Loading ...The answer is “yes.” But some people are still speculating:
Dusty Baker may not be as safe in Cincinnati as the Reds’ strong finish would suggest. Owner Bob Castellini reportedly has his eye on the Cardinals tandem of manager Tony La Russa and pitching coach Dave Duncan.
If Dusty Baker isn’t manager of the Reds on Opening Day 2010, I will rename this site “Cardinals Nation” for a week or wear Cardinals underpants or something equally disgusting.
I would be shocked if Baker is removed from manager spot. I would be even MORE shocked if LaRussa was the one named to replace him.
Also, have to admit Cardinals very big shame-face in the playoffs. How can a team with 2 cy young candidates, the best hitter and likely mvp in pujols, get swept by the Dodgers. The Cardinals did not look like they were ready to play in the playoffs. some of that is on the manager. they had to get swept by the stinking dodgers.
Given that, you have to think why would Larussa want to give that up. he has a team should be a certain contender next few years. Makes is easier to manage when you got a sure fire ace in Wainwright and big time hitter in pujols on your team.
What owner WOULDN’T want La Russa and Duncan?
Do not go that far….PLEASE. Maybe change the site’s name to “East STL Reds” or something along those lines…Because w/ WJ & Rolen in CIN… and now the rumored possibility of LaRussa & Duncan in the future. The REDS are taking on a very STL feel.
Is Baker’s job safe??? I dunno…But if Bob is serious about wanting LaRussa & Duncan in a combo package – As has been rumored for some time now…This is his ONLY real shot at making it happen… w/ LaRussa’s deal is up & Duncan stating he’s opting out of his STL deal…So anythings possible.
I see Duncan as the Reds pitching coach but Baker finishes out his contract in 2010. Then Duncan moves over as manager.
I see Bryan Price, formerly of the Diamondbacks, as the new pitching coach.
Chad, be careful… It’s possible neither Dusty nor La Russa will be the manager, making “Cardinal Nation” inapposite.
I disagree that the Cards are set up as well as the Reds for the next five years. Personally, I see the Cards’ window as one maybe two years tops. The Cards cannot sign both Holliday and Pujols. It just can’t be done. Carpenter is one throw away from retirement. Piniero is a free agent. DeRosa is a free agent. Ankiel is a free agent. Even if they resign Piniero and DeRosa does anyone expect them to repeat their performances this season? What about Julio Lugo?
That said, I see nothing to suggest that La Russa is better fit at managing this club than Baker. Duncan I’d like to see. Regardless, if the Reds don’t have money to add money to the opening day roster, they don’t have enough to buyout Baker and pay Duncan and La Russa.
There’s no way any of this happens. But I will continue to dream.
Posted this before, but here it is again: STL > CIN > WASH.
The reason the Cards lost is the same as most of LaRussa’s “powerhouse” teams. They’re arrogant and they almost always choke.
Or, they’re a good team that had 3 bad games. It happens.
Re: choking, don’t forget that the 2006 Cardinals went all of 83-79 and then won the World Series.
@John: Dusty’s had some pretty good teams, but never won a WS. Guess his teams choke because they’re so relaxed or something. Bobby Cox only has one WS win. Man, the world is just full of chokers.
Individuals may “choke”, but teams don’t. I suspect what happened to the Cardinals is a combination of two things: One, in a five game series, there’s a random element, and two, perception adjustment. The Cardinals, sans Pujols and Carpenter, are a very good team. But the Dodgers are better. The Dodgers took both out, and the result was a sweep.
Good managing by Torre. Maybe he’s better than LaRussa.
I am as tired hearing about the “strong finish” as I am about how the Reds didn’t do well this year because of injuries.
The Reds played a ton of crappy teams the last 6 weeks of the season. They played Pitt what seemed like 100 times in the last month.
The Reds where I think 14-2 in Sept/Oct vs Houston and Pitt
8-9 against everyone else
Dusty didn’t manage any better later in the season. Dusty gave up on Bruce. Dusty still batted his SS in the #2 spot and his lineups were insane. And the only reason Dusty didn’t start Gonzo/Taveras the rest of the season is because he was forced by trades and injuries not to.
don’t get excited because we beat up on bad teams. That’s nearly half our games in the last month against two horrible teams.
Lot of Cards fans here, apparently. The 1988 and 1990 Athletics were good teams that had, well, 8 bad games and lost two World Championships, 4-1 and 4-0 respectively. Let’s not forget the 1992 ALCS either, which they lost 4-2. A good team that couldn’t seal the deal. That’s called choking.
Since LaRussa took over the helm in St. Louis, they have lost four NLCS, two NLDS, and a WS. The WS he did win with St. Louis was against Detroit, who might be one of the biggest chokes of the last 10 years. Yeah, LaRussa gets teams to the playoffs. And then they usually lose. His teams are usually stacked, put up huge numbers, and get arrogant, like winning is a given. Anyone who can remember 1990 would see that.
Thought experiment: are there ANY names you can think of that would cause you to be disappointed if you woke up and read this headline tomorrow:
Reds Replace Dusty Baker with X?
