February 16, 2007
Narron on the Hot Seat?
By
Amanda
Posted at 12:24 pm
Tracy Ringolsby of the Rocky Mountain News thinks that Reds' manager Jerry Narron is on the hot seat:
Jerry Narron, Cincinnati. The Reds did nothing significant in the offseason to address major holes, which doesn't bode well for a manager inherited by the current general manager.
By my recollection, all of the Reds' holes have been addressed (if not always adequately, imo), but even if they weren't, how would that have anything to do with the manager?
Also, by my recollection, Narron's contract has been extended since general manager Wayne Krivsky came aboard, so he's not really “inherited” anymore.
Besides which, Lou Piniella isn't available at the moment, so I think Narron will live to pinch-hit inappropriately another day.
Sounds like they’re a tad bit out of touch, or someone peed in their cornflakes.
Ringolsby is, as always, illogical and uninformed. As RHM notes, Narron’s been extended, and I still don’t understand what the comment means – is he arguing that Krivsky is holding of on good moves until he gets “his guy” in place?
Yeah, I don’t get it, either. It’s the GM who’s responsible for filling holes, not the manager.
Maybe he thinks Narron is being set up for failure?
OK, ya’ll have to knock off all this talk about filling holes. All the Reds’ players are male, and I’m not into that kind of stuff.
I’ve always thought Ringolsby was pretty astute. I don’t think he’s uninformed, I just think his opinions about what major holes the Reds needed to address during the offseason differ from Wayne Krivsky’s. People have gotten too used to GABP being Coors East. This team depended on the long ball for the last six years, and it’s gotten us half a dozen disappointing seasons. Enough balls will fly out of the park in Cinci. The Reds needed to come up with some other ways to score runs, too, and they needed to come up with ways to stop the opposing teams from scoring more runs than the Reds score (which is where pitching and defense come in – Krivsky’s idea on what the Reds needed to address).
Krivsky’s sittin’ pretty right now. If the 2007 Reds have a great season, Krivsky will get a ton of credit and props. If they tank, he can blame it on the manager he inherited from the previous regime, fire Narron, bring in a guy of his own choosing, and buy himself at least one and maybe two more years to get things right before Castellini will lose patience and call up Jim Beattie again.
The thing about AGON is he brings defense AND power. Yea he might have a terrible average, but he might take a liking to GABP and knock out 20 dingers from the bottom of the lineup which would certainly not hurt the offense. We desperately needed his range and good glove on the left side of the infield and there is talk we may have the most dynamic double play duo between him and Phillips who is no slouch with the leather. Call me crazy but AGON might benefit our team more than Soriano does for the Cubs at a fraction of the cost. This is the type of thinking that will keep the Reds afloat for years to come, the type of thinking that keeps the Twins in the race year in and year out with a miniscule budget.
People also seem critical of the lack of an outfielder. Between Freel, Denorfia, Hopper, Bubba, Hamilton, Conine… someone will emerge, probably a couple of someones. Again, hardly any money expended and plenty of possibilities. In all liklihood Freel will egt the most time unless injury forces him to move somewhere else (or unless he gets hurt).
The biggest question mark as usual is the bullpen, but I think we are in better shape than the last two seasons, so there is reason to be optimistic there as well.
All in all we are as strong on paper as we have ever been in recent memory. i don’t mind the prognosticators giving us no respect, that is fine. This team needs to play the underdog role. It was when they started getting hype that they collapsed last year. As far as I am concerned the less of a media darling they are the better they are going to perform. Stay humble, stay focused, take it one game at a time, one inning at a time, one at-bat at a time, one pitch at a time.
Jerry is gonna do his usual old school thing on them during spring training and I expect them to come out strong and take the division lead by May.