Reds interviews

[JohnU]

Lance McAlister (WLW) and Bill Lack (Redleg Nation) have a couple of interviews that are interesting.

McAlister hosted Joey Votto, who took caller questions ... and JV did not disappoint. Votto suggested strongly that Billy Hamilton WILL give him more pitches to hit. Votto says the knee is better and he's read to drive the ball. He doesn't care where he hits and says, essentially, that it doesn't matter if he cares."

Votto is aware of his importance to the Reds fan base. Humble guy.

LINK HERE

The Mesoraco interview was fairly benign but Devin alluded to some things that I found interesting. Does not like to be paired up with pitchers, as Dusty did.

Thinks Hoover and LeCure can be effective closers.

Rates the Reds pitching as very good.

Nice optimism in this interview. (The quality isn't as good as the Votto one).

THE MESORACO LINK

 

[redlegs@hokies]

I hope for a Votto bounce back year now that his knee should be healthy. Mes coming through at the plate and continuing to build on his defense would be huge.

 

[Redsfan1507]

Anyone that criticizes Votto's plate philosophy needs ask every other Reds "hitter" to get one first...before they start considering why he leads the NL in walks every year. He's not only the Reds franchise player, he's probably the best overall hitter in Reds history...and might be the least protected great hitter in their history too...strictly due to the inability of the manager to put the top HR hitter on the team behind him in the lineup. There is only so much stupidity you can hide. Especially if you expect Ryan Ludwick or Brandon Phillips to scare pitchers into pitching to Votto. Just saying...

Speaking of stupidity, who can blame Meso for not liking Dusty Bakers "strategy" with him- he drew the 2 SP most likely to get the lightest lineup from Dustaroo, AND the least likely to have CS opportunities from, and in between, he gave Meso pinch running assignments in critical end game situations, without so much as getting him into scoring position first. Lets face it, for a self proclaimed "players manager", Dusty didnt get many cudos from actual players. No wonder. I don't believe Meso is the next Gary Carter, just like Billy Hamilton won't be the next Rickey Henderson, but at least with the human boat anchor gone, at least they will have the chance to show what they CAN be without having to try to pull every pitch for a homer, or get benched after a 3 hit night.

 

[redlegs@hokies]

Redsfan1507: I hope that my post was not misconstrued in any way as a negative comment about Votto, I love his plate approach exactly as it is. I was just offering the opinion that a Votto with a healthy leg could elevate his offense even further.
I agree with your sentiment concerning protection for Votto. The thought of that guy seeing more strikes excites me.
Regardless, I cant wait for the season to get underway. It will certainly be exciting/nail-biting to see how Mes handles the added responsibility, and to see if Frazier can improve on his PA's. Go Reds!

 

[Redsfan1507]

Redsfan1507: I hope that my post was not misconstrued in any way as a negative comment about Votto, I love his plate approach exactly as it is. I was just offering the opinion that a Votto with a healthy leg could elevate his offense even further.
I agree with your sentiment concerning protection for Votto. The thought of that guy seeing more strikes excites me.
Regardless, I cant wait for the season to get underway. It will certainly be exciting/nail-biting to see how Mes handles the added responsibility, and to see if Frazier can improve on his PA's. Go Reds!

No, I wasn't indicting you, just half a million Reds fans, and apparently, the GM and Manager, that think Votto swinging at more 1-0 breaking balls in the dirt are going to result in more RBI and less walks for JV and more wins for the Reds. It's laughable, in an unfunny way to me.

 

[redlegs@hokies]

No, I wasn't indicting you, just half a million Reds fans, and apparently, the GM and Manager, that think Votto swinging at more 1-0 breaking balls in the dirt are going to result in more RBI and less walks for JV and more wins for the Reds. It's laughable, in an unfunny way to me.

Yes, the clamor can resonate through the valley at times, but the truth is that Votto is just fine as he is. I would not want him, in any capacity, to augment his approach that has been so successful so far in his career.

