John Perotto at Baseball Prospectus starts out his article today talking about Dusty Baker and his observations on the Reds thus far.  One thing that jumps out (and only because it seems to be a common thread in things Dusty has said since the Junior trade) is the notion that he expected things to go his way a little more during his first year.  Honestly, when someone gets paid $10.5 million for three years of work, and complains half way into the first that things aren't going his way, a red flag goes up for me. 

Show some resiliency.  It feels like Dusty is now saying he wasn't aware that being the manager of the Reds might have to involve rebuilding.  This is more than he bargained for.  This wasn't what he expected.  Did he expect to walk in, get paid, and the Reds would win the NL central? It sounds whiny and defeatist.  The bottom line is that this job was always going to require Dusty to roll up his sleeves and put his mark on this club.  They lacked identity and had forgotten how to win.  He was supposed to be the man to provide both.  His comments suggest that he expected all that to happen for him when he stepped into the dugout.  This has got to change.  Think the team has taken too many hits, Dusty?  Well, hit back.  Here's the excerpt:

August 24, 2008 Every Given Sunday A Red Menace by John Perrotto	Printer- friendly
	Contact Author

Dusty Baker readily admits that this is not what he bargained for when he stepped out of the ESPN broadcast booth last November to return to managing after a year away from the dugout. Baker signed a four-year contract with the Reds and took over a team that some observers felt was finally ready to contend in the National League Central after seven straight losing seasons. Now, with just one week remaining in August, the Reds are in last place, and 22½ games behind the Cubs, the team that Baker managed from 1993-96.

"It's been a little difficult, to say the least," Baker said. "I've always been used to having stability as a manager, both in San Francisco and Chicago. Obviously, there hasn't been a whole lot of that this season. This team looks nothing like what we thought we had coming out of spring training, and many things have changed. I don't see too many teams who have taken the hits we've taken this year."

When the US baseball team faced Cuba in the Olympics the other day, they had an amazing pitcher on the mound.  Stephen Strasburg figures to be drafted first overall in next year's draft and has some devastating stuff to validate that position.  Apparently he can throw 101 mph as his second best pitch.  Incredible.  Here's an excerpt from Thomas Boswell's Washington Post article on Strasburg:

"...At the end of a long season when Strasburg has pitched twice as many innings as ever before and is working on fumes, he still challenged the heart of Cuba's order with a 93- to 97-mph fastball and a curveball that really is as knee buckling as advertised."

I've never been opposed to posting links to articles casting Jim Bowden in a negative light. As the Reds GM, I always felt he was incredibly arrogant considering the project in front of him and his lack of success. This was never more true than after the Ken Griffey Jr. signing. It was as if he had won the Nobel Prize for baseball general managers and afterwards, content to rest on his laurels. So in that spirit, here is an article ripping Bowden for how he handled their first round draft pick, Aaron Crow, this year. Crow did not sign by the deadline and next year will be available to all other teams interested. He does make it clear he will not deal with Bowden again. Cheers.

The Redlegs were soundly criticized locally and nationally for their contract strategy with Yonder Alonso. However, lest we become too despondent, the Washington Nationals and Jim Bowden did worse, thus restoring confidence in the Reds' "not the worst run team in the league" status. To read how bad it could have been, or run, go here.