The problem, identified...

[Hit-n-Run]

Byrd's contract status for next year is a vesting option based on PA's. He has 185 PA's to this point and needs 365 more to get the guaranteed $8M next season. I would have been surprised if they let him reach it without the team being in a serious playoff run with or without the injury.

 

[Hit-n-Run]

They've added Ivan De Jesus to replace Byrd. Haven't announced whom is being dropped off the 40 man. Could be Mesoraco to the 60 DL.

I guess they plan on playing Schumaker a lot in LF and DeJesus is adding the lost depth at 2nd.

 

[JohnU]

DeJesus is evidently coming up. That would suggest Negron and Schumaker will platoon in LF. That was exactly what I expected. This front office is literally married to having player after player platoon in LF.
Byrd gets screwed out of his performance bonus.

 

[JohnU]

Clearly the manager and his pitching coach have decided to pretend Chapman doesn't need to work on anything.

Let's see another 2-for-15 with RISP ... Negron in LF, Dewey Cheatham and Howe in the bullpen.

I think the problem has been identified.

 

[Villain]

They've added Ivan De Jesus to replace Byrd. Haven't announced whom is being dropped off the 40 man. Could be Mesoraco to the 60 DL.

I guess they plan on playing Schumaker a lot in LF and DeJesus is adding the lost depth at 2nd.

Why do they keep playing Schumaker? Is there really no better option?

 

[Hit-n-Run]

They actually didn't play Skippy last night versus Cole Hamels....they opted for the RH hitting Kris Negron who entered the game batting .113 with 0 HR's.

The Reds have been telling everyone for the past half dozen years that the farm system has talent in the lower levels. As the years pass...the talent apparently has faded because there is a void in MLB ready position players. Guys like Ryan LaMarre get added to the 40 man only to perform below AAA replacement level until they become DFA. The International pool has yielded some success in terms of pitching, but has been a failure with guys like Donald Lutz, Yorman Rodriguez, and Juan Duran approaching the end of their option window without being viable options. Most of the outfielders that post descent stats are lower round draft picks that the Reds must feel don't project to the next level for whatever reason.

The Reds keep selling the notion there's a light at the end of the tunnel....I must be looking down the wrong tunnel.

 

[Redsfan1507]

This team is a product of Walt Jocketty trading upper level position players to add pieces that were expected to win more than the right to be eliminated at the first post season opportunity, squandered with Dusty Baker... who's refusal to send Chapman to the roatation, advance a runner without a homer, or instill a sense of urgency to anything except his next 2 year contract doomed this team to underperform until the playoff caliber talent was injured or gone. Jocketty didn't have a backup plan.... Had Dusty won more, this roster likely would have looked similar now, except he might have convinced Cueto and/or Leake to sign an extension for another year or two to stay on a winning team, long enough to avoid having to depend on 3 rookie SP to pitch more than 150 innings for the first time in their careers, all at the same time.

Signing heavy contract commitments to Votto, Bailey, Bruce and Phillips eliminated ability to add similarly talented and expensive players. The revolving door of past prime LF was supposed to be a stall tactic until a farm OF that could hit could be made ready...and we're still waiting. Allowing Dusty to refuse to use Broxton as a closer and add Chapman's dominant left arm to a rotation without a lefty SP, made Broxton percieved to be too expensive as a setup man. Marshall, Madson and a dozen other bad bullpen signings made Chapman a foregone conclusion as a closer, ultimately on a losing team with little need for one...and wasting enough salary collectively to have paid Cueto $25M for an extra year.

This team needs an OF that hits better than .220 collectively. Depending on Mesoraco as a cleanup hitter, when he can only get 400 AB as a catcher only player, was incredibly short sighted, as was hoping Bailey would be Kremcheck's only patient that didn't need a second surgery, and believing Jason Marquis could hold down a rotation spot until he returned. Kevin Gregg ??

The bench....was never intended to be used as platoon or semi-regular position players. Kind of like they didn't intend on needing lifeboats on the Titanic....They expected Votto, Bruce and Phillips to return to pre-injury production, for Hamilton and Cozart to hit for the first time, and Frazier to continue to put up career bests. They expected Byrd to be what he was last year. They expected Mesoraco to catch 120 games. They expected Bailey to be healthy, and Cueto and Leake to what, pitch as lame duck free agents all year, and Desclafani to pitch 75 more innings than he ever had before ?

Bryan Price was a damned fine pitching coach, but he's never managed before. The pitching coach is a second choice, and the 3b coach is the 3rd in 3 years, and possibly the best manager in the dugout.

