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Hall of Fame baseball writer Hal McCoy is in his 36th year of covering the Cincinnati Reds, the longest tenure for any active writer covering one team. Counting spring training and postseason games, McCoy has covered more than 7,000 major-league baseball games, written close to 18,000 baseball stories and eaten enough hot dogs to give Babe Ruth indigestion.Home > Blogs > The Real McCoy | Cincinnati Reds baseball news > Archives > 2008 > April > 23 > Entry
Krivsky his own enemy
Bob Castellini is a businessman, the nation’s leading fruit and vegetable magnate, and if the price of lettuce and tomatoes has soared the last couple of years, it might be traced back to Wayne Krivsky.
Castellini, CEO of the Cincinnati Reds, fired general manager Krivsky today, replacing him with Walt Jocketty.
During Krivsky’s regime, the team has had to eat more dollar bills than the number of heads of lettuce Castellini sells.
Some questionable contracts that forced the team to pay money to players no longer playing for the Reds didn’t help Krivsky’s cause.
It started with when he signed pitcher Rheal Cormier to a two-year contract. When the team released him it had to pay him something like $3 million NOT to pitch.
When the Reds released pitcher Mike Stanton this spring, it forced them to pay him $3.5 million this year NOT to pitch.
And there is that curious contract he gave outfielder Corey Patterson, who was sitting at home doing nothing during spring training, pursued by no other teams. Krivsky signed him for $3 million when Patterson probably would have taken $500,000 and paid his own way to camp.
He gave utility player Ryan Freel a deal that pays him $3 million this year and $4 million next year and couldn’t trade him unless the team absorbed some of that money.
He gave pitcher Josh Fogg a $1.5 million deal mid-spring training when no other teams were pursuing him, a panic move when Krivsky wasn’t certain how good Johnny Cueto and Edinson Volquez would be.
The $46 million, three-deal for closer Francisco Cordero looked good at the time, but so far, after 21 games, he has had only two save opportunities. That contract may pan out, but right now one wonders.
All this could be overlooked by Castellini if the team showed a propensity for winning, which it hasn’t during Krivsky’s tenure. After all, Castellini signed off on all those deals, taking Krivsky’s advice. Castellini wants to win and he wants to win now.
He and Jocketty worked together in St. Louis when Jocketty helped piece together a team that was not contending to one that contended for more than a decade.
Krivsky and I were friends long before he was named Reds GM. When he worked for the Minnesota Twins, he traveled the country scouting other teams and I encountered him often. We had many lunches together and talked often.
His ambition, of course, was to be a GM and he would say, “If I’d get the Reds job, there are a lot of things I would do and we’d have a lot of fun.”
It wasn’t fun. Krivsky remained my friend, but he changed. He was not forthcoming with information to the media, not even on the most menial things. He was guarded, overly guarded.
Two years ago during the winter meetings in Orlando, I took him aside in his suite after another unproductive media meeting in which he divulged nothing about what the team was doing or trying to do.
I said, “Wayne, remember when we had lunches and chatted about your future and how much fun we’d have together with the Reds?”
“Yes,” he said.
“Well, I’m not having fun,” I said. “Remember when I told you how difficult it was sometimes getting information from your predecessor, Dan O’Brien? Well, you’re worse.”
Krivsky seemed to think about it, but nothing changed. And nothing changed with the Reds.
Nobody likes to see anybody lose his job, especially a friend. But Krivsky cut his own throat.
Jocketty is a good man, too, and a solid baseball man. Things should change, and much for the better.
