Daugherty: Reds change lineups, but until boss can be boss, expect the same

[CincyRedsFan30]

Reds change lineup
But until boss can be boss, expect the same

By Paul Daugherty

Enquirer staff writer

By the end, poor Dave Miley bore the look of a prelim fighter: Eyes glazed, expression muted, head droopy, as if his neck were a rubber band. He twitched a little, blinked too often and wore the thousand-yard stare of the condemned. Don't hit me no more.

We've seen that look before. Dave Shula owned it, when Mike Brown mercifully fired him. Bruce Coslet did, too. It's the look of a man cut off at the knees. Miley was Coslet in a wishbone C.

General manager Dan O'Brien fired Dave Miley Tuesday, along with pitching coach Don Gullett. It was dirty, necessary business. When a team stops playing for its boss, there is nothing to do but ask the boss for the keys. The Reds quit on Miley more than a month ago.

Whether that was because they knew Miley wasn't in charge or they were mad he took their recliners or that he cut Danny Graves or didn't play Adam Dunn the night his mommy and daddy were in attendance is anybody's guess. It doesn't matter now. When workers sense the boss isn't the boss, the game is over.

Maybe interim manager Jerry Narron will be allowed to send Eric Milton to middle relief or call up Steve Kelly and/or Chris Booker from Class AAA. Maybe he won't need permission to sit Rich Aurilia.

Meanwhile, a guy could get whiplash watching all the home run balls that Gullett's pitchers allowed.

But firing Miley and Gullett is like slowing a hurricane with a window fan.

The Reds are a dysfunctional organization. Top to top. They're edging ever closer to 1990s Bengals irrelevance. During the Lost Decade, we stopped cursing the Bengals and started laughing at them.

Miley's team didn't do much of anything right. "Basic, small fundamentals" were screwed up routinely, an obviously incredulous Narron said Tuesday. (Uh, Jerry, you were Miley's bench coach, right? Why the shock?)

Miley was in over his head. He got the managing job because he was loyal, humble and cheap.

Who hired him?

O'Brien hasn't showed that he's any better at his job than Miley was at his. O'Brien's two prize free-agent pitchers - Milton and Ramon Ortiz - throw batting practice two out of every five nights, starting at 7:10. O'Brien signed off on Paul Wilson's multi-year deal even as he knew Wilson's shoulder was Spam. And so on. O'Brien looks to be in over his head. He got the general manager's job because he was loyal, humble and cheap.

Who hired him?

The only constant in the Reds' five-year losing streak is a well-intentioned man who is in over his head. That'd be chief operating officer John Allen, who keeps his job because he's loyal, humble and ....

Who retained him?

The same loyal, humble, spectacularly philanthropic and benevolent man. Carl Lindner.

During the dregs of the Lost Decade, people asked me a lot about Mike Brown. What kind of guy is he? For 10 years, my answer was the same: He's a good man who doesn't know how to run his football team. I don't know Carl Lindner well. I know him through his actions. He is a good man. Who doesn't know how to run his baseball team.

O'Brien and Miley were Lindner hires. The decision to spend $27 million for three years of aging Barry Larkin - at the expense of much-needed younger talent - came straight from Lindner's heart. And so forth.

After 10 years of hanging in the public stocks, ducking tomatoes, Mike Brown hired a fantastic coach and let him go to work. Carl Lindner, in his sixth year of running the Reds, can do the same thing. Make Miley's firing mean something. Or start ducking the tomatoes.

Meantime, bid fond farewell to Dave Miley. It's a tough business. Nice guys don't always finish last. Sometimes, they don't even finish.

E-mail pdaugherty@enquirer.com.

[missionhockey21]

Good article by Daugherty. He addressed the root of the problem and provided some insight to it. This team will never be a winner like we used to have unless we get the right owner who brings in the right people and let them do their job.

[CincyRedsFan30]

Outstanding article from Paul yet again. I know some hate him as much as they hate Hal, but I sure don't.

[redsrbetter]

Yes, this was a far better piece than Fay's crap.

I fully agree with him too. Just like all of us have been saying, Lindner needs to get rid of Allen or he needs to sell the team. DanO better be next!