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JohnU

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Or the art of throwing a ball.
Looking at recent results, this staff has become somewhat interesting, even close to marginally not embarrassing to the point of being ... well, here is a place to start.
Discounting they are not playing the Cubs or the Cardinals or the Moneybags teams, there seems to be a stability developing. Still a couple of areas that need to be evaluated, after they scrap the Homer-Harvey campaign.
Mahle shows he can pitch at the top level. Disco always could if he showed up.
The Castillo-Romano adventure isn't playing out just yet but I think it will to some end.
The bullpen is very good except for WannaWalkWandy, but he's not the problem.
I think if they shore up the rotation this winter with a league-average guy, they can start working on the roster. Hopefully they learn to come out of Arizona with something other than "well, we can use Cliff and Goose until Senzel is ready."

Better times ahead but for now, a polite observation of how this staff matures. It's working. Not sure how or why. But this is not a 100-loss team at the moment.
 

Hit-n-Run

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On a scale from 1-10 the growing pains watching this rotation would be a 11+.

Bailey and Harvey are TJ bookends. Neither can locate their secondary pitches anymore and their fastball's best result is a foul ball.

Castillo would have to be the most disappointing of the SP. People will tout his composure and how calm he looks on the mound. I'd agree with the appearance, but I'm starting to wonder if the guy is too relaxed. Every pitcher needs to have some bulldog in him. IMO, it's an important part of the competitve nature that is necessary to suceed as a pitcher. The hitter has to know you'll bite him to keep him honest.

Mahle has the best numbers of the group and would get a passing grade being a rookie. He's not very pitch efficient and generally has only been as good as his fastball is that day. Fortunately he has a excellent fastball.

Romano is a power first and possibly never nothing second. If he's keeping the sinker down and hitting his spots he can be tough, but when he struggles there isn't a plan b.

Disco can pitch, but can't even be considered part time. Next year is his last year of arbitration and he hasn't logged that many innings. Ton of risk for whomever signs him in the future.
 

JohnU

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I think the Reds could lowball an offer cheap to Disco and he'd take it.
Romano, I agree, is largely a bullpen arm. I
would sign Harvey to a 1-year deal.
 

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I think the Reds could lowball an offer cheap to Disco and he'd take it.
Romano, I agree, is largely a bullpen arm. I
would sign Harvey to a 1-year deal.

This will be interesting to see. Disco is probably worth keeping same with Mahle. I would also like to see them try to sign Scooter, while they still might have a chance. I want to see if the Reds are serious about rebuilding or all this the last few years is just a ruse.
 

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Low balling a guy an offer and the fact that he would unquestionably take it is good enough reason for me not to offer it in the first place. Disco won't cost much next season in arbitration, but if he's healthy and productive the next 18 months his value will go up. It's bad timing for the Reds. To much recent injury history to extend him now and this time next season he'll be eyeing the free agent market.

Harvey still has some life left in his arm. His velocity is still 95-96 and he throws enough strikes with his fastball, but he doesn't have a clue where his breaking ball is going to end up. If he regained some command of it he'd be a viable pitcher for someone. How he pitches the remainder of the season will determine a lot. If his performance continues down the current path teams may only want to offer him a minor league deal with an invite. With Scott Boras as his agent he may well be unsigned heading into ST.

For the Reds to have a solid rotation they're going to have to acquire better talent. Trade would seem like the most likely option. Waiver wire claims and bottom feeder free agents isn't much of a plan.
 

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I want to see if the Reds are serious about rebuilding or all this the last few years is just a ruse.

I don't think the FO has been dishonest about trying to rebuild. I think they're just not very good at it.
 

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Blandino and Dixon aren't providing a lot off the bench.

Blandino hit better when he was getting playing time, but barring injury I don't see him getting a lot of playing time moving forward. He has a descent approach at the plate, but has been mostly a singles hitter and has never been known as a great defender.

Brandon Dixon has more pop than Blandino, but his past history says he won't hit.

A guy that is putting himself back on the radar at Louisville is Dilson Herrera. He appears to be recovered from his off season shoulder surgery and is hitting .295 splitting time between 2nd and 3rd. I look for the Reds to add him back to the 40 man roster before seasons end if his performance continues.
 

JohnU

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Low balling a guy an offer and the fact that he would unquestionably take it is good enough reason for me not to offer it in the first place. Disco won't cost much next season in arbitration, but if he's healthy and productive the next 18 months his value will go up. It's bad timing for the Reds. To much recent injury history to extend him now and this time next season he'll be eyeing the free agent market.

Harvey still has some life left in his arm. His velocity is still 95-96 and he throws enough strikes with his fastball, but he doesn't have a clue where his breaking ball is going to end up. If he regained some command of it he'd be a viable pitcher for someone. How he pitches the remainder of the season will determine a lot. If his performance continues down the current path teams may only want to offer him a minor league deal with an invite. With Scott Boras as his agent he may well be unsigned heading into ST.

