2010 Cincinnati Reds

http://mlb.mlb.com/images/2009/12/05/gYQ2FD3K.jpg

"Why did you trade two young pitchers for Scott Rolen?" another young fan asked Jocketty.

"Well, did you see what Scott Rolen did for us last season?" Jocketty responded, knowing the Reds went 27-13 when Rolen was in the lineup after the July 31 trade with the Blue Jays.

"I know he got hurt," the child replied.

he's making sweet love to that coffee!

The only way the Reds compete this upcoming season is if EVERYTHING comes together with the young players like Jay Bruce and Joey Votto turning into all star caliber hitters and Dusty doesn't continue to bat his CF and SS 1 and 2, whether or not they can get on base. I swear with just using their best available players and making a logical lineup, they could have finished over .500 last year.

If Stubbs, Bruce, Bailey and Cueto come through, Rolen and Votto stay healthy along with the bullpen being as good this year as last, then they have a shot.

That Rolen deal was kind of crazy, but with him at third and if Janish stays at short with the current outfield, this is the best fielding Reds club in a generation. If you know anything about how bad the Reds fielding was some of the last years of the Griffey/Dunn period, it is a big improvement.

We will see. The declining attendance is pretty much ensuring they don't have the cash to make any moves and really there isn't much out there. I thought Jonny Gomes had played well enough to give a shot, but I guess they figure with Juan Francisco and Wladimir Balentien they might be able to get those homers at a major league minimum.

SCORCHED EARTH DUSTY

But a rival general manager predicts that manager Dusty Baker, entering the final year of his contract, will want Chapman on his Opening Day staff.

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/MLB-spring-training-buzz-021510

Feller walked into the media work room at Goodyear, Ariz., this past week for the first time since the Reds joined the Indians at their spring training home.

Cincy’s prize off-season acquisition was Cuban defector Aroldis Chapman, who signed a six-year $30.25 million deal in January.

Said Feller: “What about that Cuban kid? He must’ve got Obama stimulus money.”

Pause.

“Wake me when he wins his first 100 games.”

http://media.cleveland.com/shaw_impact/photo/bob-feller-first-pitch-goodyearjpg-c686c4b41806b183_large.jpg

http://www.cleveland.com/budshaw/index.ssf/2010/03/milton_bradley_does_it_again_a.html

"Cincinnati's Cuban curiosity threw at least one pitch that reached 100 mph, according to the scouts that were clocking him, and he struck out three Kansas City Royals over two scoreless innings on Monday afternoon."

Poor kid.

Are you ready for more Rick Sutcliffe?

SI_JonHeyman
rough week for reds: first volquez ban, now morgan hiring. Reds to introduce Joe Morgan as special advisor (via @Cincinnati Reds).

However, Phillips did hustle in the first inning of Wednesday's afternoon game against the Mets, sliding head-first for an infield hit.

UGH UGH UGH UGH UGH UGH etc.

only 2 wins of their 14 are by more than 1 or 2 runs

I've seen pretty much all but 4 or 5 of the Reds games. They have done pretty well considering their starting pitching outside of Mike Leake has been pretty shabby and their lineup at times can make anyone look great. Parts of the pen have been totally scary too, as Dusty gets locked into who pitches where and then he put a green rookie like Logan Undrusek in to face the Cards heart of the lineup with no wonder why it completely blows up. Nick Masset was great last year and he has also been a total mess too so far.

They still need a bat, but might be able to get by with someone batting 1 or 2 that can just consistently get on base.

Jay Bruce has actually played better than his batting average indicates, as the guy is a freaking witch in right field. If you haven't seen him play the outfield, he is really great with both the glove and the arm.

Dusty must have started feeling a bit of heat after they screwed the pooch and got swept by the Pirates as he has actually broken away from his center fielder bats 1st, shortstop bats 2nd routine and has made some more logical lineups and is playing who is hitting like giving Ryan Hanigan some more starts. There are many fans out there that are cringing with Cabrera getting all of the time at shortstop, as the guy doesn't have any range at all and Paul Janish is an excellent fielder and only gets to play about once every two weeks. I think Janish might be Arroyo's wing man or something, as he only seems to play when Bronson starts.

It also doesn't really make sense why they are keeping Cairo around either other than he owns a first basemens glove. Sutton is a way better at Louisville.

