Cincinnati Reds miss the boat on Bryan Price as manager

The Cincinnati Reds are misusing ace pitching coach Bryan Price as their manager, costing him and them.

The Cincinnati Reds are a smaller market team.  There is no doubt about that.  If it weren’t for the general lack of competition for fans in Kentucky, they could sink as low as the teams in Florida for fan base size.

Given their financial shortcomings, it is necessary for the Reds to put people in the right positions.  The position for the employee and the team to exceed simultaneously should be the goal, especially when extending contracts.  With manager Bryan Price coming back in 2018, the Reds are missing the boat.

People in Cincinnati tend to forget how good of a pitching coach Price was before he became the Reds’ manager.  He was an MLB pitching coach for fourteen seasons before he took the job at the helm.  He also won coach of the year awards in 2001 and 2007 while with the Seattle Mariners and Arizona Diamondbacks, respectively.

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His Seattle staffs went a combined 512-460 for a .527 winning percentage.  His Arizona staffs went 183-168 for a .521 winning percentage.  Then Price came to Cincinnati.

With the Reds, the Price-led staffs went 357-291 for a .551 winning percentage.  The Reds were arguably his best job as a pitching coach.  Then the Reds made him their manager.

The Cincinnati Reds could have made any number of moves when Dusty Baker left, but the move they made was the wrong one.

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Since Price has taken over as the Reds’ manager, the success has been lacking.  In 522 games, Price has gone 227-295 for a winning percentage of .435.  That is not good.

Since 1952, the only manager with a worse winning percentage than that was Vern Rapp in 1984.  Bucky Walters and Luke Sewell managed the Reds from 1948-1952.  They had a combined record of 255-357 for a winning percentage of .417.

Price as manager is historically bad.  Price as pitching coach is historically good.  It is that simple.

The Reds have two fantastic managerial options on their coaching staff right now.  If they are looking for a youngster friendly manager, they need look no further than third base coach Billy Hatcher.  He was a hero for the 1990 World Series winning team.

When the Reds are ready to compete again, they have a built in MLB manager in Jim Riggleman.  Riggleman has managed the San Diego Padres, Chicago Cubs, Seattle Mariners and Washington Nationals.  Riggleman managed the Nationals from 2009 until June 23, 2011 when he resigned because the team hadn’t picked up his 2012 option.

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Price should be the pitching coach.  The Reds need another manager.  Now is the time for the change.