Reds tidbits (2010 season)

[scott91575]

Dusty tried to lose this one. Bruce pinch hitting vs. a lefty? Really? Nevermind there were less than 2 outs and the bases loaded, and you have a good right handed hitter on the bench. Yet you have to keep him on the bench in case it goes 18 innings and Hernandez dies. Forget winning the game now, you have to play for those 1 in a million game scenarios. Naw, send up the guy who cannot touch left handed pitching if his life depended on it (heck, right now he cannot touch right handed pitching either). A strike out waiting to happen is the perfect thing to do with bases loaded and less than 2 outs. Damn clogged bases.

 

[Jaxbuck]

Dusty tried to lose this one. Bruce pinch hitting vs. a lefty? Really? Nevermind there were less than 2 outs and the bases loaded, and you have a good right handed hitter on the bench. Yet you have to keep him on the bench in case it goes 18 innings and Hernandez dies. Forget winning the game now, you have to play for those 1 in a million game scenarios. Naw, send up the guy who cannot touch left handed pitching if his life depended on it (heck, right now he cannot touch right handed pitching either). A strike out waiting to happen is the perfect thing to do with bases loaded and less than 2 outs. Damn clogged bases.

I don't know what everyone is getting so worked up over. I mean we can always count on the other teams LF to flat fucking drop a can of corn late in every game right? This band of not so loveable losers are 3-3, they should be 0-6. The 3 wins have been fucking miracles.

As far as The Dusty goes, I said I'd stop following the Reds if they hired him. Well they did and I am too fucking stupid to quit them. No baseball team is ever going to realize a positive outcome if they have that brain dead fuck chewing toothpicks in their dugout.

Ever.

At any level.

Ever.

 

[Mike80]

Dusty will be gone next year. There is that

 

[Jaxbuck]

Dusty will be gone next year. There is that

We are Reds fans.

We just don't get that lucky.

 

[jlb1705]

I don't know what everyone is getting so worked up over. I mean we can always count on the other teams LF to flat [censored]ing drop a can of corn late in every game right? This band of not so loveable losers are 3-3, they should be 0-6. The 3 wins have been [censored]ing miracles.

They would be 0-6 if not for the starting pitching. The rotation has been good enough to go 4-2 so far - and I'm counting Homer's start as a loss along with opening day. I was at that game and I felt a bit ashamed about the Reds taking the lead on that grand slam until I remembered it was the Cubs. I remember at one point late in the game where the number of Reds hits was equal to the number of Cubs batters they had plunked. For as bad as that was though Bailey only gave up three runs. The bats are just putrid right now, and that's why it's taken three miracles to win even with some of the best starting pitching in the league so far.

I'm all about the pitching & defense philosophy - except that the people who have implemented it have done so as if it is mutually exclusive of offense. All it gets us is a different (and frankly, more boring) brand of losing.

 

[Jaxbuck]

I'm all about the pitching & defense philosophy - except that the people who have implemented it have done so as if it is mutually exclusive of offense. All it gets us is a different (and frankly, more boring) brand of losing.

Amen.

 

[jlb1705]

BTW, I paid $4.25 for a hotdog on Friday. Totally unacceptable given the team's performance so far.

Also, I don't understand the bratwurst situation in this town. For having so much German heritage, Cincinnati has the shittiest bratwursts I've ever encountered.

 

[Bestbuck36]

I'm not sure why but I think the Reds have a decent shot in this series vs the Marlins.

I actually believe during the beginning part of the schedule that we're better off on the road. We dont have the power n the lineup to take great advantage of playing at GABP and we're quite young all the way around. I believe a true road trip could bring this teams focus around more.

Now, I'm not saying we'll go in the road and start actually looking like a ball club but I'm cautiously optimistic about playing away from home to see just how bad our offense might be vs the pitching aspect and how good they might be when popups dont go 10 rows back for homeruns.


How about Chapman striking out 9 in 4.67 innings last night?! Kid has some smoke. I say trade Harang and bring up Chapman and go with the young guns. If Volquez comes back healthy I wouldnt hate seeing one of the youngsters in the bullpen.

 

[scott91575]

I'm not sure why but I think the Reds have a decent shot in this series vs the Marlins.

I actually believe during the beginning part of the schedule that we're better off on the road. We dont have the power n the lineup to take great advantage of playing at GABP and we're quite young all the way around. I believe a true road trip could bring this teams focus around more.

Now, I'm not saying we'll go in the road and start actually looking like a ball club but I'm cautiously optimistic about playing away from home to see just how bad our offense might be vs the pitching aspect and how good they might be when popups dont go 10 rows back for homeruns.


How about Chapman striking out 9 in 4.67 innings last night?! Kid has some smoke. I say trade Harang and bring up Chapman and go with the young guns. If Volquez comes back healthy I wouldnt hate seeing one of the youngsters in the bullpen.

First of all, to the Marlins. Any time you have Nate Robertson in your starting rotation you cannot be good. Of course the Reds couldn't hit any of the garbage pitching the Cubs threw out there, so not sure why I would get my hopes up.