Arthur Rhodes has really done a great job for the Reds since he got here last season. The guy hasn't lost anything on his fast ball, pretty impressive for his age.

Thing the Reds have now that they have NEVER had is some actual pitching prospects at AAA, which could make things really interesting if they can hang around.

is this team actually good y/n

This team is in a weird, bad division.

CIN 21 16 -1
STL 21 17 +26
PIT 16 21 -93
CHC 16 22 -14
MIL 15 21 -10
HOU 13 24 -60

you could argue that any team w/ the exception of the cardinals is the worst team in that division

brewers and pittsburgh have starting rotations not even fit for a AAA team

I'm a total homer, as I pretty much watch nearly every Reds game, but I don't think you could call them the worst club this year by any stretch in the central. Thing is that the last couple of weeks the starting pitching has got it together and the bats which had been quiet woke up.

Reds Weaknesses-

No true lead off hitter
No true clean up hitter
Cabrera has poor range at SS these days in the field
Pitching has been inconsistent, no true #1 starter (although Leake is pitching like one)
Dusty

To be honest, I think Dusty Baker was starting to realize he was getting pretty close to not being a manager anymore and has actually made some decent moves of late. Cabrera is definitely not a lead off hitter, but he it has been the best option used over all, as Stubbs has hit well since being moved down the lineup and Phillips isn't trying to golf everything and is swinging a much more controlled bat batting #2. Ryan Hanigan is also getting a much more starts, which is good because he is way better than Hernandez defensively and has been hitting. The extra time off or competition has also seen Hernandez start to hit well, so the Reds are getting really great offense out of the catcher position, which has been a total black hole for them for years.

While neither Rolen or Cabrera have the range they had before and Gomes is kind of scary at times, over all, the Reds defense has been pretty good. They are not making many errors, which was another black mark on the club for a few years.

Jonny Gomes has also been on a hot streak. LaRussa said in some interview that he 'plays every game like it is last one'. And his energy even got some praise by Ernie Banks, then he promptly homered. Gomes seems to be a streaky player, so he might be ice cold in a couple of weeks, but it would be nice for the Reds to catch a bit of lightning and have him carry it for a whole season, then B-more can sign him to a big fat contract.

The bullpen has been inconsistent, but Masset has been pitching better of late. Coco Cordero has been a bit scary of late and got bailed out by a huge defensive play to end the game last night.

jay bruce is gonna be a monster once his power comes around, he should eventually be the 'true cleanup hitter' you're looking for. main problem is they have no good on-base guys to hit ahead of votto and bruce, and the pitching is pretty bad unless homer bailey finally breaks out and/or chapman makes a splash when he comes up

you could argue that any team w/ the exception of the cardinals is the worst team in that division

― contl;drizer (J0rdan S.), Sunday, May 16, 2010 5:45 PM (Yesterday)

a stretch, but if you can't see that the Astros/Pirates are significantly outclassed by the Reds/Brewers/Cubs, don't know what to tell you man....

i was kind of exaggerating, but the brewers are terrible

The Reds pitching is better than you think, it was really their strength last season, they just don't have a star starter. If they would have had the masher lineup from the mid 00s with last years pitching, they would have made the playoffs. Most of the time last year if they got to the 7th with a lead, they walked away with a win with Weathers, Masset and Cordero.

Jonny Cueto is on fire, pitching like he did last year before all of those innings in winter ball and the baseball classic caught up to him. He didn't pitch winter ball for the first time in a few years, so hopefully he can pitch in August like he does in May.

Bronson Arroyo is pretty consistent. The guy is going to give you 200 innings and he will keep you in a game. He will have 4 or 5 starts where he gets absolutely pounded, yet will hang around for five innings or so to save your pen, which in some ways throws off his season ERA.

He gets pretty poor run support, but the dude that is hard to figure is Aaron Harang. That is the guy that the Reds really need to get the form he had back in 06 & 07.

Homer Bailey can deal against the Pirates, he just seems to get rocked if the club has a decent offense.

I think the most the Reds can hope for with Chapman is to maybe use him like Tampa used David Price and the Angels originally used K-rod in a stretch run. The guy is really wild so far, but I figure he would be a FREAKING nasty loogy to use for an out or two down the stretch, if and it is a huge if, the Reds are in the hunt. I don't think the guy will be ready to start this year.

