The second 19

[Ickey Shuffle]

No complaints from me involving Garrett. He's been really solid.

 

[Hit-n-Run]

It's a sunny May 7th and our Reds are in 1st place.
Life is good.

The Reds were 1 game under .500 the 2nd half of 2016, so it shouldn't be all that surprising that they are around .500 the first 29 games of 2017. Doesn't mean a lot in the big picture, but this club isn't as bad as the National media forecasted.

 

[chico ruiz]

i like this reds team because they play hard. period. end of story. i apologize for the reductionistic attitude, because, of course, there is winning, losing, and the reasons for both. but, i've heard mlb announcers (or whatever you want to call them) recently say, 'but did you see that effort?' like it's an unknown quantity and hasn't been a part of baseball in the past. they seem shocked and surprised.

there's nothing shocking , or surprising, about the ridiculous or dishonest. both are far more predictable than the truth. maybe it's me. maybe i don't deserve better. why else would mlb media at-large ignore conspicuous truths to feed me big piles of horse shit? maybe they're to be heard, and the game not watched or seen? for years i watched as robinson cano didn't bother to run to first base. i watched him finish a base short or out at first or second when he should have been safe. but what couldn't be missed was widely ignored, as if i didn't see or know better. yet when cano would hit a 2-run single, yankee announcers would gush that he was the real deal. yankee fans were lucky to have him they said. the truth is it took larry bowa riding his ass for two years to actually make him the real deal.

of course there has always been a public relations element. but, not wholesale propaganda misrepresentation of an entire sport and how it is played. sometimes it's like listening to harvey levin. anybody ever want to punch that guy square in the jaw? for god sake, i would drop dead if these shills would call it what it is. i take that back. they don't have the integrity of a grifter. they're fuckin lackeys. it's not methodical play i'm watching. it's lethargic play. according to these guys, i obviously must be living in some kind of altruistic dream world where reality is a luxury.

for the sake of this post, i'll call them league wide selective observations by liars. i don't know about you guys, but i'm tiring of the 100 million dollar superstars who play as if they aren't allowed to get their school clothes dirty. the 'jog and watch' is getting more than tiresome. add to that the mlb team mouthpieces, and i start to get a little aggravated. i would prefer they drop the obsequious qualifiers and not say anything. it's mlb, not tmz. this board provides more enlightened perspective.

if i was a stodgy old fuck who guffawed the younger generations i could, and would, fix that thought process. but, i'm not. i'm simply watching the games. i'll give you an example from last year to illustrate: starlin castro hit a sharp one-hop ground ball right at josh donaldson, who fielded it cleanly. as inexplicably happens more often at the mlb level than you would think, donaldson's throw was in the dirt, and up the line toward right field, pulling ex-red edwin encarnacion off first base. edwin stretched and dug it out, but it came out of his glove, as he righted himself, and rolled toward centerfield about 6 to 8 feet. the egregious -and to my mind, unforgivable- part is that edwin was able to retrieve the ball himself, run back to first base, and beat castro to the bag. castro gave up on the play, and didn't start to actually run hard until he saw the ball come out of the glove / mitt. it occurred to me that pete rose ran faster to first base on a intentional walk, than castro had on that particular play. i see similar plays like that, around the league, more often than you might imagine.

the reds will probably lose more games than they win this year. but, they play hard. if you see hamilton beat out a infield grounder or cozart hit a triple, while most mlb players would settle for a double, remember these things have become the exception to the rule. reds season ticket holders, and fans at-large, are luckier than they think.
i'm just watching the game. i was asked recently why i like the reds and rays. because they play hard, good defense, and steal bases, i said. the contemporary blind dog mlb fan just stared head atilt.

 

[Tubbs1518]

Why in the hell would the Reds option Garrett down to AAA?

 

[chico ruiz]

i'm just spitballing here mr. tubbsy, but my guess is you will see garrett standing on the gabp mound the 21st v. colorado. maybe as soon as @cubs on the 16th. the reds have 2 off days coming up and will go to a 4 man rotation on the road trip. garrett will stay on schedule in lewiston on a strict pitch count. garrett hasn't pitched 150 innings in a season yet, and they want to protect him. they need another bailey, desclafani, or finnegan injury situation like they need a shotgun blast to the face.

