manager of the Cincinnati Reds:
When Wayne Krivsky walked into Bob Castellini’s office, he had no idea a sharpened guillotine was dangling above the door.
After 27 months as general manager of the Cincinnati Reds, Krivsky was pushed out the door, kicking and screaming.
In fact, Krivsky tried to change CEO Castellini’s mind.
“It caught me off-guard, and I was completely shocked,” said Krivsky. “I did not see this coming at all. I fought for an hour to keep my job. I love it here and I loved this job.”
Look, I was never a Wayne Krivsky fan, but I don’t know what to think about this firing. Krivsky did some insanely dumb things, but he also made some simply brilliant moves. On the whole, he was an average GM, at least. Not sure he earned the dismissal at this point, after only two years on the job.
This is funny, though: Dusty Baker didn’t find out about the firing until he called Krivsky to talk about a couple of moves. Ouch.
Still think it came down to the team’s losing record. Winning is the only measure of success in baseball. No one cares how good you are at trades, personnel management, player development, etc., etc., if you don’t win. Lose, and no one cares how good you are doing those things, either.
I think the multi-year contracts eventually brought him down. I don’t think firing him was a fair thing to do at this point, nor necessarily the best thing for the team. But Jocketty is the owner’s guy, and that is how these things work.
I was a little suprised to hear Krivskey taking so much credit for the improvement in the minor league system.
I think former GM O’Brien can take as much credit as former GM Krivskey. Votto, Bailey, Cueto, Bruce all came along during O’Brien’s watch.
I think the jury is very much still out on the drafts Krivskey was involved with Stubbs and Mesoraco especially. The improvement currently has been through trades, Maloney, Thompson, etc. and not really development. Hopefully Wayne’s drafts will work out but I don’t think it is time for back patting yet.
True, but I think he deserves credit for their continued development. Even more, he deserves credit for (apparently – fingers crossed) eliminating the horrible injury problem that used to exist in the Reds system.
How many touted pitchers went down with arm injuries? Basham, Gruler, Howington, Pauley, Gardner… I’m sure there are more.
Also, while I’m lukewarm on Stubbs and Mesorasco, I think Todd Frazier is going to be a player.
I just don’t see that Jocketty has any wiggle room until he clears the corner outfielders from the books. My preference would be to unload or not re-sign those two and go with a full fledged youth movement. Maybe it will take until the offseason, I hope not. Yet doing so isn’t the roll of the dice it used to be. We know we have quality major league players on the cusp of sustained success. The Cubs look like they’re going to run away w/ the division just based on their hitting. We’re looking at some long odds here, guys. It’s not much of a stretch to say we have a better chance to win now and next year w/ the kids. Stone me with stats, but Dunn and Griffey gotta go. It’s clear they won’t be around when we’re ready to contend, so why wait? We need to get on w/ the business of winning a championship. I hope Jocketty sees it that way.
The only places I could see Jr going is either back to Seattle to a hero’s welcome, or to Florida/Atlanta to be closer to home. Otherwise he’s not going anywhere. If I was serious about moving him, those are the places to look. Jr is my all-time favorite player, so sentiment wants him to retire as a Red, but I understand the point you are making. I just don’t know about the contract situation.
What kids, other than Bruce, are ready to play the other 2 outfield positions?
The issue in trading Dunn and/or Griffey is that you almost certainly will take a hit in offensive capability. Both have significant downsides lowering their trade value. Griffey is on the train to retirement and is one serious injury away from calling it quits early. Dunn’s defense and strikeouts lower his value. And there’s always the risk that he might go to a new team and magically boost his average by 50 points.
Not that trading them shouldn’t be on the table, just don’t expect to get stars in return.
Yes, the contract situation makes this conversation practically moot. As for return value, the most you could hope for would be the compensation pick for Dunn and maybe a decent prospect, but I’m willing to accept that if clearing salary also takes place. I understand that their production has more value to us right now than another team may perceive, but I believe the long term interest should trump the short term gain. With Bruce in right (probably equaling Jr’s. production), and a platoon in center, we need only find a left fielder. Maybe Keppinger is the guy when AGon gets healthy, I dunno. Packaging one of our four center fielders w/ Hatty plus a B prospect could achieve that as well. None of those moves scream championship, so keeping Dunn is probably smart, but for the money he’ll be getting w/ his next contract, you could get two players, like the White Sox did when dumping Carlos Lee. Would you?
Saw Fraizer play last night. They actually moved him to third base from shortstop, Brandon Waring went to first base from third.
These guys are years away. A GM can’t be afraid of dealing his own prospects. Krivsky seemed like a guy who couldn’t trade guys that he liked.
Jocketty is going to make some trades, but I do think this team needs some quality veteren offense. With Cueto, Harang, and Volquez building a winning shouldn’t be too hard.
Krivsky seemed like a guy who couldn’t trade guys that he liked.
This is the key. I think Castellini wants to run the team like a rich guy with a new toy, but Krivsky wanted to run the team like a career talent scout. The two approaches proved mutually exclusive.
I’m not sure Jocketty will indulge Castellini’s impulses, but they’ll probably have more fun arguing about what to do.
No one knows what goes on behind closed doors, but Castellini was probably working on Jocketty the day the Cardinals fired him. He talked him into the special advisor role in January and finally persuaded him to be GM this week.