They have a couple of guys that might make an impact. Yonder Alonzo has been mashing. He just got called up to AAA and has kept on hitting in his first games with Louisville. They are working him in the outfield.

Arthur Rhodes extended his scored streak to 21 innings and 23 appearances by retiring the only batter he faced, Adam Dunn, Friday night. "We try to preserve Arthur," Reds manager Dusty Baker said.

King Arthur is pretty much the only person in the Reds bullpen that can be counted on for much. Rhodes gave up a solo homer in the first game of the year and hasn't given up a run since.

Coco and Masset are pitching like a couple of turds.

Cinci is going to have to get at least 1 fresh arm for the bullpen, the only question is do they try to use maybe Volquez when he comes back, potentially move Homer Bailey to the pen, look to one of the good starters in AAA (Chapman while a flamethrower has been pretty wild and I guess he can't hold a runner at all) or get someone in a trade.

Cant believe Scott Rolen is basically leading the league in slugging..

cant believe jonny gomes is 5th in mlb in rbis & has like 50 less abs than everyone

OBPs of guys hitting ahead of Gomes?

The Reds kind of took off when they moved Drew Stubbs down to 7th in the order and moved Cabrera into the lead off spot. Cabrera's OBP is pretty meh, he definitely isn't an ideal lead off guy, but the change of moving Brandon Phillips to the 2nd spot instead of clean up seems to have worked well for him, as he is having a career year for OBP. At this point, most teams pretty much try to pitch around Votto, so he is really racking up the walks. Rolen seems to have benefited and now that he has been clobbering the ball, it seems to have helped Gomes who is usually batting 5th. Stubbs has also really done well since moving down the lineup bringing his average up about 100 points in a month.

Jonny Gomes was kind of platooning for the first few weeks with Chris Dickerson, who got hurt. Thing is that when Gomes started getting regular playing time, he started mashing the ball like mad and hasn't really left the linup. Gomes seems to have really changed his approach at the plate and seems to be more trying for contact and going the other way when he gets behind in the count or there is runners in scoring position instead of just swinging as freaking hard as you can every pitch. He is taking a few more walks than average and is just a more patient hitter. Reds are also getting decent production out of their backup outfielders with Laynce Nix and Chris Heisey, both of which might have been getting more at bats but Gomes and Stubbs both got hot.

I think the Reds hitting succiess is a low rent bit of the big bat Red Sox/Yankees kind of thing where once a couple of guys in the lineup get going, it seems to benefit everyone around them.

Sad thing is that there isn't a single Red in the top 5 at any position in the all star voting.

Homer Bailey - Keeping it real.

Homer Bailey sat at his locker staring at at a TV, the only one NOT displaying soccer. Bailey was watching a show on bow hunting.

“I knew you wouldn’t be watching soccer,” I said. Bailey smiled and said, “No way. Soccer is a communist sport. And I don’t care if you use that.”

http://www.springfieldnewssun.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/dayton/cincinnatireds/entries/2010/06/13/bailey_is_hunting_for_answers.html?imw=Y

it's funny cuz it's true

reminds me of:

"Strikeouts, from my perspective, are boring things. Nothing happens. They are fascist weapons. I prefer the ground-ball out and view it as the perfect model of democracy."
Spaceman Bill Lee

before Ron Shelton?

The Reds have agreed to terms with Gary "Dustybait" Matthews Jr.

Baseball players sure are good at getting the flu when it's not flu season. #ScottRolen

Is David DeJesus really any good? There are all sorts of people posting how he would be an excellent pickup blah blah blah.

Never saw him play much, so I can't say. Going by the numbers, he isn't that fast and he doesn't have much power and the dude is in his 30s.

I don't get it. I guess he hits for an OK average and could bat second, but I don't really see him as that much of a replacement over what the Reds already have in place.

Go figure.

dejesus gets on base at a high rate (.360 career, .380ish this year) and is a well above average fielder in LF/RF and can play a decent CF if necessary

he'd be a big improvement over jonny gomes purely on defensive value, gomes is an absolute butcher out there

Reds are on a roll, hopefully not peaking too soon, but I think their fate is going to be largely decided in these next couple of weeks. They have the Cards then the Marlins this week at home then they do their second west coast trip, which has been a bad thing for the Reds in the past few years.

