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Luddy
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Redsfan1507
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He probably needs to start thinking about a new hobby. I assume anyone that has played MLB as long as he has doesn't need an occupation, from a financial standpoint, anyway. I could live pretty well to about age 240, just on his last contract with the Reds.
Ludwick was a decent to middling hitter for a while- but all those shoulder surgeries sap the only real tool he had-a RBI bat, leaving him without much of a marketable product. Possibly a pinch hit role. Maybe a platoon player- although at 37 coming off his last 2 years where he hit less than 10 HR and 50 RBI, time and trend doesn't appear to be on his side.
His 2012 season- after Ludwick was signed on the cheap by the Reds, after consecutive down seasons with STL-SD-PIT, was arguably his 2nd best season ever, in a career that IMO, only had 3 seasons deserving the $9 Mil option the Reds passed on at the end of last season. Unfortunately, the Reds somehow bought into believing he might do that for 2 more back to back years, and gave him the 2 year deal. He was a below average runner, with below average range, with a below average arm, all relatively unimportant as a LF, if he could hit.
Hard for me to believe the Reds haven't found a farmhand to play LF any better than the guys the Reds have employed there over the last decade or so, especially at the MLB salary they've paid most of them. Most have been MLB retreads on a last chance or glorified triple A players killing time before the DFA. They got a few to play over their heads for partial seasons (Harrison, Gomes, Ludwick), but wound up giving them contract extensions just as the law of averages was bringing them back to the same sub-standard players plus a couple years older, they were when they first became available to the Reds.
I'm hoping Marlin Byrd's age doesn't put him in the same category soon.
Ludwick was a decent to middling hitter for a while- but all those shoulder surgeries sap the only real tool he had-a RBI bat, leaving him without much of a marketable product. Possibly a pinch hit role. Maybe a platoon player- although at 37 coming off his last 2 years where he hit less than 10 HR and 50 RBI, time and trend doesn't appear to be on his side.
His 2012 season- after Ludwick was signed on the cheap by the Reds, after consecutive down seasons with STL-SD-PIT, was arguably his 2nd best season ever, in a career that IMO, only had 3 seasons deserving the $9 Mil option the Reds passed on at the end of last season. Unfortunately, the Reds somehow bought into believing he might do that for 2 more back to back years, and gave him the 2 year deal. He was a below average runner, with below average range, with a below average arm, all relatively unimportant as a LF, if he could hit.
Hard for me to believe the Reds haven't found a farmhand to play LF any better than the guys the Reds have employed there over the last decade or so, especially at the MLB salary they've paid most of them. Most have been MLB retreads on a last chance or glorified triple A players killing time before the DFA. They got a few to play over their heads for partial seasons (Harrison, Gomes, Ludwick), but wound up giving them contract extensions just as the law of averages was bringing them back to the same sub-standard players plus a couple years older, they were when they first became available to the Reds.
I'm hoping Marlin Byrd's age doesn't put him in the same category soon.
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JohnU
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The word on Byrd (Byrd is the word) ... is that he is on a 1-year stopgap before Winker is ready. Somehow that just doesn't seem like anything except scribes hearing the front office drivel they want them to hear. Any reporter who truly believes MLB operates like that these days ... bizarre. Another half-year in the minors might be useful for Winker, probably though it's more related to his arbitration clock than his ability to hit. If he can't hit, he can't hit. A year with the Bats isn't going to prove that.
Byrd isn't going to generate numbers in LF that are appreciably better than Heisey/Ludwick/Schumaker produced. But he has an incentive for 500 PA ... so I'd assume he is going to play RF a lot too.
Byrd isn't going to generate numbers in LF that are appreciably better than Heisey/Ludwick/Schumaker produced. But he has an incentive for 500 PA ... so I'd assume he is going to play RF a lot too.
