Reds shake-up

For all of you who didn't hear because the Reds are a "small-market" team, Dan O'Brien was fired yesterday by the new Reds owner, Bob Castellini. Castellini had this to say about O'Brien:
"He tried very, very hard." Unfortunately, Castellini is a Yoda-protoge and doesn't believe in trying. He want's results.

To this end, Castellini brought in an outside advisor to review the pitching staff in Cincinnati. Jim Beattie is going to llok over the pitching program and find a way to fix it. "What I want him to focus on while he's here is to take a look at our entire pitching program, from soup to nuts, and see what our plan is and let me know," Castellini said. "Because I haven't been able to fully understand what our plan is." Apparently that's why O'Brien was dismissed.

In two seasons under O'Brien the Reds have gone 149-175. They narrowly avoided the cellar in a division with such stand-outs as the Pirates, Brewers, and Cubs. A change is necessary. Castellini wants the new GM to "establish a culture of winning" for his team and says that a lot of changes are going to occur and soon.

Personally, I think the Reds are starting to look up. Half the guys on the team should be in triple-A at best, the other half have no incentive to play hard. I don't think much will happen with the Reds this year - there's just too much change in the wind and I think a lot of players will end up somewhere else. But starting in 2007, we could see some real baseball back in Cincinnati! Who-dey! er... I mean, GO REDS!