Insanity

[tlakes20]

So we're just going to keep doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Why hasn't Tony Cingrani been allowed to pitch? Give the guy a chance he can't be any worse than what we're getting now. I'm not saying the bullpen is the only issue with this team, because the offense quite frankly is just riddled with strikeouts but man this blowing leads in the late innings is not going to do the Reds any favors in competing in this division.

 

[JohnU]

This is the 3rd game in a row that was totally mismanaged. Actually 4 if you count the shit-faced pitching that Hoover did in the 16-10 game.
Phillips is an automatic GIDP ... so Price doesn't bunt him. Guess what?
Hamilton, on the other hand, bunts a guy to 2nd so that the other team can ... guess what? Walk Votto.
Fuck, even I could have figured that out.
Badenhop, the ground ball pitcher ... gets his ground balls, one-hop screamers past the infield.
I guess using a lefty more than 2 innings a week is a crime. Is this fuckin' idiot trying to convince US that signing these turkeys to big-league contracts is a good idea?

BTW ... the Reds are NOT competing in the Central. They are going to lose 90 games this year.
They have about 100 strikeouts already in 17 games.

 

[redsfan03]

While the bullpen is certainly a disaster, the lords of LOB reappeared tonight. Ultimately, I think the lack of clutch hitting is what killed the Reds in this one. Bruce by himself left more runners on base than full teams do in an entire game.

There's really only one guy in the bullpen who can be relied upon to pitch scoreless innings. All the other clowns probably don't belong on a major league roster. It's going to be a long season.

 

[JohnU]

And to upgrade this lousy bullpen ... what exactly do we trade to do that? If we had a hitter, we would not be complaining about the bullpen.
Bruce has become an embarrassment.

 

[JohnU]

It's a shame when the highlight of the game was a coupon for a free pizza.

 

[chico ruiz]

would balfour be an upgrade over gregg? did i just type that? ever get the feeling you've been cheated? one of the things i always liked about lecure was he wasn't afraid to throw off-speed stuff when he was behind in the count. i don't understand why i'm writing about him in the past tense. the only assumption is that his mlb career is over and gregg is better. contracts and arbitration clock be damned. what happened to the 'win now' mantra? iglesias, lorenzen, contreras, and adcock are all @ louisville. what the hell is going on? where am i? is this the twilight zone of baseball. 'pay no attention to the man behind the curtain' kind of stuff? the mighty oz (jocketty) speaks in dribs and drabs, never really saying anything of substance. the pink pad sits in the gm luxury box and eats a lot of free food giving the impression he's watching the game. the respected phony making decisions like it's 1995 and getting a pass by fans and press alike. anybody else see a strong resemblance to phineas j. whoopee? purely physical, of course, because wally is no genius. and if it wasn't clear before why st. louis let him go -one year removed from a world championship- it should be crystalline now.

this guy has taken my beloved reds and turned them into a league wide laughing stock. the biggest problem is the damage is done. no fixing or reversing this thing. walter painted himself into a corner of a box that was small to begin with. huntington / hurdle. hoyer / maddon. mozeliak / matheny. these orgs are so far ahead of the reds in their collective thinking and approach to baseball in 2015 and beyond that it will take a miracle for our reds to win anything.

 

[JohnU]

In ANY scenario that allows the other team to not face Joey Votto, it's a defeat for the Reds.
In ANY SCENARIO.
You do NOT have Billy Hamilton bunt with the leadoff guy on first base and Votto on deck. You just do NOT DO THAT.
If Brandon Phillips is at the plate, runners on 1st and 2nd, none out and Bruce coming up, you do NOT HAVE Phillips swing away. You do NOT DO THAT.

Guess what the F-ing genius called last night?

And if the damned relief pitcher is not getting people out, you put in A DIFFERENT PITCHER.

Like maybe a lefty who throws strikeouts?

GUESS which pitcher the F-ing genius did not use last night?

 

[JohnU]

Oh by the way, any Reds rainout is effectively a loss since it means a day-night DH later on and the addition of the 26th man. Never has the 26th man made it through 3 innings for the Reds without giving up at least enough runs to lose the game.

 

[eburg5000]

I have to agree about Jocketty. I think he is a plant, that ST Louis sent over to destroy the Reds organization. And I have to admit, he's doing a great job of it.

Jocketty should run for a political office, because he can throw the Bullshit as well as any of them. Price can be his running mate

 

[Redsfan1507]

Jocketty was never a builder. He was a couple last pieces and win guy, that for whatever reason, was stuck with the least urgent manager in history, until their chances were history. It was like drinking a gallon of laxative, and welding your ass shut, until the talent blew up and left everyone covered in shit. Now we know what that smell is.

 

[WvuDieHard]

The Reds team is not even worth watching. I just can't see this ship turning around with Gregg and Badenhop in the bullpen and Bruce and Bird batting a .170. WTF--we should have shipped BP and Bruce out to get some talent in here that can hit. Too many senseless strikeouts and swinging for the fences out of this group. We have seen this shit for years. Sometimes, you have to cut bait and regroup. That time is now.

