Rick Sweet Should Get a Shot at Managing in the Majors

One of the most difficult jobs in baseball is not at the major league level.  There is the constant pressure to win on a daily basis to be sure but imagine the challenges of a Triple A manager.

Part of the team is made up of young players anxious to move up.  The other part is veteran players on the fringe or on the way down, who are frustrated.

The emphasis is not on winning but development, still the Triple A manager is expected to win.  How does he develop players, who are more likely to fail while learning new techniques?  How do you keep everyone positive in the face of a perceived lack of rapid progress.

Rick Sweet deals with this dilemma on a daily basis.  Few do the job better than Sweet.

Sweet was drafted out of Gonzaga University by the San Diego Padres in the third round of the 1975 draft as a catcher.  He played in 272 games over parts of three seasons with San Diego in 1978, the New York Mets and Seattle Mariners in 1982 and 1983.  He hit .234 and totaled six home runs and 57 RBI.

The native of Longview, Washington has been a minor league skipper since he managed the Seattle Mariners Class A team in Bellingham, Washington in 1987.  He was Ken Griffey Jr's first professional manager.

Sweet joined the Reds organization as the manager of the Reds top farm club in Louisville in 2005.  He has had a winning record every year after the first season while helping to develop much of the corp that is the Reds of today.  Cincinnati suffered through dark years under Marge Schott and Jim Bowden in which the minor league system produced very little.  The heart of the 2010 NL Central Champions played under Sweet at Louisville.

The 58-year old may be his own nemesis when it comes to being promoted because he has bee so valuable to the organization in his current role.

Still the insightful and likeable Louisville manager deserves a shot at a big league job.