From yesterday’s Post:
The final step in the process that will transfer majority ownership of baseball’s oldest professional franchise from Carl Lindner to Castellini is scheduled to take place Jan. 19. That day, owners of Major League Baseball’s other 29 teams will vote on Castellini’s bid during their regular meetings in Scottsdale, Ariz.
Because the transition will take place less than a month before pitchers and catchers report to spring training, Castellini’s presence at the helm isn’t likely to have a drastic immediate effect on how the baseball side of the Reds’ front office does its work this offseason.
Once Castellini settles in, though, the Reds are expected to be more aggressive in attempting to assemble a winning team and fill seats at Great American Ball Park. Castellini and his partners have tasted postseason play with the Cardinals the last several years and those who have spoken with Castellini say he’s focused on bringing that kind of success here.
Today’s Enquirer (sorry, couldn’t find a link to the article online…very odd) reports that:
Current owners Carl Lindner and Bill Reik will retain minority shares worth about 8% each, and George Strike and Louise Nippert will retain about half tha amount each, multiple sources close to the talks said.
Castellini will succeed Lindner as CEO. Castellini and the Williams brothers wil lbe the managing members, holding operating control of Cincinnati Reds LLC.
But it also says the ownership isn’t completely set.
Amen!!!
Yes, because we all know that they were the problem all along… give me a break. Here is a secret: they both work for Linder. O’Brien must work with the payroll that Linder gives him, and Allen must make sure of it. While they attempt to do their duties, Linder will not allow them to make common sense decisions, such as trading Sean Casey, because he does not want to look bad.
I really find it unbelievable that people blame Dan O’Brien for the team’s problems. The guy has made one bad trade that hurt the team (Reitsma) and otherwise has patiently worked on improving the farm system. Yeah, he signed Milton, but only because Allen told him to spend $20 million, because season ticket sales weren’t coming in. Oh, and he traded for Womack– the 25th man on the roster unless he earns his way into a more important role.
The guy has done nothing to mortgage the future. Dustin Mosely tanked, and Kevin Howard is destined to be a bench player. He’s doing all he can with the hand that Linder dealt him and the legacy left by Jim Bowden, which incidentally is not that much.
The guy has done nothing to mortgage the future.Other than not sell casey when his value was high, resigned Jimenez despite the coaches disapproval, spent a portion of the payroll in 06 and 07 on Eric Milton, Held on to one of the Outfielders too long (both Pena and Kearns value has dropped while Dan sat on his hands)Spent an insane amount of time working on bringing in guys like Corey Lidle, Rich Aurilia, Ben Weber and Vander Wal.
He’s ineffective, inactive and insanely boring, He’s done nothing to get the wheels out of the ditch, time for a new driver.
lidle seems to be doing well now that he got away from Miley. Miley WAS NOT obrien’s decision. Miley screwed lidle up in that game against the giants where he had Cory walk bonds with the bases empty and corey on cruise control…something like 10 outs in a row(bonds was 0 for the day and hadn’t even hit him hard). So did obrien make a bad signing or did dipstick screw him up with his idiotic crap. I know it’s one game, but that is all that it takes to ruin a pitchers confidence. Miley is long gone and the reds where .500 with out him. and as far as trading casey after his career year, ludicrous. HE COULDN’T..the fns would have hung him that day(sometimes being a gm is about the PR). how did he hold onto Kearns and Pena too long??? They are our starting LF and RF, besides why trade a guy before his value has peaked(which neither has). i guess aurilia leading this team in risp means nothing??? This organization was a 65 win team in 03(before Obie) and now are a 73, 77 win team there is improvement(not a lot, but some). You can’t build rome in a day…Obrian has had his share of mistakes…name one gm that hasn’t made them.
i guess aurilia leading this team in risp means nothing??? Doesn’t mean half as much as his home and away splits do.
home .332/.380/.561/.941
Away .231/.296/.325/.622
As for Lidle… 4.53 ERA last year, that’s only good if you’re a Red.
As for Casey, a year too late and the return stinks compared to WHAT could have been gotten Branch Rickey cries somewhere. Plus some still want to hang O’Brien. Waiting….that worked out well.
Just about as well as keeping both Kearns and Pena did, both have huge question marks after another year,and they are closer to the arbritration golden egg. Thus reducing their value on the marketplace twofold.
Yeah… Lindner… oops.
No, I can’t document that Allen told him to spend the money, but I don’t think what I said is a leap. I seriously doubt he spent the money before he was told he could have it.
