Commentary: Message sent by Price hiring

When the Cincinnati Reds released manager Dusty Baker as manager, the Reds sent a message: Good is not good enough.

No question the Reds have been good the last four years. Three playoff appearances in four years have reinvigorated a fan base that was becoming apathetic. Great American Ballpark is rocking on a nightly basis and star players like Joey Votto and Brandon Phillips have led the charge.

The talent the Reds have amassed over the last several years has been championship-worthy. Along with Phillips, Votto, and RBI-machine Jay Bruce, Cincinnati has one of the best pitching staffs in baseball and a dependable closer in Aroldis Chapman.

Despite a payroll of over $100 million, Cincinnati’s season concluded in a one-game playoff loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Yet another season the Reds were not competing for a National League Championship.

Does Baker deserve all of the blame for the Reds’ postseason doldrums? Of course not, but his lack of urgency rubbed off on the team.

In sports, it is important for teams to not get too high and for them to not to get too low. The Reds were clearly too low heading into the MLB Wild Card round. Baker provided no motivation and no urgency.

Replacing Baker with pitching coach Bryan Price is an intelligent move by Reds General Manager Walt Jocketty. The advantage of bringing in Price is continuity. He knows the players and organization well. He also is younger than Baker and brings more energy from the manager’s position- something the Reds desperately have needed.

“Bryan’s relationships and familiarity with our organization and the team, both position players and pitchers, put him in a position to have a smooth transition moving forward,” Jocketty said.

Price has had to manage to keep a bullpen satisfied as players like Sean Marshall, Sam LeCure, and Jonathan Broxton could all have bigger, more important bullpen roles in other organizations. He also at times had six bona fide starters he had to juggle in the rotation with the addition of Tony Cingrani. The way he handled his staff proved he is prepared to manage an entire ball club.

“I just hope to cultivate some stronger sense of unity to an organization that is already united,” Price said.

And there is no question players will be united around their manager come spring training in February.