Reds tidbits (2010 season)

[Honor&Glory]

The Reds finding ways to win....holy shit. I'm speechless.

That's a good thing.

j/k...


Can't say enough about the effort Bailey put in today. Kept his team in it. Wish the pen could have kept it a 1 run game...still not sure about the choice of letting Herrera face a righty after striking out Fielder...but a win is a win and the Reds are on a roll. Lets take it on the road!

 

[NUTS4theBUCKS28]

how long do you guys think votto's monster shot was? definitely the second longest hr in GABP

 

[Dryden]

how long do you guys think votto's monster shot was? definitely the second longest hr in GABP

Enquirer reported it as 460' into the centerfield party deck. I didn't see the highlight of that one.

Anyone still questioning Reds' trade for Scott Rolen? | cincinnati.com | Cincinnati.Com

Anyone still questioning Reds' trade for Scott Rolen?

Some of us might have questioned the trade for Scott Rolen.

A portion of us might have suggested the Reds were, you know, nuts.

We will deny all knowledge of what we might have said and thought last July 31, when the club traded two young pitchers and dumped Edwin Encarnacion, to bring in a 34-year-old with durability issues and a large paycheck.

If we weren't disavowing, we might admit to saying back then, "This is a move a contending team makes, not a small-money team revving up to finish fourth."

We might have added, "Rolen will cost them millions they should be spending on developing kids. The Reds aren't ready to win. Why bring in an old, expensive guy who is?"

If we were admitting to saying any of that. Which we are not.

It can be said now that Walt Jocketty and Bob Castellini acquiring Scott Rolen was pretty much a masterstroke. The general manager and owner had concluded the home clubhouse was a mess. The "culture" as Jocketty called it, was aimless. There were players who wanted to win. They didn?t know how. Rolen knew.

Jocketty knew Rolen knew, having watched him in St. Louis, where he'd played on two World Series teams. The GM saw Rolen's "subtle leadership" and guessed it would work a little magic in Cincinnati. He was right. Boy, was he ever.

It isn't just that Rolen came off the bench to pop a game-tying two-run homer in the 9th inning Tuesday. It's not that he has filled the gaping hole at cleanup. If that were all Rolen had done for the Reds, the trade would have made sense. It's the other stuff.

Rolen is a quiet, no-nonsense guy with the mindset of a mule. It got him in deep with Tony La Russa in St. Louis, because La Russa is the same way. It's the right attitude here, though, on a team of mostly young believers, and older guys who are tired of losing. Rolen comes in every day and goes to work.

Cont'd ...

 

[jlb1705]

So far Rolen is having his best year since 2006. He's already creeping up on his HR total from last season (8 this year, 11 combined in TOR & CIN). The key to this being a good trade was his restructured contract and will be his ability to stay healthy - which has always been an uncertainty with him.

I know it's early to start talking trades for this year, but one thing the Reds could really use is a real utility infielder who isn't a total black hole of suck with the bat. The sooner they can get him, the better. They need an option to keep Rolen fresh and make sure he's still standing deep into the season in case the Reds are still in contention. I fear that our luck with Rolen's health might run out at some point this season, and anything they could do to prevent that (and get Miguel Cairo off the team) would be a welcome improvement.

 

[jlb1705]

Enquirer reported it as 460' into the centerfield party deck. I didn't see the highlight of that one.

The highlight on the Reds site doesn't even show where the ball landed. They focused on the CF fence, and the Brewers' announcers said it went into the boat on top of the batters' eye building. If that's true, that's a nice flash of Wily Mo Pena power from him.

Also, watch the video for the pitcher's reaction. He sees Votto make contact and he doesn't even turn around - just looks straight down at his feet. :)

 

[Jaxbuck]

I know it's early to start talking trades for this year, but one thing the Reds could really use is a real utility infielder who isn't a total black hole of suck with the bat.

Not trying to bust balls but that's why a guy is a utility infielder and not a regular...he can't hit. If he was that good with the glove and could hit a lick he'd be a starter for someone.

When you start talking about the Jeff Keppingers of the world now you are on the type of guys who hit well for a middle infielder but don't play good enough defense to be a starter for anyone.

Bench players are bench players because they have a hole in their game that keeps them from being a starter. Back to the point you are bringing up in regards to what this team needs right now its the Keppinger type, we already have Janish.

Wonder what the Stro's would want to bring Kep back now that I think about it?

 

[BuckStocksHere]

hoffman is absolutely horrible this year...

how do you graciously say thanks but no thanks and get him out of the closer role.... macha is screwed.

the ship is sinking fast....i never would have thought we would be below the astros ....if we aren't there yet....just wait a day or two....

f'in reds.

used to be a big reds fan actually, back when george foster and davey concepcion were on the team....i'm old.

 

[jlb1705]

Not trying to bust balls but that's why a guy is a utility infielder and not a regular...he can't hit. If he was that good with the glove and could hit a lick he'd be a starter for someone.

When you start talking about the Jeff Keppingers of the world now you are on the type of guys who hit well for a middle infielder but don't play good enough defense to be a starter for anyone.

Bench players are bench players because they have a hole in their game that keeps them from being a starter. Back to the point you are bringing up in regards to what this team needs right now its the Keppinger type, we already have Janish.

