Regular Season

[eburg5000]

Did something happened to Bruce yesterday. I can't figure out why he would have been part of that double switch.

 

[JohnU]

metrics, or as the Reds define it ... we are out of pinch hitters.

 

[Hit-n-Run]

I'd guess it had something to do with Cozart being out and trying to maintain options at all positions. Suarez had made the last out and Bruce was the batter before him.

Or....... maybe he had no reason at all and he didn't want to try and figure it out. I generally do that when trying to figure out Bryan Price.

 

[eburg5000]

Seems like you would want his offense in the game. That being said Schebler replaced him, and had two doubles which won the game. But that wouldn't be going with the odds.
Schebler is big and fast, if he would ever connect with one of those wild swings. He might hit the ball across the Ohio river. But until yesterday, I thought he was going to get a ticket to the minors. Probably still might if he doesn't hit better

 

[JohnU]

The odds of 4 guys being named Brandon on the same field at the same time has got to be astronomical.

 

[JohnU]

I guess the question is: What does rebuilding have to do with having pitchers who are clearly not prepared to come into a ball game?

 

[eburg5000]

The odds of the bullpen coming in and holding a lead is what is astronomical

 

[JohnU]

It's hopeless, At this rate, they will lose 125 games.

Apparently Lamb is ready to come back with his awful rehab numbers.
Bailey won't pitch till June and Disco probably will miss all of June.
Iglesias, I would wager, goes on the 60-day list soon.
Lorenzen might be ready by June.
Meanwhile ..................

 

[Redsfan1507]

I guess the rebuild needs to start with the payroll, then progress to the bullpen (coincidentally the cheapest part of the pitching staff). Once that is complete, maybe they will have some current Little Leaguers through the farm system to replace the old expensive players ?

My idea of terms may be different than the Reds. I think a re-tool is what they did during Dusty's term- add a few MLB pieces needed to get farther than a one game /one series playoff loss. A rebuild, IMO means starting with the foundation that let the re-tool fail. That seems to always revolve around dumping high dollar veterans for minor leaguers who are close to minimum standards for a MLB try, and an occasional guy 3 years away from that. I suppose that interpretation means they thought the farm was lacking in upper level talent, right ? My question is if true, once upon a time, their lower level talent was lacking, and allowed the insufficient farmhands to progress too far and/or too fast ?

IMO, judging by players that actually get to MLB, the Reds do OK, it just seems they miss a lot on getting players who are stars. They put their share of utility players, pinch hitters and spot starting pitchers in MLB, but somehow can't find an everyday MLB OF that can muster back to back .260 MLB seasons together more than once every 3 decades. Pitching was historically a weak Reds spot, until the early short lived Jocketty years, where the DR no-draft picks were good, and a few trades brought in SP stability for a minute, but couldn't afford to keep them past free agency.

I think it's all about the farm. I don't know if they are planting the wrong crops, or just not cultivating the good ones because they can't tell them from the weeds.

 

[JohnU]

IMO, rebuilding means a lot of things.
What I have seen this week:
Mesoraco, with a torn labrum, sat on the bench a WEEK before he was put on the DL.
Somsen, a pitcher, was called up to fill in for Bruce, an outfielder, with a pitching staff that can't get anybody out. How many innings did Somsen pitch? Well, NONE.
The bullpen has given up at least 1 run in 20 straight games, tying a club record.
The Reds have 20 HR, or one less than the bullpen has allowed.
The entire rotation came to camp hurt and is still hurt a full month into the season and all of them are experiencing setbacks, whatever that means.
These guys come into a game without any idea whether they have good stuff or just another crappy rollover slider that doesn't slide.
And we continue to say it isn't the manager's or coaching staff's fault.
Going from 90 wins to 98 losses in 2 years isn't all about injuries.
A pace to lose more games than ever in the oldest pro franchise in sports ... that's really not even close to rebuilding anything.
If they saved money by unloading Frazier and Cueto, that's good because I am seeing announced crowds of 20,000 and actual attendance at about half that. It's a bitch trying to sell those Kroger meal deals to a bunch of senior citizens.
The first fix is to replace this inept dugout staff. Will the team win more? Well, we can always bring up somebody from the indy leagues to pitch. Or we can do what needs to be done.
Delino DeShields, please.

