Byline: Lonnie Wheeler
Jerry Narron says that he manages his major-leaguers just like he coaches the girls on his high school basketball team, which ought to tell us something.
Back in North Carolina, where basketballs dangle from the firs, Narron's Rosewood Eagles are 12-3 now, the three defeats all occurring when he was indisposed with his pesky baseball business. The first two spoiled his few days at the winter meetings. The third came this week as he set out on the Reds Caravan.
Even so, Rosewood figures to be a postseason player in North Carolina's smallest classification, which must be really small. Narron's team isn't much bigger. He starts four guards.
He does so because it fits his personnel -- which includes his daughter, Clare, a senior -- and also his style. 'We play up and down the floor, both sides of the ball,' said the drawling skipper. 'We press from the beginning and really get after it hard defensively.
'The girls basically hear the same things I tell my ballplayers. I believe in trying to make something happen, being aggressive. I'm a make-something-happen fan.'
Could that explain the trade for Tony Womack? Could it lend significance to the contract for Ryan Freel?
Could it suggest that the Reds will willingly suffer the loss of a long-ball outfielder if one can be exchanged for desperately needed and presumably decent pitching in the days ahead? Austin Kearns has been frequently mentioned, mostly in the way of Brad Kullman, the interim general manager, saying he doesn't want to trade him, which means that he's thinking hard about it. Or does it mean that he's pondering on Wily Mo Pena? (It wouldn't be Ken Griffey Jr., would it? Would it?)
Of course, Narron hasn't been present at the plain-speaking meetings that the Reds' baseball people have been holding this week. But given the shimmering terms in which Bob Castellini, the new, can-do owner refers to him, there could well be some simpatico philosophies at work here.
Put it all together, and the Reds may be morphing in front of our eyes. Bear in mind, also, that this is Kullman's fleeting chance to show the brass his brass. And remember that, in a few furious days of 2003, he crated up Scott Williamson, Jose Guillen and Aaron Boone, in that order, returning Aaron Harang and Brandon Claussen, who now represent the top of the team's pitching rotation.
As a former catcher, Narron, meanwhile, has a thorough appreciation for pitchers, one deepened by his difficulty in hitting them. He's a defense guy. If baseball permitted a full-diamond press, Narron would be trapping at every corner.
It would stand to reason, then, that Kearns, equipped of sound arm and glove, is probably his kind of outfielder. And Pena isn't.
Mind you, Narron is not the one dialing up general managers these days. There is a possibility, also, that Kullman's jets will be cooled by an understandable decision to hold off until the real GM has been hired; although that stance is not likely to get Kullman's vote. (Along the same lines, can't you see Jim Beattie, a GM candidate just hired to evaluate the Cincinnati pitching, pitching a trade or two in the hope that it will raise his executive profile?)
But if Narron's agenda counts for anything, the Reds will be dicing some of their power into smaller, interlocking pieces. And not just for defensive purposes.
'The big thing for us,' he said, 'is being able to manufacture runs when you're seeing good pitching. Having Freel who can do that, and Womack who can do that, you'll have at least one of them in the lineup every night. So many times last year, we didn't have that.
'If they were in the lineup together, I'd say that Freel would be in the outfield and Womack at second. Maybe Freel at third. Of the two, I'd say Tony would probably be more at second and Freel probably more all over the field.'
By trading an outfielder, the Reds would actually be down two of them, Adam Dunn having moved to first base to replace Sean Casey. But Freel is a workable, manager-friendly option. So, possibly, is Chris Denorfia, a small-baller recently named the organization's top minor-leaguer of 2005.
If asked, of course, the devil would advocate that the Reds hang onto their home runs, given the generosity shown to power hitters by Great American Ball Park. And the devil is no dummy. But half the games are played away. Even without the guns of, say, Pena, the Reds could tap into Rich Aurilia's relative power for home games and Womack's speed -- in addition to Freel's -- on the road.
Meanwhile, they find themselves once again in a position of shopping for quality pitching at practically any price. Spring training is a month away.
And wouldn't you know, so are the North Carolina high school playoffs. In fact, they start on the very same day. The Rosewood Eagles will have to get along without their head coach and father figure.
But, hey, they know what to do. Make something happen.
Contact Lonnie Wheeler at lwheeler@cincypost.com.