(btw, can anyone on this board justify why price would use finnegan to pinch hit for arroyo, in the 5th inning & down 6-1, a month ago in st. louis? he had the entire bench available and finnegan was coming off, in barnhart's words, 'his best mlb start ever.' some kind of crazy inversion of the risk-reward curve i guess.)

why not option rookie davis you might ask. maybe less innings on his arm. maybe match ups in sf, and they've already seen garrett. i don't know. but the reds young starters will run out of innings at some point. maybe a little early season thinning is a good idea. i think the reds consider the young garrett a prize possession.

 

[Hit-n-Run]

Rookie Davis has already been on the 10 day DL and has pitched 20+ innings less than Garrett.

Secondary or primary....
option days decrease Garrett's service time and could buy the Reds an extra year of control.

 

[Hit-n-Run]

(btw, can anyone on this board justify why price would use finnegan to pinch hit for arroyo, in the 5th inning & down 6-1, a month ago in st. louis? he had the entire bench available and finnegan was coming off, in barnhart's words, 'his best mlb start ever.' some kind of crazy inversion of the risk-reward curve i guess.)

I agree Chico.

Overall, I'm not a big fan of Bryan Price's managerial skills.

 

[Ickey Shuffle]

Billy on a little 5 game hitting streak.

Sorry I had to jinx him. Inb4 he goes 0-5 next game.

 

[Tubbs1518]

If the Reds keep playing like this, do we think they actually buy at the deadline or just hope their rotation get's healthy? I don't see anywhere on offense they likely try to upgrade. Everyone seems pretty set as does the bench, but the rotation definitely needs some help. There are some interesting guys on teams that are currently really bad. Some guys who are gonna be FA that probably wouldn't cost a ton to go get who could at least give us a 3rd guy.

 

[JohnU]

I just don't understand this. He have given up more than 2 runs only once and pitched less than 6 innings only once.

I think Garrett has major upside. He is being sent down to control his innings, which makes sense under the bizarre Verducci rules, whatever that means. But that aside, the way MLB teams operate now, once the "book" is out, it is up to pitchers to adjust. Garrett needs time. He's got the tools.
Just don't fall in love with his numbers after a month of a season.
It takes top pitchers more than once through the schedule and Garrett has a lot of time to get better.

 

[eburg5000]

Myself I would be surprised if they would be buyers, it goes against everything they have done in the past few years.

 

[JohnU]

If the Reds keep playing like this, do we think they actually buy at the deadline or just hope their rotation get's healthy? I don't see anywhere on offense they likely try to upgrade. Everyone seems pretty set as does the bench, but the rotation definitely needs some help. There are some interesting guys on teams that are currently really bad. Some guys who are gonna be FA that probably wouldn't cost a ton to go get who could at least give us a 3rd guy.

Most teams in the league are 8 games over .500 or 8 games below with a few around that number, and a few who are within striking distance of the playoffs. The Reds -- if they overachieve, it's great. If they don't, it's fine. either way, I don't see that dumping a regular like Cozart or Duvall does much to make the team worse or better, unless all we see is the payroll. For the front office, payroll matters. Another 2 or 5 or 9 wins isn't going to make a difference. We ain't gonna win the NL-C anyhow.
I prefer to make a run at it this year, as a fan. I don't know if the front office metrics agree with me. It's another 5 months. I think this is a 75-win team.
IF the Reds change anything, it's to bring in guys from the system. How does that work? Depends, but replacing Duvall with Kivlehan isn't something the front office is going to worry about. As fans, we would be pissed.
I want Duvall AND Cozart on this team. I also liked Frazier. So goes the world.

