Reds Thread 2008

[korme]

I started one that lasted through the 2005 season, I just bumped it and realized it is in the archives... so we'll just have a new one for the fans.

Got to say I'm pretty excited about the season, though I'm already hearing Baker is leaning towards Hatte(argh)/Hopper(ok) starting over the rooks and the 345 in the rotation being Affeldt/Belisle/Fogg.

How Baker could leave Bailey out would be bewildering. Hopefully this is just talk and that isn't what happens.

We've still got a month to go, but I am READY for the season.

Doesn't hurt that I just watched Reds Rewind on FSN and relived Browning's perfect game... that was 19 years ago and I got goosebumps in the 9th

[korme]

Get out of here, moneyhoarder

[Lathum]

Living in Cincinnati made me realize how cute Reds fans optimism is.

[korme]

Lathum that is the one thing I despise about you, that your location says Cincinnati and you do not share in the oogling of our mediocre sports franchises.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by Shorty3281

Lathum that is the one thing I despise about you, that your location says Cincinnati and you do not share in the oogling of our mediocre sports franchises.

lol.

I make no bones about my time here being very temporary

[Lathum]

and mediocre is putting it kindly

[Lathum]

double dola- the Brewers will win the central

[korme]

Originally Posted by Lathum

double dola- the Brewers will win the central

THEIR CLOSER PLAYS FOR THE REDS

[MizzouRah]

Reds will finish lower than the shitty Cardinals.

[korme]

Originally Posted by MizzouRah

the shitty Cardinals.

quoted for posterity

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by Shorty3281

quoted for posterity

You know I love you Shorty!

[Drake]

I really thought this was a thread about Commies.

[MikeVic]

Who's on the Reds again? Felipe Crespo and Odalis Perez?

[Drake]

Originally Posted by MikeVic

Who's on the Reds again? Felipe Crespo and Odalis Perez?

Both the team president and Director of Baseball Operations were quoted in the paper asking that exact same question yesterday.

[Pumpy Tudors]

I think they got Ron Oester back.

[Drake]

dola...

When given the answer, they both reportedly shot themselves in the face with harpoon guns.

[Izulde]

Dusty Baker will have the whole pitching staff destroyed by the third day of Spring Training.

[Mustang]

Originally Posted by Shorty3281

How Baker could leave Bailey out would be bewildering. Hopefully this is just talk and that isn't what happens.

Alot of talent on the Reds with alot of young players, but I have a feeling you guys are going to be seeing a nice healthy dose of crap bags in Wilson, Keppinger, Hatteberg with Baker at the helm.

I wouldn't be giddy on Hopper who is probably better suited as a pinch hitter/runner. And Josh Fogg was just signed? Good god...

[korme]

I'm on the Kep bandwagon - Wilson probably will only see time due to injuries, I don't expect him to make the 25-man.

Fogg was signed for cheap, if he doesn't work out we have plenty of young arms (let us fans not forget about Livingston, I was happy with him last year)

[Mustang]

Neither Wilson nor Fogg should be on the 25 man, but with Baker.. who knows.

Livingston you won't see until end of May at the earliest now that he is on the DL.

[dime]

I like this thread, because unlike probably every other one on this board I am wholly, undoubtedly indifferent towards it. It's a breath of fresh air.

Is that the reds' marketing tagline this year? "Indifference. Breathe it!"

[Cringer]

Astros

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by Cringer

Astros

If Hunter Pence can stay healty and the addition of Tejada the 'stros should have a nice offense.

[kurtism]

Originally Posted by Mustang

Neither Wilson nor Fogg should be on the 25 man, but with Baker.. who knows.

Livingston you won't see until end of May at the earliest now that he is on the DL.

Apparently, Wilson failed his physical... Perhaps the fates are working to save the Reds faithful from Dusty.

[Cringer]

Originally Posted by Lathum

If Hunter Pence can stay healty and the addition of Tejada the 'stros should have a nice offense.

Glass sliders are a bitch though, they are everywhere and all as dangerous as the last one.

Hopefully Tejada can still play, if he can it's lookin' good in preseason.

I will take Roger Clemens back right now though.

[PilotMan]

Reds fans are optimistic for exactly one game - Opening Day. After that, they will likely be in first or in the running for a few weeks, then a bad losing streak will derail the whole season, and they will spend the last few weeks playing just above .500 ball, just when nobody cares anymore.

[PilotMan]

dola

Just recently they had a ticket package that would have allowed you to get Opening day, and the entire Cubs, Red Sox, and Indians series in one deal.

That makes me think that sales are slow right now.

