Reds Jerry Narron just fired

[Ali]

Breaking news, just moments ago, according to ESPN, manager Jerry Narron was fired by the Reds.

All I can say is, it's about time. I just hope he hasn't done too much damage to the pitcher's in this lineup physically and/or too much damage to this lineup both physically (overplaying) and mentally (not knowing what their role is).

If I was Wayne Krivsky, I'd try to sign Girardi while he's still available. However, it looks like they're set. Right off the Reds offical website:

"CINCINNATI -- At a press conference at noon Monday at Great AmericanBall Park, Cincinnati Reds president and chief executive officer BobCastellini and executive vice president and general manager WayneKrivsky will announce Pete Mackanin as interim field manager for theremainder of the 2007 season. Mackanin, 55, will replace Jerry Narron, whose Reds teams went 31-51 (.378) this season and 157-179 (.467) overall.
The club will have no comment until tomorrow's press conference in the field level interview room.
Mackanin (pronounced mah-CAN-in) will be introduced Tuesday at4 p.m. in the field level interview room as the 59th manager in Redshistory, the 49th since 1900.
He previously was in the organization from 1990-92, when hemanaged Class AAA Nashville in the American Association, and herejoined the Reds in February 2006 as the Major League club's advancescout.
It will be Mackanin's second stint as an interim manager inthe Major Leagues. In 2005 he managed the final 26 games for thePittsburgh Pirates, who went 55-81 under Lloyd McClendon.
He spent seven seasons on the Major League coaching staffsof the Montreal Expos (third base coach, 1997-2000) and Pirates (benchcoach, 2003-05) and has 21 seasons of managerial experience in theminor leagues and winter leagues.
Mackanin managed in the minors for 13 years and produced 917victories and league championships in 1995 (Ottawa, InternationalLeague) and 2002 (Lynchburg, Carolina league). For 8 seasons heskippered winter ball clubs in Venezuela, Dominican Republic and PuertoRico. In 1988, he led Aguilas del Zulia to Venezuelan League andCaribbean Series championships.
An infielder, Mackanin was selected by the WashingtonSenators in the fourth round of the June 1969 free-agent draft. In 9Major League seasons he appeared in 548 games for the Texas Rangers,Expos, Philadelphia Phillies and Minnesota Twins."


What are your alls thoughts?

[David From Cincy]

I just keep hoping we don't end up giving this guy a long term contract before we look around at other guys on the market. The Reds have a bad habit of signing interim managers at the end of the season regardless of what is on the market or how their manager performed. This season is all but lost, so this is the time to decide what needs to be done for next season, trades will be made but I doubt it will be Dunn at this point.

Any way you look at this it's a possitive sign, at least the Reds organization finally realized Narron wasn't what this team needed. Now it is time to make the rest of the moves to make this team a winner.

[ThePekoSquad]

I saw this and I jumped for joy, its about time. This guy really did not do anything for us, I don't care about what you say about last year, that was last year and I think there was something special about that team last year. This year they needed a clubhouse leader and Narron never did that. Narron was a moronic manager who did not deserve to be a manager. Bring on Joe Girardi that would be fantastic.
Adam Dunn will get traded and I think either Edwin, Gonzalez, Hatteberg, Ross, Valentine, Bronson, Loshe have to go to make this team better. Sorry Edwin, but we need more pop in our bats, we need more small ball and speed.

[Ali]

I saw this and I jumped for joy, its about time. This guy really did not do anything for us, I don't care about what you say about last year, that was last year and I think there was something special about that team last year. This year they needed a clubhouse leader and Narron never did that. Narron was a moronic manager who did not deserve to be a manager. Bring on Joe Girardi that would be fantastic.
Adam Dunn will get traded and I think either Edwin, Gonzalez, Hatteberg, Ross, Valentine, Bronson, Loshe have to go to make this team better. Sorry Edwin, but we need more pop in our bats, we need more small ball and speed.