 

[eburg5000]

Now they say Finnegan has a pulled hamstring, and that is why he came out of the game last night. Sure didn't look to me like he was pitching with any discomfort. They said it happened in the 3rd inning and he pitched through the pain. My question is. Why, with all the injuries to this pitching staff, would anyone take a chance of hurting themselves worse

 

[Redsfan1507]

I hear you John.

Maybe suffering through Dusty, who doesn't think it is his job to teach, and Price, who appears to want to give a nightly loss dissertation that doesn't translate to epiphany, I start to second guess the priority of Reds dugout staffs. I almost think that if you can only muster 1 competent dugout, maybe it should be in AAA, where the practice and audition should be for roles that will be best fits at the MLB level, instead of whatever they were in lower minor league levels that missed the ability to get a bunt down in less than three tries, get a lead without getting picked off, field a grounder without backing up on it, pitch an inning without walking two hitters, or the ability to hit a baseball with a bat more than occasionally.

Custer was an arrogant fool, but the root cause of his demise was being recklessly aggressive without bringing enough tools to succeed. Price is kinda hiding behind his horse after his troops already shot him in the ass. They keep blowing that bugle, but so far, no reinforcements have shown up.

 

[JohnU]

If Finnegan has a hammy pull, I'd say the odds of a 12-game losing streak are pretty high.

 

[Redsfan1507]

Just keep saying, it's hard to lose 98 games. It's hard to lose 100 games...it's hard to lose...it's hard to watch 98 losses...I mean, it's hard to lose 98 games...

 

[JohnU]

Well, the chances are they can win 2 games a week until all the regulars start playing for numbers instead of success. We will soon see Barnhart, Cozart and BP slow down as the league realizes they can break a few fingers on inside backup sliders. Bruce likely will be dealt for "prospects" ... so a 25-60 first half is fairly likely.

If they play .500 ball after that, it's 100 losses.

 

[Hit-n-Run]

Obviously a team has to be terrible to approach 100 losses. The Reds are subpar in all phases of the game with it's current 25 man roster.

Unless there's a marked improvement in what we're seeing I have no doubt this could be a 100+ loss team.

This team is more than capable of losing two out of three games consistently..... that's 54-108.

 

[JohnU]

Finnegan is the streak stopper and he's been screwed every time out.

 

[eburg5000]

Right now the Reds need AT LEAST a 5 to 8 run lead for that bullpen to hold it. And say one guy in there can get some outs. They will use him up in one game. can't pitch a guy every day. This might be the worst bullpen the Reds have ever had. At least as far as I can remember (which isn't very far)

 

[Redsfan1507]

Yikes. You guys do depressingly well at metrics.

Just the thought that a batting champ makes outs 2/3 of the time, and the average hitter makes outs 3/4 of the time, makes what Reds pitching is doing, all that more unfathomable. You would think hitters would get themselves out a lot more than the Reds pitching is allowing. They might raise the entire NL batting average 30 points by themselves. If so, maybe Manfred might raise the mound 6 inches and move it 6 inches closer to the plate, or call a walk 5 balls.

I don't know about record losses, or how long the bullpen can survive at the current pace, but Reds may set a club record for number of different starting pitchers in a year too. They've already had 8-9 already, without Bailey, Desclafani, not to mention Lorenzen, Lamb or Reed. Maybe that speaks to some bullpen issues too.

 

[JohnU]

I keep harping on this but the construction of the pitching staff comes first from budget and contracts, then it should come from what kind of pitchers are available inside the first part. Other variables apply but sooner or later, if the manager has no say in what staff he has, and he is allegedly a great pitching coach, I blame the manager for having agreed to do a job he can't handle. If he has control over his staff and can't recognize bad quality, I blame him again.

I am NOT letting Price off the hook for this "rebuilding" fiasco. Jocketty doesn't manage the team. If a kid is brought up from the minors to pitch and the manager sits with his thumb his ass for 3 days and never even lets the kid warm up, it's hard to blame the GM for that.

Leading off with Schebler is not the GM's liability and not telling the GM that your catcher has a torn labrum and leaves the bench short for a whole week, not the GM's fault. How does that fucking help the Reds?