Reds Hire Bill Bavasi

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Wow I feel sorry for Reds fans. First Dusty Baker and now Bavasi this organization is doomed. I will be laughing about this all weekend.

This is too funny.

Actually I think it's a great move. Seriously. The guy is wrong over 95% of the time, so whatever he says, Jocketty should do the opposite.

the reds hired this guy? it sickens me to think that a poor minded man like himself can get a job working with such a storied franchise after what he did to the mariners. now many of you may say to me this is a positive signing because its just as an assistant and he can influence to make a good decision here a there but sometime the ASS*IS*TANTilizing(i know its spelled wrong) enough to influence one into making stupid decisions it sickens me to think that this guy may help ruin the highly prospected rotation that the red have and do it with a smile on his face because i believe his goal is to destroy storied franchises like scribbletone has pointed out.

Oh...eff no. "Special assistant." This can't be good.

Well, if it means that Bruce/Votto could be traded, that could be a good thing for other teams in MLB. :-)

Who wants to bet he deals Bruce to get Bedard. lol
And "questionable personal moves" is being very generous.

I think overall Bavasi was actually a mediocre GM. Until this past season, he has had a 50-50 type of track record. His splashiest moves have tended to be big gambles that have not worked out well and people tend to remember those bad moves (Bedard, Sexson, Beltre, etc.) but he has made some solid low-risk pitching acquisitions that have been good values. This past season he made some profoundly bad moves that damages the Mariners for maybe years. That's a major pockmark.

His personality is a bit of a hothead who will pop off occasionally around cameras or mikes, a little arrogant/self-centered and likes the attention of being a GM brings. He is capable of making the solid less sexy moves to build a solid farm/organization, but has a gamblers' streak that will roll the dice every now and then, which has neutralized the net gains of the solid moves.

As long as he is not the guy pulling the trigger, this might be an interesting move. He certainly has been instrumental in building strong bullpens for the Ms several times over and over using nothing but glue, spit, and string. He did a good job identifying the highwater mark to trade Garcia, even though the prospects he got have been mixed (the ChiSox did an even better job re-trading him later for G. Floyd and Gio).

To press that point, as long as Jocketty knows when NOT to listen to Bavasi they'll be fine. If Bavasi is pointing out an obscure Independent League arm or International athlete, that's when he's in his best element. It's the crazy suggestions he has to ignore. Things like: "Walt, let's lock up Everyday Player X for 5 years. Yes, he strikes out 200 times but I think that's worth at least 10M/YR or a year more than anyone else will offer because we are bidding against ourselves..."

"He did a good job identifying the highwater mark to trade Garcia"

Not really, the Sox got a few good seasons out of him, won a World Series with him and gave up a bad catcher and an OF'er that was hurt all the time and still hasn't amounted to much. Bad trade for the M's.

I don't get the big deal. He's just an assisstant to Jocketty. He's not pulling the trigger on anything or making moves.

"I don't get the big deal. He's just an assisstant to Jocketty. He's not pulling the trigger on anything or making moves."

I think a lot of it is just anger among baseball fans. I mean, the guy did a god awful job in Seattle, and yet within weeks he was back in another front office as a key part of their braintrust.

It's just not fair.

I can't blame Mariners fans though. That Bedard trade looks like it might be one of the worst ones in recent memory. And the harshness of it will be, for the next several years, if Adam Jones turns into what they think he will, Jones will be a constant reminder. That's rough.

Posted by: basemonkey | August 08, 2008 at 10:03 PM

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Basemonky.. Mark my words. The big regret in that horrific trade will be Chris Tillman. The guy is going to be really REALLY good. He went 6 and struck out 11 the other day. He is looking more and more like the big get in the Bedard deal.

Bavasi screwed us over HUGE up here in the NW. I wonder if he wants Carlos Silva? The guy is a replacement level pitcher and that joker signed him to a 4 year deal at 12 million per.

Just atrocious.

That Lerch-looking SOB shouldn't have a job in any front office after the suicide bomb job he did on the Mariners roster. He literally did NOTHING positive in his 4+ years here.

Does nobody else know what this means? BC showed this hand before when he brought jocketty in as "special assistant" to Krivsky. This move comes after the disaster that was the reds trade deadline...of not taking advantage of the guys that he could have traded...aka Weathers, Affeldt, Fogg.

By november 1st, jocketty is out, (even though BC loves him...he won't get anyone in the seats next year after they finish this year 30 games under .500, griffey is gone, dunn will leave...why come to the ballpark.

Bob wants somebody who will pull the trigger on something...a guy about like...hmm...Wayne Krivsky...he ought to be biting himself on that bush league move...

If your last name is Bavasi or Macphail, you have a job in baseball as long as you want one. It's in the collective bargaining agreement.

"If your last name is Bavasi or Macphail, you have a job in baseball as long as you want one. It's in the collective bargaining agreement."

Not even just guys like that. I get the feeling that baseball guys feel like they're all part of this fraternity. They all are out to help each other and stuff, and so you see the same guys get hired over and over by the same other guys.