Headlines and comments

April 23, 2008 02:32 pm

— Tigers' first, third basemen switch spots

Makes perfect sense. Miguel Cabrera has long been a below average third baseman, and Carlos Guillen has been a shortstop all his life. Gullen's aching knees limited him defensively the past couple of years, but let's face it — a guy who can play shortstop regularly for a 90-win team probably doesn't need to move directly to first base. This should improve the Detroit defense.

Kyle Lohse is 13th in the NL in ERA

OK, that's not a headline. But it's still noteworthy, considering that he was unemployed in mid-March.

I said this a couple of years ago: St. louis is the ideal team for him. He's exactly the type of pitcher Tony LaRussa has built his career on — he's been around a while, has obvious talent, has never really put it together. There's a startlingly impressive list of pitchers who had big years for LaRussa and never for anybody else — LaMarr Hoyt, Dave Stewart, Mike Moore, Chris Carpenter, Storm Davis. If Loshe can't succeed with Larussa and Dave Duncan, he can't pitch for anybody.

The Cincinnati Reds fired Wayne Krivsky as GM.

Bound to happen. Krivsky was hired to do for the Reds what he helped Terry Ryan do with the Twins, but two years — almost exactly — isn't enough.

He's not Ryan. Ryan's a scout, and Krivsky, like new Twins GM Bill Smith, is an executive. The Reds, by and large, are better off now than they were when Krivsky took over, but it has been the kind of progress -- based on drafting and developing young players -- that an impatient owner has difficulty recognizing.

He was probably doomed as soon as the Reds hired Dusty Baker to manage. The decision this spring to sign Corey Patterson late, anoint him the center fielder and keep Jay Bruce in the minors was inane in the extreme. Baker apparently never noticed that Patterson was 1-for-28 as of Sunday. Patterson's a veteran, and Bruce isn't. Baker can't see beyond that fact.

I don't know who to blame, but I have my suspicions. Hiring Baker has all the earmarks of a clueless owner deciding the team needed a big name in the dugout, and never mind the fact that Baker is far more comfortable managing veterans than young players and the fact that the Reds have a lot of good young players. Baker was a silly hire for that team at this time. I suspect Krivsky knew that.

Kivsky was probably undermined by Walt Jocketty, the former Cardinals GM who knows the Cincy owner (who sued to be part of the Cardinals ownerhsip group) and now is the Cincy GM.

Krivsky made a few very good moves, and a few dumb ones, but on the whole, he shouldn't have gotten the ax.

e-mail Edward Thoma