When you put all your chips on Plan A, and it crumbles, Plan B is whatever you have left. This is Walt's plan B.

 

[JohnU]

Guys like Ryan LaMarre and Yorman Rodriguez were left to rot in the minors like all the rest of the Reds farm system while 0the big club kept signing Exxon Valdez, Izturis, Rentarrectum, Skippy and now Marlon Byrd.

Here's a hint about where this front office was -- the only deals of substance they made were to fix left field and the bullpen. and they signed or traded for scrap heap guys.

LaMarre or Jess Winker should have been given left field. Anyone can hit .212, which is what Byrd hit. The 10 HR ... be still my heart!

The current coaching staff is inert. The Cardinals are hitting .350 with RISP. The Reds are below Mendoza. I would settle for something in between but teams that play .660 usually have a good foundation in the dugout.

Chapman hasn't had command in a month, and last night was evidence that his problem has not been addressed by the pitching coach.

If it has been addressed and Chapman ignored it, then what's the point of having him on the staff? You can get beat with Badenhop on the mound.

 

[chico ruiz]

i see, in perusing red's blogosphere (one of them being red leg nation) & associated media, that the gm is getting a lot of criticism. of course, in typical cincinnati fashion, it is late in coming. i've been more analytical in my criticisms than most of the posts and articles i've read recently on this subject. i'm sure that many of my fellow posters on this board did not understand, or chose to ignore, my commentary. i'm no soothsayer. i was simply observing what other mlb gm's were doing and why. this current reds mess can't be blamed on multi-year contracts and salaries. maybe i should have emulated 1507's relentless dusty, dusty, dusty, dusty, dusty, dusty, dusty, dusty, dusty, dusty, dusty, dusty, dusty, dusty, dusty, dusty, dusty, dusty, dusty, dusty, dusty, dusty, dusty, dusty, dusty, dusty, dusty, dusty, dusty, dusty, dusty, dusty, dusty, dusty, dusty, dusty, dusty, dusty, dusty, dusty, dusty, dusty, dusty, dusty, dusty, dusty, dusty, dusty, dusty, dusty, dusty, dusty, dusty, dusty, dusty, dusty, dusty, dusty, dusty, dusty, dusty, dusty, dusty, dusty, dusty, dusty, dusty, dusty posts which echo the same exact negative evaluations over, and over, and over. and it's still going on. so, why is baker being referenced so much, or at all, for that matter? he's not relevant to the 2015 reds. anybody else tired of that neurotic nonsense? i just read through the great red satan 'dusty' thread 1507 felt compelled to start. it begs the questions: is this kind of crap borne of frustration with the current reds team? what is it exactly? what are you trying to evoke? what year is it? of course, it devolved into exactly what you would imagine. weird undertones & innuendo with no basis in truth. the 'who's on first' routine makes more sense. now 1507 wants us to believe that there's a baker clubhouse hangover that exists almost 2 years removed from his firing. btw, the reds will not have to offer a 'we shouldn't have fired baker' mea culpa if they pink-slip price. it will just be another mlb manager getting canned like yesterday's garbage. in his usual half-informed pseudo-omniscient way, 1507 steers this board into a degenerative revisiting of the last manager's weaknesses. it has nothing to do with putting together 25 players with specific skill sets to form a competitive team that wins more than 81 games in 2015. if your goal is to drive away posters who actually know the game, including the entirety of mlb, you're succeeding. you can have the board to yourself and a few backwards looking backwards types. you can make it a open-ended stitch & bitch forum or, maybe a creative cooking of possum recipes blog. you can tenderize them by beating the shit out of them. how long after roadkill can you gut, skin, and sashimi them? how to grind the eyes, snout, tongue, and nether regions into something called penis envy sausage. mmm-good. perfect for a phoenix university grad where memorization is emphasized, with little or no applied critical thinking permitted. 1507, any post you make on this board, with any sensible evaluation of 2015 reds baseball, reads like you copy / pasted one of my posts from a year, or more, ago.

turns out, on this board anyway, what baker's really best at is providing cover for the gm. i use the present tense because - apparently - in some circles, he's still providing that cover. as you all know, or should know, i'm just scratching the surface on this topic as it pertains to this board. conversely, where were the countless bellicose indignant name-calling posts about the gm as time ticked away on would-be, but necessary, transactions to ensure a playoff competitive team going forward 2-3-4-5 years ago? if you want to go retro, that is the much more pertinent question, in 2015, because jocketty actually still works for the reds organization.

