Regular Season

[JohnU]

Jim Day said that the Reds bullpen is on a pace for 300-some walks, which would be -- at this pace -- the third-worst in major league history. It rates out at about 4.9 per 9 innings.

Actually, Polanco let the Reds off the Hook against Blake (Just A Bit Outside) Wood by going after a 3-0 pitch with a man on, none out.

 

[Hit-n-Run]

Did anyone else notice Billy Hamilton's BA (.235) is higher than Votto's (.234)?

Is Joey in a slump or are we seeing the beginning of decline in his skill set?

The Reds only owe him $199M more over the next 8 years.

 

[Hit-n-Run]

The pen has given out lots of walks and the team is leading the league in HR's allowed, not a recipe for success.

 

[JohnU]

Did anyone else notice Billy Hamilton's BA (.235) is higher than Votto's (.234)?

Is Joey in a slump or are we seeing the beginning of decline in his skill set?

The Reds only owe him $199M more over the next 8 years.

Hamilton is currently getting some better BABIP, which might be a positive trend. I think he sees Tyler Holt in his rearview mirror.

Votto will level off, but I doubt he hits .300 this year -- no big deal. He's not the sort of hitter who gets 8 hits in a row ... just goes 4 for 11. His walks are down this year, which might signal a change in approach. If Hamilton and Cozart continue to hit better, the whole data set could be skewed.

Cincy hitting, by and large, is not all that bad with those long middle inning funks a source of frustration. IF Price had come out of Goodyear with any pitching at all, I think 3rd place could have been reachable. Hell, it might still be.

 

[Hit-n-Run]

To answer my own question:
I think it's a natural age (32) related decline. I don't think it's a falling off the cliff decline, just the normal decline most ball players experience. I'm sure he'll adjust to offset some of it.

When you see Billy keep his bat on plane and in the hitting zone longer he has success. When he swings hard and as fast as he can, not so much. Billy does everything fast.... he's better when he slows things down a bit at the plate. He did a much better job staying inside the ball and hitting opposite field last night.

 

[eburg5000]

I don't think you will see to better throws made by a catcher to get Hamilton, as we have seen these last 2 games. Although I thought he was safe last night. I think that on any close play, they are just sticking with the ruling on the field, If it is obvious missed call, The replay guy might over turn it, You know the guy with the blonde on his lap in NY

 

[JohnU]

I am seeing more and more that the calls are being upheld. I have a theory on that and it's pretty simple -- they were overturning way too many of them last year and it made the umps look lazy, out of position and indifferent. Now they are supporting the umps a little more, just because the umps were probably pissed off about looking bad. Or maybe they decided to stop letting "New York" umpire the games for them.

 

[eburg5000]

I'd like to see them shitcan the replay. Maybe use it in the playoffs, and done at the park, by the umpires on the field,

 

[Hit-n-Run]

If the replay reveals the call was missed, correcting the call through replay rights the wrong, but it also undermines the umpire. Corrected or not...it proved he was still wrong.

Once you establish that umpires are fallible, it's open season on every judgement call they make. You see it more and more with all the guff the hitter is giving the ump over balls and strikes these days.

It's a can of worms that should have never been opened.

 

[JohnU]

Taking a look at this, a little over a month into the season ... assuming the league's pitching gets better, I'd say we are in for a very long summer.

 

[eburg5000]

And yet there has been more HR's hit this year at GABP than any other park. They said that it is on a recordbreaking pace

 

[JohnU]

That HR total would contribute to the Reds' ERA, esp. the bullpen, on a pace to average an ERA around 5.00.

 

[eburg5000]

It's embarrassing no matter how you look at it.

 

[JohnU]

Which is why I don't buy this "rebuild" lie. If the Reds had anything of a bullpen, they would not be true contenders but they would also not be stuff that coats the bottom of the lake. The bullpen isn't something you get on the FA market, you get it from working with people inside your system. That hasn't been done, IMO, and it shows.

Blake Wood's history shows why he is a AAAA pitcher and he's the 2nd-best on the staff now. Cotham was essentially throw-in fodder in a trade for Chapman that rules as the 2nd-dumbest deal in team history, owing to what Chapman COULD have brought to the team this year and in years past.

It's not rebuilding when you have a dugout staff that apparently came to camp unprepared for the reality that they KNEW in December that Lamb and Moscot were rehabbers, that Bailey would not pitch till June and were quite concerned (or should have been) that Iglesias was a shoulder injury waiting to happen. That left Disco, a 2nd-year guy the Reds got because they were happy to unload Mat Latos.

I am not letting the GM off the hook here, but the coaching staff showed no sense of urgency in the early part of the spring to get the pitchers ready so that they would not have to drop a line in the waiver pool to fish out Pasta Alfredo who wasn't unemployed because he had won the lottery.

This bullpen has one lefty, whose K:BB rate is scary. Are there arms in the minors? Who knows? They bring one up and let him sit for 3 days and send him back to the minors. He still hasn't pitched. Can Cody Reed pitch? Dunno ... the team is too worried about whether they will have "control" over him in 3030 or some such decade.

This is not a rebuild. This is allowing a front office and dugout staff to try to pawn off a lie on the fans. Of the "rebuilding," we have replaced Frazier with the guy who played SS last year, a half-dozen left fielders with a guy we got in a trade for a pitcher who is awful this year (Leake) and Brayan Pena.

We also got a pitcher in the Duvall deal but nobody has any idea if he can get people out.

At least we have our Hoover stashed in Lousyville.

Some other pitchers are in Pensacola but they won't ever see GABP unless they buy a ticket.

When all else fails, do something different.

 

[JohnU]

Cubs lose. Reds can gain a whole game tonight.

 

[Hit-n-Run]

Did anyone have a doubt BP was going to get HBP?

Is there a bigger group of whiners than the beanie baby Parrots?

 

[Hit-n-Run]

The bullpen has several guys that throw hard, but you never know where the ball is going.... I don't think they do most of the time either.

Delabar has a pretty good heater and was throwing a really nice splitter in the 7th.

 

[Hit-n-Run]

The Reds need to change their signs.... there's no way the Pirates are looking for Duvall to be running and pitch out with Pacheco at the plate.

How about Tucker Boom-hart with a couple extra base hits tonight?

 

[Hit-n-Run]

Well..... the barf-pen blows it again.

 

[Hit-n-Run]

The over-under was 5 hit batters the last series....
don't remember if they got it or not, but they got six tonight.