Miley and Gullett fired: Dreams Do Come True!!!!!!! Finally

[CincyRedsFan30]

That Griffey hustle stuff is just silly. I'm going to try to type some of the stuff said in the press conference here though.

Anyway, Kullman really had a mandate rushed on him and had to make decisions within a small period of time, and under that type of pressure, I think he gathered together a nice list of players to get in return for players he was forced to dump.

[missionhockey21]

All the local yahoo's are clamoring for bringing in all former Reds as a coaches.

WLW is going to the press confrence in a few minutes.

[Wally Mo Pena]

The reason i don't see O'brien being fired is it seems like a stretch to say both that the players are bad, and that they were coached poorly. Maybe it's true, but I don’t know how you could be sure that it wasn’t just one or the other. Maybe the players were terrible and couldn't be coached and DanO should be gone, or maybe the coaching was terrible.

It seems like by firing Miley and Gullet, the FO has made it’s decision on where it places the blame. They are saying that the players aren’t bad, the coaching was. Especially if Milton has a decent start or two in the next few weeks. DanO will be vindicated for his moves then. And who knows, maybe he should be, though it doesn’t make sense to me to bring in two homer happy pitchers into the park that Smoltz said he was sure he was going to give some up (I think he’d given up 4 before that start).

If this new coach can turn Milton around I don’t really know what we would have to complain about DanO’s work. Aurilia hasn’t been that bad, he just never should have started, which is Miley’s fault. Randa is good, Kearns needed to go down, Weathers is good, DJ is gone, and Graves is gone (though maybe too soon).

There were some problems with the 40 man roster earlier, but I don’t know how he could have anticipated everyone who sucked sucking that badly, so why would he have known that he needed certain people. Hudson and Hancock went down, Wilson went down, Weber down, Graves sucked, Valentine was terrible, on and on. If a lot of the bad pitching was gullet, then DanO is in the clear.

It may very well all come down to Milton. DanO has to really be rooting for him to turn it around. If he can perform at a decent level (which he might but it's not too likely) then really the only thing i can think of to rip DanO for is signing DJ, and we all thought DJ was going to have a good year, but wasn't needed. And DanO corrected that problem quickly. The Graves contract wasn't his fault, and maybe we could have gotten some scrubby prospect for him, but whatever, he needed to go.

All the clubhouse stuff is Miley's fault. I like this move a lot. I think it means we might actually get to see Dunn stay here. I wonder if the chairs/jersey will come back.

[missionhockey21]

OB's opening comments:
It's been a difficult day. An emotional decision. They needed new leadership in the dugout. A significant change in direction was needed. They still have expectations for the 05 season, thus this was needed. We're lucky to have Narron with his past managerial experience. Narron knows the players and the organization. They are confident in his abillities to provide the leadership the team needs.

Narron's:
Cincy a "crown jewl of baseball." He's going to do everything he can to get the pride back in Cincy and to make this team one fans are proud of. He has an idea of what is needed to get back on track. Doing the small things will let the big things take care of themselves. We have get competitive now. Considers himself a baseball guy. God,family and baseball are his passions. He wants his players to has a passion for the game which will allow them to win.

[missionhockey21]

Narron says there is no question they are MUCH better than the record indicates. Says his style is consisent, same guy on and off the record, he's intense and has a passion for the game. He wants his players to have the same intensity and passion he does. The difference between this and bench coach is responsiblity, with his past he knows how to do it. He praised Ruhle and his skills.

[CincyRedsFan30]

Press conference:

O'Brien: "Today's been a very difficult day... both were long-standing members of the organization. It was a very emotional decision for that very reason. We came to the realization that we needed new leadership in the dugout. THis isn't a decision to be taken lightly. We felt a significant change in direction was needed. We still have expectations for the '05 season. It's important that this team play to its capabilites, and to this point in time that has not happened. In looking at our current staff, we are very fortunate to have an individual to have a guy like Jerry Narron... he's been in professional baseball for 32 years. He's earned respect for his hard work, integrity, dilligence and effort... he knows the players, he knows the organization, and that's very important that he hits the ground running.... we've got tremendous confidence in this gentleman."

Narron: "It's a difficult day when you replace friends, Don Gullett and Dave Miley two of my closest friends... the history and tradition here takes a backseat to no organization in sports. We're going to do everything we can to get the pride back here in Cincinnati... it's going to take a lot of work, it's a huge challenge...we need to get back to playing the game right... we had huge expecations coming into the season...I consider myself a baseball guy... God, family and Baseball, that's my passion...

Seg asks him what the small things the team has to do are:

"There are basic fundamentals at times we miss... it seems other clubs are making those plays and we are just missing... we've got to really concentrate on the basic, small, fundamental things of the game."

A female writer/reporter asks (inaudible):

"It's going to come down to how much pride the veteran guys have."

A man(Marc Lancaster maybe?) asks something:

O'Brien: I think basically the realization, we simply were not progressing as a team... we weren't doing the basic things you expect... and we hadn't for some time...and there simply were no signs of an imminent turnaround on that basis."

