Watching the Reds play the Cubs this weekend, I got to hear the Cubs’ broadcasters talk about the struggles of both of the teams.

One of the comments was about the importance of consistency from the team management. The practical upshot seemed to be that if the Reds wanted to start succeeding again, they’d need to keep Dusty Baker on for many more years.

While I agree that the Reds have had an awful lot of managers lately–this blog has outlasted Dave Miley, Jerry Narron, and Pete Mackanin–I’m not sure that the answer is to give unlimited reign to whatever guy happens to be in the skipper’s chair to fail indefinitely. In fact, I suspect the reason that successful teams tend to have the same manager for many years is because they have a manager whose performance merits keeping him around for many years.

What I wouldn’t give for one of those.