When I started following the Cincinnati Reds in the early 1950s, Rogers Hornsby, known universally as the “Rajah” was the manager.
One of the game’s greatest players, Hornsby didn’t smoke, drink, or play cards, but he did like to play the horses, which cost him a couple of managing jobs (sound familiar, Reds fans?) But his biggest flaw was that he had no patience with guys who didn’t play as hard as he did.
Since then, all sorts of personalities have filled out the lineup card in the Reds’ dugout. There’s the good (Fred Hutchinson, Sparky Anderson), the bad (Dave Miley and Don Heffner), and the ugly (the Reds didn’t even give beloved ex-player Tony Perez a full season before firing him).
As we start the second half of what seems destined to be one of the worst seasons in Reds history, Bryan Price remains the Reds’ manager, although nobody seems to know why. He may not be the worst manager in Reds history, but he’s in the discussion. The Reds have 57 losses heading into the second half, the most ever for a franchise that began in 1869.
This is Price’s third season since replacing the fired Dusty Baker. At the time he took over, the Reds were playoff contenders in the National League Central. Today they’re a bad team going nowhere. The players don’t seem to care much. They look like a bunch of guys punching a time clock, going through the motions until it’s time to go home.
Price’s apologists say the team’s freefall isn’t his fault. They blame injuries to vitally important players and trades that small-market teams are forced to make when they can no longer afford the stars they have developed. In effect, Price agreed to be the front man as management dismantled the team.
Sure enough, the Reds dealt pitching ace Johnny Cueto to San Francisco, dominating closer Araldis Chapman to the Yankees, starting pitcher Mike Leake to San Francisco, and All-Star third-baseman Todd Frazier to the White Sox.
These deals have lowered their payroll to 22nd in major-league baseball. That could drop even lower if they’re successful in unloading shortstop Zach Cozart, veteran second-baseman Brandon Phillips, and/or slugging right-fielder Jay Bruce in the next few weeks.
In return, the Reds got some young pitchers, but the jury is still out on whether they’re going to make it. They also got outfielder Adam Duvall, a native of Louisville and former Cardinal player, from San Francisco. He has been more than a pleasant surprise, leading the team in homers and making the All-Star squad.
Despite all these changes, the Reds still shouldn’t be as bad as their record indicates. Of their starting eight, four or five are among the best at their positions. The young starters mostly have pitched as well as can be expected, only to be betrayed time and again by the worst bullpen in the major leagues.
The circumstances call for a manager who’s an inspirational leader. Price couldn’t inspire a billy goat to butt. He lets his players get away with sloppy play and stupid errors. He has not figured out how to fix the worst bullpen in baseball. He has the personality of a mortician, except for that one time when he got mad at the media and nuked the scribes with f-bombs.
Players do not get better under Price. Billy Hamilton has not learned to lay down a good bunt. He leaves young pitcher in games too long, hurting their confidence. He pulls out relief pitchers who are throwing well because the “book” says it’s time to go with the eighth-inning specialist.
Any other team in any other sport would have dumped him a long time ago. But not the Reds. They hired him because he came cheaper than a “name” manager and apparently they’re going to let him at least finish out a season they had written off even before the first pitch was thrown back in April.
The fans have shown their displeasure by showing up in less than droves. Whatever attendance figures the Reds officially report, the crowds at Great American Ball Park don’t pass the eyeball test. Sometimes entire sections seem to have only a handful of fans. Even the good visiting teams – except for the Cubs – don’t draw the sort of big crowds they drew only a few years ago.
So why, in the name of Birdie Tebbetts, is Price still the Reds’ manager? Well, after much thought, I’ve come up with 10 possibilities:
1. He looks good in his uniform.
2. Nobody in his right mind, including Barry Larkin, wants to try to fix the mess the Reds have become under Price.
3. The FBI has discovered e-mails from Price on Hillary Clinton’s server and has ordered Reds management to keep him in place until they can get around to interviewing him.
4. Price is related to Donald Trump, who has secretly bought the team.
5. Nobody in the front office cares about Price because they’re all playing Pokemon Go.
6. He speaks the same language as Joey Votto.
7. The job of wearing the Mr. Reds mascot suit is not open.
8. He eats Skyline Chili for breakfast.
9. He and Homer Bailey understand each other.
10. He is willing to sweep out the clubhouse if the attendants are busy.
It’s got to be something along those lines, right? How can any reasonable person make a case for keeping Price? What does he bring to the table except a willingness to take the hits for management?
I’d be encouraged if the Reds turned the team over to Jim Riggleman, who has been working as Price’s bench coach. He has spent 12 seasons managing four big-league teams and still would be the Washington Nationals manager had he not gotten into a snit and resigned a few years ago when management refused to give him a new contract.
Riggleman admits that was a mistake that he won’t make again. He would love one more shot in the big leagues, and he would relish the Reds’ challenge. I think the he would get the players’ attention. I don’t think he would allow a loser’s mentality to infect the clubhouse.
The bullpen? Well, the one thing you don’t do is keep rotating the same guys between Louisville and Cincinnati. That comes under the heading of doing the same stupid thing repeatedly and expecting a different result. Throw the bums out, all of them, and bring in new faces and different arms. It can’t get any worse, right?
Sometimes it’s O.K. to make a change just for the sake of it. Sometimes a new approach can be the catalyst for positive change. Whatever, the Reds need to do something as a signal to the fan base that playing uninspired and inept baseball will no longer be tolerated. The fans deserve more for the exorbitant amounts they pay for tickets.
The Price is not right for the Reds. Never has been, never will be. The time for change was yesterday, but today will do just fine.
Billy Reed is a member of the U.S. Basketball Writers Hall of Fame, the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame, the Kentucky Athletic Hall of Fame and the Transylvania University Hall of Fame. He has been named Kentucky Sports Writer of the Year eight times and has won the Eclipse Award twice. Reed has written about a multitude of sports events for over four decades, but he is perhaps one of media’s most knowledgeable writers on the Kentucky Derby