Article:Reds give Krivsky pink slip

It only took Cincinnatti Reds 21 games to clean out the house. And given the fact that the team last made it to post season was in 1995, there may be more moves made. The team today annouced that they fired fired Wayne Krivsky on Wednesday and replaced him with Walt Jocketty. Jocketty has been known to build winning teams, building consistent winners during 10 seasons running the Oakland Athletics and 13 seasons in St. Louis with the Cardinals.

Reds owner Bob Castellini said emphatically. “We’ve just come to a point where we’re not going to lose anymore." That may be a tough order, given the fact that the Reds are in the same division with St. Louis and Chicago, two major powers in that division. They have to crawl over their bodies to get to the top. Not an easy task, granted. Then again, as Joe Garagiola once said, "Baseball is a funny game."

Cincinnati has a lot of talent, with names such as George Kenneth Griffey, Jr. and Adam Dunn. Their pitching is not bad either. Bronson Arroyo and Aaron Harang will give you innings. I just hope they don't get stupid and deplete their farm system, like so many teams have done in the past. They have a pretty good field manager in Dusty Baker, who has proven that he can win. They need to be more competetive to win the Central and go back to post season play.

Their last .500 season was 1999, when the team went 96-66. Since then, they have gone into a free fall that not even Schotzie could save them from. This team can play better. I know it for a fact. This move was a start. There needs to be more done if they want to take on St. Louis and Chicago for the division title. Their last World Series title was 1990, when they swept an Oakland team that was led by The Bash Brothers, Mark McGwire and Jose Canseco.

Cincinnati’s payroll increased from $69 million at the start of last year to $74.3 million on opening day, which makes them 18th in the majors. It's time to start earning the dead presidents, fellas. A winning Cincy ballclub of Morgan, Bench, Rose, Perez, Concepcion, Foster, et al, is what I remember. Time to be the Big Red Machine once again. Roll up the sleeves and go to work. Your fans, among the best and knowledgeable in the game, deserve it.