Orlando Cabrera going down hasn't hurt them at all, as Paul Janish has been hitting better and is a better fielder at this point. Janish should have been getting more playing time anyway, just to see if the guy can be the regular short stop. So far, he has done well in the last week.

Dusty finally giving Chris Heisey some playing time for the outfielders has led to the rest starting to produce. I don't know if Heisey is an answer, but Stubbs, Bruce and Gomes had been really struggling. Got to go with the hot bat and with Heisey, you don't lose any defense, as he is pretty decent with the glove and can play center.

Ryan Hanigan coming back has been good too, as it allows Hernandez to get a few more games off a week and when that happens, he is a more productive hitter. Hanigan is a solid bat, the guy has good bat control and is good at getting runs home when he gets a shot.

The pitching has been great. Travis Wood came on with some injuries happened and he is not leaving the rotation. Reds have Homer Bailey ready to come back, but don't have a roster slot. Same thing is coming with Aaron Harang, who supposedly isn't far from being ready. Reds will end up needing one of them, as Mike Leake is getting close to his innings ceiling and I think they might shut him down or put him in the pen.

Bullpen has been great, except Coco Cordero, who is a scary person to have come into the game. I think he has to be pretty close to losing the closing job. Reds are tied into him for another big dollar year past this one, so I doubt they will cut him loose, but I wouldn't doubt you will start seeing Nick Masset more in the ninth. Reds have gotten good work out of a couple of rookies in Jordan Smith and Logan Ondrusek in the pen. Ondrusek was horrible in his earlier stint with the club, but has been money for the past six weeks or so. Jordan Smith is pretty good, the guy doesn't walk many and gets ground balls.

Well this week was interesting, the Reds did well to pick up and dust themselves off after the debacle series with the Cards. This Cincy team has been pretty resilient to when things look pretty grim for getting back up on the horse and getting the job done. Reds have have blown two 6 run games in the ninth in a season and get swept by the Pirates and Mariners, blowing that 4 game series before the break against the Phils, then had this crash with the Cards, so there have been moments where they could have swooned and crashed but it didn't happen.

Dusty gets busted for a bunch of things, but maybe he deserves a bit of the credit for that; I don't know but it is something.

This is probably the biggest week of the season so far, as going out west has been a Reds nightmare for years. If they can get out there and get the job done, even just holding serve, I know a bunch of Reds fans will feel better about their chances.

At this point I am crossing fingers for a Reds - Pads NLCS, if the Rockies don't make it.

Johnny Cueto hosting Tacos Not Spikes Night

Another double pack

http://www.twitlonger.com/show/3g02fu

THESE MOTHERFUCKERS MAD CUZ I'M HEISEY

Mulletwitzki's at-bat versus Chapman yesterday looked very uncomfortable.

http://blog.prorumors.com/2010/09/rumors/video-jim-edmonds-hurt-during-home-run-trot/

Chapman throws fastest pitch ever recorded

WOW, that was a pretty kick ass game to clinch! THRILLPOWER!

Drew Stubbs brings back a 2 run HR.
Good pitching
Bruce wins it on a walk off 400+ ft home run!

That was great.

Gomes looked like he was ready to Kool-Aid Man through the stadium walls.

Apparently Gomes was in DC last night, too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Goukr9Micq4

so Reds fans, who do you want to play in the DS?

I think the Reds are the underdog pretty much against everybody except maybe Atlanta and that is because of injuries. Reds lost a couple of stupid games to the Braves, but they played them OK this year including the series where they took off in the 2nd half was against the Bravos. SF clobbered the Reds starters for a couple of games out west, but like SD, their lineup doesn't really scare me at all. If the Reds pitching is on and it has been on at points during the year, I think they could beat the Giants or Padres as the Reds can score some runs.

If they draw Philly, which is probably most likely, so be it and lets see what happens. They did beat Halladay once this year and had that crazy 4 game series right before the break in Philly where they lost all four games by 1 run including when Travis Wood almost threw a perfect game. Philly has those three horses, including the most evil Reds killer ever with Oswalt (who the Reds finally clobbered this year right before he was traded), but their bullpen is still pretty suspect. Lidge probably strikes more fear into Philly fans than even Coco Cordero into Reds fans. I think a huge thing would be getting a split in Philly and not opening 0-2.

