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Reds Tidbits (2006 Season)

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Cincy

3/9/06

Reds notebook

Harang won't start today, has shoulder inflammation

BY JOHN FAY | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER

<!--ARTICLE BODY TEXT-->SARASOTA, Fla. - Aaron Harang, the Reds' de facto No. 1 starter, has been scratched from his start today against the Pittsburgh Pirates with right shoulder inflammation.
The Reds are saying it's not as bad as it sounds.
"He's been working on some mechanical changes with some of his pitches," trainer Mark Mann said. "He's been dealing with this for about a week. We decided to have him skip a start and let it calm down.
"This is more of a precaution."
Mann said Harang has not had an MRI or X-ray of the shoulder.
"We haven't deemed it necessary to do any kind of diagnostic work," Mann said.
Harang didn't throw Wednesday and won't throw today.
"We'll see how he is Friday," Mann said.
Harang, a 27-year-old right-hander, went 11-13 with a 3.83 ERA last year.
YOUNG ACE: Homer Bailey's little taste of the big leagues has him wanting more.
"Definitely," he said. "You always hear people say that once you get a taste of the big leagues, that when they get moved down, it makes them fight more to get back up. I definitely understand that now."
Bailey made his second outing of the spring. He went only one inning, but it was an impressive inning: no hits, a walk, a strikeout and one broken bat.
In his first outing of the spring, Bailey walked the first two batters he faced.
"This was much better," he said. "I wasn't as nervous. I felt like I could compete. I went out and competed."
Bailey followed the inning with two more simulated innings in the bullpen to get his work in.
The 19-year-old right-hander probably is headed for Single-A Sarasota or Double-A Chattanooga.
NEW ED SMITH: A major project to redevelop Sarasota County Fairgrounds made the front page of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune Wednesday.
The plan includes a new, 8,000-seat Ed Smith Stadium for the Reds, eight training fields and a new office and training complex.
The plan must go before the Sarasota City Commission and County Commission.
"There's an awful lot of hurdles to go through," Sarasota city manager Mike McNess was quoted as saying.
HALL DEBUT: Right-hander Josh Hall was the last Red to make his debut.
It didn't go too well - one inning, three runs on three hits - in the Reds' 5-0 loss to Pittsburgh Wednesday.
"I'm glad to get it over and finally get out there," he said. "I couldn't keep the ball down."
Hall was dealing with a contusion to his right thumb. He suffered it in a bunting drill earlier.
MILTON UPDATE: Left-hander Eric Milton, who left Tuesday's start after aggravating a calf strain, isn't sure when he'll pitch in a game again.
"I might not pitch in a game, but I might throw a simulated game," he said. "I'm not sure. They want me to pitch, but it might be a situation where I stay on the mound and don't leave the mound."
MERCKER'S DEBUT: Left-hander Kent Mercker will make his spring debut today against the Pittsburgh Pirates in Bradenton.
He has been troubled by a pulled lat muscle.
"There's plenty of time at this point to do what I need to do," he said.
Three springs ago, Mercker was limited to six outings for the Chicago Cubs because of a bad back. He went 3-1 with a 2.55 ERA that year.
E-mail [email protected]
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Cincy

3/9/06

In one minute, it all changed

Suddenly, lifer Casey is just another former Cincinnati Red

BY PAUL DAUGHERTY | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER

<!--ARTICLE BODY TEXT-->BRADENTON, Fla. - The last innocent ballplayer vanished in December. Sean Casey left Cincinnati. The breed's officially extinct. "I was going to be one of those guys that played my whole career in one city," Casey said Tuesday.

It's amazing how some rare individuals can stroll across life seeing nothing but good. Cynicism is an acquired skill. Casey never got it. At age 31, he never will. He thought he'd never leave the Reds.

Former general manager Dan O'Brien called him. "The conversation was pretty informal: 'How ya doin', we've traded you, tough decision, good luck,'" was how Casey described it. "I don't know if I expected a little more. I don't know what I expected. I didn't expect to be traded.

"That's when I realized, wow, you give your heart and soul to an organization for eight years and you get a one-minute phone call."

You could rationalize it a million different ways: Casey made too much money ($8.5 million this year.) Casey didn't hit with enough power. Casey hit into too many double plays. He couldn't pitch.

But it was Sean Casey.

"I never thought I was the face of the organization. I never thought I was above the organization. I just loved it there. I grew up there. My two boys were born there. I felt like I was leaving family," he said.

