"The Trade" Aftermath
It is downright fucking amazing how fun Major League Baseball can be when you have a GM with grapefruit-sized balls swinging to 'n fro. I mean, with every new regime you get excuses when things go wrong - "he was never one of my guys" is a favorite of mine, and Dan O'Brien was really good at uttering it. But now ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce...
Enter Krivsky. For the last 27 years, Krivsky has been training under the watchful eye of Xenu & perhaps Teebee's "God" (if that b.s. holds up on judgement day) to develop the perfect baseball team right here in Cincinnati. He began work in the ticket department for the Rangers in January 1977, and 2 years later he was named assistant director of player development and scouting. From that origin he went onto player evaluation, contract negotiations some 4 years later and then in 1990-and-4, he was promoted to special assistant to general manager Terry Ryan. In 1998 he was promoted to assistant general manager, and then on that fateful day of February 8th, 2006 he fulfilled the prophecy mentioned in Dianetics of taking over the Reds and leading them to the promised land.
Career journeyman C Dave Ross (now .311, 12 HR in 120 AB's), a man struggling to stay in the starting 5 at Boston in P Bronson Arroyo (9-5, 3.12 ERA & all-star selection), and 1B Scott Hatteberg (.304, .405 OBP) made us soon somewhat forget about fan favorite Sean Casey were just the first of Krivsky's brilliance. Former unfulfilled talented IF Brandon Phillips arrived shortly before the season to eventually get flat out robbed of an all-star selection batting .300 with 44 RBI's and 16-16 SB's. With those giant steps for mankind, Krivsky cleared up a logjam in the outfield rumored to one day set off the Pacific "Ring-of-Fire", he provided a reason to make C Jason LaRue earn his paycheck with his bat as well as his glove, he got us another starting pitcher in Arroyo (ixnay on the Dave Williams-nay), and he resurrected the career of an enormously talented young infielder. As of the all-star break, the Reds were a game above .500 and 4 games out of first place behind NL Central leading St. Louis.
We would've been 11 games over had we played remotely decent the last 3 weeks before it.
Culprit? Bullpen! A part of the team that at least 14 other clubs in the National League alone are trying to upgrade for a potential playoff run, Krivsky finds a former all-star closer in Eddie Guardado to help shut down games when we had only saved 8 of the last 20 opportunities. "Well shit bironm, what happens when the starters only pitch 6 innings or so?" Glad you ask - because yesterday we moved 3 players to help build a bullpen capable of shutting down the middle innings to get to "Every-Day Eddie."
Another culprit is horrendous defense. I mean, grown men & professional baseball infielders were well on a pace to give up 60+ errors on the left side of the infield alone. Adam D-O-N-E is a god awful outfielder defensively, but with 29 HR's and 60+ RBI's at this point in the season I don't give a fuck honestly. Anyway, to help our perhaps overachieving starters we move 2005 all-star SS Felipe Lopez and pick up a 36 year-old journeyman defensive ace Royce Clayton. It sounds shitty, especially when accompanied by losing your best all-around outfielder in Austin Kearns...yes, I said "best all-around", but you really have to ask yourself - where would the Reds be at the end of the year with Lopez and Kearns?
Where will we be if we can convert saves on a regular basis? You have to give something to get something, and Krivsky again beared his ginormous nutsack and rocked the very foundation of the Cincinnati fanbase.
But - mark my words, he's not done yet in 2006...
Reds' General Manager Wayne Krivsky
"Seriously. You try walking with this pleasure kit between your legs."
Enter Krivsky. For the last 27 years, Krivsky has been training under the watchful eye of Xenu & perhaps Teebee's "God" (if that b.s. holds up on judgement day) to develop the perfect baseball team right here in Cincinnati. He began work in the ticket department for the Rangers in January 1977, and 2 years later he was named assistant director of player development and scouting. From that origin he went onto player evaluation, contract negotiations some 4 years later and then in 1990-and-4, he was promoted to special assistant to general manager Terry Ryan. In 1998 he was promoted to assistant general manager, and then on that fateful day of February 8th, 2006 he fulfilled the prophecy mentioned in Dianetics of taking over the Reds and leading them to the promised land.
Career journeyman C Dave Ross (now .311, 12 HR in 120 AB's), a man struggling to stay in the starting 5 at Boston in P Bronson Arroyo (9-5, 3.12 ERA & all-star selection), and 1B Scott Hatteberg (.304, .405 OBP) made us soon somewhat forget about fan favorite Sean Casey were just the first of Krivsky's brilliance. Former unfulfilled talented IF Brandon Phillips arrived shortly before the season to eventually get flat out robbed of an all-star selection batting .300 with 44 RBI's and 16-16 SB's. With those giant steps for mankind, Krivsky cleared up a logjam in the outfield rumored to one day set off the Pacific "Ring-of-Fire", he provided a reason to make C Jason LaRue earn his paycheck with his bat as well as his glove, he got us another starting pitcher in Arroyo (ixnay on the Dave Williams-nay), and he resurrected the career of an enormously talented young infielder. As of the all-star break, the Reds were a game above .500 and 4 games out of first place behind NL Central leading St. Louis.
We would've been 11 games over had we played remotely decent the last 3 weeks before it.
Culprit? Bullpen! A part of the team that at least 14 other clubs in the National League alone are trying to upgrade for a potential playoff run, Krivsky finds a former all-star closer in Eddie Guardado to help shut down games when we had only saved 8 of the last 20 opportunities. "Well shit bironm, what happens when the starters only pitch 6 innings or so?" Glad you ask - because yesterday we moved 3 players to help build a bullpen capable of shutting down the middle innings to get to "Every-Day Eddie."
Another culprit is horrendous defense. I mean, grown men & professional baseball infielders were well on a pace to give up 60+ errors on the left side of the infield alone. Adam D-O-N-E is a god awful outfielder defensively, but with 29 HR's and 60+ RBI's at this point in the season I don't give a fuck honestly. Anyway, to help our perhaps overachieving starters we move 2005 all-star SS Felipe Lopez and pick up a 36 year-old journeyman defensive ace Royce Clayton. It sounds shitty, especially when accompanied by losing your best all-around outfielder in Austin Kearns...yes, I said "best all-around", but you really have to ask yourself - where would the Reds be at the end of the year with Lopez and Kearns?
Where will we be if we can convert saves on a regular basis? You have to give something to get something, and Krivsky again beared his ginormous nutsack and rocked the very foundation of the Cincinnati fanbase.
But - mark my words, he's not done yet in 2006...
posted by bironm at
10:24 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home