I highly doubt they'll trade Edwin or Arroyo, and Ross is 50/50 in my opinion. I just don't think they're ready to settle on Moeller yet, Edwin is in only his 2nd real season, and he looks like a real RBI-machine, which is something we could use. Arroyo is a great pitcher, who just got a fat contract, and has a very small market for a trade right now.

I am going to start a trade thread with all the rest of my opinions right now.

[bengal95]

its about time i thenk it was a good move

[Go4It]

You have to admit. Narron did the best he could with what he had.

[David From Cincy]

You have to admit. Narron did the best he could with what he had.

No he really didn't. That is one of the less informed posts I have read in some time. The best he could with what he had? How about pinch hitting Castro for Hamilton in a late inning game when they were down by 2? Bringing in your best relief pitcher for 1 or 2 batters in the 7th? The bullpen is bad, but his managing of it actually made it ten times worse. You can't use your 3 best bullpen pitchers in 1 inning then go the next 3 innings trying to use your mop-up guys to hold the other team. Idiotic.
Narron needs to go back to being a bench coach on some other team who already had leaders, where he can just sit back and talk about being a "baseball guy".

[pdub2005]

Joe Girardi is my ideal manager for this team. He is like a young Lou Pinella. Jerry had his chance to be vocal about the players on this team. He could have told off the ownership or the GM about the horrible players in his bullpen, you have to fight to win. Even Joe Torre would have been livid about the mess that this team is.

C'mon Reds break out the check book and send a blank one to Mr. Girardi. Mr. Castelleni if you really are serious about winning, nows the time to show it, because last I checked we are the worst team in baseball and that isn't very competive, not even in the NL central.

[David From Cincy]

The one thing that does annoy me though is Paul Daugherty. The guy is the most annoying sports writer in Cincinnati by far, and is wrong so often that it is almost laughable to read him. He makes predictions one or two days before something is going to happen, long after most fans and internet outlets have predicted it. But what gets me now is his continuing love for Narron, saying that he shouldn't have been fired, then in the same article saying that Narron deserved his fate. After reading his article in the Enquirer today I just rolled my eyes and wondered how this guy has kept a job in this city for so long.

[34inXXIII]

Yawn!

This is like firing the manager at the local Burger King and replacing him with the fry machine. In fact, it's not even like that because BK is actually a major franchise. It's more like firing the manager of Jim Bob's Hamburger Shack when you've got a bunch of employees who can't figure out how to open the drive-thru window.

I'm not saying Narron was great by any means, but it's not going to matter who's running the team with a pitching staff like the one we have. Furthermore, it's not exactly an incentive for attracting a major candidate like Girardi anyways. Why would Girardi want to come to Cincinnati when there's an imminent opening in New York?

The Bengals better be as good as advertised for the forseeable future because the Reds are headed for a run similar to that of the Bengals in the 90s.

[Jom112]

Yawn!

This is like firing the manager at the local Burger King and replacing him with the fry machine. In fact, it's not even like that because BK is actually a major franchise. It's more like firing the manager of Jim Bob's Hamburger Shack when you've got a bunch of employees who can't figure out how to open the drive-thru window.

I'm not saying Narron was great by any means, but it's not going to matter who's running the team with a pitching staff like the one we have. Furthermore, it's not exactly an incentive for attracting a major candidate like Girardi anyways. Why would Girardi want to come to Cincinnati when there's an imminent opening in New York?

The Bengals better be as good as advertised for the forseeable future because the Reds are headed for a run similar to that of the Bengals in the 90s.

No way Girardi is going anywhere before interviewing for the Yankee's HC Job. If he did he would have signed with Baltimore.
As for the Reds, Narron like many Managers (Willie Randolph, Dusty Baker, etc...) does not know how to manage a bullpen. If the Reds could trade Dunn and some other players for bullpen help they might be decent next season (if they get a good manager)...

[Sexy B]

I agree with Joe, you don't waste your bull pen on 3 hitters in one inning. Let them play ball. As far as trades, nobody is safe. Maybe Homer and Harrang, but that would be about it.
I would like to see LOU back. There is no way he is going to stay in Chicago.

[GoldenArm9]

If there is one guy who i would love to see manager of the Reds it would be Lee Mazzone.