An irony of pro sports, maybe the biggest, is that while teams depend on emotions to sell tickets, they can't get puddin'-headed themselves. It's a business that encourages passion but demands cold blood. It's like directing "My Dog Skip" while banning crying on the set.

Bob Castellini, the man who approved the Casey deal to Pittsburgh, has this story:

"The little boy who lives across the street from my daughter shows up at her doorstep, crying. She asks him what's wrong. He says, 'Is it true your dad traded Sean Casey?'"

What do you want, then? A great human being? Or a better ballclub?
You don't get both.

But it was Sean Casey.

If Dave Williams, the left-handed starting pitcher Cincinnati got for Casey, throws 200 innings and wins 12 to 15 games, you'll feel a little sad about Casey. But you'll get over it. Casey's trade says much about Castellini's clear-eyed approach. Sentiment is nice. Winning is nicer. Loyalty works best as a concept.

And innocence in Baseball is officially done.

"I can look back when I'm finished and say, you meet some great people along the way, you make some great friends, but when it's all said and done, it's a billion-dollar business. Anybody's expendable," Casey said. "Your gut reaction is it's personal. Then I stepped back and (remembered) some things that happened to (Barry) Larkin (who) put 19 years in that organization."

Casey has rented a house in the Pittsburgh neighborhood where he grew up. His parents are two minutes away, "built-in babysitters," he says, for his three small children. He just sold one of his two Cincinnati houses. His dad, Jim, will be at most home games.

Time passes. Different than before, perhaps better. Perhaps.

Casey saw all the letters to the editor in The Enquirer. We'd asked readers for a favorite Sean Casey story. He read all of them. You could say he was humbled, but he's already there. We'll just say he was grateful.

"Maybe I did have an impact there. My heart grew reading that stuff," Casey said. "When it's all said and done, I think we'll be judged more by the impact we've had on people than the impact we've had on our profession."
OK. How can you trade that?

The answer is, easily. All it takes is a decent match with another club and a 60-second phone call. Baseball moves on, a billion-dollar business. Memories fuel it, though, and no one in Cincinnati will forget Sean Casey.

He has one last thing to say. "This is what I want you to write," says Casey.

"I am not bitter. I have nothing but the fondest of memories. Not one bitter bone about any of this stuff. Please say that."

Done.

E-mail [email protected]

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Cincy

3/10/06

Reds upbeat despite injuries

BY KEVIN KELLY | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER

BRADENTON, Fla. - Aaron Harang is not worried, and neither are the Reds.
Scratched from Thursday's start against the Pirates because of right shoulder inflammation, Harang is certain the ailment will be short-lived.
"I've had this before when I've tried to adjust some pitches and work on little things with my mechanics," he said. "My strength is good. I'm just going to take a couple days off and let the inflammation go away.
The Reds' injury report now includes three starting pitchers: Eric Milton, Paul Wilson and Harang. Together the trio made 75 starts last season.
"Right now there's not as much concern as there would be if it was after March 15," Reds manager Jerry Narron said. "Then it becomes a concern."
Milton re-aggravated a strained right calf during his spring training debut Tuesday and will miss his next scheduled start. He instead will throw a simulated game Sunday.
"We want to make sure he's 100 percent pain-free with all running and agility before we send him out there in another major-league spring training game," Reds head trainer Mark Mann said. "His throwing has never been a concern throughout this whole calf injury."
Wilson continues recovering from right shoulder surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff and frayed labrum. He will throw live batting practice today, but no timetable has been set for his return.
Non-roster invitee Tommy Phelps started in Harang's place Thursday at McKechnie Field. In his first start this spring, and second appearance overall, Phelps threw three scoreless innings in a 2-1 Reds win.
Phelps is one of nine pitchers to start for the Reds this spring. Only Michael Gosling (1-0, 0.00 ERA) has two starts.
Phil Dumatrait (0-1, 4.50) is scheduled to start against the Yankees today. Justin Germano (0-0, 5.40) will start in Milton's place against the Phillies on Sunday.
E-mail [email protected]
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Jaxbuck said:
Yeah, a great young player who will get pushed to the bench by scrappy vets like Aurilia. :smash:
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I think I would personally wait outside the stadium and strangle Narron if he did that.

I still don't understand why we have two guys Aurilla and Womack. I wouldnt mind one but two.