 

[Tubbs1518]

Most teams in the league are 8 games over .500 or 8 games below with a few around that number, and a few who are within striking distance of the playoffs. The Reds -- if they overachieve, it's great. If they don't, it's fine. either way, I don't see that dumping a regular like Cozart or Duvall does much to make the team worse or better, unless all we see is the payroll. For the front office, payroll matters. Another 2 or 5 or 9 wins isn't going to make a difference. We ain't gonna win the NL-C anyhow.
I prefer to make a run at it this year, as a fan. I don't know if the front office metrics agree with me. It's another 5 months. I think this is a 75-win team.
IF the Reds change anything, it's to bring in guys from the system. How does that work? Depends, but replacing Duvall with Kivlehan isn't something the front office is going to worry about. As fans, we would be pissed.
I want Duvall AND Cozart on this team. I also liked Frazier. So goes the world.

I hope they trade Cozart. We aren't paying him after this year and he is playing extremely well. Get something for him while you can.

 

[JohnU]

I hope they trade Cozart. We aren't paying him after this year and he is playing extremely well. Get something for him while you can.

Cozy will be harder to trade than it looks but I think the Reds will dump salary, even pick up some of it ... and deal him to somebody who really could use a SS upgrade. Cozy is a tough nut here because of his age and contract. He isn't going to hit .340 for anyone.

 

[Tubbs1518]

Cozy will be harder to trade than it looks but I think the Reds will dump salary, even pick up some of it ... and deal him to somebody who really could use a SS upgrade. Cozy is a tough nut here because of his age and contract. He isn't going to hit .340 for anyone.

I don't think we will get a ton out of him, but he's still a good defensive SS who is hitting well this year and they won't be on the hook past that if they don't want to be. I think he could be a good trade piece.

 

[eburg5000]

I hate to see Cozart go, But if they would trade Duvall for a bunch of prospects. Which I have heard that rumor. I'd be pissed. what is the point of rebuilding if you continue to trade off GOOD YOUNG PLAYERS that you have under team control for 5+ years. I really don't understand baseball in the 21 century.

 

[JohnU]

Nice work on the sweep. I never expected the Giants to be that bad, even without their ace. Reds just chewed them up. A bit tougher with the Yanks coming in but all in all, this 2nd 18 games has been far better than expected.

I think I understand the Garrett move so long as he doesn't trade innings in Cincy with innings in the international League.

Feldman needs to give the Reds 3 games out of 4 instead of 1 out of 3.

Hamilton may have figured it out. If so, this is gonna be a fun ride.

 

[chico ruiz]

when tanaka is at his best, hitters have a very hard time differentiating between his slider and splitter. it's what makes him unique as a mlb pitcher. i've always been intrigued by that. it seems counter intuitive from the batters perspective, but his mechanics (motion, delivery, arm angle, release point) are like carbon copies. when he is on, that slide / split combination is extremely effective. he does have 6 pitches. sinker, splitter, slider, cutter, 4s heater w/ sink, and a curve. if he has command, he can throw a maddux on any night. reds can get to him if his ground ball pitches aren't effective because otherwise a lot of his curves, slides, and cuts get hit in the air.

as i'm sure you guys are aware cc has lost some gas in the last few years. he rarely will throw a 4 seamer anymore, relying on a sinker / cutter combo. the sinker appears to be a fairly heavy pitch w/ arm side drift. he reminds me of andy pettitte in his last few years of mlb. he usually has a good change to work off. recently i've noticed a reliance on it, in tandem, with the cut or 2 seam which he throws pretty hard. but, like tanaka, he can be got. if you see a lot of ground balls from the reds v. cc & masa they could be long nights. but, the way the reds have been hitting……..

advantage reds if billy gets on a lot v. tanaka. actually, the way he's going now, make that v. any mlb pitcher. hamilton's overall performance (defensively & offensively) in the giants series was one of the best i've seen in some time. it was a clinic in smart aggressive baseball that every ball player from cobb to henderson would applaud. well....cobb would have at least nodded approval.

 

[Ickey Shuffle]

Hopefully Rookie Davis doesn't play like a rookie tonight.

 

[Ickey Shuffle]

Hopefully Rookie Davis doesn't play like a rookie tonight.

Why did I even say anything lol. Brutal.