hit-n-run asks the best question: why would season ticket holders want to re-up for 2016? paul daugherty (who has quickly turned into a hack) writes, you can't contend and reload at the same time. i couldn't disagree more. further, it's precisely that kind of thinking that got the reds where they're at right now. of course you can do both. that's what the best mlb gm's have been doing for the last decade. which brings me to the inevitable question of organizational depth as the season moves through june, and goes right to the heart of my past jocketty criticisms. however, i've written more than enough (i'll spare you the detailed rehash) on that subject the last three years, and if i don't say so myself, those posts were informed and lucid. lucidity - something in short supply on this board, at times. 1507 recently wrote that the marquis and gregg signings were ill-advised. how does that condescending saying go? i may be paraphrasing here: "well…no blank sherlock?!?!?" our self-appointed sage, of everything baseball and political, has had an epiphany. yes, very profound 1507. you make me laugh - sometimes. it's funny, but mostly sad- because those type of plug-in signings by jocketty are often touted as his strength. most of jocketty's signings, with the reds, have had the qualifier 'requires some minor miracle' attached to them. not bottom of the barrel, but remaining residue. not pitchers whose careers were in flux, pitchers whose careers were on the precipice of being over. i've also read some conspiracy theory nonsense about jocketty sabotaging the reds for the cards. i see that the nickname 'sleepy' has been attached to wally as well. i think there's a very uncomplicated explanation. walter is incapable of successfully general managing a team in the 2015 mlb environment. i keep coming back to the same question: why would a successful organization fire a gm one year removed from a world championship? the answer is unremarkable, yet significant: because they wanted to continue being successful.

then what, realistically moving forward for the cincinnati reds? what is too late? what is not too late? high draft picks guarantee nothing. the reds may have better farmhands than the numbers indicate. we better hope so. 1507 suddenly acknowledges that maybe the reds need to do it more like the a's or rays. that's right (reapply above referenced 'sherlock' saying). but, it should have been implemented a decade ago. there can be no doubt that deals were there to be made. this is where the 'too late' part comes in, because it's a organizational philosophy or overall approach, and it can't be changed overnight. the 'win now' mantra should have been the 'future's now & later.' what good gm doesn't constantly ask himself, 'what will my team look like 5 years from now?' to date, the only good chip the reds have left is aroldis chapman. it's 'too late' to get quantity & quality prospects back for leake or cueto. jettisoning simon and latos - signing marquis & gregg- sealed the reds fate this year. not only did jocketty sign them, but -to add insult to injury- apparently they were 'plugged-in' as starter & set-up very early on. that's what is the most insulting to this red's fan. i'm also not convinced that a healthy bailey would have made a difference. mesoraco's bat in the middle of the line-up is sorely missed. but, more importantly, it's the absence of a mlb average OBP in the #1 hole. a lot of the reds offensive success hinged on hamilton getting on-base; at the very very least 30% of the time. price designed the offense this way. this is a much bigger problem than most fans would think, because it renders the reds a base-to-base team. somebody on this board was adamant about preferring hamilton to gardner. the hamilton upside was discussed, and that's fine. i hope it works out. but, if the future is now, hamilton's OBP is .260 and gardner's is .360. how can there be a legitimate discussion about the reds future success without questioning this glaring weakness. you don't have to be a baseball stats wonk to see the enormous vacuum his not getting on base creates. ironically, the player who gets a lot of the criticism on this board is the only one actually living up to his contract. what is the reds development staff responsibility in this? is there any analytical talent evaluation that goes on in the organization?also, and to be clear, phillips has played through most of his injuries, leads the reds in hitting, and has done so from 4 different slots.

marquis is DFA, iglesias is DL'd, and wally just flushed another 1.5 million bucks down the far stall of the executive suite crapper @ GABP.

 

[JohnU]

I don't know what I buy as the yardstick to success. Be it inside the draft, the FA market, the manager, luck, the rest of the league getting lost on the way to the airport ....

What I do know is that the team in the NLC that is winning 67 percent of its games does not have superior talent.
Now whatever that means to anybody else ...

 

[Redsfan1507]

Wow. We have one thing in common, Chico, we both talk too much. As one overstater of the obvious to another, your lack of understanding of the concept of the paragraph disturbs me far more than any opinions you post here. But, thank you for informing me.... I guess the Reds are MY fault, after all.

I think I've been clear- the GM hires and fires-the current miserable roster is his fault. Dusty merely bungled the brief window of opportunity Jocketty's moves did provide. The current "hangover" as you put it, is the result of bad GM decisions made worse by a bad manager, leaving a depleated roster to split 40% the payroll among 80 % of a roster, with a very different, but arguably equally insufficient manager.

Bad business, bad planning, bad managing, bad timing and bad play, are excused as bad luck too much in Redsland, IMO.