 

[Redsfan1507]

...and Votto is a good teammate and soft spoken, non-confrontational politically correct guy...his knee wasn't nearly the power drain that Cozart in front, and Phillips behind him in the lineup were, he just won't say it. To hear people talk, Votto had a terrible year...in fact, he set the record for most times on base on the oldest franchise in MLB, hit over .300 and had 24 HR. Brandon Phillips has only had ONE season to compare to Votto's "disappointing" last year, but somehow BP's 100 RBI made him a "success" as a 4 hitter to many...Frankly, it took Choo and Votto, 2 of the top 3 OBP hitters on the NL, to turn BP's .260/18HR into a 100 RBI season...and it sure didnt stop pitchers from walking JV at every opportunity. Phillips got better protection from Bruce, than he gave Votto, and Zbruce had zero protection and stil drive in 100... for sure, if you believe the lineup had any impact, Dusty's plan didn't maximize current talent. I'm hoping Price is uh...smarter. Shouldn't be too hard.

 

[redlegs@hokies]

I agree with the lack of production around Votto having an impact on his conservative plate approach( of which I do not mind, I feel his plate discipline is what separates him as a cut above), but one must not discount the timetable(which can vary from individual to individual) required for full strength in an area of such import as the knee. The legs do drive the power.

 

[JohnU]

Votto comes right out in the interview and says the pitches he saw with Hamilton on first base were like nothing he had seen all year. The knee was a problem, he said, mainly because he had never had a knee injury before. Part of it was mental.

 

[Ryanballa]

I listen to both of the Votto interviews on the radio live. Man how awesome is he? Guy dont say nothing wrong. The definition of a leader and boy am I glad he will be wearing Reds for his whole career. Even though last year he still had a pretty good year, I expect his power and rbi numbers to come up this year.Our boy Votto will get his trophy back in 2014,the MVP.

 

[Hit-n-Run]

Votto had a good year, it just wasn't his best year. Fans that are overly critical of the guy would be the same type that would say Babe Ruth had a down year in 1928 when he hit 54 home runs after setting the then MLB record 60 HR's the year before. Expectations and perceptions are often biased and based on past performance and generally aren't ascertainable by players on an a year to year basis. Votto is having a Hall of Fame career to this point, fans should enjoy it before it's gone.

 

[chico ruiz]

i vividly remember similar things being said about pete rose in 1974. he didn't hit .300+. he was getting older and slower. he was on the downside of his career. etc etc. he went on to tear up NL pitching until he was 40 years old.

 

[JohnU]

Frank Robinson, anyone?

From all I have read this winter, the outlandish expectations of fans ... Jocketty was supposed to land the equivalent of Matt Kemp, Grady Sizemore and Brett Gardner for Homer Bailey and Aroldis Chapman. Grady Sizemore?

Yep, old Aches and Pains was going to turn this team into a contender. (And we are still supposed to be pissed that Walt didn't make a run at Marlon Byrd.)

Votto is NOT to be criticized. If you DO, you are an old-school idiot who doesn't understand OPS+. How dare you!

The pitching staff? Yeah, it's good but ... well, there isn't a lot to bitch about so ...

I asserted that Cueto pitched 61 innings last year, and Chapman, the closer, pitched 63.

Never mind. Baker was a jerk and, besides, it's time to trade Chapman and a spare part to get *Mike* Stanton from the Marlins.

In a phrase, this has been a tedious off-season, not from my expectations of what could be done with personnel -- it's been that way because the rash of fans who have zero concept of what this dugout staff is planning. And even more have NO idea why we didn't sign Grady Sizemore, which doesn't keep them from whining about it.

But the logic that ran was: Getting rid of Baker would be great, getting Price would be great but ... since Walt didn't do anything, Price will not be any better than Baker. Baker wasn't all that bad, was he? Managers don't win games, Grady Sizemore wins games.

IMO, we fixed what needed to be fixed.

 

[Redsfan1507]

An elite base stealer on base in front of my 3 hitter, with less than 2 outs, and my best HR hitter on deck is EXACTLY the situation I want to repeat as often as possible. Makes the opposition do all kinds of things they don't want to do...throw over too much, shorten delivery and throw a fat fastball or pitch out then wind up walking the hitter..or walking him intentionall after the steal, either way you get a 3run HR opportunity by threatening small ball... instead of Dusty's way- stand and wait for the DP ball, or K chasing to set up a 3rd out K or DP ball on the cleanup hitter... Or the GB likely 2 hitter hitting out of place in the 4 hole. Dusty's offense was all about giving in to the opposition for 8 innings hoping to hit 3 HR in 1 inning. Las Vegas has made a thrillion bucks on Dusty's type of gambler.