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Comments
By Kingspoint
April 24, 2008 8:31 PM | Link to this
Brian, with friends like McCoy, who needs enemies. He clearly made it a point to slam Krivsky. “He cut his own throat”. McCoy’s a bitter old man that needs to retire.By Billy T
April 24, 2008 8:13 PM | Link to this
Krisvky to many old arms, plus we needed a right handed power hitter, he did the first which was bad, but did not do the second, which also was bad.By Brian
April 24, 2008 4:12 PM | Link to this
KingsPoint…do you really know how to read. It was pointed out very clearly that Hal is a Krivsky supporter and good friend. Additionally, he has no reason to bash Krivsky. As a HOF writer he has limitless sources and has been dealing with personalities that don’t want to deal with the media for over 30 years. Trust me..I personally know this to be true. Get a clue you jerk!By MAC
April 24, 2008 1:41 PM | Link to this
I think we all know the Red’s don’t spend enough money to be much better than avg. On the player development front, the scouting is misguided IMO…they appear to over valve the wrong skill set and from at least 2 ML scouts that I have spoken to, are known for being lazy…maybe they don’t pay them enough either I don’t know?By Joe
April 24, 2008 12:04 PM | Link to this
With Walt’s takeover, I see a blockbuster trade coming with Dunn and Bailey going for an established stud starting pitcher and a young righthanded hitting outfielder, among others being traded and acquired. This will be reminiscent of 1970 when the Joe Morgan trade jump started the Big Red Machine.By Mike
April 24, 2008 9:54 AM | Link to this
Krivsky was fired because he made some bad decisions on contracts and he failed to get along with the owner and others in the organization. I just don’t think they liked working with him. Being fired after 21 games has to be personal though everyone will deny it.By joe
April 24, 2008 8:25 AM | Link to this
Anyone who can read and write qualifies to be a general manger of a major league baseball team. Hence, Wayne Krivsky.By Joe Pong
April 24, 2008 12:52 AM | Link to this
Krivsky has produced nothing but a perennial cellar dwelling team. You can talk about how great some of his individual moves are, but that’s a load of crap. This isn’t fantasy baseball! The idea is to win games. That’s his job. He put together a BIG LOSER.By Steve
April 23, 2008 10:45 PM | Link to this
Have to agree that this reporting seems too influenced by how much access the reporter got to the source. This also happened at the end of spring break when his evaluation of Dusty Baker seemed to be based almost entirely by how much he was willing to talk to him.By Will
April 23, 2008 10:23 PM | Link to this
I’m very disappointed for two reasons after reading this blog: 1) the firing of Krivsky itself was a terrible move - I agree that if you tally up what his moves brought to the organization versus what they cost it, there is no question that the team is better off after his tenure than before, and 2) Hal’s reporting of the event is just awful - I generally like and enjoy reading Hal’s reporting, but in this case his personal animosity towards Krivsky seems to have overwhelmed the facts. The Cormier contract did not cost the Reds a full $3 million to buy out (as Krivsky pointed out in his conference), the Patterson signing is directly related to Dusty Baker being the manager (so you can’t blame Krivsky alone for that), and why didn’t Hal feel the need to mention the signings of Aaron Harang or Brandon Phillips to deals that will save the team money over the long run? Hal, you’re better than this. Please try to get over your personal feelings and give Krivsky credit where credit is due.By ohdave
April 23, 2008 9:52 PM | Link to this
Kings point, you’re an idiot. Go back under your rock.By Hugh Jass
April 23, 2008 9:37 PM | Link to this
They should keep trying to get bargain, or has been players, and then fire the management for the players playing crappy.By KingsPoint
April 23, 2008 9:36 PM | Link to this
