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The
Reds promoted Bryan Price from pitching coach to
manager on Tuesday and introduced him
during a news conference at Great
American Ball Park. Price, 51, was Cincinnati's pitching
coach for the
past four seasons and replaces Dusty Baker. Photo
courtesy of reds.com
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Reds tab Price to be their new manager
Cincinnati turns to
pitching coach who has led staff to success over past four years
reds.com
CINCINNATI -- Reds general manager Walt Jocketty made a lengthy list of
potential candidates to replace Dusty Baker as manager and a shorter
list of those he considered to interview.
Both were quickly tossed aside once Jocketty and chief executive
officer Bob Castellini interviewed Bryan Price.
Hence, the Reds moved quickly to promote Price from pitching coach to
manager. The club felt Price not only met desired qualifications of
leadership, personality, organizational skills and accountability -- he
exceeded them.
"I think everyone in the room that day was as convinced as Bob and I
were in the first meeting that he was certainly the guy that stands
out," Jocketty said. "Once we had the meeting with Bryan, we felt there
was no reason to go any further. He convinced us this was the right
time and right place for him to lead this club."
Jocketty and Castellini first met with Price in Arizona on Oct. 12, and
there was a second meeting with members of the front office last
Wednesday. During a final meeting Saturday, Jocketty offered Price the
job and a three-year contract to become the 61st manager in Reds
history.
"Bryan is exceptional, and we've been with him long enough to know how
exceptional he is," Castellini said. "And he also can communicate very,
very well, and he knows baseball very well and he loves the game and he
loves the Reds. And if we hadn't kept him here, he would have gone
elsewhere, I'm sure."
Price, 51, was introduced Tuesday during a news conference at Great
American Ball Park. He was Cincinnati's pitching coach for the past
four seasons under Baker, who was relieved of his duties Oct. 3
following his team's defeat to the Pirates in the National League Wild
Card Game.
This is the first managerial job at any level for Price, who
interviewed for the Marlins' managerial vacancy last winter. That
experience gave him the ambition to challenge himself further. He was
expected to be an attractive managerial option for other clubs in the
near future.
"It's been a heck of a ride to this point; that's for sure," Price
said. "I know with this job comes an awful lot of accountability and
responsibility. One thing I'd really like to accomplish is to try to
make sure everybody here in the Reds organization feels that these are
some of the best years that they've spent working in the Reds
organization. I just hope to cultivate an even stronger sense of unity
here in an organization that's already extremely united."
Before joining Cincinnati, Price spent 10 seasons as a Major League
pitching coach with the Mariners (2000-05) and the D-backs (2006-09).
Price was one of two internal candidates for the job publicly named by
Jocketty. The only other known candidate was Jim Riggleman, who has
managed the Padres, Cubs, Mariners and Nationals.
For the rest of this article and more, go to reds.com
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