@Steve: Bob Boone
Mike – why aren’t injuries an excuse? I mean you can say that the Reds should have had more depth and I’d agree, but to just dismiss injuries is fairly obtuse. There are other reasons the Reds finished below .500, but when we are talking a matter of a few games getting above .500, the injury to Volquez alone accounts for it. While a seemingly 0-100 Willy Taveras hitting leadoff in July probably accounted for those too, injuries matter.
Also, I don’t understand the argument that the Reds beat bad teams and are therefore subpar. A good team beats teams they should beat.
John – Teams don’t choke. You are completely taking away from the other teams. The accomplishments of La Russa’s teams which you mention seem pretty good to me. If he got the Reds to a couple NLCS or even NLDS we wouldn’t be happy?
Steve – I don’t want to see other teams’ garbage. Why would I want to hire a manager who was fired from somewhere. Keep your Cecil Cooper, et al.
@mike: i think they did exactly what good teams do: beat the teams they should and play everyone else about .500.
because many teams had more injury time to more important starters
The Mets are just one example.
it’s one thing to beat bad teams it’s another to beat Houston and Pitt, two of the worst team in baseball AND have it be 50% of the teams you play in a month.
if anyone thinks beating Houston and Pitt is a sign the team will be better next year, well, not sure what to say to that…cept good luck in life
Dusty STILL did everything wrong
Dusty was FORCED to not play Taveras and Gonzo
the team IS better with Stubbs/Janish instead of Taveras/Gonzo but they aren’t THAT much better.
the team stinks unless exactly the right people are played and the exact right lineup is created. To compete you have to take the insanity away from Dusty. That either means signing good ball players or firing Dusty.
I’m not going to sit around and have false hope because of 1 good month against the worst in baseball
simple, simple statd
chew on this one and shove the good-pitching-cliche’s where you enjoy them
the top 6 team OBP teams made the playoffs this year.
1 of the remaining two teams who wasn’t high in OBP is already knocked out
the top 3 rotations in baseball DID NOT make the playoffs
and 7 of the top 10 rotations DID NOT make the playoffs
THE REDS ARE ANTI-OBP and PRO-MAKING-OUTS
until that changes the only chance is luck
4-13 vs. the Nationals, Padres & Royals
5-17 vs. the Cubs and Rockies
And I don’t see Larussa and Rolen back together on the same team.
That is why this team won’t be any good until the culture changes…by that I mean have people in the front office that understand this and try to get guys on the team that get on base, and management that understands and puts players in the right spots.
I would like to give an emphatic NO to hiring LaRusa. I’m all for Duncan as the pitching coach, but no LaRusa. I’m not a Cardinals fan and I still catch myself getting mad at some of his managerial decisions. I think he would drive me nuts as a Red.
Why have we not fired Brook Jacoby and Mark Berry?
I get what you’re saying, but nobody said in the middle months, when the Reds couldn’t win a game, “they’re not that bad, they just haven’t been playing Pittsburgh and Houston like the other teams have.”
Maybe not explicitly, but I recall several people commenting in May how difficult their summer schedule would be. I recall that I commented that if they were somehow still in it by September, that they finish the season with a very favorable schedule, especially the final 2 weeks. (9 against Pit & Hou and 3 head-to-head with the Cardinals.)
A team in the lead, or even just a couple of games back of the Cards, and that would have been an exciting two weeks to follow.
The Reds played more then just the Pirates and Stros down the stretch, so that argument is bunk. Second, they can only play whom they are scheduled against, and they don’t make up their schedule. You can make a stat fit your arguement, the fact is the Reds won, it doesn’t matter against whom. The Cards played the Astros and Pirates also the same number times, so do those games not really count?
Loo
From Aug. 1 till the end of the season the Reds went 33-26 and had games vs:
cubs
Pitts
St. louis
Stros
Florida
Washington
Rockies
Braves
Dodgers
Brewers
Giants
So the final 2 months was not an easy schedule and they were 7 games over .500
Rockies
Yes, you can. Aug+Sept record only looks good because of how well they played in Sept. Their Aug record was 13-16. Other than sweeping the Brewers towards the end of the month, who did they play well against in August?
The finish of their season, after losing 2 of 3 from the Dodgers at home, I’m looking at the Pittsburgh series that started with the Aug 31 double-header, they did the following:
4-0 Pit
3-0 Atl
0-4 Col
1-2 ChC
3-0 Hou
2-2 Fla
3-0 Pit
2-1 Hou
2-1 StL
2-1 Pit
They went 33-26 over the last two months. They played the exact same teams that the Cards, Dodgers, Phils and other teams played. Unlike the NFL where the schedule is based off of where you finished the previous season, the Reds played the same teams everyone else played and the same number that others in their division played. Games in Aug and Sept mean the same as games played in May
If we can get Duncan as pitching coach, that’s positive. Rolen and Duncan would not go good together again. Just let Baker finish out his contract in 2010 and then make Duncan or someone else manager.