Hal McCoy, you’re a senile old goat that needs to go bye-bye. Retire to pasture already. You’re so senile that you wrote in your own article why you have a personal grievance with Wayne Krivsky, and you actually thought that your readers would take your side instead of his. That’s not sinility, that’s insanity. Get your golfclubs out and hit the course. Your days as a journalist are long gone. You obviously weren’t getting it when the last two REDS’ G.M.’s wouldn’t speak to you about things that weren’t any of your business. As fans of the REDS, we could see by the moves Krivsky made what was going on in the organization. We didn’t need you to interpret them for us. You have to be able to understand things before interpeting them. Understanding the REDS is not your forte’.By KingsPoint
April 23, 2008 9:25 PM | Link to this
Pretty crappy article Hal McCoy. Get a frickin’ clue. Walt Jockety spent money recklessly while with St. Louis. That’s what you should be pointing out. You should also be pointing out what a slimebag Walt Jockety is for weasling his way into the REDS’ organization while getting fired the best G.M. the REDS have had in 25 years. You should be pointing out why Jockety was fired by the Cardinals. You should be pointing out how clueless Castellini is and that he should stick to fruits and vegetables and let your G.M. run your organization instead of an old boss from St. Louis who only knows how to win by outspending his rivals. He couldn’t do that anymore in St. Louis, so he became completely ineffective.By KingsPoint
April 23, 2008 9:23 PM | Link to this
Pretty crappy article Hal McCoy. Get a frickin’ clue. Walt Jockety spent money recklessly while with St. Louis. That’s what you should be pointing out. You should also be pointing out what a slimebag Walt Jockety is for weasling his way into the REDS’ organization while getting fired the best G.M. the REDS have had in 25 years. You should be pointing out why Jockety was fired by the Cardinals.By KingsPoint
April 23, 2008 9:20 PM | Link to this
Pretty crappy article Hal McCoy. Get a frickin’ clue. Walt Jockety spent money recklessly while with St. Louis. That’s what you should be pointing out.By Broadway
April 23, 2008 9:17 PM | Link to this
At any level of sport, the athletes determine success, or failure. As I already said—with what we have available: Harrang/Cueto/Volquez/Bailey/Affeldt Euthanize or trade: Arroyo/Belisle/Coffey/Dunn/Patterson/and anyone else wasting Oxygen!By Vivster
April 23, 2008 9:05 PM | Link to this
It’s sad to see anyone fired, but I am hopeful Jocketty get’s it going. You make the Hamilton for Volquez trade 10 times out of 10. It’s PITCHING, you Ninny! The Reds have the talent. They just need to do it. Hopper & Koeppinger to set the table, Dunn & Jr. to eat and clear it.By Pete
April 23, 2008 6:28 PM | Link to this
Baker should have never been hired in the first place. He had a terrible record last time managing. I’m finished with the Reds after letting Hamilton go.By Michael in Monterey, CA
April 23, 2008 6:22 PM | Link to this
Good article Hal. But what I would like to know is how can Norris Hopper go on the dl with a sore elbow when he hasn’t played?Veerrry interesting. Mr. Jocketty I hope you have a plan for this once great(and can be great again) ballclub.By Paul
April 23, 2008 5:34 PM | Link to this
O.K. all you “armchairs” (me included). I think the poor man was possessed by Marge Schott and just couldn’t shake it. Her personality alive was bad enough, but poor Krisvky was directed by her from beyond, so he was doomed from the beginning. Pretty good “armchair”, eh? Ya know, after all is said and done…all of you get a life, and repeat after me>>>”Who gives a flyin’ pfuchkk”.By Nathan
April 23, 2008 5:18 PM | Link to this
“While Wayne did make some bad contract moves, I am sure that acquiring Philips, Hamilton, Keoppinger, and others far outweigh his mistakes. Basically he got All Stars for nothing.” No doubt, those were great moves. However they were low-risk high-reward deals that any number of small to medium market GMs would have tried. Would Kriv have looked bad if Hamilton or Phillips didn’t work out? Nope. We would have forgot their names in a heartbeat. All of these signings were medium-risk low-reward deals that most small to medium market GMs would have considered toxic.By Mr. Redlegs
April 23, 2008 5:11 PM | Link to this
