One of the things he wants known is that Dusty Baker was his choice to manage the Reds and he told owner Bob Castellini at the time, “Dusty Baker is my man and he is the guy for the job.” And Krivsky added, “It was my recommendation and Bob agreed.”I was always of the impression that Baker's hiring was a Castellini thing. Knowing that it was Krivsky who decided to hire a man who is particularly ill-suited to running a team whose success or failure depends on young prospects makes his firing particularly palatable. It also means that it will be that much easier to get rid of him should Jocketty decide to do the right thing. What else ya got, Wayne?
“When I’m told before the season that I better win, I’m going to get all the pitching I can get,” he said. “Fogg was a $100,000 gamble, what we would pay him if he didn’t make the team. He made it so it cost $1.5 million and I still think it’s a good deal. When Homer Bailey didn’t make the team and Matt Belisle was injured, who did we have for our fifth starting spot? Nobody,” he said.Seeing as though Josh Fogg went 1-2 with a 10.80 ERA in his three starts, I'm thinking that "nobody" would have done a better job.
Not that everything was Krivsky's fault:
And then there was the $3 million paid to outfielder Corey Patterson. “I was told to get him signed, whatever it takes,” said Krivsky, who signed him for $3 million."Whatever it takes?" Who is that desperate for Corey Patterson? Still, while the decision to go all out for Patterson may not have been Krivsky's, the guy was practically holding a sign that said "will shag flies for food," and Krivsky gave him $3M, so he's not blameless there. Patterson for the veteran minimum may have some marginal use. Patterson for $3M is insanity.
Advice to Krivsky, courtesy of Mark Twain: Tis’ better to be quiet and thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt.
3 comments:
Krivsky did lots of things wrong, and deserved firing before he started - a quick list:
1) The Kearns and Lopez trade - here is what we received for Kearns and Lopez (two everyday players at the time) - Clayton 164 PA, .619 OPS; Majewski 38 IP, 8.29 ERA; Bray 42 IP, 5.57 ERA currently hurt; Harris 11 PA, 9 outs traded for PTBNL; Thompson 23 IP above A ball (but probably the Reds best haul)
2) Arroyo contract (re-signing a 30 year old pitcher after 1 year of success following up 4 seasons of mediocrity when he still had 2 years on his contract is ridiculous)
3)Cormier - His claim that he got this money back from Oakland is inane because it's not like that money was tied to Cormier, he would still have the $2million in the Denorfia trade whether he signed Cormier or not.
4) Stanton
5) Constantly keeping 3 catchers on the 40-man roster, while having no legitimate Pinch hitter.
6) Bungling the Adam Dunn situation
7) Ryan Freel contract
8) Assuming he is telling the truth re: Patterson, he needed to be a tougher GM and push back a little. Lawyers, PR people, Consultants, and Accountants do it all the time with clients.
There are more. Basically, I think Krivsky would be a great Asst. GM so he can identify Rule 5 picks, or the occasional Phillips - but he misses the big picture. Like, replacement level players are readily available in every farm system in the league and can be had cheap - no need to pay $3million to Ryan Freel (or Patterson or Hopper next year).
6)
Who is that desperate for Corey Patterson? Simple - Dusty Baker. And who wanted Baker? Krivsky. So he is still to blame.
Bray isn't hurt, wasn't he just recalled? Hasn't he been pitching very well in AAA this season ( albeit it's early ). I still think Bray has a future.
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