Reds GM Decision

The Reds have finally chosen their general manager. After initially interviewing 8 candidates, they pared it down to two, Twins Assistant GM Wayne Krivsky and an in-house special advisor, Jim Beattie. Then, Krivsky came in and blew owner Bob Castellini away with his preparedness and got the job. He now replaces Dan O'Brien, the man he lost out to in the Reds' last GM search. Though he shares the same passionate desire to make immediate progress in reversing the Reds' 5-year streak of losing seasons as his new boss, it will be difficult. The Reds' payroll is not expected to rise this year, and with Spring Training just a few weeks away, the roster is largely set.

Still, this move inspires optimism at least in the heart of this Reds fan, since as I mentioned in picking Krivsky in the January 30 Mindreader contest, he is coming from an organization in the Twins that knows how to win in a smaller market. After last year's Eric Milton debacle, I swore that I would wait to see results on the field before getting too excited about anything Cincinnati does in the offseason. However, I can't help eagerly anticipating what Krivsky is going to do in the coming years. He already knows the Reds organization, since that was one of the teams he routinely scouted while with the Twins. He also is aware of the team's heritage as the Big Red Machine, and is adamant in saying he thinks the Reds can get back to that kind of stature in the baseball world. Knowledge plus determination equals success much more often than not, so I really think this hire will do a lot to get the Reds out of baseball obscurity.