[Hammer755]

Originally Posted by Shorty3281

How Baker could leave Bailey out would be bewildering. Hopefully this is just talk and that isn't what happens.

If I were a Reds fan, I'd be thrilled to keep Bailey out of Dusty's control for as long as humanly possible.

[dime]

what better fantasy stats jay bruce or ken griffey corpse

[MikeVic]

Jay Buhner

[Lathum]

Jay Bruce will get off to a hot start. His april will be something like .317, 7 HR's and 18 RBI. Reds fans will get all crazy like they did when Hamilton started out strong, then pitchers will get a book on him and he will finish the season around .259, 19 HR and 63 RBI.

[JPhillips]

Hamilton finished .292/.368/.554 with 19hr in 298ab. Injuries kept him out of a lot of games, but he hit very well, especially for a first year player. If Bruce performs at that level I'll be extremely pleased.

The Reds will improve this year and challenge for the Division title, but likely fall short as they'll be relying on too many young players. The make or break year is 2009, so hopefully the young pitchers and position players will get a lot of experience this year and guys like Fogg and Affeldt can be traded for Maloney type prospects.

[Lathum]

Hamilton started out on fire then hit a huge slump

[JPhillips]

His power dropped after April, but otherwise there was no significant drop over the season.

April .266/.365/.609
May .255/.300/.418
June .293/.411/.560
July .357/.438/.643 Only 14 ABs
Aug .274/.333/.532
Sept .429/.429/.679 Only 28 ABs

[Balldog]

If we get 81 wins I'll be shocked.

[Julio Riddols]

I wonder what things might have been like if Marge Schott was still around sometimes.. (Edited to note that I say this because if she were still around, I think it could be much worse)

But I remember vividly my youth, listening to the Reds on 700 WLW at bedtime on most nights through the spring and summer, especially the year they went wire to wire.. I remember the "Nasty Boys" bullpen. I really think thats the only thing stopping this team from being a contender for a wild card spot. Relief pitching. Bring back Rob Dibble, we'll be ok..

[cougarfreak]

Originally Posted by Julio Riddols

I wonder what things might have been like if Marge Schott was still around sometimes.. (Edited to note that I say this because if she were still around, I think it could be much worse)

But I remember vividly my youth, listening to the Reds on 700 WLW at bedtime on most nights through the spring and summer, especially the year they went wire to wire.. I remember the "Nasty Boys" bullpen. I really think thats the only thing stopping this team from being a contender for a wild card spot. Relief pitching. Bring back Rob Dibble, we'll be ok..

The Reds starting pitching has to get considerably better before they can think about contending. They may have some young talent, but you can't expect the young pitchers to throw 200 innings and be better than average their first year. I think Cordero will improve the bullpen immensely, allowing everyone to bump down an inning (or a role depending on how you see it). If Jay Bruce is in CF, I wonder who bats leadoff?

[Atocep]

Dusty will never change:

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?...=.jsp&c_id=cin

Baker has repeatedly talked about the desire to have a do-it-all leadoff hitter with speed. What kinds of hitters is he looking for further down the lineup? Does he want guys with lofty on-base percentages? The answer will likely not sit well with fans of the book "Moneyball," because Baker said he believes the OBP statistic is overvalued.

"I'm big on driving in runs and scoring runs," Baker said. "Guys in the middle should score about close to equal to what they drive in. On-base percentage, that's fine and dandy. But a lot of times guys get so much into on-base percentage that they cease to swing. It's becoming a little bit out of control.

"What you do is run the pitcher's count up, that helps," Baker said. "You put him in the stretch, that helps. But your job in the middle is to either score them or drive them in. The name of the game is scoring runs. Sometimes, you get so caught up in on-base percentage that you're clogging up the bases."

[Atocep]

FJM had their typical fun with this and is where I originally found the article, but this one is definitely worth a read. Easily the worst sports article I've ever read, and thats one hell of an accomplishment.

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.d...L03/803090373/

Baker judges by his senses
Knowing what makes his players tick more important than their stats

The best baseball managing is done by the seat of your pants, using good, old-fashioned, pre-sabermetric logic. That's another reason to like Dusty Baker. (Beyond his knowledge of single-malt Scotches and Van Morrison lyrics, which is merely astounding and downright Renaissance.) If Baker manages by a book, it's one inside his head, not one written by Bill James.

The other day, the Reds manager decided he wanted Joey Votto and Adam Dunn to swing their bats more. "I don't like called third strikes," Baker said.

Can we get an Amen?

It always amuses when fans defend heart-of-the-order hitters by pointing to their on-base percentage. Wow, look at all those walks.

Unless they're intentional walks, or the big boppers are being pitched around, walks aren't what you want from players hitting third through sixth. You want them up there smart-hacking.

