The Cincinnati Reds

Does anyone think that my new favorite baseball team, the Cincinnati Reds, will contend for a playoff spot this year?

Originally posted by no1marauder
Does anyone think that my new favorite baseball team, the Cincinnati Reds, will contend for a playoff spot this year?

Now I hope not.

Originally posted by no1marauder
Does anyone think that my new favorite baseball team, the Cincinnati Reds, will contend for a playoff spot this year?

Ok, ok, I'll bite, why is my team now your favorite team?

As to whether they can compete, they are better this year than last year just by getting rid of Dunn and Griffey. In addition, their pitching rotation is the best I've seen it in quite some time. I will not say they will win the division but at least they should not fair as badly as they did last year.

Originally posted by whodey
Ok, ok, I'll bite, why is my team now your favorite team?

As to whether they can compete, they are better this year than last year just by getting rid of Dunn and Griffey. In addition, their pitching rotation is the best I've seen it in quite some time. I will not say they will win the division but at least they should not fair as badly as they did last year.

Why not? The Yankees are dead to me, but I see no reason to forgo watching baseball. I'm not interested in watching any games in the monstrosity in the Bronx, so I need a NL team in the Eastern time zone so I can watch finished games by 10 - 10:30 PM. The Mets are pathetic chokers, I despise Philly fans (and wouldn't want to be a front runner anyway), and don't like Southern teams. That leaves the Pirates and the Reds, and the Pirates don't even attempt to win (they pocket the revenue sharing and immediately dump any of their decent players). The Reds have a good history and a bunch of interesting young players.

Looking at the team, they look like they have significantly strengthened themselves. Tavares gives them a lot of speed at the top of the lineup, Hernandez is a good hitting catcher and if Alex Gonzalez is completely back from his injury of last year, he's a slick fielding SS with an OK bat. The middle of the lineup with Phillips, Bruce, Votto and Encarnacion looks strong. Dickerson was also impressive late in the year. The offense looks capable of scoring a lot of runs.

Pitching is, of course, usually the key to contending but the Reds look to have some good arms. Edinson Volquez had a breakout year in 2008 going 17-6 with a 3.21 ERA while striking out over a batter per inning (where was he in the Cy Young voting?). Bronson Arroyo won 15 games and they have a live young arm in Cueto. Of course, Aaron Harang will have to recover from his atrocious 2008 when his ERA blew up over a point and he lost 17 games after having two good years in 2006 and 2007 (16 wins, ERA in the 3.70s). The bullpen has a solid closer in Cordero and got some good results from set up man like Weathers, Bray and Burton last year and have added nasty lefty Arthur Rhodes.

They look like a team on the rise to me and I will be happy to push them to a winning season after 8 straight losing ones. The rest of the NL Central looks to be in trouble (except the Pirates who don't care).

Joey Votto is the next Justin Morneau

Homer Bailey is also a good young prospect in Cincy and let's not forget the most underrated player in Fantasy Baseball, Brandon Phillips!

And also, Volquez had a rough second half. That kinda killed his Cy Young chances last year.

Originally posted by no1marauder
Why not? The Yankees are dead to me, but I see no reason to forgo watching baseball. I'm not interested in watching any games in the monstrosity in the Bronx, so I need a NL team in the Eastern time zone so I can watch finished games by 10 - 10:30 PM. The Mets are pathetic chokers, I despise Philly fans (and wouldn't want to be a front runner anyway), an es. The rest of the NL Central looks to be in trouble (except the Pirates who don't care).

I would add that defensively they should be much better without Dunn or Griffey. I think that is an area they have neglected for a very long time. In effect, it is part of the success of your pitching staff and was a large part of their success in 1990 which was the last time they won a world championship.

Really, the secret to their rebound has been new ownership. In fact, their new GM has a proven track record and I believe helped organize the past success of the Cardinals. Their obstacle will be a limited payroll compared to other clubs such as the Cubs/Cardinals/Astros.

Now in terms of listening enjoyment, there is no better announcer than Marty B. on WLW radio. In fact, he was recently inducted in the hall of fame and has been doing announcing since the Big Red Machine evolved. Hopefully he will be around a while longer but if not his son has taken the reigns and is equally enjoyable to listen to.

Originally posted by darvlay
Joey Votto is the next Justin Morneau

Homer Bailey is also a good young prospect in Cincy and let's not forget the most underrated player in Fantasy Baseball, Brandon Phillips!

And also, Volquez had a rough second half. That kinda killed his Cy Young chances last year.

I think Homer Bailey is a total bust. From what I hear he has lost a lot of velocity and is kind of a head case to boot. The Reds are not known for developing pitching talent and Homer Bailey is no exception to this rule.

Originally posted by whodey
I think Homer Bailey is a total bust. From what I hear he has lost a lot of velocity and is kind of a head case to boot. The Reds are not known for developing pitching talent and Homer Bailey is no exception to this rule.