 

[JohnU]

Mark Reynolds has proven a guy can be in the big leagues for a long time even if he strikes out 34 percent of the time, which is where Bruce is right now. I think the front office is still in love with him and Phillips, believing that both have enough gas in their engine to drive this team to a title.

I think most fans are skeptical of that.

The bullpen is just an insult. It was in November, continued in March and is apparently what we will see the rest of the season. When it's over, we will just hear that "Well, we need to upgrade our bullpen so that's a priority this winter."

Which is bullshit. The priority was in March.

 

[Redsfan1507]

They tried hard to sell BP 2 offseasons ago- no luck. Reportedly, the Yankees thought Brett Gardner was too much to give for BP. IMO, Bruce is a guy who's age and other attributes-he's a great RF, and a good PR "Boy Scout", and more important a HR threat-rare on this team, so I think they're hoping the knee caused his big drop last year and will "bounce back" to .250-ish BA this year. He's a whiffer though, that usually only gets hit for a few weeks early and a few weeks late. He's not a guy to carry a team consistently- I think thats Votto's gig. For whatever reason, the Reds keep putting BP in the 4 spot, and IMO, that's setting him and the Reds up to fail- its a spot you hope to have runners on base for, and he hits too many groundballs to stay out of DP's and too few flyballs to sac runners or hit HR to clear bases, doesn't walk or hit for high enough BA to consistently move runners. If you can find a 2 hitter that makes sense, Votto in the 3 spot and Frazier in the 4 might make better sense-assuming Mesoraco isn't in the lineup hitting like last year. There are just too many guys that should be 6-7 hitters in this lineup.

A real problem with the Reds lineup is, Votto is really the only .300 threat- and unfortunately a .270 hitter like BP is the second best BA guy left. The rest are more likely to hit .240 than .280, and because they strike out so much and other than Hamilton, aren't a big run threat, they live and die by the HR. It does amaze me that they leave as many on base as they do, considering they really don't get that many runners on to begin with. If we have to trade Cueto, and it were me, I'd be looking to get a high OBP OF in return-even if he didnt have a lot of power, preferably someone that is younger than 30-35 years old. This team could really use a .375 OBP guy to put in between all these .290 OBP guys. Choo and Votto showed that even BP can drive in 100 runners if there are some actually on base enough.

If this bullpen can't stop giving up a run or two an inning, they'll never score enough no matter what they do.

 

[Hit-n-Run]

The 6-7 hitter surplus is a bullseye.

Jay Bruce is only under contract for one more year plus a 2017 option. A couple years ago picking up that option seemed like it was a no- brainer, but those back to back silver slugger seasons seem like a distant memory. He has over 1000+ at bats coming before the Reds have to make that decision, but 340 of them being strike outs won't impress anyone if the BA hovers around the .220 mark.

I read somewhere the BP/ Yankee trade fell through due to BP having a limited no-trade clause with the Yankees being on the list. BP would waive the no-trade in exchange for a renegotiation paying him more money and the deal fell through.

With the acquisition of Byrd to fill the infinity gap until the next future LF arrives it would have made more sense to have signed a guy John mentioned more times than Wandy Rodiguez pitched against the Reds....Nori Aoki. Maybe Aoki didn't have interest in coming to Cincinnati, but he signed for $4M and a option and would have fit somewhere in the lineup other than 6-7 for roughly the same deal Byrd has.

 

[Redsfan1507]

It isn't all up to the Reds. Aoki signed with a team that has went to and won the Series every other year, has better food, prettier women, maybe a few hundred thousand more Asians that is 2,500 miles closer to Japan, and plays in a park big enough to get doubles in, instead of the Reds. Marlin Byrd didnt want to run all over (or hit flyballs in) a park the size of Yellowstone. It is quite possible too, that the Phillies paid enough of Byrd's contract to make him less expensive.

I also find it interesting the Giants didnt figure they needed to get another pitcher in that pitchers park, while the Reds didnt think they did either in the shoebox sized GABP. Hmmmm.

 

[JohnU]

I think the Reds could have thrown $10M at Aoki on a one-year deal, alleging Winker is the guy they really want in LF. That's a lot for a one-year deal, I realize. Aoki could have turned the Reds into an offense.

What an offense does is essentially make Cueto a stopper instead of a guy who throws gems and gets beat 2-1.

 

[Redsfan1507]

Geez, I remember Mario Soto pitching for teams that couldn't score in a ho-house with a credit card. Steve Carlton was on a Phillies team where he won about 40% of their not too many wins by himself that year. This team is a bad roller coaster. Score 4-5 runs all week then have to bring in a closer after scoring 9 in one game.

They do need to figure out how to beat someone other than the Brewers.