FWIW, it wasn’t O’Brien who found Bailey or Bruce, it was the late scout Brian Wilson, who had a stranglehold on talent in Texas. His passing was a huge blow to the organization.By Mr. Redlegs
April 23, 2008 5:05 PM | Link to this
There’s no question that Krivsky’s personality created some fires, but this dead money issue? Bah. The Blue Jays are paying more in dead money to Frank Thomas than the Reds have coughed up in Krivsky’s tenure. To me, this sudden move is because something happened behind the scenes—either Krivsky snapped back at the owner, or Baker got frustrated with the roster situation, or some other behind-the-doors issue. This thing about winning and winning now is hooey. Pathetic excuse. Krivsky has left this franchise in so much better shape than he inherited, and it’s only been 26 months. And for what it’s worth, it was Krivsky’s development people and minors ops people who have made these O’Brien prospects. It was Krivsky who rightly tossed aside all the idiotic little rules O’Brien had on hitters and pitchers.By BIRDIE41
April 23, 2008 4:59 PM | Link to this
What is Chris @seeing Reds talking about? Anybody know? In a lot fewer words Krivsky was just inept at the job he was given.By Monroe
April 23, 2008 4:53 PM | Link to this
Just for the record, Krivsky is not responsible for Cueto, Votto, Bailey or Bruce. All of those gems were thanks to Dan O’Brien. Most evaluators have been underwhelmed with Krivsky’s two drafts with the team, which is probably another reason why the Reds brass wanted to cut him loose before June.By BIRDIE41
April 23, 2008 4:47 PM | Link to this
I can not believe it finally happened! I have sent many comments(detailing his stupid moves and trades) calling for the firing of Krivsky and now my wishes have finally come true. Congrats to Bob C. and the team, they can now proceed with the season and not worry about any more of his poor transactions.Yea,yea,yea, unbeleiveable!!!By econprof
April 23, 2008 4:06 PM | Link to this
Hal, Great post — the kind of story we only get from you. Castellini clearly wants a person who has already proven that he’s up to the task at hand (like Baker). Krivsky seems like a good person and a capable baseball man, but I think we’ll all have more confidence in Jocketty’s ability to evaluate personnel. I certainly feel more confident in his ability to decide whether the Reds should make a long-term commitment to Dunn.By Greg
April 23, 2008 4:01 PM | Link to this
Boy I love Hal McCoy but…. Sounds like a sports writer who couldn’t get a scoop from the GM. He got use to Bowden who would brag about his dealings and was a glutton for publicity. One comment on the Patterson and Fogg deals, seems like Jockety should have been “advising” Bob. evidently he was not or he was for those two signings as well. more likely he was behind the scenes trying to submarine poor Krivsky. If Jockety was Bobs man he should have fired Krivsky a few months ago when he hired Jockety to be his “special advisor.” I hope Wayne gets another shot at GM he has a great eye for talent and got us some tremendous steals in Phillips, Volquez, Keppinger, Arroyo, Burton, etcBy Greg
April 23, 2008 4:01 PM | Link to this
Boy I love Hal McCoy but…. Sounds like a sports writer who couldn’t get a scoop from the GM. He got use to Bowden who would brag about his dealings and was a glutton for publicity. One comment on the Patterson and Fogg deals, seems like Jockety should have been “advising” Bob. evidently he was not or he was for those two signings as well. more likely he was behind the scenes trying to submarine poor Krivsky. If Jockety was Bobs man he should have fired Krivsky a few months ago when he hired Jockety to be his “special advisor.” I hope Wayne gets another shot at GM he has a great eye for talent and got us some tremendous steals in Phillips, Volquez, Keppinger, Arroyo, Burton, etcBy The Big Red Machine Shall Ride Again
April 23, 2008 3:52 PM | Link to this
Very interesting report. Love this blog, Hal. If someone had told me in 2004 that the Reds would have Walt Jocketty as their GM and Dusty Baker as their manager in 2008, I would have said that somehow the Reds have gotten themselves a great owner. Here’s to Bob Castellini…By farthead