Wouldn't be surprised either. They were shopping him around last year, if I can remember correctly...

Originally posted by no1marauder
Why not? The Yankees are dead to me, but I see no reason to forgo watching baseball. I'm not interested in watching any games in the monstrosity in the Bronx, so I need a NL team in the Eastern time zone so I can watch finished games by 10 - 10:30 PM. The Mets are pathetic chokers, I despise Philly fans (and wouldn't want to be a front runner anyway), an ...[text shortened]... es. The rest of the NL Central looks to be in trouble (except the Pirates who don't care).

frontrunners? Ha, quoting a pissed off Rollins is foolish.

Have fun with the reds.

Originally posted by PocketKings
frontrunners? Ha, quoting a pissed off Rollins is foolish.

Have fun with the reds.

Have fun indeed!! They have not made the play offs since the early 1990's.

Originally posted by whodey
Have fun indeed!! They have not made the play offs since the early 1990's.

I see my Reds easily getting over .500 this year after 8 losing seasons. The playoffs are a possibility if the starting pitching jells.

Originally posted by no1marauder
I see my Reds easily getting over .500 this year after 8 losing seasons. The playoffs are a possibility if the starting pitching jells.

Anything is possible even though it may not be probable. Really, I am just waiting till they get rid of Dusty Baker, or as the fans in Cincinnati call him "Crusty". I am not a big fan. Case in point is that he brought a player to Cincinnati by the name of Patterson who played in the outfield. Despite having an average below .200 he insisted on playing the man continuously. He had no business even playing at the major league level let alone playing consistently. This is just one example, but I could provide many, many more. My favorite is when he sent one of his players up to bat in the wrong order and was called out as a result. How embarrassing. 😳

Originally posted by whodey
Anything is possible even though it may not be probable. Really, I am just waiting till they get rid of Dusty Baker, or as the fans in Cincinnati call him "Crusty". I am not a big fan. Case in point is that he brought a player to Cincinnati by the name of Patterson who played in the outfield. Despite having an average below .200 he insisted on playing the ...[text shortened]... is players up to bat in the wrong order and was called out as a result. How embarrassing. 😳

Yes, I can certainly understand your worries with Dusty Baker in light of the plethora of great managers Cincy has trotted out since Sparky left town. Piniella and Davey Johnson were the best of the bunch. Rose and Boone were great players but mediocre managers and the rest were garbage. I'm sure Dusty has been a huge let down.

Originally posted by whodey
Anything is possible even though it may not be probable. Really, I am just waiting till they get rid of Dusty Baker, or as the fans in Cincinnati call him "Crusty". I am not a big fan. Case in point is that he brought a player to Cincinnati by the name of Patterson who played in the outfield. Despite having an average below .200 he insisted on playing the ...[text shortened]... is players up to bat in the wrong order and was called out as a result. How embarrassing. 😳

Dusty's a three time Manager of the Year, so I wouldn't give up on him based on one season in Cincinnati.

Corey Patterson has been in the major leagues since 2002 (http://washington.nationals.mlb.com/stats/individual_stats_player.jsp?c_id=cin&playerID=279913) was known as a good fielding CF who had hit .269 and .276 and stolen 45 and 37 bases in his last two years before having a terrible year last year. Dusty benched him in July but after unloading Griffey they don't look like they had a lot of options in CF. In the end, Patterson started 82 games, which is hardly playing "continuously".

Anyway, he's history now and the Reds have a speedy CF in Willy Taveras who had 68 SBs last year in Colorado. Hopefully, Dusty will teach him some plate discipline and get his OBP up.

Originally posted by no1marauder
Dusty's a three time Manager of the Year, so I wouldn't give up on him based on one season in Cincinnati.

Corey Patterson has been in the major leagues since 2002 (http://washington.nationals.mlb.com/stats/individual_stats_player.jsp?c_id=cin&playerID=279913) was known as a good fielding CF who had hit .269 and .276 and stolen 45 and 3 ear in Colorado. Hopefully, Dusty will teach him some plate discipline and get his OBP up.

As far as Patterson goes, he may have started him only 80 some games but it seemed as though he found himself in the game much more often. He even pinch hit for a few people even though his average was abysmal for players with better averages. I don't care much about past performance with Griffey as a prime example, so Pattersons glory years can be enjoyed only by himself.

As far a Crusty, he can win as many Manager of the Year awards as he wants, it does not impress me. In fact, just like has been players like Griffey, past performance is only good for getting into the Hall. It has little to do with winning the penant. I would add that Crusty was given above average talent when he had good seasons with the Giants, but in Chicago really did not do much. The word on the street is that he does better and is more familiar with well established players than he is developing new talent. As for the Reds, it is ALL new talent.