Dusty Baker is a terrible manager! All the injuries seem to have bought him another year to prove how inept he really is and the bad season hides the many bad decisions Dusty made. The best manager the Reds have had since Lou was Pete McCannin. He wasn’t kept because the previous 2 failures got the job the same way he would have. (Interim to permanent) They don’t need a big name manager. They need a leadoff hitter, another RBI man, a new hitting coach. I would let Hernandez walk, and try to trade Cordero.
@Drew Nelson: Over 162 games, they play a very similar schedule. Cardinals won 91. Reds won 78. (Interleague schedules are not identical and the Cardinals get the Royals 6 times every year.)
The smaller the group of games you want to compare, then the more important the strength of schedule analysis becomes. The last two weeks of the season, when they weren’t playing each other, the Reds were 7-2. Cardinals were 1-8. Doesn’t it matter that the Reds played the Astros and Pirates and the Cardinals played the Dodgers, Rockies and Brewers?
Timing is also important. The Reds played the Pirates 10 times in September and were 9-1 against them. The Cardinals only played them 3 times this month. The September Pirates were essentially a AAA team. Over 162 games a lot of that stuff should wash out, but sometimes in the close division battles, these little breaks in luck could make the difference between #1 and #2.
To say that they were 7 games over for the Aug-Sept two month span is not as inspiring to me when they were 8 games over vs. one (AAA) team.
The Reds were 27-13 over the final 40 games. That was due to personnel changes in the starting lineup, plus Arroyo and Bailey.
It’s true that none of those changes were thanks to Dusty.
@Drew Nelson: Over 162 games, they play a very similar schedule. Cardinals won 91. Reds won 78. (Interleague schedules are not identical and the Cardinals get the Royals 6 times every year.)
Of course, we get the Indians, but that’s another matter.
I’ve been calling this ever since Jockerty came over…it only makes sense. Now the question is, will Duncan and LaRussa be willing?
There are some valid arguements among the posts but also a lot of unrealistic expectations of what this team could have done this year. I believe everyone would agree that going into this season this was going to be a offensively challenged team unless a lot of people had career years.Pitching and defense is what they were betting on to have a competitive team. Personally my hope was a .500 team or above and in the middle of the division.
There has been a lot of gripping about Bakers lineups and I will say sometimes I also scratched my head. However when the season came to the point where Baker was coming to work with a short bench at times and didn’t know who physically could play from one day to the next it makes for a tough time making up lineups. No body but the Mets went through that this year. I remember at one point this year where the starting eight in a couple of games didn’t have a single player that was on the projected starting eight at the beginning of the season.
I will also comment on the notion that the Reds play the last 4-6 weeks didn’t mean anything.
First the fact this team continued to play hard and together through the entire season means something to me. With all that went on this year it would have been very easy to say we’ll get them next year. No body would have blamed them.
Second this thought that The Pirates were little more then a AAA team is silly. The Reds lineup wasn’t much better. Not to mention that at the end there were only Arroyo and Cueto left of the starting five.
Also just a note about the Pirates, in late Aug. and Sept. they took 3 of 4 from Dodgers, 2 of 3 from Cubs, 2 of 3 from Phillies, 2 of 3 from Reds, and swept the Brewers. So it wasn’t a team you could just throw your hat onto the field and they would submit.
@Paul71: Dusty Baker makes $3.5 million — I think he’s one of the 5 or 6 highest paid managers in the game — and most games I truly think I could’ve made a better lineup than he did.
He is beyond stubborn, beyond closed-minded, beyond unwilling to accept new information and change.
I am not willing to give him a free pass due to injuries. I think he’s done a poor job, and it just blows my mind that he’s so bad at what must be the easiest part of his job (filling out a lineup card).
I’m very much looking forward to a change… although I’m afraid it’ll be a change in favor of yet another old-boy-network “proven veteran” manager. I’m ready for someone with a fresh, updated perspective on the game.
…a fresh perspective that includes coming up with clever and perhaps unconventional solutions to problems, I should add. Dusty is 100% NOT this.
This team (on its $70 or $75 million payroll) will never have adequate talent to just do everything like everyone else does it and expect to prevail based on talent. We need to do some things differently and better than everyone else to succeed. I’m not sure what those things are, but we just can’t afford to be conservative and “by the book” on EVERYTHING. In my view, that’s what we are now, and it’s a recipe for what we’ve gotten — a whole lot of 75-win seasons.
@Dan: I do understand your frustration as I have the same. But to say the injuries had no impact on what this team could put on the field is silly. All season on different web sites I have heard from various people about the lineups. The funny thing about it is just about everyone had a different lineup. Baker should bat this guy leadoff, no bat that guy leadoff, or what about that other guy. Taveras was a flop this year, no arguement. He did start the year out reasonable well but went down the tubes and never came back. Dickerson would probably be the next favorite to leadoff, but he had a terrible start to the season and then came around. His problem is staying healthy.
From day one this team tried to get by without a true cleanup batter. They picked up Taveras (career avg. .282 BA, .333 OBP, 42 SB) with hopes that would solve the leadoff situation. It didn’t. So between those two situations and the injuries Baker had to try and plug holes with a lot of players not suited to do what they were asked to do. Baker had to play with the cards he was dealt and if he played them perfectly can anyone honestly say there would have been a measureable difference in the season.