Seriously, I give up

[eburg5000]

The season ended at the All-Star break. It sure did!!


I'm working near Houston, and am down here most of the time. So that's basically all I get is box scores. I travel a lot so I still get to see them play a few times a year. I also get to see some other teams

 

[tlakes20]

Hey at least football starts in 2 weeks.

 

[JohnU]

Here in Indiana, for sure, the high school season starts tomorrow.
Cheap entertainment ... the players aren't overpaid ....

 

[Redsfan1507]

It's been a long season, for a team that is going to tie for the least number of games played this year. If this spills over until next year, they'll have hire ACORN to stuff the ballot box to get 5 Reds in again, at their own hosted A-S game.

 

[JohnU]

One would think, after seeing the guy 12 times in the last 3 years and once owning his contract, that the Reds could get more than 2 hits off Travis Wood. The rest of the league has no problem doing that. Don Long and Brook Jacoby come out of the same box -- "just go up there and foul off some till you get a fat one."

Price may have had no control over the injuries, but he does have control over his coaching staff.

Same shit, same day. These guys don't get coaches -- they get drinkin' buddies.

Teams that hit .240 are bad baseball teams, and I don't care who is not in the lineup.

 

[Redsfan1507]

This Reds team is a bad one right now, for sure. The pitching and defense just don't stand a chance to make up for the non-existent offense unless they toss a shutout...and no guarantee they could win then either.

The offense would have been thin if Votto and Bruce actually hit what they hit last year. Expecting Ludwick to turn the clock back was a stretch...Cozart actually regressed, as did Heisey and even Phillips. Hamilton, Mesoraco and Frazier were supposed to be supporting cast, but wound up being the best of the lineup.

Generally, the big contracts were the missing pieces this year- toss Bailey into that group... They used to say, you can always lose cheaper...before teams had to sign players to contracts they can't trade. Fans would have fled if those guys were allowed to go free agent, but now they're fleeing because they aren't playing, or at least at the level they were paid for. It's a problem.

 

[JohnU]

I don't see any magical turnaround in the operation in 2015. If you look at how these guys have performed since the middle of July, and insert Votto into the lineup, move Pena to the bench, slide Mesoraco back to the 7 spot where he belongs, they still pitch around Votto and take their chances.
They go 6 full HITLESS innings against Eddie Volcano and were lucky to score a run in the 8th inning. Couldn't even give Mike Leake a win against the Parrots.

They can't beat bad pitching, and good pitching is off the charts. Did anybody expect this team to win anything? Now the dreamers are all expecting Axelgrease and somebody else to patch together what's left of a pitching staff.

I cut Price a ton of slack during the summer for the mess he had to fix, but I am seeing some trends here that make me believe he has done nothing Baker didn't do. I have wearied of the lie about hitting overall being down in the league -- it's perception.

The third base coach is completely without a sense of the game. If after 50 years, you haven't figured out that an outfielder, coming in to field a ground ball with a clear shot at the plate, 150 feet away, can't throw a line drive strike to the catcher, you are a toady. The theory that "he has to make a good throw" is totally correct. THE GUY WILL ALWAYS make a good throw.

And Price won't replace this turkey.

The bullpen is being managed by people who seem to have forgotten something. Not clear what it is, but Hoover, Parra and Ondrusek are incapable of shutdown innings. Broxton dodged a lot of bullets. LeCure is now an indy league pitcher. Jumbo Diaz isn't far behind.

That leaves the only real lefty ... as the closer in games the Reds can't win.

Cingrani's career is downhill now.

Wait, I was thinking of the guy who throws 102 in warmups. Yeah, him.

Ah, I'd much rather have Alfredo Simon.

What would be nice is if the Reds could make it tough on the teams ahead of them. I fear they will roll over. I am already frustrated. What I do not want to be is ashamed.

It's too bad that's all that is left of this season for me.

 

[Redsfan1507]

If Votto hits .280, it would be .020 below his career BA, but still would lead the team. If he hits 15 HR and 75 RBI, people would howl but that would dwarf BP's production as a uh...3 hitter ? In truth, either Votto or Mesoraco in a 3-4 spot would place BP where he belongs in a mediocre lineup- the 2 hole ..Then when they walked Votto, Frazier might not get the 2 strike bouncer in the dirt he chases so much (does that guy ever walk?) in a 4 spot, and with a couple on base, the 6 hitter Bruce might get a fastball in the zone once in a while. So...yes, I still think Votto makes this a more legitimate lineup. It would help to have a LF that doesn't hit like a middle infielder, and a shortstop that doesn't hit like a defensive replacement, but unfortunately, the Reds lineup turns to Votto's gravity...because it makes everyone around him have to do less.

The Reds have a chronic problem of being unable to see better options staring them in the face, and eventually, they add up. Anyone that bought into Leake, Arroyo, Cingrani or Simon blocking Chapman's rotation bid hasn't been paying attention to baseball for the last century. Anyone that thinks a closer is more important on an offensively challenged team that doesn't come from behind to win 1 run games, is as blind as the 3b coach that sends runners at 3b on 1 out grounders to the 3b. All else equal, is take a 27 year old LF with mediocre offense making $2M over a 36 year old making $9M, with 1/3 of a productive season in his last 3....and how many teams do you know of that held a 17th round LF that couldnt win a platoon job after trying for 5 years ? When the med staff has to repeat more than 50% of minor surgeries, maybe a second opinion outside the current staff is in order...and when looking for a lefty setup man, might want to pick one that didnt come from a team in the bottom 1/4 of pitching staffs that wasn't good enough to close for their former team. Ray Charles has better vision than the Reds have, and he's blind AND dead.

