Dear David Bell: "Fine'' is a 4-Letter Word
If Reds are OK with Fine, they'll experience October at home
Greetings from FreeForAll Tuesday, where the written brilliance flows like Guinness from a tap. A pint of Guinness will cost you roughly what a month of TML would. That’d be 8 bucks. One beer or 20 TMLs? Your call. Enjoy.
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Pittsburgh rookie phee-nom Paul Skenes stuck it up the Reds aspirations Monday night, something he has done to every team he’s faced since arriving last month as the Pirates designated savior. Actually, saving the Pirates requires nothing less than a change in ownership. Can Skenes take the locks off owner Bob Nutting’s pockets and/or kick him to the curb?
We digress.
After the 1-4 L, Reds manager David Bell talked about the Club’s starting pitcher, Carson Spiers. Spiers gave up 3 runs in the 1st and another in the 2nd. Bell’s appraisal of Spiers:
“He threw six innings, held us right there and gave us a shot to win.”
Oh.
I guess my OG definition of success is a bit more demanding. I thought Giving Us a Chance to Win was a bare-minimum job description. Translation: You didn’t screw it up so badly, we’d have needed the ‘76 Reds to come back.
You allow four runs in the first two innings, you’re not doing your job. Your team’s success rate stinks, especially when the other guy’s pitcher is hot and dominant. Four runs in two innings gives you a very good chance of losing. Which the Reds did.
Frequent Perusers of This Space know of my fondness for DBell. I think he has the proper temperament for managing a group of promising kids. Baseball is about surfing the waves. One game at a time is the greatest sports cliche ever, mainly because it’s dead-accurate, especially in baseball.
You can’t run a team effectively across six months if your temperament resembles a sprinter’s EKG. Bell has done a nice job managing impressionable young adults. The team has responded by playing up to its talent level. The ‘24 Reds are not a self-satisfied bunch. They don’t seem to need the manager cracking the whip. Same as last year. But they didn’t make October last year.
David, demand more. (Getty)
When should that approach change? When does the manager turn up the heat of expectations? The Reds are young, yes. At what point are they mature enough to handle some pressure? When do mistakes stop being soft-peddled, at least publicly?
Carson Spiers did not pitch well. He did not give the Reds a decent chance to win.
After Sunday’s loss in Milwaukee, Bell said, “If we continue to play like we did today, we’re going to be just fine.”
This is standard Bell ShrugSpeak.
Did we mention they lost 2 of 3 to the NL Central’s measuring stick? If they continue to play like they did Sunday, they’re not going to be just fine, unless your Just Fine definition is 80-82 and postseason spectating.
I hate the word “fine.’’ It sounds like mediocrity. Fine isn’t Great, or even Good. Fine is fine. It’s settling.
How was your trip around the world, Doc?
It was fine.
Would you describe a Jeff Ruby steak as “fine’’?
Would you say the Bengals will have a “fine’’ ‘24 season if they win 10 games and lose a wildcard playoff? I mean, strictly speaking, that would be a fine year. Ten wins, playoffs. But when paired with expectations. . .
It wouldn’t be fine. Not at all.
The Reds are ready to have their expectations raised. They can handle pointed criticism. They got picked off twice Sunday and once more Monday night. De La Cruz made another error. Unacceptable.
The Brewers took that 1-run game Sunday because they made all the plays, even the hard ones. Especially the hard ones. The bar of expectations here is due for a raising.
The cliche is “a sense of urgency.’’ The players have talked frequently about how good they are and how it’s just a matter of time before they take off. It’s starting to get irritating. Do we continue waiting for the proverbial light bulb? Or does Bell force the issue a little?
The Club sits at eight games out, same as it was two weeks ago, same as it was a month ago. That’s not showing us how good they are. Or maybe it is.
We don’t often get what we expect in life. We get what we put up with. These Reds don’t have Scott Rolen coming to the rescue and running the clubhouse. The manager can add a bit of an edge to his managing without hurting his players’ psyches.
Urgency isn’t defined by Run-DLC scoring from 2nd on an errant pickoff throw. It’s defined by not getting picked off.
As Marvin Lewis said more than once, “I see better than I hear.’’ Time to adjust the tone. Only Bell can do that. Having a slight “chance’’ to win isn’t the same as winning.
It’s “fine.’’ Which isn’t good. At all.
Now, then. . .
EVERYTHING’S FOR SALE in college sports, including Tradition, which used to the best thing college sports had going for it. It was a notch above Rivalries, which have been downsized to such an extent, they barely exist. Can’t wait for those two new “Atlantic Coast’’ Conference teams from southern California.
Yahoo’s Dan Wetzel quoted a quasi-am money-grubber saying this:
“It’s a scramble for money,” one major conference commissioner said Monday. “Everything is going to be for sale.”
Well isn’t that special.
Prepare for college jocks logo-ed up like NASCAR drivers and golf pros. In addition to learning the plays, players now will memorize their sponsors, so in the postgame they can give credit where it’s due.
Maybe star QBs will, like NASCAR drivers, have a designated Hat Guy, the dude whose main job is handing a ballcap to a player every 10 seconds
Maybe 20 years ago, I wrote that sooner or later, individual ballplayers would be identified not by the cities they represent, but by the corporations that pay them.
Next up for the Reds, Barry Larkin, brought to you by Procter & Gamble. I never expected the prediction to include college kids.
THE PEOPLE’S CHAMPION? Bryson DeChambeau got much love for his fan-friendliness at the US Open. Seems that golf fans are so needy for attention from their heroes, all a hero has to do is wave at them occasionally or sign a few autographs.
Good for Bryson, but he won’t be a hero of mine as long as he maintains his affiliation with the Saudis who pay his salary, and whose stupid team ballcaps he’s obligated to wear.
The Crushers. Do tell.
Um, dum.
People who mutilate other people, who dismember them, who subjugate their wives into 2nd-class status, should not be able to muscle their way into pro golf with nothing more than fistfuls of cash. And they really shouldn’t be enabled by golfers already making swag by the truckload.
Bryson DeChambeau might be able to connect with fans like he’s the next Phil Mickelson. He’ll always be a sellout to some of us.
TUNE O’ THE DAY. . . Obscure doesn’t mean bad. Some great tunes never find an audience due to lots of circumstances. Most have nothing to do with how good they are. I’ve never spun this tune here. One of my favorites. Listening to it makes me happy. That is all.
The problem is not Bryson. The problem is too many people don't care. Very similar to the other narcissist you write about under the "stick to sports not" category.
David Bell is a nice guy but I am not sure he's the right person to lead the Reds back to the playoffs. Other than the shortened season due to COVID he's had a lackluster managerial career. Granted not had a lot to work with in years past but can you tell me Ellie's defense is going to improve? I mean how many guys improve defensively once they get to the majors. The teams fundamentals have gotten worse year over year. They may not need a strict disciplinarian but they sure as hell need a guy that understands the importance of basic fundamentals like, oh I don't know, like don't get picked off base game after game?