Brian, none of the players that you mentioned were anything other than one year guys. Lidle was traded during a multiyear deal, and even if Aurilia is brought back, he’s not a bad player and you spend too much time worrying about him. Probably more than you claim O’Brien does. You also completely missed my point about Lindner standing in the way of trading Casey. I’d like to see you justify Kearns and Pena being of less value now than before. O’Brien has done the smart thing: let them play a full season and trade them afterwards if you trade them at all.
I think the real reason that people want O’Brien to be fired is because the team is not winning, which is fine, except that no GM would have this team at .500 under these circumstances. He has pretty much just made minor moves and worked on the farm system, which is exactly what he said he would do when he was brought in.
By the way, if we are so interested in home/road splits, try these on:
Dave Williams
Home- 6.68 ERA 1.63 WHIP
Road- 2.65 ERA 1.23 WHIP
His stats away from PNC were better than Harang or Claussen last season.
To get back to the main point, DOB was a very poor GM. He was unable to capitalize on our one strength (big bats, OF) to help our biggest weakness (SP). Bowden wasn’t always successful, of course, but he did bring in Harang and Claussen in deals that I’d certain do again. DOB, on the other hand, waited too long because Casey, Pena and Kearns certainly lost value this past year. Brian is exactly right about the younger guys losing value by being closer to FA and thus becoming more expensive (and with Kearns, his injuries and poor performance the past two years has severely cut into his value). As for Casey, he clearly peaked in ’04 and it wasn’t unforseeable to see him losing value in ’05 with his injury problems and year-to-year consistency. Yes, it would’ve been unpopular, but grow a pair and do what’s good for the team (and convince Lindner to do what’s best if he initially objects; the guy isn’t Marge Schott).
And when DOB was given money to spend, he did a terrible job. Milton was of course a total disaster, and a foreseeable one at that. Ortiz may have only been for one year, but it was still a mistake. Paul Wilson’s deal hasn’t worked out. I’m cautiously optimistic about Williams, but let’s not forget that this guy is a fly ball pitcher. 0.90 G/F last year, 1.05 total.
Were all of DOB’s decisions bad? Of course not. But the good ones were smaller choices. He screwed up the big ones. Let’s hope help is on the way.
“Bowden wasn’t always successful, of course, but he did bring in Harang and Claussen…”
Actually… no. The Reds traded for Harang and Claussen after Bowden was fired.
Also, I think player performance is more important than how close they are to arbitration. If Pena and Kearns have good years, and I believe they will, their value would be higher than ever. Lets face it, Kearns only had real value his rookie season, and Pena has never had real value.
Claussen yes…Harang no. We got Harang the year before Bowden was fired, Claussen right after he was fired.
You are wrong. Boone, Guillen, and Williamson were all traded between Bowden’s firing in 2003 and the July 31 deadline.
From SI, 7/30/03:
“It was the Reds’ second trade in two days since they fired general manager Jim Bowden and manager Bob Boone. The Reds sent closer Scott Williamson to Boston late Tuesday night for prospects.”
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/baseball/news/2003/07/30/athletics_reds_trade_ap/
That last post should have been more clear:
Guillen was traded for Harang
Boone was traded for Claussen
Williamson was traded for Dumatrait and Pelland
That last one, which was actually the first one, (the Williamson trade was the first one made after Bowden was fired) might turn out to be the best one of all.
Harang was Kullman’s deal
http://www.cincypost.com/2005/02/26/reds02-26-2005.html
Boone was Leland Maddux’s
There are a lot of clubs interested (in Boone),” Reds assistant general manager Leland Maddox said. “But he’s a fan favorite, and ownership loves him. (But) we haven’t been told not to trade anybody.”
Since Bowden was fired Monday, Maddox and fellow assistant GM Brad Kullman have been conducting all trade talks. Any deals they reach are subject to the approval of chief operating officer John Allen, who accepts or rejects them based on financial considerations. Maddox said that as of 5 p.m. Wednesday, 10 trades had been submitted to Allen.
http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:q_daZz-_seUJ:www.cincypost.com/2003/07/31/redstrade07-31-2003.html+harang+reds+a%27s+guillen+kullman&hl=en&lr=lang_en&client=firefox-a
My bad…
So here’s the question. In light of the fact that those two deals have turned out very well for the Reds…how did Kullman or Maddox NOT land the Reds GM job?
I had forgotten about the interim GM era – funny that two of our better trades occurred then.
It will be interesting to see if the new ownership decides to dump DOB, and if so, whether they go with a younger, Moneyball type or an old time scout/baseball guy.
Kullman has a long baseball background, plus Jim Perry is his FiL, but I don’t think they think he has the “leadership” qualities, Maddux came from a scouting only background and perhaps that played into it.