Injuries ? Every team has them, but you don't give healthy guys days off 5 games back in June. When you only score 4 runs in 3 games, you don't let guys hitting .205 try to swing away after a leadoff double, or hit into the shift on outside pitches. You don't sit a guy leading the team in HR per AB every other game, when he's also hitting .290, and they guy you replace him with is on pace for .200/1HR. I don't care if Meso makes 20 errors in 40 games at 1b, or does an Adam Dunn impersonation in LF, I'm not moving Frazier to 1b so Santiago gets in a game Meso can't get into.

Decisions are made harder when 2nd best options are consistently chosen. The roster wasn't offensively loaded, but was good enough to contend in the NLC this year, barring injury and stupidity. We've had both.

 

[JohnU]

Watching part of this Orioles series ... just when you thought it couldn't get worse, somebody dug the hole deeper.

If these guys honestly don't think they have embarrassed themselves, then can fuck-in-a-whirlwind to think I will ever buy another ticket to watch them play.

 

[Redsfan1507]

It's just 2015 audition time. I'd sure be playing Yorman and Negron more and Luddy and Santiago less...and interviewing bullpen applicants...not sure there is much point in humiliating Bruce anymore, but he is already signed. I'd like to see the incredible shrinking Votto make a cameo in this tragedy. The only act left is to fall below the Cubs.

The Brewers are also taking an unintentional dive. The Cardinals are going to win this division again.

 

[JohnU]

Milwaukee was always a pretender, same as the Reds have been the last 3 years.
What bothers me is, I am seeing some bizarre comments.

Hamilton being called out for his "rookie mistake" in the DP ball on Tuesday. Rookie? He's had 150 games in the majors and another 500 in the minors.
Bruce finally admitting 135 games into the season that he sucks.
Price finally saying the team is "uninspired." No shit, Sherlock.
Phillips was "rushed" back from his injury. It's a thumb, for crying out loud. The guy has lost it.
Now we are left to let callups take the blows for the next 3 weeks. None of these guys will make the roster next year and we all know it. We will see another rash of Santiagos and Schumakers and Hannahans and Cairos and Valdez type players because that's who we get.
And who we end up trying to win divisional titles with.
This team would lose 110 games if they had to play this way all year.
What's next?
Steve Smith could teach us how to coach 3rd base.
If we have to count on Negron and Pena to be the next generation of Reds players, we've bought into the old Pirates mentality -- that lasted 20 years.

 

[eburg5000]

Well I guess it could be worse. I don't think Brewer fans are very happy right now. It would have to be pretty frustrating, to be in 1st place most of the season, only to completely fall off the table at the end of the season.

 

[JohnU]

I have had a bit of a problem pretending this season didn't bother me ... and the more I watch it go to hell, the more pissed-off I am at how this team was managed.
Tonight, Price does a double switch with his team down by 10 runs and 9 guys on the bench. Is that shit supposed to impress us? This group of pitchers starting with Simon and the Hoover vacuum ... do any of these guys know anything about pitching?
This batting order is a fucking joke.
Price has insulted the fans with this abomination and if he's trying to send a message, he did it -- loud and clear. His accountability bullshit is about 130 games too late. Meanwhile, the best lefthanded pitcher in Reds history is gathering cobwebs in the bullpen while Alfredo Simon throws mud pies toward the plate.

 

[eburg5000]

I was going to write something like you said earlier. I'm wondering if Price s going to be manager for very much longer. I believe he deserves a pass for the injuries. But not for the lifeless way they have played the last month.
I guess we will have that answer in the next few weeks

 

[JohnU]

Price will keep his job. Castellini has to justify canning Baker.
Baker isn't the problem. Price and Jocketty just didn't fix the problem that Baker couldn't fix.
I am just livid that this team made no important adjustments.
Now Ludwick and Schumaker are sitting on the bench.
Chapman hasn't thrown a pitch since August.
I have no idea what that cluster fuck of a pitching staff tonight was doing -- maybe having free pizza and Schoenling Little Kings.
If there is offense in the system, it sure hasn't shown me much. At least Soler, the guy for the Cubs, came out raking at a .560 rate for first week. The Reds get guys like Neftali Soto, who goes 0-for-18.

 

[Redsfan1507]

Where's Votto ?

Anyone that takes $200M should believe they expect him to play when it's uncomfortable, too right ? It's not that I think Votto isn't hurt, I just don't think he's injured to the point of missing most of the year. I think he believed he would be better off healing than hitting .250...I just don't think the team benefited from his decision. Did Bruce's injury cause his dive ? Who knows, but he showed up to work, and had the balls to admit he sucks. BP was back on the job. Latos, ditto.

Joey ? Missing.

Price has made some bone head decisions, but the roster wouldn't make anyone look smart. Jocketty's contract is up, but Price has some left on his contract. They need offense...and a bullpen. They could tweak if healthy, or start all over, but all available options begin with where's Joey ?

Fuck HIPPA, invested Reds fans need to know.

 

[JohnU]

Last I saw, Votto can do everything but run. I can't relate to that. I can barely breathe.
All the same, the comments I read from Price and the players are unsettling. At this pace (winning 15 of the last 44) this team would go 54-108. And they know it too.
The problem is, I think, that the players who CAN perform are being dragged down by the ones who CAN'T ... and everyone in the clubhouse is aware of who isn't getting it done.
How long can a clubhouse ignore that. You look at a guy in the next locker who just can't deliver and pretend to (a.) be his teammate and (b.) ignore the reality that you are headed for last place because of him.
The worst part is that the front office signed these guys and shoved them in the clubhouse and said, "here, win with this bunch of hacks."
If I am Cueto or Mesoraco, my thought is: Trade me before I puke.