Adding insult to injury, the Reds abruptly fired manager Dusty Baker, after saying just the day before he'd be back next year. It's a sad commentary on the impatience of our times.
As a 20-year manager for the Giants, Cubs and Reds, Dusty Baker has a winning record of 1671-1504. He's a 3-time NL Manager of the Year. He has managed 5 Division champions. He took his team into the postseason 7 times, and just missed twice. He managed the Giants to the World Series in 2002. His Reds teams made the playoffs 3 times in 6 years.
This season, the Reds clinched early, but lost their wild-card game. Somehow, this is all Baker's fault. It's not, of course, but baseball has a 150-year history of blaming the manager for players' failures.
There are 30 major-league teams. After a very long season, 10 of them qualify for the postseason. Only one will win the World Series.
Once "in", anything can happen. A little hot streak, a little luck, and who knows? Oakland A's GM Billy Beane (Moneyball) calls the postseason a "crapshoot". The important thing, the hard thing, is to make the postseason, then just take your chances. Dusty Baker's track record of taking his teams into the playoffs is better than most.
Postseason or not, managers must make do with the team they've been given. As former NFL coach Bill Parcells said, "I make the dinner, but I didn't buy the groceries."
I guess the Reds just didn't like Dusty's cooking anymore. I'm sure another team will show him to their kitchen soon enough.
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