Joy R. Absalon-USA TODAY Sports
After the Cincinnati Reds playoff loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates, Reds general manager Walt Jocketty flat out said that Dusty Baker would return in 2014 as the Reds’ manager. So, I wrote an article about it. Two days after I wrote said article, he gets fired. Fantastic. Now I look like an idiot. But I am here to redeem myself (hopefully). If you go to Twitter or Facebook, you can see Reds fans posting that they want the Reds to hire someone like Joe Girardi, Pete Rose or Tony LaRussa. Well, don’t expect them to sign any of those guys.
Let’s talk about Girardi. His contract is up with the New York Yankees. The Chicago Cubs say they seriously want him as manager, everyone does. I would not at all be surprised if Girardi signs an extension with the Bronx Bombers, though. He has had a lot of success in New York and just seems like the right fit for the Yankees. I’m not saying that he won’t one day be the Reds’ manager, it’s just very unlikely.
Related: Cincinnati Reds Should Not Have Fired Dusty Baker
As for Rose, well, he’s banned from baseball. It’d be pretty hard to manage when you’re not allowed to. It would be amazing if he was allowed to, however. He was born and raised in Cincinnati; he played the majority of his career in Cincinnati; and he knows a lot about baseball. But he can’t be the manager, sorry.
Jocketty was asked if he would ask LaRussa if he would like to manage the team. The GM said he would “probably run it by him,” but today LaRussa came out and said “I’m not going to manage again”. So, there you have it.
I think the Reds will likely hire someone they already have. They’ll probably hire either their current pitching coach Bryan Price, their bench coach Chris Speier or the manager of their Triple-A team and former Washington Nationals‘ manager Jim Riggleman. They could surprise everyone and hire a guy like Barry Larkin or Joe Morgan, but don’t count on that to happen.
No one knows who the manager will be, though. It might be someone I mentioned, it might be Girardi — I doubt it, but it could happen — or it might be a complete surprise.
Coop Ledford is a Cincinnati Reds writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @CoopLed and add him on Google Plus.