I think I would like to see Womack and Freel rotate at second and Aurilla never see the fuckin' field. I wish the staff would of traded his ass for a box of baseballs last year when he demanded a trade, and they found out he wasnt worth a damn, yet they resigned him.:!
 
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Cincy

3/11/06

Second base still a mystery

BY JOHN FAY | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER

<!--ARTICLE BODY TEXT-->SARASOTA, Fla. - Reds manager Jerry Narron said the decision on who will start at second base could go down to the last days of spring training.
"Probably so," he said. "It might go down to June or July."
Ryan Freel started at second Friday in the team's 5-4 victory over the New York Yankees. It was Freel's fourth start there. Tony Womack has started six games, Rich Aurilia one and Frank Menechino one.
Three weeks remain in spring training, and that's plenty of time for things to play out. But don't put too much emphasis on spring training stats, either.
After going 0-for-3 Friday, Freel's hitting .045. Aurilia had an RBI single in three at-bats Friday to push his average to .200. Womack didn't play, but he's hitting .389.
How much do spring stats matter?
"Not one bit for guys who've proven they are bona fide major-leaguers," Narron said.
It would appear the Reds have three or four bona fide big-leaguers vying for one position.
Coming into camp, it looked like Aurilia might play third base if Edwin Encarnacion faltered. But the way Encarnacion has played (five homers, 12 RBI in seven games), Mike Schmidt would have trouble supplanting him.
Narron continues to talk about Freel in a utility role.
"He can play second, third, all three outfield positions," Narron said. "Not only us, but all of baseball would like to have someone like that."
As for second, Narron might pick and choose, depending on the pitching matchup.
Freel and Womack are top-of-the-order guys who can run. Aurilia is more of a down-in-the-order run producer.
Womack is coming off a rough year (.249, no homers, 15 RBI in 108 games). Aurilia had a better year hitting (.282, 14 HRs, 68 RBI) than Freel (.271, four HRs, 21 RBI).
But Freel got on base more - a .371 on-base percentage, compared to .338 for Aurilia - and stole 36 bases in 46 attempts.
Look at it this way: We'll know the choice by July.
E-mail [email protected]
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Well it sounds like Narron is set on keeping EE in the lineup.

I wish we would just get rid of Aurilla and let Freel and Womack battle for the second base job, and give Freel some time in the outfield, when Griffey needs a rest of if one of our guys goes down with injury.(knock on wood) I would rather groom a young guy, not sure how old that Frank Menchino guy is, but Aurilla does us no good besides gripping about pt and taking a spot away from a young guy that we should be working into getting better.

We need to look to the future, not now.
 
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crazybuckfan40 said:
Well it sounds like Narron is set on keeping EE in the lineup.

I wish we would just get rid of Aurilla and let Freel and Womack battle for the second base job, and give Freel some time in the outfield, when Griffey needs a rest of if one of our guys goes down with injury.(knock on wood) I would rather groom a young guy, not sure how old that Frank Menchino guy is, but Aurilla does us no good besides gripping about pt and taking a spot away from a young guy that we should be working into getting better.

We need to look to the future, not now.
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Menechino is 35, Aurilia is 34. Neither is a long-term solution. Hell, neither of them is even a short-term fix.
 
