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Hall of Fame baseball writer Hal McCoy has retired from the Dayton Daily News after covering the Cincinnati Reds for 37 years. Hal's blog, though, will continue to be a must-read for Reds fans. He'll share his thoughts on the team this season and will file updates from Great American Ball Park. You also can catch Hal in print every Sunday in his popular Ask Hal columnHome > Blogs > The Real McCoy | Cincinnati Reds baseball news > Archives > 2008 > April > 28
Monday, April 28, 2008
Krivsky’s final say
Wayne Krivsky is finding it difficult to sever his ties with the Cincinnati Reds after he was fired and says, “I must be crazy because I hope the Reds win every game the rest of the year and I still get on-line every morning to check how the minor-league teams did.”
And before he fades into the woodwork, Krivsky wants to clear a few things off his desk and his mind.
One of the things he wants known is that Dusty Baker was his choice to manage the Reds and he told owner Bob Castellini at the time, “Dusty Baker is my man and he is the guy for the job.” And Krivsky added, “It was my recommendation and Bob agreed.”
Krivsky said he held the advance scoutomh job open for interim manager Pete Mackanin for if he didn’t find a job, but he hooked on with the New York Yankees.
Then there was the trade of outfielder Josh Hamilton for pitcher Edinson Volquez (a deal that so far works both ways) and the signing of pitcher Josh Fogg.
“When I’m told before the season that I better win, I’m going to get all the pitching I can get,” he said. “Fogg was a $100,000 gamble, what we would pay him if he didn’t make the team. He made it so it cost $1.5 million and I still think it’s a good deal.
“When Homer Bailey didn’t make the team and Matt Belisle was injured, who did we have for our fifth starting spot? Nobody,” he said. “That’s where Fogg fit in. He made $3.7 million from the Rockies last year.”
And then there was the $3 million paid to outfielder Corey Patterson.
“I was told to get him signed, whatever it takes,” said Krivsky, who signed him for $3 million. Patterson was paid $4.7 million last year.
And Mike Stanton? “Stanton and the $3.5 million is on me,” he said. “And Juan Castro ($975,000), but I had something going with the Los Angeles Dodgers when I was let go. I told (new GM) Walt Jocketty to please try to find something for Castro.”
Krivsky kept quiet about pitcher Rheal Cormier and it was thought the Reds had to eat his salary when they released him. But when the Reds traded outfielder Chris Denorfia to Oakland the A’s agreed to pay Cormier’s $2 million, “And, actually, with interest we got $2.08 million,” said Krivsky.
Well, hey, now that we’ve seen Toronto eat about $10 million to dump Frank Howard and the penny-pounding Pittsburgh Pirates pour Heinez ketchup on $10 million for Matt Morris and eat it, how bad is Stanton’s $3.5 million?
As Krivsky said, “If you haven’t had at least one bad contract or made one bad decision, then you haven’t been a general manager.”
So true, so true.
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TweetCoffey, Bray trade places
Flights from Dayton to San Francisco, from San Francisco to St. Louis: 8 1/2 hours, 171 songs on an iPod while drinking one coffee, one orange juice and eating two cookies thoughtfully provided by the airlines.
And when I arrived in St. Louis I discovered that Todd Coffey didn’t make it, but Bill Bray did.
Coffey, the much-troubled righthanded relief pitcher, was optioned back to Class AAA Louisville, lugging his 6.48 ERA over 14 appearances with him. The final chapter was Saturday in San Francisco when Coffey came into the game in the ninth inning with a 10-5 lead and gave up two doubles and a walk, forcing manager Dusty Baker to go to closer Francisco Cordero to rescue a 10-9 victory.
Bray has been ready for a while - probably since the minor-league season began. The 24-year-old lefthander missed the first half of spring training with shoulder inflammation, but has been impeccable at Louisville - 1.04 ERA in eight appearances over 8 2/3 innings, during which he has given up only four hits, walked three and struck out 14.
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