As for the young guys in the bullpen, no way. I hate when teams do that. Wood, Leake, and Chapman are starters. If they don't all fit in the rotation, keep them in the minors.

 

[BuckeyeNation27]

I read an interesting article this morning about why all the good prospects stay in the minors for so long.

Strasburg's station based on dollars, not sense - MLB - Yahoo! Sports

long story short, don't expect to see Chapman any time soon.

 

[Jaxbuck]

I saw someone else bring it up over at RZ and I've been thinking it for a while, could we work out a deal with the Rays for Crawford? He's due to get a large payday and they have a big time prospect to take his place, they are almost certainly going to trade him.

The rays are also probably going to lose Pena so my thought is Alonzo plus something to the rays for Crawford if he'll agree to a contract extension and we can afford it with the savings from Arroyo and Harang.

If we could get him there is the non OBP challenged lead off guy we so desperately need and a Crawford/Stubbs/Bruce OF is one of the best in baseball defensively. If Stubbs and Bruce actually turn out to be legit MLB players offensively we are really looking good.

He wouldn't cure all of our problems but he'd sure as hell fix one of the biggest ones.

 

[scott91575]

I read an interesting article this morning about why all the good prospects stay in the minors for so long.

Strasburg's station based on dollars, not sense - MLB - Yahoo! Sports

long story short, don't expect to see Chapman any time soon.

Jax and I covered much of this a couple pages ago, but with Leake instead of Chapman.

First of all, I hate the inflated dollars they use with Lincecum. He is a two time Cy Young award winner. That is the worst case scenario. Second, how do they get those numbers?

The report compared Strasburg as Super 2 and non-Super 2 player, using Lincecum?s projected salaries as baselines: As a Super 2: $9 million in 2013, $14 million in 2014, $18 million in 2015 and $22 million in 2016.
Not as a Super 2: $3.9 million, $9 million, $14 million and $18 million.
That?s $63 million compared to $44.9 million.

No one knows the true value. It's arbitration. Both sides come up with a number and the arbitrator picks the one he deems best. Why is the 2nd year or arbitration under Super 2 different than the first year of a non super 2? That is up to an arbitrator to decide, not some speculation from The Washington Post. The arbitrator won't think "well, since Lincecum just got under the super 2, and this guy didn't I will only match Lincecum's first arbitration." That is not how it will happen. So the savings is more like $7-9 million max (that one year without arbitration), not $18 million. Again, that is WORST case. For most it will be a few million. Not chump change, but not as exaggerated as the press would have you believe.

All that is just addressing the stuff in the article you posted. I talked about a lot of other ways of beating the system earlier. It may be part of the reason Chapman is in the minors, but not the only one. For Strasburg, it is the reason. Yet the Nats know they suck, and might as well get it over with.

Don't get me wrong, teams do play that game. A few million is a few million. Yet the press blows it way out of proportion. It is an issue, and a game teams do play. Yet most of the time it's not saving $10-18 million. It is a few million with most players, and even worst case is no way near the $18 million they are talking about in that article.

Plus with Chapman I not sure how everything works out, but he is not getting league minimum. He is signed to a long term deal already. He is not pitching on a league minimum salary, so the cash difference is not the same and I would have to look into how his deal effects arbitration. Non drafted players like Chapman are a different ballgame than Strasburg, Lincecum, Leake, etc.

 

[scott91575]

Well, looking into Chapman's contract, arbitration does play a bigger role than I had known about....

But what we learned Tuesday is that the contract voids if Chapman becomes arbitration eligible in 2013, the rest of his deal converts into a $5 million bonus and he goes into the arbitration pool. If he becomes arbitration eligible in 2014, he gets a $3 million bonus and goes into the arbitration pool. That means that if Chapman is as advertised and makes the Reds out of camp (or early this season), he makes his $15 million bonus, $4 million in base salary over his first three seasons, a $5 million bonus for becoming arbitration eligible early, plus whatever he earns over the next three seasons in arbitration.

Aroldis Chapman's Contract With Cincinnati Is Complicated -- MLB FanHouse

If he is eligible for early arbitration it will cost the Reds a minimum of $2 million plus the salary difference to arbitration (his base looks like over $1 million, but not a lot more than league minimum). That clause in his contract makes Chapman even worse for arbitration.

So yeah, he will definitely be down in the minors until June.

 

[Bestbuck36]

I had a post on how I thought the Reds would improve offensively today and my browser froze when I tried to post it.

Sure enough the main guys I wrote about have started to get going today. Rolen, Bruce and Stubbs were who I thought would be the keys to this series.
Stubbs just missed a leadoff homer. Rolen mashes one. Bruce hits and rounds the bases to score on Nix' single. Sweet.

Reds lead 2-0 in the second with a runner on first.

 

[Bestbuck36]

Only 2 but we'll take it.

Johnny is definitely throwing strikes early on hopefully the "vaunted" defense will back him up tonight. Bases loaded against him right now though on a couple Texas leaguers.