 

[Redsfan1507]

...and a selective hitter with a lifetime .300 BA and RISP, with 24 HR power in an off year, is the last guy I criticize in a lineup of swingaholics. Critics are missing the boat there.

 

[chico ruiz]

i haven't read many posts or articles that are overly critical of walt, or any concrete real world expectations of sizemore being anything but a low risk / high reward (over used cliche) pick up. walt didn't have the 750K guarantee money that boston had. and that is jocketty's fault. i don't think it's outlandish or hypercritical. i think i've made thoughtful critiques with regards to walt. i also think you overstate the importance attached to advanced metrics. the good baseball execs and management use those numbers as tools, not holy unalterable truths. who cares what a less knowledgable fan thinks. hit'n'run mentioned justin turner. that's a very good example of a player with intangibles that are not reflected in numbers. my interpretation of the votto debate is simply; why mess with one of the best hitters in the history of cincinnati baseball? votto said it himself. he doesn't consider himself particularly gifted in certain areas of the game. so, he works harder than anyone else to achieve a standard of plate excellence. that seems straight forward to me, and their is no manager in mlb that would screw with that. the marlin byrd debate is more about last year to me. walt could have blocked the pittsburgh acquisition. he did not. it's dirty pool, but that's the way the it is in the mlb player chess game. the reds didn't get byrd because pittsburgh had a deeper prospect list. the mets wanted vic black, and they got him. no, it's the moves walt has made leading up to this year, 2015, and 2016 that have to be scrutinized, and rightfully so. take a look at the reds who become arbitration eligible and free agents in the next 3 years. couple that with some of walt's recent signings, and the attached financial obligations. take a real close look at the farm system. i'm not sure walt has this team prepared for the eventualities of the next 2-3 years. nobody gives B+ relievers 3 year contracts. nobody. check out balfour's deal. check out rodney's deal, and countless others. the reds owe broxton 9 million guaranteed dollars in 2015. walt deserves criticism for that signing. broxton had health, PED's, and actual on the field performance questions hanging over him. as a gm, aren't you looking at potential availability? who will be available next year, or in 2 years? i also disagree with the any one of 3-4 reds could save 40 games under any circumstances. maybe hoover could be a closer. he consistently challenges hitters and he has swing and miss stuff, which is vital as a closer. but, surely not broxton, lecure, simon, parra, marshall, ondrusek, or whoever is left, could do it successfully. no way, no how. the closer by committee in a 162 game season will ultimately break down. the successful teams have closers who can K left-handers and right-handers with impunity for the last 3 outs of any game. consider likely situations. runner in scoring position less than 2 outs in a one run game. you don't want a guy that pitches to contact in there. you want a pitcher who has the best chance of striking out the side. good closers, and the mentality they develop to be successful, is a fairly rare commodity. i wrote this last year and i'll write it again. there was a poll taken amongst the american league managers, gm's, and players a few years back. they asked which yankee was the most indispensable from the mid-90's to 2009. who could they least afford to be without during that very successful time frame? 70% said mariano rivera. you can agree or disagree with the choice. it doesn't matter. that is what the competition said. our opinions don't matter. they're the ones who had to face that team, with that closer, year after year. loss after loss. even before his recent injury, broxton did not come close to this kind of reliability. i know that these kind of comparisons are not completely fair. however, that is the standard you are striving for and, as i said, broxton did not, and does not, come close. i do not fault broxton. in fact, i really hope he comes back and pitches at a high level. but, it's not just the broxton signing, and subsequent ill-advised 3 year contract, that walt has fallen short on. the money remaining on ludwick's back loaded contract is astronomical. if the reds had some of that money available for salary, they may have been able to sign sizemore, or anybody else for that matter. the point is that a guaranteed 750K would not have been prohibitive. the ludwick albatross will cost $4.5 million to buy him off. 1/5 of the reds payroll is tied up in broxton and ludwick. anybody else find this highly questionable? of course this is difficult to quantify -or qualify- but broxton makes more than chapman by several million dollars. he's the highest paid relief pitcher on the reds staff by a wide margin. does this seem correct to anyone? even if you consider veteran status and players assoc. agreements, he is overpaid. if the reds did not have the ludwick and broxton contracts hanging around their collective necks (castellini and jocketty), would they have been more competitive in signing a free agent named choo? and that's just one potential scenario. they would have also been in a better place to, at least, consider a phillips trade. the ability to bargain from a position of strength is what jocketty has dithered away. bailey is a free agent next year. who knows what will happen before the various trade deadlines. but, one thing is for sure, the reds will not be able to afford latos, cueto, and homer in 2015. and walt has done nothing, as far as i can tell, to allay this eventuality. i'm not talking about 2020. i'm talking about 2014 and the very foreseeable future. as you can see (below), the mid-small market team payroll argument, or perceived limitations, has been rendered illegitimate for the reds and jocketty. certainly their are a lot of variables, but it seems like poor upper management decisions. bottom line: walt has made two very expensive mistakes that are costing the reds potential signings or trades; now and in the near future. he sacrificed part of the future for these two players. and if he did it unknowingly, it's even worse. when walt says, 'it's not in the budget,' i want to say, 'that's right wally.' a lot of fans were fond of saying that dusty would assign blame to everyone but himself. what about wally?


