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Hall of Fame baseball writer Hal McCoy is in his 37th year of covering the Cincinnati Reds, the longest tenure for any active writer covering one team. Counting spring training and postseason games, McCoy has covered more than 7,000 major-league baseball games, written close to 18,000 baseball stories and eaten enough hot dogs to give Babe Ruth indigestion.Home > Blogs > The Real McCoy | Cincinnati Reds baseball news > Archives > 2009 > October > 13 > Entry
La Russa? No. Duncan? No.
For those with their fingers crossed, hoping that the Cincinnati Reds can land Tony La Russa as manager and Dave Duncan as pitching coach, well, uncross them.
To use the vernacular, it ain’t gonna happen.
If La Russa continues, he’ll continue in St. Louis - a much better situation than he’d have in Cincinnati. The Reds’ situation involves massive rebuilding and La Russa doesn’t want that. He is 65 and wants to win NOW.
Staying in St. Louis is his best option and it would not surprise me if he is offered - and accepts - a two-year extension for a raise above the $4 million he made this year.
And if La Russa is available, the Reds would have to fire current manager Dusty Baker and eat his $3.5 million contract for 2010. Do you really think the cash-strapped Reds could invest about $9 million to pay a manager and a fired manager next year?
Doubt it.
AND DAVE DUNCAN?
Pretty much the same argument. Duncan is 64 and probably doesn’t want to spend time learning an entire new pitching staff and working with pitching prospects. And he makes more than $1 million with the Cardinals.
Yes, he was upset that he learned about the trade of his son, Chris Duncan, from the media this year instead of from the Cardinals front office. And, yes, he had issues with the team’s farm director over how pitchers were handled in the Cardinals minor-league system. Are those enough to drive him away from a winning organization that pays him handsomely?
I doubt that, too. And he has been with La Russa since 1983 at Oakland, the Chicago White Sox and the Cardinals. If La Russa re-ups in St. Louis, so will Duncan.
THE TOP candidate in Cincinnati should be Class AAA Louisville pitching coach Ted Power, who has been interviewed for the vacant spot with the Reds. All the pitchers handled by Power love the guy. And here’s a warning: If the Reds don’t make him their pitching coach, Power will be gone. He’ll seek opportunities elsewhere.
MEANWHILE, look for some shakeups in the Reds front office - and soon. When Walt Jocketty took over, he kept pretty much everybody who was in place. But he also started bringing in his own people, such as former Seattle general manager Bill Bavasi, former Pittsburgh general manager Cam Bonifay and super scout Jerry Walker.
They’ve been observing and working in Jocketty’s inner sanctum, but changes are coming and that’s natural. People brought in by former GM Wayne Krivsky are vulnerable, especially with the team in financial straits and fat needing to be trimmed.
People like farm director Terry Reynolds, assistant general manager Bob Miller, scouting director Chris Buckley and others could be re-assigned to lesser roles and could be leaving for other teams.
Front office people like J. Harrison and Scott Nethery, guys brought in by Krivsky, were once highly visible but were nearly invisible this season.
Yep. changes are a-comin’.
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By BrarHopper
October 14, 2009 12:52 PM | Link to this