2nd base

[JohnU]

Pay some attention to that minor deal the Braves made sending La Stella to the Cubs.
They need a 2B.
The Reds have one they'd like to unload to a team where the guy grew up.
Not like that rumor didn't get a little traction LAST winter.

 

[Redsfan1507]

No one seems to value Phillips as much as the Reds do, for whatever reason. BP is a trash talker. He's a smiling, hip-hop dude with lots of swag, and a slick glove....but he's aged into a very Orlando Hudson kind of hitter. He's a .260-ish hitter that doesn't walk, hit many homers, or steal much. He's not horrible with runners in scoring position, but doesn't hit enough to be put in a lineup spot where that is more than an infrequent occurance.

He's making about $12M/ yr. and will be 35-36 at the end of his contract. So, what is that worth in trade ? The Yankees thought Brett Gardner was too much. The Braves wanted to trade a worse player with a worse contract- Dan Uggla for BP. To be honest, there are probably several players no one has heard of that can hit .265 with 10 HR and 4 SB, and play a decent 2b....for less than the $35M or so BP will get in the next 3 years. If no one is willing to pay BP's contract, how much better can the Reds be without him ? They can't. If they have to pay him, might as well play him. He isn't terrible.

Joey Votto, on the other hand is going to get paid like an MVP until he's 40. That's a problem if he can't at least show up for 140 games a year, or hit like a MVP when he does show up...for the next 8-9 years or so. That's a problem that makes KGJ's contract look like a hometown discount.

Bruce was a perennial 30HR hitter, with a great glove in RF...until last year. He gets another raise next year.

Bailey tossed 2 no-no's among his mostly .500 career, so far. He's going to get paid like a .600 pitcher that tosses a no-no every couple years. Cueto flirts with 20 wins every year he's healthy lately, regardless of how many the Reds win. That's going to get expensive now. Chapman has the best fastball in history, and mixed with an unhittable slider and a 90mph changeup, present skills of potentially the best lefty starting pitcher since Koufax...even if the Reds keep him in the pen, his value may exceed closers pay they can afford.

I don't think there were conscious mistakes made with any of these guys- except maybe Chapman, but timing they say, is everything. The Reds should have won more in Dusty's years here. Now, payroll is rising as players are evolving, some degrading. Hamilton and Frazier won't be cheap long.


I vote we win next year so the next increase in ticket prices won't be so aggravating.

 

[JohnU]

Consider that since 1889, the Reds have won the World Series 5 times ... the odds are decidedly against it.

Ballplayers are going to cost a lot of money now.
Seattle paid Seager 100 million bucks and all I could read about him was "he won a Gold Glove and drove in 96 runs" -- neither of which means a fucking thing.

I suppose if everybody signs with Boston, then the guys who can't play for Boston will go somewhere else. Seems the Beantown fans think that the guys they had who guided them to last place are all great guys to trade for front line pitching. Not sure why they think that, but the mindset of the average baseball fan depends on what CBS sports "writers" tell them is happening.

 

[Redsfan1507]

The Redsox are talent buyers. The trouble with that is they have to keep buying to stay relevant, and those long term contracts always last longer than the production from those with them. The Redsox dumped a lot if their farm to get Gonzalez, then gave him away a year later. Typical Theo Epstein kind of move up to that point- now were expected to believe he's going to build with prospects with the Cubs. We'll see. Negron played well in a small sample, but I'm skeptical he would make us forget BP if he was the full time 2b. It's another reason I doubt trading BP- who would replace him, Schumaker ?

 

[JohnU]

If we think the offense sucks now, let's prop up another AAAA infielder in that lineup and we have 6 automatic outs.

 

[Redsfan1507]

It's all a mystery at this point. I can't imagine who's in the Braves lineup- no 2b, no Heyward, trying to trade Justin Upton, probably so it causes less clubhouse upheaval when they "Uggla" his brother BJ- by releasing and eating his regrettable contract. But that leaves them without an OF, and no 2b. Never seen a pitching staff so good they didnt need those positions in the lineup.