Doc: How will Reds sell keeping Bryan Price?
Welcome to the 2016 Reds season, at least the grumbling part. Two games short of the merciful finish to 2015 and for the masses, Wait 'Til Next Year already sounds more like a threat than a promise.
The club announced Saturday that manager Bryan Price will return for the final year of his contract. To those of us whose jobs require dealing with the skipper, that's very good news. Price is smart, candid, available and pleasant. He has been handed some raw deals when it has come to injuries and economics.
But we media hacks don't buy tickets when we're working. You buy tickets. And now, to the multitude of intriguing story lines that will decorate this winter, add another:
How will the Reds sell this to you?
Fay: Bryan Price is back, but will it matter?
They need a new bullpen. They need a couple outfielders. They need a few of those whiz-bang kid pitchers they traded for to grow up fast. They need leadership from somewhere, and what is nebulously referred to as a "culture change.'' And, they need marketing like never before.
The Reds are, to steal a phrase, what their record says they are. Bob Castellini, whose trigger finger in the past has been nothing if not heavy, is bringing back a manager whose team is in the midst of a 13-game losing streak, as of Saturday afternoon. And they weren't exactly devastating the National League before that.
The Reds have won 12 games in the last seven weeks. That's 12-35 since Aug. 14, if you're keeping score at home. In the 13-game skid, they've been outscored by 56 runs.
There are mitigating circumstances, yes. Boy, are there ever.
All rookies in the rotation. A bullpen running the 28th mile of a marathon. The doldrums of a season that never caught fire. A September-October schedule jammed with playoff aspirants. And so on.
Could another manager have done better? Maybe. Better than what? More to the point: Would someone else do any better next year? If the Reds are interested in hiring a proven managing talent, they wouldn't have attracted him this winter.
A cynic might suggest Price is being punished by coming back. And believe me, if conditions are similar at the All-Star break to what they are now, there will be a new guy getting punished.
I talked with Castellini Saturday. The incurable optimist was in full grumble mode, but not without positive thoughts. "I think we have some good things to talk about,'' the Reds CEO said. He cited Price's familiarity with the young pitchers as a reason he will be back in the dugout. He said keeping Price was a clear indication that 2015 was a collective flop. A total team effort.
"It's all of our faults. We've done all those things together, and collectively they haven't worked out,'' said Castellini.
I asked him how the club sells this decision to a fan base that will not have the carrot of an All-Star Game to convince it to open its wallet in '16.
"Sell? You don't,'' Castellini said. "You do the best you can. We've hit rock bottom, primarily with our pitching staff. You do the best you can with the financial resources you have. We're trying to do everything we can to enhance our pitching.''
Sometimes, shaking up the general order is beneficial. "Changing the mix,'' they call it in sports. You could argue that Saturday's announcement was anything but. That's not today's issue. Walt Jocketty, whose job was never in jeopardy, has all winter to work magic.
Change-of-scenery candidates abound. I think Brandon Phillips has had an overlooked, very good year. I think Jay Bruce is Jay Bruce, and there are always going to be teams needing a strong-armed, good defensive rightfielder who habitually hits 25-30 homeruns. I think Aroldis Chapman needs to go to a team where he's not a Maserati hood ornament on an '88 Buick.
Regardless, Bryan Price knows where he will be next March. I wish him and his team good health and no 13-game losing streaks. (Or nine-gamers.) As for you who fill the seats, I wish you patience and understanding. And bobbleheads. Lots of bobbleheads.
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