Red Tide
Today the Cincinnati front office announced their latest installment in a series of drastic changes for the Reds club, electing to fire Manager Dave Miley and pitching coach Don Gullett. The Reds named bench coach Jerry Narron interim manager for the remainder of the year. This management change comes on the heels of designating for assignment both RHP Danny Graves and 2B D’Angelo Jimenez just three weeks ago, both surprise moves by the Reds’ FO. Many were especially surprised by the eventual outright release of Graves, who had played nearly his entire career with the club, both in starting and relief roles.
While certain changes needed to be made, I would contend that the Reds could have handled the need to replace these players in a much more efficient and profitable manner, especially avoiding a PR and clubhouse morale disaster that ensued (see Dunn, Adam) in the case of Graves.
It’s no secret that the Reds possess an overabundance of infielders. With Rich Aurilia, Will Bergolla, Luis Lopez, Felipe Lopez, and Ryan Freel all vying for time in the middle infield, Jimenez (.229/.350/.615 this year in 105 ABs) was admittedly an expendable commodity, especially due to Felipe Lopez’s breakout year. However, there is always a market for middle infielders entering their peak years, especially those who have 15-HR power, the ability to steal an occasional base, and an above average understanding of the strike zone. Jimenez’s career on-base percentage (.350) is nearly 100 points higher than his career average, and he was second on the team to Adam Dunn last year in walks (82 walks, 99 strikeouts in 152 games played). I’m fully convinced that the Reds could have at least traded Jimenez for a mid-level prospect instead of sending him to stagnate in AA ball and swallowing his $2.85 million contract.
Graves presented a similar predicament, yet management again chose to release him and eat the entire $6.25 million he was owed for this year. Despite his lackluster peripherals and reported drop in velocity since converting from reliever to starter and back to reliever, Graves so recently held the all-important Closer role for which teams are always willing to overpay. Last year’s 41 saves and All-Star selection alone should have made him marketable enough to obtain prospects or another bullpen arm, with management only having to eat a percentage of his contract.
Thus, it seems that the Reds are sacrificing capital to change the face of the club simply for the sake of change itself. Unfortunately, in all likelihood, these steps won’t pull them out of the NL Central’s dingy basement. There have been a few bright spots for the Reds, including the emergence of Felipe Lopez and relative health of Ken Griffey Jr., but there is not much hope for the future if management continues to make these ostensibly hasty moves. I cannot profess to know very much about the management skills of Dave Miley (though I do know that he prefers to use a career .280/.376/.761 hitter with 40-stolen base speed off the bench instead of at the top of the lineup every single day…more on this later), but I can see that the problems of this team run far deeper than the man who sets the lineups every day.
While certain changes needed to be made, I would contend that the Reds could have handled the need to replace these players in a much more efficient and profitable manner, especially avoiding a PR and clubhouse morale disaster that ensued (see Dunn, Adam) in the case of Graves.
It’s no secret that the Reds possess an overabundance of infielders. With Rich Aurilia, Will Bergolla, Luis Lopez, Felipe Lopez, and Ryan Freel all vying for time in the middle infield, Jimenez (.229/.350/.615 this year in 105 ABs) was admittedly an expendable commodity, especially due to Felipe Lopez’s breakout year. However, there is always a market for middle infielders entering their peak years, especially those who have 15-HR power, the ability to steal an occasional base, and an above average understanding of the strike zone. Jimenez’s career on-base percentage (.350) is nearly 100 points higher than his career average, and he was second on the team to Adam Dunn last year in walks (82 walks, 99 strikeouts in 152 games played). I’m fully convinced that the Reds could have at least traded Jimenez for a mid-level prospect instead of sending him to stagnate in AA ball and swallowing his $2.85 million contract.
Graves presented a similar predicament, yet management again chose to release him and eat the entire $6.25 million he was owed for this year. Despite his lackluster peripherals and reported drop in velocity since converting from reliever to starter and back to reliever, Graves so recently held the all-important Closer role for which teams are always willing to overpay. Last year’s 41 saves and All-Star selection alone should have made him marketable enough to obtain prospects or another bullpen arm, with management only having to eat a percentage of his contract.
Thus, it seems that the Reds are sacrificing capital to change the face of the club simply for the sake of change itself. Unfortunately, in all likelihood, these steps won’t pull them out of the NL Central’s dingy basement. There have been a few bright spots for the Reds, including the emergence of Felipe Lopez and relative health of Ken Griffey Jr., but there is not much hope for the future if management continues to make these ostensibly hasty moves. I cannot profess to know very much about the management skills of Dave Miley (though I do know that he prefers to use a career .280/.376/.761 hitter with 40-stolen base speed off the bench instead of at the top of the lineup every single day…more on this later), but I can see that the problems of this team run far deeper than the man who sets the lineups every day.
posted by Jason Paré at 11:07 PM
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