For the Reds to have a solid rotation they're going to have to acquire better talent. Trade would seem like the most likely option. Waiver wire claims and bottom feeder free agents isn't much of a plan.
Not sure he'd take it. I think the guy can pitch if he shows up. Sealing up a No. 3 guy is IMO an OK idea but yeah ... they need to go after a pitcher. They can dangle Iglesias to the Indians.
I think Lorenzen is still a candidate to start.
 

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Three wins in a row and they're 8-8 for the month of June. The Cubs, Braves, and Brewers round out the rest of this month's schedule. Would be nice to see them finish .500 for the month.

I think they were only a couple games under .500 last month. So they have played better the last 6-7 weeks.
 

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I think Lorenzen is still a candidate to start.

I thought when Lorenzen pitched 4 innings earlier this month he might have been getting stretched out, but then his next couple outings were 1-2 innings. I don't have a clue what their plan is for him.

Romano has stepped his game up. Mahle has been steady. Disco has gotten better each time out. Castillo has been up and down, but I don't think he's in any danger of losing his spot.

Not sure what Harvey's future is moving forward. I don't think he's pitch well enough to have trade value and he really hasn't made a strong case to keep his spot.

Looks like Homer is content to keep getting paid without actually earning it.
 

JohnU

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Hobbling home with Harvey isn't the worst idea.. He isnt awful and it's a predictable spot. I think Homer may do the "surgery" because it's clear he won't go to the bullpen.
 

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When the Reds traded for Harvey they said they saw something they thought they could fix. The only change I've noticed is the uniform.

There's no use dogging Matt Harvey. He's not the problem. The problem is there's not a better readily available option in the minors.

Now they say they've noticed something about Wandy Peralta. Given this outfits history of developmental expertise I'd say they must be talking about a new uniform..
 

JohnU

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When the Reds traded for Harvey they said they saw something they thought they could fix. The only change I've noticed is the uniform.

There's no use dogging Matt Harvey. He's not the problem. The problem is there's not a better readily available option in the minors.

Now they say they've noticed something about Wandy Peralta. Given this outfits history of developmental expertise I'd say they must be talking about a new uniform..
Wandy is about mechanics. I think he has great upside. Time for a tour of the Southern League so he can get the monkey off his back.
 

eburg5000

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I thought he was going to throw away a nine to 0, lead the other night before Riggleman took him out. He looked as bad as if they would randomly picked a fan out of the seats to pitch
 

JohnU

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I thought he was going to throw away a nine to 0, lead the other night before Riggleman took him out. He looked as bad as if they would randomly picked a fan out of the seats to pitch
Wandy's a bag of tricks. At least 3 of his outings ended on DP balls. He hasn't gotten anybody out, really. But he has enough talent to be better than most guys they have in the minors. He is worth developing.
 

JohnU

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Crockett up, Wandy down. Probably the same results.
 

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Crockett up, Wandy down. Probably the same results.

I thought that might happened after the other night .. Riggleman didn't look to happy with him. Maybe he can work out his problems down there.. If not I can see him with another team
 

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Wandy Peralta isn't any different than a lot of pitchers we've seen. Lots of talent, but can't seem to stay out of their own way.

It's always convient to say a pitcher that is struggling has mechanical issues as if they're a car that needs a tuneup. But the reality is most athletes struggle to keep their mechanics consistent. It's much easier to do any athletic move by feel than it is by thinking about the mechanics. If you have to think about the movement you're on a path to failure.

Then there's that not so little thing called pressue. Pressure is a powerful thing, but it's only as powerful as you allow it to be. It comes in different forms. Some guys get caught up in the moment. Some battle demons of past failures. It can become a run away freight train.

I think Wandy's struggles are more related to confidence and mental focus which leads to mechanics breaking down.
 

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Harvey pitched well last night , His fast ball was up around 98 to 95, and the longer he pitched the better he was.

Riggleman was talking last night about how the 6th inning seems to be a problem for pitchers around the league. I've noticed it as well. It may have always been a problem inning for starters .The Reds starters haven't gotten there much in the past few years.
 

JohnU

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Harvey pitched well last night , His fast ball was up around 98 to 95, and the longer he pitched the better he was.

Riggleman was talking last night about how the 6th inning seems to be a problem for pitchers around the league. I've noticed it as well. It may have always been a problem inning for starters .The Reds starters haven't gotten there much in the past few years.
I think part of it is they throw too many pitches in the 2nd inning. Try to establish their whole repertoire once before the order turns over and they have 3 or 4 baserunners before anyone gets a clue.
It's about approach. By the third time through, they fucked around trying to get the FB to work, the slider to work and the cutter to word and the hitters are just saying, 'he's lost out there. just wait for the FB.'
Boom, 3 men on base, 0 outs and they are fouling off the shit and raking the fastball.
 
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