Moscot added....Marquis subtracted

[Hit-n-Run]

The Reds have purchased the contract of Jon Moscot to make his MLB debut tonight replacing Iglesias who is going to the DL with a oblique strain. Marquis was DFA to make room on the 40 man and Pedro Villarreal was recalled to round out the 25 man roster moves.

 

[Redsfan1507]

Sorry to hear about Iglasias, but glad to see another young farm arm instead of rusty old Marquis. Not to suggest hanky panky in this case, but Reds will have to be creative with getting these guys in all year without working them to death or using all thier minor league options. The DL is a way to do that...and can even get in some minor league work as "rehab" after the DL break.

 

[Hit-n-Run]

The 4th rookie SP for the Reds this season and it's only June 5th. The Reds had several minor league guys called up last year to make starts. The strange part is all the guys they've pitched this year are different from guys they used last year. Last year it was Axelrod, Corcino, Holmberg, and I may be missing someone.

 

[HammerDown]

I'll always love Jason Marquis for what he did for the Padres. Hard to find a better guy in the clubhouse. I'd like to see the Padres get him on the payroll ASAP with a position somewhere in the organization but he'll probably want to stay closer to Long Island.

Earlier today I got very, very tempted to make plans to head up to Cinci for this series but even just going to one game and staying one night I'm sure it'd cost about $400 total. Hard to justify that right now.

 

[chico ruiz]

jeff francis

 

[Hit-n-Run]

I was thinking more along the lines of young guys. But you're right ... Jeff Francis did get a start during a doubleheader. Cueto, Latos, Bailey, Leake, Simon, and Cingrani round out the 2014 SP's.

 

[JohnU]

Sounds like the oblique strain for Iglesias comes at a convenient time. They need to curb his innings anyhow.
Marquis knew he was on borrowed time a week ago, probably has already agreed to a final payout.

 

[Hit-n-Run]

With so much emphasis placed on innings/pitch counts it's nearly impossible to transition as many young rotation arms into the mix as the Reds are this year. I don't think it was a unforeseen issue...just one that was inadequately dealt with from a organizational depth standpoint. Acquiring Holmberg and signing minor league FA's like Axelrod were weak attempts to address the issue.

The Reds are late in dealing with the reality of the problem... especially with 2014 being a losing season and this year forecasted to be more of the same. They knew they were going to have to trim payroll this past winter and this coming winter to stay on budget. This team is in it's third consecutive year of decline and acts like it's in position to contend. The poor planning gives the appearance of having their heads in the sand.

I like Bob Castellini, he's done a lot to improve the fan experience and I believe he sincerely wants to bring a winner to Cincinnati. But as long as he's the owner we're going to continue to see more of the same from the front office. Jocketty may retire when his deal is up next year....but the future GM is most likely already in place. If you know anything about Bob you'd know that's the way he operates. He's a very loyal guy that builds a structured enviroment around whatever he's involved in. Jocketty is the figure head of baseball operations, but I wouldn't expect the supporting cast to go anywhere when his tenure ends.

Dick Williams, Jerry Walker, Terry Reynolds, Kevin Towers, and Cam Bonifay all play a role in acquisitions we're seeing. Chris Buckley and Terry Reynolds are in charge of scouting. When Jocketty retires his replacement most likely comes from one of the names I've listed. I don't expect much to change in the overall way the team conducts it's business in the near future.

 

[Redsfan1507]

I'm sure Marquis is a great guy. Schumaker, too....Unfortunately, I think guys like that need to be coaches or minor league instructors, not taking up roster spots with 6.00's ERA and .205 BA's.

