Narron says he'll accept Reds' offer to manage team next year

[CincyRedsFan30]

By Hal McCoy

Dayton Daily News

MILWAUKEE | The Cincinnati Reds have offered Jerry Narron the opportunity to remove the 'interim' title from his job description and make him manager for next season, the Dayton Daily News has learned.

When confronted with that knowledge and reminded that he once said he would never lie to a writer, Narron acknowledged that he had been offered the job this week.

He hasn't accepted, saying, "It isn't written in cement," but later said, "I'm sure I'll take it."

He'll make that decision before Sunday's final game in St. Louis.

Narron, 49, began this season as manager Dave Miley's bench coach for the second year. When Miley was fired June 21 when the team was 27-43, Narron was named interim manager.

Heading into Wednesday's game against the Milwaukee Brewers, the Reds were 45-42 under Narron.

It will be his second managerial position after he managed the Texas Rangers for nearly two seasons (2001/2002) to a 134-162 record and a pair of fourth-place finishes.

Narron said any hang-up about making his decision has nothing to do with money.

"I'm not money motivated," he said. "I love the game and the competition. I want to win and I want a chance to win."

Asked if he wanted assurances that steps would be taken to better position the team to win, he said, "I want to see the Cincinnati Reds great again. Nobody can answer the competitive part as long as the club might be sold, or part of it might be sold."

One potential buyer is Jeff Smulyan, chairman of Emmis Broadcasting in Indianapolis and former owner of the Seattle Mariners. He also is one of the bidders for the Washington Nationals.

Smulyan, who likely could purchase the Reds for half of what the Washington franchise will cost, tried to move the Mariners to Tampa Bay in the early 1990s but was forced to offer the team to buyers who would keep the team in Seattle and it was sold to Nintendo.

"This uncertainty makes it more of a challenge and I like challenges," Narron said. "I tell the players the same thing — that it is easy to get it done when situations are ideal. It is tougher when situations are not ideal. We'll just have to see how that plays out."

Narron knows what everybody knows about how the Reds need to get better. One word: pitching.

"When you are at the bottom of the league, you have to improve," he said. "It was no accident for two months after the All-Star break we had one of the best records in baseball. Our pitching got better. We had a lower earned-run average.

"Am I speaking the obvious?" he asked. "We have to get better pitching. And I know that's not easy and that's what's bad for me because I'm a pitching guy. I love it.

"We know we're going to score runs," he added. "But you win with better pitching."

And there is the outfield dilemma, with three spots and four potential starters — Ken Griffey Jr., Adam Dunn, Austin Kearns and Wily Mo Pena. Kearns and Pena have expressed their feelings that they want to play every day and prefer trades to other teams rather than share right field.

"I'm sure we're not going to give anybody away," Narron said. "We do have four guys who deserve to play on a regular basis."

Asked if he can deal with the problem if one isn't traded, Narron smiled and said, "We'll have to deal with it."

JERRY NARRON FILE

• Personal: Age 49; Born, still lives in Goldsboro, N.C.; brother, cousin and two uncles also played pro baseball.

• As a player: Catcher for Yankees, Angels, Mariners 1979-87. Batted . 211.

• As a coach: Managed minors 89-92; coach with Orioles, Rangers 93-01; managed Rangers 01-02 (134-162 record); Red Sox bench coach in '03.

• With Reds: Bench coach in '04, early '05; named interim manager June 21. Reds were 27-43 with Dave Miley, are 46-42 under Narron; Reds 38-32 since All-Star break, fifth-best in NL.

[CincyRedsFan30]

He has officially been named the manager for next year, with the mutual option for the following year.

[Geki Ace]

Miley v2.

[griffeyfan3]

well lets just hope that he can get us off to a even better start that he got us off to when he took over this year......dont blow it jerry.

[Wally Mo Pena]

well, here's hoping that he knows what he's doing. I think that the reds have good enough players to score runs if he'll just do the obvious with the lineup and leave it. Hopefully Aurilia will be gone, though i think he'd be a good back up, he's just going to be a problem as long as he's not starting. So let him go start for the royals or someone.

We'll see if DanO can get the outfield set up with a trade and a LTC to Dunn, and see if we have any new pitchers to work with.

I wouldn't be surprised if Narron has some success next year, because the reds underperformed so badly this year. It's the ultimate in buying low. Many of us predicted that this team was going to have a winning year, and i don't think that those were unreasonable predictions. With very few changes I would make the same prediction next year, and Narron might just be lucky enough to get blamed for it.

[missionhockey21]

I really don't understand these moves this early. I have already stated my displeasure but really.... our last managers were either losers or unproven. Oh how I long for the days when we had McKeon, Davey Johnson, Sweet Lou. Why can't we look this offseason for another option? Does the front office make this move because they believe he is the best without question or is it just a good way to show the fans that they have had faith all along (ala Miley when everyone was screaming for him to have the interim tag drop.)

[Slyder]

Could this be a mandate from ownership as they at least want the manager in place before a GM firing ? Then come about the all star break the new gm is given a chance to pick his own guy when the team under performs with Dunn hitting 7th almost every game?

Otherwise:

[Wally Mo Pena]

Why can't we look this offseason for another option?

two things.

first, i think that with DanO on his last year of a contract and a new ownership group coming in next year, that the FO didn't think that they could give someone a multi-year deal, which a good manager would have gotten.

this is sad because it really does show that we don't have winning as a top priority for next year. I'm sure they want to win, Narron does, DanO does, because if we did make the post season, i'm sure they would be brought back. But this year has all the ear marks of stalling until things get sorted out. I just hope the reds can outperform expectations and make a good run.

Second, i have to comment again on the media. I haven't tracked down the links, but i bet i could find at least 10 articles between the three major papers and mlb.com lobbying for Narron. Marty did it almost every day too. Media pressure works, because our front office has no backbone.

Sometimes, i agree with the media opinion, sometimes i don't. (brining larkin back for 2004 i agreed with for instance) but i don't think that it's a good thing that we have an owner who hates to be hated by the fans and media. Not that he cshould want to be hated, but sometimes you have to make the smart move to stick with a plan, and a month of newpaper articles seems like it's enough to do just about anything with lindner.

[missionhockey21]

Your right, next year is going to probably a year in limbo for the most part. Nothing will change a great deal before the sell (so that the new owners are getting exactly what they think they are paying for) and I really doubt much will be done afterwards because likely they will want to use 2006 to get an assessment of where they stand. I hope I am wrong but who knows.

As for your second point, that's one of my biggest criticisms with this front office (among many other.) In Cincy the writers and the broadcasters usually speak for the typical fan. This is most evident in all the moves that the Reds have made not due to talent or skill but to loyalty. I do value loyalty, dont get me wrong, but not over talent. The fact is til we can get some people in that make baseball moves that adhere to a specific plan. We don't have that as we all know. Hopefully with new ownership we can find a direction and go with it. Make the baseball moves for baseball reasons in other words.... not to get season ticket holders to renew after another losing season.

[Wally Mo Pena]

dead on mission. Loyalty has it's place, for instance, when your HOF SS who exemplifies everything great in the game, is a hometown guy and has never played for another team wants to come back for another season for half a million, you bring him back. that's wehre loyalty comes in.

when Jerry Narron manages to scrape a .500 record out for half a season with a team that should be above that, that is not the place for loyalty.