Davey Johnson Honest to His Own Detriment

David Johnson is a very smart man but he is not a politician.  He says whats on his mind and lets the chips fall where they may.  Usually, they fall on him, a victim of his own brutal honesty.

He managed the Reds very well.  The former teammate of current Reds manager, Dusty Baker, Johnson managed a Mets team that won over 100 games, twice.  His teams won over 90 games in five season.  His lowest full season total was 87.

Then apparently, he forgot how to manage.  When the Mets lost 22 of its first 42 games the Mets management fired him while the team was in Cincinnati.  He was at odds with the Mets front office over player personnel decisions.

He sat out until the Reds hired him as an advisor in 1993.  He took over when Jim Bowden IIII canned popular Tony Perez 44 games into the season.  The Reds had the best record in baseball in 1994 after a losing 1993 campaign.  They won the NL Central in 1995.  Marge Schott did not like that he lived with his current wife before they were married.  He managed the Orioles, who fired him after they won the NL East in 1997, go figure.  He wouldn't cow tow to Peter Angelos.  After a gig with the Dodgers in 2000, he hadn't managed until Jim Riggleman, a current Reds minor league manager, walked off the job last season.

Why a manager who had a .561 winning percentage did not get an offer for 10 years is mystery.

Johnson was quoted as saying the five-man Washington National starting rotation of Stephen Stasburg, Gio Gonzalez, Jordan Zimmerman, Edwin Jackson and Ross Detwiler was the best starting rotation in the National League.  Not only the NL East which features the Phillies fab five but the league.

Many scoffed but Johnson is not prone to hyperbole and is honest to his own detriment.  The Nationals are only nine games into the 2012 season right now but the signs that Johnson speaks the truth are evident.