They have no upside, and contrary to the laughable broadcaster's yarn that they are clubhouse "leaders", young players don't learn to win by seeing their organizations support mediocrity, from anyone. Very few young players are students of the game, and they damned sure don't take much valuable advice from career 23rd players on 25 man rosters, that don't deserve a ranking that high anymore. They want to know how to throw that 2 foot depth breaking ball that Cueto has, the no-look behind the back DP relay like Brandon Phillips, or hit that nasty cutter off the left centerfield wall like Votto, not how to hustle out a popup like Schumaker or gut out 3 innings with dogshit stuff like Marquis. Pitchers aren't motivated by Kevin Gregg hitting the weight room 4 hours a day, they only get pissed when he blows their win after handing him a 2 run lead in the 8th.

Players don't learn that hard work pays off, if they see the old guys work their asses off and still suck. They learn to win by seeing how WINNING players and managers WIN. "Chemistry" as a factor of winning is another myth splattered about by broadcasters desperate for excuses for teams too comfortable with losing. Good chemistry is a product of winning, NOT the other way around. 99% of winning teams have fun and get along fine. 99% of losing teams aren't happy, and the 1% of teams that are losing and still allowed to be having fun are just motivating failure by condoning it.

To be honest, I think a big problem is that Reds minor league instruction blows, and could use some new faces, possibly like some of the old hacks the Reds sign to role playing positions....or even formerly better skilled Eric Davis, Barry Larkin, Tom Browning, Sean Casey...or George Foster, who is at the park nearly every game selling autographs anyway.

If a franchise can't even produce a .250 hitter that can play LF more often than once a decade, they have a problem the status-quo isn't going to solve. Is that how they draft, or how they develop ? Or both ?

As far as previous failed experiments with Reds SP, I tend to believe the Reds aren't working to a well thought out long term plan from the farm to the big club, they're just reacting to whatever is available at the moment, be they insufficiently tooled farmhands or past prime camp invitees. I'm not suprised fans looked at Cingrani's minor league record and assumed he was a lock as a MLB starter, but I am disappointed in the Reds guys that get paid to notice, that he was getting all those minor league strikeouts on fastballs 6 inches too high, and couldn't throw strikes that didn't get hit with anything else, and made it all the way to the MLB rotation before they addressed it.

It's not just Reds coaches and instructors that are blind men...It took Dusty Baker 4 years to realize Brandon Phillips was the only logical leadoff hitter on his teams, and never did recognize Aroldis Chapman as potentially the most dominant lefty SP since Randy Johnson. Price is no better- he planned on Mesoraco to be a cleanup hitter this year... as an every other day catcher only ?? It took a hip injury in-season, to consider getting Mesoraco some flyball practice in LF ? Really ?

You don't have to look beyond the multitude of obviously flawed pitching signings to question the Reds evaluation process over the last several years. They've traded for 3 "impact" relievers that were damaged goods when they signed them- Majewski, Guardado and Madson, and traded 3 players for Marshall, who wasn't good enough to start or close on a horrible Cubs team. Anyone that had access to the back of a baseball card or a JUGS gun should have predicted problems with Marquis and Gregg getting outs.

They had a valid bullpen answer with Broxton, and with him, a perfect opportunity to start Chapman, and in my opinion, the inexplicable decision not to follow through with that plan, set the current roster clusterfuck in motion. That same "thought process" cost them a better hitting catcher than Pena in Grandal (LAD), Alonzo (.330 this season), Boxberger (15 saves so far this year), Travis Wood, and couple of throw-ins, AND ultimately both guys they traded them for (Latos and Marshall). They DO still have Desclafani and Suarez as next generation offspring from those trades...Not saying all those guys should have been kept, just that the Reds gave up far too much for what they got in return...and it's still likely to get worse when Cueto and Leake are dispatched as lame duck FA's.

The Reds also have a sustained record of signing pinch "hitters" (Cairo, Hannahan, Boesch,) that don't hit any better than the "utility infielders" that weren't expected to hit, and signing outfielders to 2 year contracts on the basis of short term suprise performances (Gomes,Hairston,Ludwick, Byrd)....again, due to the apparent inability to produce an average hitting OF from within, or move someone blocked by another position player, to LF.