Reds are a streaky club, I think if they click like they did in May or August, watch out. Reds have played pretty well on the road and they have been pretty resilient and have had a bunch of come backs, both within a game and from losses that were horrible (criminy they blew three 6 run leads for losses) and a couple of disheartening series sweeps (like the Philly series and the brawl series with the Cards).

Really, I think the Reds management hoped to be competitive this year, I don't think they would have expected to win the division. They are probably a year a head of expectations, I'd think.

The thing that Reds fans are really excited about is that there is a good young nucleus of players, with more on the way and this could the beginning of something pretty cool.

Bronson Arroyo - has been really consistent all year. He is mixing up his pitches more. Seems to have that one inning where things are going to come apart, but will keep the club in the game. Arroyo will be the #1 starter.

Johnny Cueto - hasn't pitched well of late, as his last start was more like what would happen when the wheels come off. He has been more consistent this year and giving up less home runs. Cueto still takes a lot of pitches to get the job done, part of the reason he only has 12 wins is that he is generally at 100 pitches around the sixth inning.

Travis Wood (Rookie) - has been more human in the second half, but still over-all pretty solid. He has mostly pitched on the road. Doesn't walk a whole lot of people and has pretty nasty on lefties. I have to think he would start in Philly in game two or three if that is who they draw.

Edinson Volquez - has been pitching pretty damn good since they sent him down for a couple of weeks to work out some kinks. The guy was hitting mid-90s all night last night with some movement. He's the guy that could come out and get a bunch of Ks out of the Reds starters.

Homer Bailey - has also been pitching decent other than a start where he left with some dizzyness. He beat SD a few days ago. I think he is the odd man out. When the Reds were needing help in the pen, they considered using him but it was said, he is kind of slow to warm up. I think he will be on the playoff roster, but I think they would have to bring him in to start an inning after a big warmup to use him. He has good velocity on his fastball.

bullpen-

Coco Cordero - is kind of a lovable guy by all counts, but the guy is scary at this point in his career. He pretty much lives and dies on getting calls on the corner and only rarely seems to be able to reach back and blow anyone away at this point. No matter what happens, Dusty will use him as the closer, hopefully he will be on his game finally getting to the playoffs for the first time after 12 seasons and do OK.

Nick Masset - is pretty good, but occasionally will have a game where he pitches a bit hazy. He has been the workhorse of the Reds pen, pretty much pitches every other day. He is a hard thrower and can get a K, but he can also give up the big dinger. Masset pitching well is a key to the Reds having a shot.

Arthur Rhodes - foot is hurt. He has had a couple of nice years with Cincy, but Rhodes has been fighting a foot injury for the whole second half. Some games he has come in limping, but good thing is, that some days you can't tell. Hopefully he can hold it together and get the job done.

Aroldis Chapman - guy is absolute nasty when he is on, but hasn't done as well pitching in back to back games out of the pen or as well in situations where he doesn't start the inning. That K he had on Adrian Gonzales last week was crazy. He got him on three strikes of 102. 103 and 104 in a row. Big thing with Chapman is making sure that slider and change up are going for strikes. His slider when working is the crazy pitch, as it will drop like a rock about 15-20 miles less than his fastball.

Logan Ondrusek (rookie) - is probably a guy that most people won't know, but will definitely see him pitch in the playoffs. He has been a big part of the Reds bullpen and has been overall pretty great since coming back up after a terrible start to the season. He throws pretty hard and has some movement and will probably be the guy you see the Reds go do in the 6th or maybe 7th to finish off innings.

Jordan Smith (rookie) - has also been a pretty good arm for the Reds out of the pen. He is a good guy to go to if you need a double play as he is a sinker ball pitcher. I'd think he would be on the playoff roster, but it depends on if they take him or Bill Bray (another lefty). I think Smith has been pretty good and was getting some key innings earlier in the year.

Bill Bray - is a left handed reliever that might also be on the playoff roster. It depends on if they want 3 lefties in the pen or not. He walks a lot of guys, so if it was me, I'd go with Smith over him.