As Baker said: "(Votto) needs to swing more. I'd like to see him more aggressive."

By-the-book managing is for men who aren't confident in their ability to read players and situations. It's for managers who don't know their players' personalities. It's what you do so you can say later, after it backfires: "Don't blame me. I went by the book."

The best thing about Baker is that from all accounts, it's important to him to know his players individually: what jazzes them, what scares them, the situations that best suit their talents and temperaments. Contrary to the notions of the seamheads and stat freaks, players are not numbers.

"Managing" means exactly what it says: the ability to manage people. How Baker runs a game strategically is far less important than what he is able to pull from his employees, 162 times a summer.

Anyone with a laptop can locate the Web site baseball- reference.com and sound like an expert. Anyone with a library card can pick up one of James' mind-numbing baseball "abstracts," in which the author makes the game sound like a first cousin to biomechanical engineering.

It ain't that scientific.

The NFL does the same thing, in a different fashion. To convince you that pro football is actually a 17-week MENSA convention, The League whips out its 800-page playbooks and offers up oh-so-serious coaches who work 20 hours a day and act as if their jobs involve brain surgery and a red telephone.

Possibly, it's less complex. Block. Tackle. Win.

Baseball's cerebral side involves numbers. While I believe in baseball-card wisdom - you are who the back of your card says you are - it's just a little piece of the whole. When some of us (OK, me mostly) advocated dealing, say, Votto and Homer Bailey for Oakland pitcher Joe Blanton, the Statboys came out flame-throwing numbers:

Blanton's a creation of his spacious home ballpark! Look at his ERA, home and away! Blanton's a flyball pitcher! Check out his ratio of groundballs to flies!

If you shot back that Blanton has won 42 times in the last three years - and that he went 7-5 at home last year and 7-5 on the road - if you suggested that no number matters but Games Won, you were dismissed as an illiterate.

(Actually, maybe Blanton won as many on the road as at home, even with a much higher road ERA, because Oakland's hitters worked under the same conditions as their pitcher. Allow more runs, score more runs. And factually, flyball man Blanton gave up only 16 home runs in 230 innings last year. But never mind.)

Numbers are fun to look at but dangerous to dwell on. Baker understands this. If Dunn walks 30 fewer times this year, he'll drive in 15 more runs. His on-base percentage will dip. Oh, no.

If Votto takes fewer first-pitch strikes, his run production will improve.

And so on. Here's a stat: Wins as manager: Dusty Baker, 1,162; Bill James, 0.

[korme]

That's funny, because I'd argue that Games Won means the least when it comes to a starter... fuckin Paul Daugherty.

[JPhillips]

Stats aren't so important. With stats you might keep Jay Bruce, but with gut you play Norris Hopper. With stats you might start Cueto, but gut tells you Fogg plays the game the right way. With stats you hit Griffey and Dunn back to back, but gut tells you to bat Dunn fifth when he has less people ahead of him clogging the bases.

Stats may win more games, but gut understands people. In the end people are more important than baseball.

[korme]

In the words of Bill Simmons, I will now begin to light myself on fire.

[RendeR]

Call me when the Reds are within 5 games of the division lead when it matters.

I'm tired of getting my hopes up. This team has sucked wind since 1990.

[Scholes]

Losses as manager: Dusty Baker, 1,041; Bill James, 0.

Pitchers Ruined: Dusty Baker, Around 100; Bill James, 0.

Decimated young players: Dusty Baker, Around 200; Bill James, 0.

And on and on.....

[JPhillips]

On RedReporter a guy gave this true gem:

World Series Rings: Dusty Baker, 1 Bill James, 2.

[Scholes]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

On RedReporter a guy gave this true gem:

World Series Rings: Dusty Baker, 1 Bill James, 2.

Nice! I forgot about that one.

[Butter]

That "sportswriter" is one of the worst around. He intentionally writes ridiculous stuff just to be inflammatory and draw attention. I have read some of his stuff before. This is far from his worst.

[korme]

I enjoyed this response in the comment section on RedReporter:

PD: Unless they're intentional walks, or the big boppers are being pitched around, walks aren't what you want from players hitting third through sixth. You want them up there smart-hacking.

Smart-hacking is an oxymoron. You're just a regular moron.

[Butter]

Sounds like we're going to have rookies at the 3 and 4 spots in the rotation. Johnny Cueto and Edinson Volquez.

Fresh meat for Dusty. He's like a kid in a candy store.

Which one will hit the DL first, and when? Before or after Griffey?

[Butter]

Corey Patterson starting in CF today.

Uggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.