Saturday, John Fay published an important column about Jim Riggleman for the Cincinnati Enquirer.
I’m going to bracket off what might be the most discouraging part: Fay’s reporting on a meeting that Reds owner Bob Castellini had with Riggleman about managing decisions, something Riggleman calls unprecedented in his vast experience as a major league manager. So after you finish reading this, go back for Fay’s entire post.
Instead, I want to focus on Fay’s main thesis — that the St. Louis Cardinals have been successful the past 20 years because of adhering to a Cardinal Way of playing with fundamentals, or in Fay’s words:
“… a strict adherence to the fundamentals — from rundowns to bunt plays to generally playing the game right …”
Fay believes Jim Riggleman manages by the Cardinal Way and that Riggleman should make that fact the center of his case for being given the permanent job as Reds manager.