Nope, that honor still goes to Bowden, even when he wasn’t GMing. At least O’Brien didn’t sign Soriwhino when he had an all-star second basemen who is committed to his team.

Agree about Dick Wagner.

I hated Guillen when he was on the Reds. Now that he’s grown up and he plays for the Nats, I love him. I just couldn’t stand how he thought he should have been playing before Griffey.

Jimenez was pretty much a jerk. Good riddance.

“Which Reds personnel or former Reds personnel do you hate with an undying, burning passion that will never be quenched?”

So now to get back on topic…my answer is: Ex-Reds GM Dick Wagner, for letting Pete Rose get away to Montreal as a free agent, and even more, for firing Sparky Anderson.

HMZ

Anyhow, what’s done is done. This is our hand and now we shall see how it plays out. My point of all of this is that it is detrimental to sit here and criticize our offseson acquisitions/re-signings before they even play 1 game. I know 5 years of losing breeds pessimism, but can we watch some games before we start the scapegoating and name calling?

[b]The Reds already left Howard unprotected for the Rule 5 draft so they obviously saw no future for him in the Reds organization[/b]
I think that is as much of an indictment against the Reds as it is of Howard. Howard isn’t going to be a star, but at least he has some possibility of contributing in the next 2 years.

[b]Who was the other guy we gave the Yanks?[/b]
Ben Himes was the other player, an outfielder that was stuck in Single-A. No big loss, outside of using 2 players to get Womack.

[b]You are right 1.1M instead of 800K — still chicken feed for a player capable of playing every day and with the rare commodity of basestealing ability.[/b]
First of all, I think it’s funny that there is a game show on NBC where contestants are overjoyed at the possibility of winning a million dollars, but paying one of the 10 worst hitters in the league that much money is considered chicken feed. I know baseball is a different market, I just thought that was funny.

As for Womack’s rare commodity, they already had that in Ryan Freel. But the thing is, Freel has actually shown an ability to get on base, something Womack has never done well. And I hate to say it, because it has been said ad naseum since Womack was acquired, but you can’t still first base. It’s almost as if that statement was invented for Tony.

[b]I do not want him at the top of the Cardinals lineup batting .300 and stealing 30 bases, I can tell you that much.[/b]
I wouldn’t worry about that. The guy has only batted over .282 once in his career and he hasn’t stolen 30 bases since 2000, when he was 30 years old.

[b]Even if he only batted .280 it is still a better leadoff option that David Eckstein.[/b]
I can’t stand Eckstein, but I would take him and his career .351 OBP over Tony Womack and his .316 career OBP any day of the week. Of course, I’d take Ryan Freel over both of them. If only the Reds had a player like Ryan Freel to play every day.

But but … he hit .300! How could he have been less than average if he hit .300?!? Hell, he stole 26 bases too, he does it all.

Answer me this Joel. When’s the last time your man-God Adam Dunn hit .300? Huh? Answer that. Yeah.

I would much rather the Cardinals had Womack than the Reds, that’s how bad he is. His 2004 season was nothing more than a fluke for him, and even at that, he was still less than an average player. And it wasn’t just with the Yankees that he was bad. His 2003 season with Arizona, Colorado, and the Cubs was worse than 2005. I’m sorry, but I can’t find any reason to be happy to have him on the roster taking at bats away from anybody.

Geki already pointed out the multiple instances of Aurilia’s “veteran leadership.” However, I’m not upset about having him around in a bench role. He’s at least a little better than your average replacement player and the Reds aren’t breaking the bank to keep him. And if he accepts a back-up, security blanket role, then all the better.

One more thing on Aurilia, the problem is not that he plays better at home. Several Reds had some decent sized home-road splits in 2005 and his numbers at home in 2005 were quite good (.941 OPS). I would be happy if he did that again in ’06. The problem is that he was terrible on the road in 2005 (.622 OPS). And given the numbers that he put up the two seasons prior, I’m afraid that we might see a big drop off in his home numbers but not a big improvement in his road numbers. Hopefully, I’m wrong.

As for Aurilia, yea I agree those splits are disappointing, but I think we will see more consistent performance this year. even if he still plays way better at home, it makes it a lot easier to decide when to play him. I don’t think he is a starter.. he is just insurance in case Encarnacion falters or someone gets hurt. He came through in a lot of clutch situations, so it gives Narron another option off the bench.

If you are going to ridicule O’Brien it should be about the state of the pitching staff, not veteran bench players. The bench has actually been a strength the past couple of years.

Even you admit he can hit at GABP.

Aurilia, fresh of the coast where it’s normal for people to speak up, said like ONE thing last season about playing time and was immediately branded as some kind of whiner. This year, he’s adjusted to this Ohioan ideal of sitting down and shutting up and has been perfectly willing to quietly play wherever they put him. Funny how no one seems to notice that part, though.

Plus, his wife has always been real nice to me.

Person I couldn’t stand: D’Angelo Jimenez. Talk about a sense of entitlement.

Dammit, Geki, what are you doing? You know I can’t let a comment like that stay up.