Reds Tidbits (2008 season)

[Thump]

I'm not quite ready to give up on him just yet. Most pitchers his age are in A ball. Then again, he could be Todd Van Poppel II.

What has the guy shown us, the ability to make hitting look easy?

The guy has shown me nothing and shown the organization nothing.

 

[CookyPuss]

What has the guy shown us, the ability to make hitting look easy?

The guy has shown me nothing and shown the organization nothing.

I'm sure Texas fans were saying much the same thing about Volquez.

 

[Thump]

I'm sure Texas fans were saying much the same thing about Volquez.

I'll be sold on Volquez after I've seen that he can make it through the NL more than one season.

Arroyo looked like a world beater too until the NL teams got a second go through with him.

 

[jlb1705]

I'll be sold on Volquez after I've seen that he can make it through the NL more than one season.

Arroyo looked like a world beater too until the NL teams got a second go through with him.

I agree. Right now he's Jack Armstrong for the new millennium - and he has the added burden of not winning a WS ring and coming at the cost of Josh Hamilton. I think he can do it, but at this point anything concerning Volquez's success should be written in pencil, not pen.

 

[Jaxbuck]

I agree. Right now he's Jack Armstrong for the new millennium - and he has the added burden of not winning a WS ring and coming at the cost of Josh Hamilton. I think he can do it, but at this point anything concerning Volquez's success should be written in pencil, not pen.

To be fair the same can be said of Hamilton. The man is always literally one day away from a relapse plus no one knows how his body will hold up over the years after the drug abuse.

The answer to this one won't be known untill we can look on it with hindsight.

 

[CookyPuss]

Who would have thought we should have kept Mike Cameron instead of trading for Griffey? Some of it is a total crap shoot. Unless you are the Yanks or Red Sox, you are basically trying to catch lightening in a jar each year. At least the Reds are making an effort... often misguided, but an effort to assemble a club that can compete each year. I agree that the window for this team looks to be about 2 years away. The youngsters should be hitting stride and Walt will have time to fill in the holes.

 

[jlb1705]

Who would have thought we should have kept Mike Cameron instead of trading for Griffey? Some of it is a total crap shoot. Unless you are the Yanks or Red Sox, you are basically trying to catch lightening in a jar each year. At least the Reds are making an effort... often misguided, but an effort to assemble a club that can compete each year. I agree that the window for this team looks to be about 2 years away. The youngsters should be hitting stride and Walt will have time to fill in the holes.

Griffey or Cameron/Reese... it wouldn't have mattered. 1999 was done with smoke and mirrors, and injuries or not, the Griffey era Reds were hamstrung by cheap ownership and clueless management. Even if the Reds had gotten what they were expecting out of him, they weren't going anywhere with everything else that surrounded him.

 

[CookyPuss]

Griffey or Cameron/Reese... it wouldn't have mattered. 1999 was done with smoke and mirrors, and injuries or not, the Griffey era Reds were hamstrung by cheap ownership and clueless management. Even if the Reds had gotten what they were expecting out of him, they weren't going anywhere with everything else that surrounded him.

I can't disagree. The team had half it's payroll invested in 2 players (Griffey and Larkin) who were not producing. You can't possibly win with that recipe.

The key to winning in a small to mid size market is having your stars produce, your youngsters perform to expectations, and get lucky that a couple of your roster fillers have a career year.

Every time the Reds try to patch a hole, they open another. They shored up the bull pen this year, Harang is hurt and the hitting sucks. That's how it is when you don't have unlimited resources.

 

[CookyPuss]

I hated to see Griffey leave on such a sour note. He never really had a truly great moment in Cincy. I really wish he could have hit #500 at home. I was at several of the games when he was on 499 and those crowds would have showered him. Too bad he will most likely be remembered as a pariah in this town. I think he was more of a tragic figure. I have an autographed picture from him on Opening Day 2000. Sadly, it was all down hill from there.

 

[Jaxbuck]

Great post from Ltlabner at RZ on improving the offense(no thats not my name over there).

If they want to turn this offense around, they need to find a way to turn the 20% of plate appearances that are below the skill level of a blind, mentally retarded and paralized pole cat (with the mange) into at least average production. That alone will bost the teams production in incalcuable ways.

 

[Thump]

Shocker, Homer Bailey once again got beat around like a rental car tonight.

 

[Jaxbuck]

Shocker, Homer Bailey once again got beat around like a rental car tonight.

String straight fastballs, thrown over the heart of the plate in the low 90's tend to get pounded by even the most mediocre of MLB hitters. I promise thats what happened and I didn't even watch.

 

[OSUBasketballJunkie]

Dispatch

Nationals 5 Reds 2
Reds drop first game without Griffey

Saturday, August 2, 2008 2:57 AM
By Hal McCoy


Dayton Daily News

WASHINGTON -- The New-Era Cincinnati Reds, a team manager Dusty Baker calls "The Post-Ken Griffey Jr. Era," looked a whole lot like The Old Era Reds.
Only worse.
Four hits? Four hits against the Washington Nationals? For shame.
The Nationals had lost nine straight and were 21 games out of first place when the Reds popped into new Nationals Park last night.
The Nationals, though, stomped on Reds starter Homer Bailey and mashed his pitches flat -- five runs and seven hits in his two innings -- and the Reds were squashed 5-2.
Four hits?
To start The Post-Griffey era, Baker installed Jay Bruce into Griffey's No. 3 spot in the batting order and Griffey's position in right field.

Continued......

 

[jlb1705]

Sign that the baseball apocalypse is upon us: Dollar hot dogs are back! For the remainder of the series vs. Milwaukee they have cheap hot dogs and View Level seats are only $5 each. Tomorrow's another night game and and Wednesday is a day game.

It's funny, I might go to both of those games, but there's no way I'm gonna waste my time watching on TV tonight for free.

 

[Buckeye Chris]

I;m almost on the brink of not watching them.