I think a change in leadership reflects a change in philosophy, and approach. I'm sure there will be differences that everyone in this room will see pretty quickly, in terms of the style Jerry Narron will use as opposed to the approach Dave used.

This morning, I met individually with both people... it was extraordinarily difficult to do it...

John Fay(I think) asks something:

O'Brien: "I wish I could say that...but some other component breaks down on us. On any given night, it could be pitching, it could be hitting, it could be execuation.

Ultimately, in looking at our pitching, there has to be some signs of progress... guys are going to go through peaks and vallyes, but as a collective unit, we were not seeing progress in the direction we needed.

Narron(a question asked): I think the club should have been better than what we've played... I can tell you I am consistent... I'll be the same guy on the record and off the record... I'm very, very intense. Like I said, I have a passion for it, a love for it, and I want to see the same thing carry over to these players. I just want to see them get after it every day, every pitch.

Hal(maybe?): Jerry is the manager for the duration of hte '05 season(O'Brien)

John Fay...

Narron: ...Vern Ruhle is a guy I played with with the Angels. I've known him for a while...he's highly recommended by everyone in baseball...Vern is a great technician of pitching.... he'll spend a lot of time on video.

Furman talks:

O'Brien: "We felt there was a tremendous benefit having someone who knew the players... who to address the issues"

Marty to O'Brien::

O'Brien:Yes, we (Jerry and he) met this morning.

Fay:....

O'Brien: "It's a group effort...we have a contribution to make to the overall. Not everything has fallen into place perfectly. I'll say to you there are three months of the season to go."

That's it I guess, as WLW breaks away. (Probably a bit more)

[QuietAcre]

OB's opening comments:
It's been a difficult day. An emotional decision. They needed new leadership in the dugout. A significant change in direction was needed. They still have expectations for the 05 season, thus this was needed. We're lucky to have Narron with his past managerial experience. Narron knows the players and the organization. They are confident in his abillities to provide the leadership the team needs.

Narron's:
Cincy a "crown jewl of baseball." He's going to do everything he can to get the pride back in Cincy and to make this team one fans are proud of. He has an idea of what is needed to get back on track. Doing the small things will let the big things take care of themselves. We have get competitive now. Considers himself a baseball guy. God,family and baseball are his passions. He wants his players to has a passion for the game which will allow them to win.

Could I have expected to hear anything more obvious in the DanO regime? Oh, wait, I thought that big league managers were former IBM computer programmers.

[missionhockey21]

A few other things:

Stressed doing the fundementals, the small things, which will add up in a big way. Concentrate on the little things. On how to motivate a team this far out, he said it's a character test for him. Comes down to how much the players want it, the pride they have.

Dan O said they werent progressing as a team, this realization led to the firing. No signs of a turnaround were being shown.

[missionhockey21]

CRF just gave me an internet smackdown with his recap. Nice job on that CRF!

[CincyRedsFan30]

I'm just practicing getting quotes now, before I have to start doing it for real in a few years.

It's a good test with O'Brien talking too, since his verbiage is infamous.

[ghettochild]

drinking game ahhahahaha

[Wally Mo Pena]

Thanks for posting all that CRF and Misson. Most of what they said seems like the same old same old stuff for these kinds of occasions. It was really hard... Need to turn it around... Do the fundamentals...

One thing Narron said that i liked was that the players need to learn to "get after it" every game and every pitch. I don't know if i've ever seen a more lackadasicle team than what we put out most nights, and it's our biggest stars that are the worst offenders. If Narron can motivate them to stay focused and have pride in their work, i'm sure we'll see a turn around of some proportions.

I don't think griffey is ever going to change his ways (walking on every fly ball that might get out, things like that) but some of the young guys could really use a kick in the pants.

[CincyRedsFan30]

Not a problem, Wally. It was fun.

[CincyRedsFan30]

Seg just said a couple of min. ago that Narron is holding a team meeting as we speak, and that Griffey/Kenny Kelly are doing some extra BP(imagine that from Jr.

He also said that Furman is going to try to have Miley on Extra Innings after the game tonight.

[missionhockey21]

Thanks for posting all that CRF and Misson. Most of what they said seems like the same old same old stuff for these kinds of occasions. It was really hard... Need to turn it around... Do the fundamentals...

One thing Narron said that i liked was that the players need to learn to "get after it" every game and every pitch. I don't know if i've ever seen a more lackadasicle team than what we put out most nights, and it's our biggest stars that are the worst offenders. If Narron can motivate them to stay focused and have pride in their work, i'm sure we'll see a turn around of some proportions.

I don't think griffey is ever going to change his ways (walking on every fly ball that might get out, things like that) but some of the young guys could really use a kick in the pants.

Narron sounds like he has the intensity he speaks of and I hope he does. I know our past failures for managers didnt do the job in terms of getting results of playing a sound game by doing the little things right, so hopefully this is something he can put to action rather than just talk about like Miley and Boone did.

And no problem, glad you enjoyed reading the summaries.