Wonder what the Stro's would want to bring Kep back now that I think about it?

No offense taken - I know that anybody you get as a utility player is going to have holes in their game - but they need somebody to replace Cairo who actually has a fighting chance of not making an out every once in a while, so they can actually use him. Dude has a .310 OPS. Surely there's somebody out there (Keppinger would definitely fit the bill) who can OPS over .310 without being good enough to start.

Besides, how bad do you have to be to only manage 29 PAs so far playing for a guy who gave regular ABs to Corey Patterson and Willy Taveras?

 

[jlb1705]

hoffman is absolutely horrible this year...

how do you graciously say thanks but no thanks and get him out of the closer role.... macha is screwed.

the ship is sinking fast....i never would have thought we would be below the astros ....if we aren't there yet....just wait a day or two....

f'in reds.

used to be a big reds fan actually, back when george foster and davey concepcion were on the team....i'm old.

The Brewers need to do what the Reds have done with horrible old relievers in the past. The GM needs to go to him and tell him he's done. It shouldn't even be in Macha's hands. Tell him they will either DFA him, or if he wants to save a little face they can identify an "injury", put him on the 15-day DL, change it to the 60-day DL a couple weeks after that, and then he can announce his retirement in the offseason.

To me though the Brewers should have to keep Hoffman. A year or two with him as their closer might just about make up for Bill F. Hall.

 

[Dryden]

The Reds have plenty of options in the farm system (some already on the 40-man roster, some not, some probably are bat boys right now) that can come up as utility infielders that are a better choice off the bench than Cairo.

I'm not trading for anyone on the current Astros roster unless they're named Roy Oswalt. Hey, Oswalt's OPS is .200 points higher than Cairo's this season!

 

[Jaxbuck]

The Reds have plenty of options in the farm system (some already on the 40-man roster, some not, some probably are bat boys right now) that can come up as utility infielders that are a better choice off the bench than Cairo.

I'm not trading for anyone on the current Astros roster unless they're named Roy Oswalt. Hey, Oswalt's OPS is .200 points higher than Cairo's this season!

Nix being hurt really shows how scary thin the bench is (Cairo).

I like the guy's idea over at RZ to try and work out a way to pry the disgruntled Hanley Ramierez away from Florida. You make that happen and fix the bench later.

Whole farm system not named Chapman would be my offer.

 

[BuckStocksHere]

The Brewers need to do what the Reds have done with horrible old relievers in the past. The GM needs to go to him and tell him he's done. It shouldn't even be in Macha's hands. Tell him they will either DFA him, or if he wants to save a little face they can identify an "injury", put him on the 15-day DL, change it to the 60-day DL a couple weeks after that, and then he can announce his retirement in the offseason.

To me though the Brewers should have to keep Hoffman. A year or two with him as their closer might just about make up for Bill F. Hall.

I don't Hoffman is going down without a fight though...he is 4 saves away from 600 for his career which seems to be another issue. Everyone pretty much agrees that Hoffman should take the decision away from Macha and pull himself out of the role.

I hate the "closer" anyway but that is an argument for another time...

Bill Hall..... nice. I see how much you guys hate Todd Coffey but that dude has pitched very well for us since we got him. Hopefully him imploding gave you guys some satisfaction.....I'm still glad we have him. Funny how things work....

 

[Fungo Squiggly]

I don't Hoffman is going down without a fight though...he is 4 saves away from 600 for his career which seems to be another issue. Everyone pretty much agrees that Hoffman should take the decision away from Macha and pull himself out of the role.

I hate the "closer" anyway but that is an argument for another time...

Bill Hall..... nice. I see how much you guys hate Todd Coffey but that dude has pitched very well for us since we got him. Hopefully him imploding gave you guys some satisfaction.....I'm still glad we have him. Funny how things work....

Coffey pitched unbelievably well for a couple months at the beginning of 2006 until they tried him as the closer and he pretty much sucked from then on. His ERA that season went from 0.60 on 4/30 to 1.20 on 5/31 to 2.55 on 6/30 to 3.12 on 7/31 to 3.68 on 8/31 and ended at 3.58.

He had a 5.82 ERA in 2007 (12 homers in 51 innings ) and 6.05 in 19 appearances in 2008 before he was sent packing. The Todd Coffey from the other night was the Todd Coffey the Reds had from 6/1/06-7/31/08. He was terrible.

I've never seen a guy hang so many splitters on 0-2 counts.

 

[jlb1705]

Nix being hurt really shows how scary thin the bench is (Cairo).

I like the guy's idea over at RZ to try and work out a way to pry the disgruntled Hanley Ramierez away from Florida. You make that happen and fix the bench later.

Whole farm system not named Chapman would be my offer.

That was immediately my thought when I saw the Ramirez incident - maybe they'll be rash and look to get rid of him. His contract is about as favorable as you could hope for with a player of his caliber, and the Marlins are currently in rare air - with a team payoll over $55 million. BTW, who the hell did Nate Robinson blow to get $10 million/yr.?

 

[Dryden]

No way the Marlins will dump Ramirez when they're moving into the new ballpark in 2012. They cannot do that to the fanbase. They'd be better off replacing the other 24 guys and Fredi than dealing Ramirez.