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Hit-n-Run

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Time to start a new thread.

Not much going on until the Post Season ends. But there will be note worthy happenings to follow.
 

JohnU

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End of the W.S. will see some movement.
Cozart, Feldman (bad knee) and maybe Storen (sore arm) end up moving around.
I don't think any real trading happens until December and I think the Reds will do a "blockbuster" by their standards. I gotta think they will swap Scooter for somebody, maybe a rookie pitcher and a decent backup catcher. Not sure if that person exists but there are 15,000 guys in pro ball right now.
Other teams -- the Dodgers have too many starters, if that's possible.
The Reds have too many outfielders.
 

eburg5000

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I sort of hate to see Scooter go, But I can also see some reasons behind it. He doesn't fit in the Reds rebuilding plans
 

Hit-n-Run

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With the trade of Dan Straily last off season we learned that Dick Williams isn't afraid to pull the trigger if he thinks it's in the best interest of the clubs future success. With that in mind, I don't think there's a lot of names written on the roster in permanent ink.

A few of the names will fall off automatically.

Drew Storen had TJ surgery Sept. 26th and won't be pitching for anyone next season. Wouldn't be surprised to see him resurface at GABP in 2019.

Bronson will retire and Feldman will file for FA. Feldman's knee will hurt him in more than one way moving forward.

Cozart will file for FA and test the market. He may or may not find the deal he's looking for. The Reds won't extend him a $18M qualifying offer to get compensation, but I could see a scenario where he signs a one year deal in a bare market. Anything more than that doesn't make sense within the structure of the Reds rebuild.

The Reds currently project to have 37 players on the roster at the end of the post season.
 

JohnU

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I think the Reds could do a shuffle and actually get Strailly back if they wanted. I read where Jeter is going to downsize their roster. Obviously Stanton takes up 25 percent of it. I doubt this happens but a couple of infielders to the Fish for Strailly might get it since it appears they might also unload Dee Gordon.
 

Hit-n-Run

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I saw where the Marlins goal was to cut payroll to $90M. Volquez accounts for $13M and just had TJ and Chen may not be ready to answer the bell at $10M. Then there's Stanton at a cool $25M and $300M+ long term. They're sitting at $95M accounting for only 6 healthy players with a half dozen arbitration cases pending.

Straily is 1st yr. arbitration eligible and won't break the bank, but when you're $35M over your projected budget you're listening to all offers that reduce payroll.
 

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I'm sure Jeter feels he's saddled with guaranteed dead money owed injured players. Welcome to the Reds world.

Mesoraco will be in his last year at $13M. Extending Barnhart shows the Reds are ready to move past that disaster of a contract.

Homer has two more guaranteed years with an option. Hopefully he can at least take the ball every 5th day. Not sure what the quality will be.
 

eburg5000

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I'm not sure we will ever see Straily in a Reds uniform again. There are a lot of teams up the food change that would probably like to have him. Straily isn't a great pitcher, but good enough that teams would take if they had the chance.
 

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I'm sure Jeter feels he's saddled with guaranteed dead money owed injured players. Welcome to the Reds world.

Mesoraco will be in his last year at $13M. Extending Barnhart shows the Reds are ready to move past that disaster of a contract.

Homer has two more guaranteed years with an option. Hopefully he can at least take the ball every 5th day. Not sure what the quality will be.
Jeter knew all this when he looked at the books. Saying he will reduce the payroll seems to me like he already knew that needed to happen, so I'd assume he isn't blind to the process.
 

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The Marlins were the 25th rank franchise in value according to Forbes in April. Paying $1.2B seems too high for a club in that market and literally one of the worst farm systems in the game.

Jeffrey Loria was one of the more controversial owners in the game during his time in Montreal. Then he's given a franchise in Miami for chicken feed compared to what he sold them for.

I wonder if Bud Selig is getting a cut of the profit?
 

JohnU

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The Marlins were the 25th rank franchise in value according to Forbes in April. Paying $1.2B seems too high for a club in that market and literally one of the worst farm systems in the game.

Jeffrey Loria was one of the more controversial owners in the game during his time in Montreal. Then he's given a franchise in Miami for chicken feed compared to what he sold them for.

I wonder if Bud Selig is getting a cut of the profit?
Miami isn't suddenly going to become a successful franchise either. The demographics there are at odds with each other and even if they win, they are still the least attractive franchise in the NL-E.
 

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Both teams in Florida are attendance challenged.

Miami Dade Cty. owns the ballpark and I'm assuming the Marlins have at least 10, maybe more years left on the agreement. So they're stuck in that market and everything that goes with it.
 

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I saw where Finnegan says he healthy and ready for a normal off season. If that's the same off season routine that lead to being injured right out of the gate this season, why bother.

I haven't heard his name mentioned very often since falling off a boat and injuring his non-throwing shoulder. When you're rehabbing your left shoulder and you hurt the other one receationally while on the company dime it tends to piss some people off.

He has the tools to be a solid pitcher. I'm not sure he has the mental side down pat.
 

eburg5000

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I guess we can only hope, that Finnegan will be alright next season. I don't know what happened to him. To be out almost the whole season.
I hate to say it but it seems to happened to a lot of pitchers in today game. Maybe it's economics. It only takes one good year and a pitcher can be set financially for life. So they don't want to take any chances with hurting their arm. Maybe they aren't as tough as pitchers of old.
 

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I haven't bought into Finnegan yet as a legit rotation guy but he appears to have the skill-set.
He needs to go through a Homer Bailey regimen -- meaning, he needs to grow up and learn what doesn't work.
 

Hit-n-Run

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Whether it's called growing up, maturing, or learning to pitch, it centers around the individuals disposition. There's a boat load of guys with the skill set that are inherently limited by their mental acuity.

Homer's disposition has held him back at times.

Mat latos was another guy that would let the wheels fall off the wagon when things didn't go his way.

The guy the Reds faced that was always most likely to implode over one bad call was Carlos Zambrano. He was the poster child of a pitcher with all of the tools and a terrible disposition.
 

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I like seeing that Peraza is playing winter ball. It shows the kid has a strong desire to get better.

He mentioned in the interview needing to see more pitches and swinging at his pitch. Also working on his play at shortstop.

He wasn't great at shortstop this season, so there's room for improvement if he's going to be an everyday MLB shortstop.

He was more selective at the plate after losing the everyday 2nd base gig to Scooter. He hit nearly .300 the rest of the season. So I think the benching taught him a valuable lesson.

Peraza is still only 23, so I still think there's a good chance he'll be a solid piece of the puzzle moving forward.
 

JohnU

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I think winter ball is better for guys who need to work on baserunning and defense but I guess if he's selective, he will see some pitches he needs to learn to hit. Provided anybody in the winter leagues can throw that pitch and whether they will in situations. I have no idea how competitive these leagues are since it appears they are more about players improving their own game than in the team's success. But I think Peraza needed this winter ball because he didn't get as much PT last year after Scoots got hot.
 

Hit-n-Run

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Davey Concepcion played a lot of winter ball even after establishing himself in the Majors. I think it's a good format for a guy like Davey and Peraza to get extra repetitions working on their weaknesses.

Getting repetitions is useless if you're not practicing doing it the right way. Hopefully Peraza has gone to Venezuela with a solid off season plan.
 

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The guy the Reds faced that was always most likely to implode over one bad call was Carlos Zambrano. He was the poster child of a pitcher with all of the tools and a terrible disposition
The Cubs seem to like guys like that.
 
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