In theory, I don't disagree with Chico's belief that it isn't impossible to reload AND win, I think that is what Jocketty was brought in to do....but I also believe that opportunity has expired, and requires a better foundation than the one in place, and a more drastic reload than is feasible with current resources.

BTW, I don't have a Phoenix degree, Chico.... Mine's from Miami of Ohio...Contrary to your belief, I didn't graduate at 30 because I was an intellectually challenged, roadkill hunting racist hillbilly, it was because I was wasting all those years being misinformed about baseball as a professional baseball player and coach.

 

[JohnU]

FWIW, this team COULD have contended this year. They aren't worse than anyone in the division.
But they are poorly prepared.
The other night, a Phils pitcher whiffed on a sac bunt attempt, and the ball went past the catcher to the backstop, runner advanced. I thought, no shit?
Last night, bases loaded, Votto drives in 2 runs ... Frazier and Bruce don't even smell the red stitching before they whiff to end the inning.
Frazier bobbles two routine grounders to let Phils runners reach. That turns over the lineup, lets the good hitters get another swing. Utley, hitting around .154, literally laughs his way to first base on a couple of oppage bunts. Bruce couldn't do that if his Granny was at the stake and we were lighting the fire.
I won't discuss the scouting reports that this team evidently doesn't do.
St. Louis hits .350 with RISP; the Reds hit a buck-eighty.
Stolen bases? Wow, there is a number.

The reason this team is NOT a contender is because the idiots in the front office didn't go out to get a second opinion on Mesoraco, didn't bring quality arms to camp in the spring ... and has a manager and coaching staff that apparently think they don't have to work with anybody.

Chapman has had command issues for a month. A WHOLE MONTH. I guess they guessed some Cuban cigar maker would help him figure it out.

This team could not have finished the deal but they could have been in the hunt.

 

[Redsfan1507]

Oh, I agree- I thought the Cardinals were a pennant lock, the Brewers were worst, and every other NLC team was about equal. That was before Bailey and Mesoraco were out for the season. I was also under the impression that Bruce was going to go back to 2014 type numbers, Marquis was a temporary joke until Bailey got back, and Hamilton was going to improve on last years performance. They still may rectify Bruce and Billy, but I don't think this pitching staff is salvageable this season, if all the rookie SP are shut down by the first of August even if Cueto and Leake and Chapman are still on the team. I'd hate losing Chapman, but he will bring the most of any Reds trade pieces.

 

[JohnU]

What is a shame is that the fastest guy in the league is asked to sac bunt the pitcher to second base with nobody out.

 

[JohnU]

The best part of being a Reds fan is you only have to wait till the 7th to see how it ends.

 

[Redsfan1507]

I'm not sure I've ever seen a bullpen this bad. What a nightmare.

Word is, they sent Jumbo down. I've never heard of the guy they brought up. Adcock ?

...and Mesoraco needs "3-4 games at Louisville to be ready to return"....as a LF. "If he can play the position"...

I wouldn't have said Dunn could "play the position....WELL", but anyone that can hit can "play LF" on this team, I'd say. Besides, it never made sense to me to PLAN to have your cleanup hitter miss 3 games a week. This way, at least maybe he might get more AB's.

 

[JohnU]

Adcock had a few innings in Goodyear. He isn't an upgrade but he's cheap. They are going to get their clocks cleaned anyhow, so might as well give the kids an earnie they can remember when they are 60.

 

[Blitzville]

I hope Iglesias shows more progress today. If not Cingrani is waiting and Stephenson looks like he's ready.

 

[Redsfan1507]

I think Lorenzen has actually regressed- probably because he's already pitched more innings than he ever has...like most on the current staff...and still have a lot of season left.

I think the Reds have plenty of young pitchers- the real issue is the piss-poor planning that forced an entire rotation of rookies to pitch a full MLB season all at the same time. It will shock me if more than one doesn't blow out an arm before end of next season.

 

[JohnU]

Reds brass are selling Lorenzen's moral character now, I see.
I am sort of tired as well of hearing about how Iglesias reminds everyone of El Duque when i wish he reminded us more of Cueto.
Of the bunch, it could be that Holmberg is indeed the pitcher they thought he was.
As for the planning, I think they expected Bailey naturally.
It was folly to think Desclafani was going to be a quality guy but the Reds sold that story in December the same minute the trade was made.

They may have had a higher opinion of Cingrani than real fans actually had.

And ... Jason Marquis.

I think the biggest blunder was deciding to not negotiate with Mike Leake. Once that decision was made, Leake essentially told the Reds to get fucked.