April 23, 2008 3:34 PM | Link to this
I’d like to take a dump on all of your krivsky bashersBy Dave Collins
April 23, 2008 3:27 PM | Link to this
This is the most beautiful day I’ve experienced in years. Krivsky should’ve been fired last year, when his solution to the relief problem was to shuttle the same losers back and forth from AAA to the bullpen. Send down Coffey, bring up Belisle. A month later: send down Belisle, bring up Coffey. It was astonishing to see that kind of poor decisionmaking on a MLB team. Neither pitcher belongs on a ML roster because they never learn, evolve, or improve. They make the same mistakes repeatedly. It all came down to Krivsky’s insecure ego: his inability to admit that certain players he brought in are losers. He paid them way too much, left them in the bigs way too long, and they dragged the team down with their incompetency. The surprise isn’t that he was fired, but that it didn’t happen last year! Jocketty’s first act will probably and hopefully be to get rid of the remaining losers like Coffey, Fogg, and most crucially, Belisle. They blackmark the Reds as losers, so let’s get rid of them asap.By Mike
April 23, 2008 3:22 PM | Link to this
Unless Jocketty can get the team to be better hitters and stop trying to hit every pitch out of the ball park it is not going to matter. They have way to many of the same guys. Please no more veterans that nobody else wants. We have some very talented young players in the minors. Let see what they can do.By Y-City Jim
April 23, 2008 3:21 PM | Link to this
“No one will notice. This reds team is a 70-75 win team no matter who is GM. They need pitching.” They need pitching? I count four games that they lost due to their pitching. Three starters are tied for second in strikeouts. If the offense wakes up this team is the best team in the division.By gene garrity
April 23, 2008 3:18 PM | Link to this
FYI Hal , it has recently been reported that the Oakland A’s are ” Eating ” Rheal Cormiers contract . Hope Big Bob sent `em a head of lettuce to kill that bad taste. Krivsky is a good scout and a POOR architect …he did NOTHING to fix the lefthanded LOPSIDEDNESS of this team . But then again many of us believe it was BIGBOB who brought Dunn back. What is your take on this ?By Tim Freund
April 23, 2008 3:08 PM | Link to this
While Wayne did make some bad contract moves, I am sure that acquiring Philips, Hamilton, Keoppinger, and others far outweigh his mistakes. Basically he got All Stars for nothing. Remember he took over a franchise that had no hope with no players. I think it was a mistake to fire Waybe but it is hard to compete with the boss’s best friend.By Tim Freund
April 23, 2008 3:08 PM | Link to this
While Wayne did make some bad contract moves, I am sure that acquiring Philips, Hamilton, Keoppinger, and others far outweigh his mistakes. Basically he got All Stars for nothing. Remember he took over a franchise that had no hope with no players. I think it was a mistake to fire Waybe but it is hard to compete with the boss’s best friend.By Tim Freund
April 23, 2008 3:07 PM | Link to this
While Wayne did make some bad contract moves, I am sure that acquiring Philips, Hamilton, Keoppinger, and others far outweigh his mistakes. Basically he got All Stars for nothing. Remember he took over a franchise that had no hope with no players. I think it was a mistake to fire Waybe but it is hard to compete with the boss’s best friend.By Tim Freund
April 23, 2008 3:07 PM | Link to this
While Wayne did make some bad contract moves, I am sure that acquiring Philips, Hamilton, Keoppinger, and others far outweigh his mistakes. Basically he got All Stars for nothing. Remember he took over a franchise that had no hope with no players. I think it was a mistake to fire Waybe but it is hard to compete with the boss’s best friend.By Bruce
April 23, 2008 3:04 PM | Link to this
Good post Chris. Great reference on Johnny Almazar. I liked the Krivsky hiring at first, but too many bad, no, horrible decisions will cost anyone their job.By Chris @ Seeing Reds
April 23, 2008 2:47 PM | Link to this
