Commentary: Miley, Gullet shouldn't have to take the fall

[CincyRedsFan30]

Hal McCoy: Miley, Gullett shouldn't have to take the fall

By Hal McCoy

Dayton Daily News

CINCINNATI | It stinks. It stinks to high heaven.

Dave Miley can now audition for the television lead in The Fall Guy. When a baseball team turns to Silly Putty, the first head chopped always is the manager's and that was Miley's skull rolling down the banks of the Ohio River Tuesday outside Great American Ball Park.

And that was pitching coach Don Gullett's head rolling right behind Miley's.

Of all the rhetoric, and there were enough words spoken to fill a Webster's New Collegiate Tuesday, first baseman Sean Casey said it clearly after Miley and Gullett were fired: "This isn't Dave Miley's fault and this isn't Don Gullett's fault. Ultimately, it is our fault on the field. I've been around and I see the business aspect, but it is never the fault of one or two guys. It is everybody's fault, from top to bottom."

Miley and Gullett are victims of high expectations and low performance. The higher-ups in the organization handed Miley a roster full of holes and presented Gullett with a pitching staff of Venus di Milos and said, "Go get 'em, guys."

When it didn't happen, they paid the ultimate price, unemployment and unwarranted blame.

More than one player wondered about the front office's guilt and said the team should put a Johnson & Johnson ad on the outfield wall because the team is taking a Band-Aid approach. Maybe a Hoover is needed, or Terminex, to sweep out and fumigate the entire mess, top to bottom.

Bench coach Jerry Narron becomes the manager and minor-league pitching instructor Vern Ruhle becomes the pitching coach and to that all of baseball says, "Good luck, guys, you'll need it."

And here is an interesting nugget: When Narron was fired by the Texas Rangers, his major-league managing record was 134-162 over 296 games. When Miley was fired his record was 125-164 over 289 games.

Neither Narron nor Ruhle have been promised anything beyond the end of this season. They have 92 games to take aim and prove what they can do, but their ammunition is limited.

One of Narron's first moves Tuesday was a closed clubhouse meeting and it met with early approval.

"He tightened the bolts and said, 'I'm old school and this is the way it is and that's the way it is going to be,'" said outfielder Jacob Cruz.

"I hope he sticks to that. I liked what he said."

It is true that Miley probably lost the clubhouse, but that happens often when a team claims squatter's rights on last place. Some petty moves like removing the massage recliners from in front of the lockers of Ken Griffey Jr. and Adam Dunn were ill-advised. And it wasn't good when he removed the No. 32 jersey worn by Danny Graves that Dunn hung on the wall in honor of a teammate he believed was done wrong.

Not only did Miley remove it, when Dunn asked for it back he was told that Miley gave it to his wife to for a charity auction — a nice gesture, but the shirt was given to Dunn by Graves.

The team Miley tried to win with was three-dimensional offensively — solo home run, two-run home run, three-run home run. All power, no nuances. No speed, no situational hitters, no bunting ability and a dislike for seeing runners in scoring position.

The pitching staff Gullett tried to win with is next-to-last in the National League with a 5.66 earned run average, only 0.03 better than Colorado, which plays its home games in the thin mile-high atmosphere of Coors Field.

The fatty parts of that ERA figure belong to Eric Milton (7.82), Paul Wilson (7.77), Ramon Ortiz (6.51) and Ben Webber (8.03). General manager Dan O'Brien brought in Milton, Ortiz and Weber and he tendered a two-year $8.2 million contract to Wilson, even though the team knew he was carrying partial tears in his rotator cuff and labrum.

O'Brien was asked directly if he and his staff shouldn't share or take blame for the darkness of last place and failure. He didn't play dodgeball.

"As an organization, we have to assume responsibility," he said. "It's a group effort and we have a contribution to make to the overall (failure or success). Not everything has fallen into place perfectly."

So far, all that has fallen are the heads of Miley and Gullett. And that won't be enough to turn around a proud franchise that has become moribund and stagnant.

[Sea Ray]

Well Hal gave quite a few reasons why Miley should have been fired although the headline didn't show it. Miley did deserve this firing. We can do better, although O'Brien needs to go as well.

Gullett deserves the firing because the guys O'Brien signed like Weber, Milton, Wilson and Ortiz all got much worse under Gullett. I for one wasn't expecting Milton to compete for the Cy Young. I expected him to have an ERA in the high 4s and keep us in ballgames...ditto for Ortiz. If they had they'd be above average pitchers in this rotation. But under Gullett these guys are having the worst year of their careers. Gullett has to take some of that blame. Why can't pitchers at least pitch like their baseball card after joining the Reds?

[Wally Mo Pena]

Terrible article by Hal. Did he miss the lineups this year? This team didn't have that many holes, Miley made the holes. It would look like the cardinals had holes if taguchi started over edmonds, and it would look like the Red Sox had holes if ramon vasquez started over renteria. In baseball, a lot of succeeding is being in the right place, and Miley hurt this team's chance at success.

"Bench coach Jerry Narron becomes the manager and minor-league pitching instructor Vern Ruhle becomes the pitching coach and to that all of baseball says, 'Good luck, guys, you'll need it.'"

This is a terrible thing to say. The reds players should be pissed. I hope they turn it around and Hal has to eat those words.