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Cincy

3/12/06

Plenty of heat in his forecast

Reds say hard-throwing Bailey can become long-awaited ace

BY JOHN FAY | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER

<!--ARTICLE BODY TEXT-->SARASOTA, Fla. - No player is more key to the future of the Reds' franchise than Homer Bailey.
Bailey is only 19. But he has something no one else in the organization has: the potential to develop into a front-of-the-line No. 1 starter, a guy to snap losing streaks.
That's something the Reds haven't had since Jose Rijo was in his prime. Not coincidentally, that's the last time the club was any good over a sustained period.
Bailey, the No. 1 pick in the 2004 draft, has made a big impression here at his first big-league camp.
"He's going to be a good one," Reds Hall of Famer Tom Browning said. "It comes to him naturally. He can't be far away."
Can he be a No. 1 type?
"Oh, yeah, yeah," Browning said. "He's smart. He's big and strong.
"When he refines his three pitches - really when he's refined two of them - he's going to be a star."
Bailey, a 6-foot-4, 205-pound right-hander, has pitched in two games this spring and has thrown three shutout innings. He was shaky in the first outing, walking the first two hitters he faced. But he was better the second time out. He has struck out three and allowed one hit in the three innings. He also has shattered two bats.
Catcher Jason LaRue says Bailey's stuff is big-league right now.
"He's legit," LaRue said. "He's got three good pitches. It's exciting to see. You don't see many guys come along with his potential."
Bailey, from LaGrange, Texas, is not here to make the club. He knows that. He'll probably start the year at Single-A Sarasota, where the weather's suited to pitching in April, then get a bump to Double-A Chattanooga early in the season.
Bailey thinks the experience of big-league camp will help him.
"Just seeing the way these guys handle themselves," he said, "the way they carry themselves. The term is professional, and they live up to it."
Bailey had not been around those kinds of players. He pitched in only six games after signing in 2004.
So, last year was really his first professional season. He was 8-4 with a 4.43 ERA at Single-A Dayton last season. A closer look at the numbers reveals what kind of arm Bailey has. He struck out 125 and allowed 89 hits in 1032/3 innings.
His fastball tops out at 97. He threw as hard as 96 in his second outing of the spring.
LaRue doesn't carry a radar gun, but he knows Bailey throws harder than everyone in camp.
"I don't know what he throws (as far as speed)," LaRue said. "But he throws hard. And whatever he throws, it's effortless. He's got great mechanics. The ball just jumps out of his hand."
Chris Welsh, the Reds' television color analyst and a former big-league pitcher, sees the same thing: a hard fastball that comes out of Bailey's hand easy.
"I like him," Welsh said. "In fact, I talked to Joe Randa after he faced (Bailey for Pittsburgh). He was telling me his fastball gets on you in a hurry. Keep in mind that he's 19. He's a neophyte when it comes to pitching strategy and understanding. He has everything you want in a top prospect.
"He's the best prospect I've seen around here in a long time - maybe ever."
Most No. 1 pitchers have a superior fastball. That's what sets Bailey apart from all the other 19- and 20-year-olds in the Reds' system.
"The first thing you look at is his fastball," minor-league pitching coordinator Mack Jenkins said. "We haven't had a starter with a fastball like that in recent history."
Mario Soto, like Browning here as a guest instructor, had no idea who Bailey was when Soto got to camp.
"I didn't know he was a first-round pick," Soto said. "But when I saw him the first day, it caught my eye. Later on I found out he was a No. 1. He's got a good arm. Hopefully, two or three years from now he'll be a very big part of this team."
Like a lot of young pitchers, Bailey has trouble controlling his stuff at times. When he gets there, Browning thinks he'll be ready.
"He's got to harness some of that," he said.
To harness it, Browning said, Bailey might have to trade a bit of velocity for location.
"Those boys in the big leagues can hit a fastball down the middle," Browning said. "I'm not saying you can't throw it every now and then, but when they know it's coming, they hit it. Learn to command the strike zone. He's hungry enough that he wants to learn, he wants to get better. He's pretty sure of himself. But he handles it great."
Bailey has shown a willingness to learn from the Reds' minor-league staff.
"He's a professional," said minor-league field coordinator Tim Naehring. "He knows what he needs to do to get better. He's an educated guy. You can tell him to do A, B and C. Homer will do A, B and C, but he's going to ask you why.
"He really developed the other aspects of his game last year at Dayton, holding runners on, time to the plate."
Said Jenkins: "He wants to be good. He's not satisfied with just getting to the major leagues. He wants to be the man. His work ethic shows that."
Bailey realizes the great expectations that are on him. But he says he feels no undue pressure.
"The way I see it, I was a No. 1 pick almost two years ago," he said. "That's over and done with. I don't worry about that. I worry about my next outing and how I'm going to do this season."
Bailey, whose given named is David (Homer was his great-grandfather's name), has a devastating curveball to go with the fastball.
"He's a guy who has an above-average big-league fastball and an above-average big-league curveball at this point," Naehring said. "At this stage of the game, a lot of guys have one pitch that grades out above average for a major-league pitcher. To have two is outstanding."
Bailey is working on a change-up as a third pitch. If it and the command come around, the Reds will have a pitcher who could help turn around the franchise.
"The change-up is coming," Jenkins said. "As hard as he throws, it would really complement the fastball."
So what does Bailey think? Can he be a No. 1?
"I don't see any reason why not," he said.
There's that self-assuredness.
What will it take to get there?
"Keep learning. I've got a lot to learn," he said.
There's that willingness to work.
Add in the top-shelf arm, and the Reds have themselves a No. 1 starter - at least potentially.
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