Tuesday, October 08, 2002
Reassignment irks Rodgers
Reds assistant GM since 1997 now just a special assistant to Bowden
By John Fay, jfay@enquirer.com
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Darrell “Doc” Rodgers, the second-in-command and highest-ranking minority in the Reds' baseball operations, has been reassigned.
The announcement came Monday that Rodgers, an African-American who had been the Reds' assistant general manager since Jan.1997, was now a special assistant to the general manager.
“Doc's a great evaluator of talent,” Reds general manager Jim Bowden said. “We think this is a better position for him.”
Rodgers didn't see it that way.
“I'm shocked, disappointed,” he said. “Really speechless.”
Rodgers said he had no warning of the move and received no explanation for the decision.
“We had a staff meeting at 10 in the morning on Friday, the last day at Cinergy, to go over details of the move,” Rodgers said. “Five minutes before the meeting, Jim pulled me aside and said, "We're making a change. You're no longer part of the front office. You've been reassigned to special assistant.' We talked about some contractual things, and that was it.”
Rodgers' reassignment is the third major move in the baseball operations department since mid-
June. Scouting director Kasey McKeon was reassigned to major-league scout June18. McKeon, like Rodgers, saw the move as a demotion and wasn't happy about it.
Head trainer Greg Lynn announced his resignation Sept.26. Lynn wouldn't come out and say it, but the move wasn't voluntary.
Rodgers has been with the Reds for 14 years overall — three as a minor-league pitcher, two as a minor-league coach and nine in two separate stints in the front office. He left for a year, 1996, to become director of baseball administration for the Detroit Tigers before returning.
Rodgers has no immediate plans to leave the Reds.
“When there's no explanation, you have no preparation for it,” he said. “The last six years, I felt — and others did, too — that I was a very effective assistant general manager. Obviously, others don't feel the same way.”
Rodgers says the Reds' recent struggles might have had something to do with the move.
“The 2001 season was an eventful year for the organization,” he said. “This year was an eventful one.”
The Reds are coming off back-to-back losing seasons. They haven't made the playoffs in seven years.
Reds insiders say Bowden is tightening the circle around him.
Bowden said the Reds wouldn't hire another assistant GM. Instead, his two closest associates — Leland Maddox, who is an African-American, and Brad Kullman — each of whom was promoted to assistant GM this year — will expand their duties, according to Bowden.
Moving aside the No.2 person (Rodgers) and the head of the second-biggest department in the operation (McKeon), and losing one of the top on-field personnel (Lynn) would seem to signal an organization in flux.
Bowden disagrees.
“I think we're pretty stable,” he said. “We've had the same nucleus of special assistants — Larry Barton, Gene Bennett, Al Goldis and Gary Hughes — for a while.”
Bowden's boss, chief operating officer John Allen, said he isn't troubled by the changes.
“I think a lot of people's contracts were up,” Allen said. “With the move to the new office, it was a time to re-evaluate things.
“We're not in turmoil.”
Rodgers was considered one of the possible successors to Bowden, whose contract runs out after 2003. Now, Maddox and Tim Naehring, the Reds' director of player development, have to be considered the top candidates.
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Reassignment irks Rodgers