Cincinnati $110,565,728***
Chicago Cubs $104,150,726
Baltimore $91,793,333***
Milwaukee $91,003,366
Arizona $90,158,500
Atlanta $89,288,193***
New York Mets $88,877,033
Seattle $84,295,952
Cleveland $82,517,300***
Kansas City $80,491,725***
Minnesota $75,562,500
Colorado $75,449,071
San Diego $71,689,900
Oakland $68,577,000***
Pittsburgh $66,289,524***
Tampa Bay $57,030,272***
Miami $39,621,900
Houston $24,328,538

***playoff team or .500+ contender

 

[Redsfan1507]

Damn Chico, you make good points but you need a paragraph or four, to make it more readable.

Walt has made his share of mistakes, not least of all was not firing Dusty after 2011 or 2012. Comparing Broxton to Rivera is pointless. Broxton wasn't paid to setup, and he wasn't paid to be Rivera. Walt's plan was to have Broxton close so Chapman could start. I think Walt sees AC has a better chance if being compared to Randy Johnson than Broxton has compared to Mariano. Dusty fouled that plan. Broxton got hurt anyway, but the point I believe I shared with Walt is that half the intended closers wind up not closing anyway, every year, but a lefty SP like Chapman comes around once a generation. Dusty's constipation didn't help sell Walt's plan. Hamilton wouldn't have played under Dusty either. So, he's finally gone...a year after Walt went all in to win in 2013...unfortunately, Dusty wasn't into urgency, as he had another year if contract left.

Ludwick was a bad signing for the money, and Ryan Madson was a zero. He traded too much for Marshall. Mike Leake was taken a round too early. You have to take the good with the bad. Locking up Votto, Bruce, Phillips, Cueto, Chapman, etc. are probably good moves considering alternatives. At least Walt is better than Wayne Krivsky, who wanted to trade Votto for Joe Blanton.

This year is on Walt, who IMO, isn't naive enough to believe that ridding himself of Dusty & staff was the only problem he needed to solve. Hamilton has to hit, Ludwick has to hit, Phillips has to not be a clubhouse distraction, the pitching has to stay healthy and effective, and no one else can regress, or the Reds have little chance to better last years disappointing finish. It's a tall order. He was supposed to win something I the last 3 years, but it WAS his fault for trusting in Dusty too long.

 

[chico ruiz]

i'll do my best to achieve readability. i think you missed my point about broxton. i know what the prevailing wisdom of the would-be closer was. your post reads, almost verbatim, like the same discussions from last year and the year before that. that's not to minimize their validity. however, i think you can take out the machiavellian baker stuff. sounds a bit sophomoric. much to many's chagrin baker was always open and honest with his opinions or ideas. he would occasionally shutdown the media, but anyone of us would probably do the same under the circumstances. i'm saying broxton was the wrong choice. i'm also saying he got a very risky 3 year deal worth a lot of money considering his past. that's 3 year, not 2 year. rivera is the standard. that is what you strive for. and again, broxton was never going to get close. consider if the reds had never got broxton.

 

[JohnU]

Man, try to hit the paragraph return.

 

[JohnU]

I have read all the blogs, and all the scribes and all the forums. I know what's been proposed, ridiculed, applauded, condemned, sliced, diced and put away wet.

I think conventional fan wisdom has been to flag down any ship that drifted by this winter in an obtuse attempt to "upgrade" the team.

So the conventional wisdom remains -- any old free agent with reasonably predictable splits will be better than anybody we have.


I am sure gonna miss Ted ... er Grady Sizemore's bat.