It shouldn't be a suprise the Reds aren't very smart on the field, because they just aren't any smarter in the dugout or front office. This isn't rocket science. It's bad comedy, performed to a bad script by bad actors with bad directors.

So, it will be interesting for me, to see how the Reds "manage" innings load for all the rookie pitchers, all at the same time. The only worse thing (for winning) than what's going on now, is to get half of those youmgsters under Kremcheck's knife next year....because Kremcheck's record indicates he rarely fixes anyone on the first try... One thing to remember is, just because a farmhand comes up in July, doesn't mean he's good to pitch until August...if he's been in the AAA rotation before he arrived with the big club. It's a problem resulting from piss-poor, prior forward planning, worse timing-often excused in Cincinnati, as bad luck.

I like the Castellini's- I think they have genuine interest in the community, and the team winning...and I realize it's often a long process to bring an organization back from the gutter the Reds had been lying in, beginning basically since the Marge Scott, post-Big Red Machine era, when the scouting department was gutted... through Wayne Krivsky's GM tenure-where scouting improved but the minor league instruction corps and even the manager, was replaced by Krivsky ex-college chums and advance scout drinking buddies, and Reds front office trade proposals were considered a MLB laughingstock. IMO, Walt Jocketty was a good hiring for improved credibility and to "win now"...unfortunately, Castellini/Jocketty didn't recognize Dusty Baker's uniquely stubborn commitment to underperformance, soon enough to strike while the Reds talent iron was hot.

Now, I'm afraid they need a GM with "long-term organizational builder" in his resume....Unfortunately, I don't think Walt Jocketty is that guy. They need to get on with the re-construction, IMO, by changing first there.

There are lots of ways to win...but I'm skeptical what we see with our Reds, is one of them.

Personally, I'd like to see them adopt a more conventional draft and develop (Cardinals) philosophy, but it requires a consistent farm production machine that isn't perfected quickly or maintained easily.... or even a more sabermetric (A's) methodology, which requires a team of data analysts and accountants supervised by a baseball IQ of 180 at the top, an ownership group with long haul patience, and a fan base that doesn't mind having to have a program to recognize the players every year, a very rare combination...either of which I believe, is still more fan friendly than the lowest dollar approach (Pirates, Cubs, Rays) of waiting 20 years for high draft picks to all align at the right time. The Reds won't ever be able to afford the last and quickest method to the top (Dodgers,Yankees,Redsox)- buying elite talent.

Chris Welch, the Reds FSO announcer /analyst might have summed it up best the other night- he basically stated the truth- that this team might not be very good, and might not be the same group in a few months, but it's the only Reds team we (fans) are going to get, so we might as well love them...for trying. I'm probably not going to stop watching, but I don't have to love them, like this. Personnally, I'd like to see the "brains" of the organization try a little harder, before I renew my tickets.

 

[JohnU]

I chose last night to listen on the radio, the RailCats, who lost.
I didn't even have a problem with that. This team, regardless of its reasons for being that, is an insult to the fans.

 

[Redsfan1507]

I'm not sure if the "braintrust" of the Reds really intended on stiffing the fans, and just hoped we wouldn't notice, or if they were really doing the best they could given circumstances....not that it's justified under any of those circumstances, or makes it better... Maybe like your supermodel girlfriend gaining 50 lbs. as your bon-bon eating wife...willing to love her the way she is, ready to dump her....or possibly suggest she goes on a diet ?

Depends on your devotion, I guess. I'm a diet kind of guy. I'd like the Reds to cut some fat, and start a sensible routine they can maintain for life. Some fans will dump her...leaving empty seats. Some fans will show dissatisfaction, maybe leaving some empty seats-especially seats they haven't purchased yet for next year. Some fans will still keep coming, and just help eat the bon-bons, and run the risk of shortening their (Reds) quality of life.