I think that Wayne was arrogant, but I think that in the end it was his insecurities that caused him to lose his job. Most of his moves for known major league talent seemed to be moves made out of the profound fear that if he DIDN’T offer so much money that he would be vilified by ownership for not doing enough. Think about the extensions of Stanton, Freel, Cormier. Think about the Kearns trade. Further, I think that Wayne’s insecurities in being overmatched as the GM caused him to become dictatorial in his “management” style. We saw the fruits of that overbearing attitude in his nearly belligerent behavior with the media. I think that’s why Johnny Almaraz left. I think that’s why he and Walt never got along. Wayne’s an excellent evaluator of untapped talent. He’ll make another fine assistant GM or farm director somewhere else. However, the pressures of being the #1 guy were more than he could bear. Instead of being an inclusive leader, he became an exclusive tyrant. He lit the fuse on this bomb mere days after he was hired when he made it clear that he was brining in his “varsity team” of front-office people while the holdovers could stay but would always be views as “B-teamers”. I hate that he was fired, but I hate even more that he failed as a leader of the organization that I love so. ChrisBy Kyle
April 23, 2008 2:47 PM | Link to this
First of all, I lied. I watched the game last night. Second, does this mean that Dusty might be on he way out too? We can only hope.By null
April 23, 2008 2:38 PM | Link to this
Finally!!!! Great move. This should have happened during the offseason. Let’s continue to move forward with proven winners, not those that we hope will win someday.By Randy Plessinger
April 23, 2008 2:37 PM | Link to this
Business first Baseball second. Just too many egos in one suite. Krivsky did one helluva job building the farm system back up. He should have been offered another position in the development part of the system.He does have an eye for talent. You can’t keep tossing talent like him and McKannin out of the organization ala Marge.By Yeah Reds
April 23, 2008 2:29 PM | Link to this
FINALLY…too bad the misteps he made cannot be undone!By nate
April 23, 2008 2:26 PM | Link to this
Thanks for the inside info regarding your relationship with Wayne Krivsky. It’s too bad about Mr. Krivsky because I was extremely excited about him taking over as GM after Dan O’Brien. Hopefully the Reds will head in a winning direction now.By boxter
April 23, 2008 2:23 PM | Link to this
No one will notice. This reds team is a 70-75 win team no matter who is GM. They need pitching.By P.E. Rose
April 23, 2008 2:11 PM | Link to this
Krivsky looks like Johnny Bench.By Chris
April 23, 2008 2:07 PM | Link to this
I didn’t like Krivsky, but still think this was a mistake move. What is this - 5 GMs in less than 6 years? (Leatherpants, Kullman/Maddox, O’B, Kriv, Jocketty). That’s no way to run an organization.By Jeff
April 23, 2008 2:02 PM | Link to this
Here is why, Mike Stanton Rheal Cormier Josh Fogg Alex Gonzalez David Ross Bronson Arroyo Juan Castro Todd Coffey Corey Patterson As a business owner you can’t eat these contracts, I mean honestly 3 million for Patterson, 3.5 for Stanton. I know he didnt sign Milton but you think he would have learned.By Dan
April 23, 2008 1:49 PM | Link to this
I don’t think he slit his own throat. If Jocketty were still employed with the Cards, Krivsky wouldn’t have lost his job today. I liked Krivsky and felt we were generally moving in the right direction. He did make some bad moves, yes…but compared to predecessors, at least he was making moves in attempts to make the club better. Some didn’t pan out. The same goes for this move by Castellini. He is trying to make the club better. Here’s hoping it works.By GoReds
April 23, 2008 1:34 PM | Link to this
Don’t forget letting Cantu go - we could have a 120RBI guy at 3B NOW. Now we have Hairston when the consummate leadoff hitter sits the bench and can play CF (Hopper), and led the league in hitting in Aug/Sep 07. Dusty isn’t any better than Krivsky.By Bruce
April 23, 2008 1:28 PM | Link to this
Krisvky let his arrogance get in the way of making good baseball decisions. His early success with the Arroyo/Phillips/Ross deals may have worked against him in the long run. After those deals, I believe he felt all that he touched would turn to gold.