2019 MLB Season: Rating the NL Central GMs
By Bill Felber
2019 MLB Season: Rating the NL West General Managers
1. Nick Krall, Cincinnati Reds, +4.7
The Reds hit the halfway point of the 2019 MLB season in last place in the NL Central, but don’t let that fool you. This is an improving team and – just six and one-half games behind the first place Brewers — not out of the divisional race
In barely more than a year since assuming day-to-day control from Dick Williams, Krall has improved this team markedly. Over the winter, his acquisitions of pitchers Tanner Roark and Sonny Gray grabbed far fewer headlines than the arrivals of Yasiel Puig and Matt Kemp, but Gray and Roark have delivered a combined +2.4 WAA, substantially better than the Puig-Kemp- duo’s -1.5.
The signing of free agent Derek Dietrich also went largely unnoticed until Dietrich began to slug. He hits the season halfway points with a mere .224 batting average, but with 18 home runs and a .921 OPS.
Krall has also been smart enough to know when to back off. Despite Cincinnati’s obvious need for pitching, he resisted the urge to try to keep Matt Harvey, who has been generally awful in his new home in Los Angeles. The Reds have been far better off with Roark and Gray.
Harvey’s -1.2 WAA in Los Angeles is also the main reason why the half dozen players dumped by Cincinnati over the winter have improved Krall’s rating by an additional 2.8 WAA.