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by Chad Dotson on March 20th, 2010 in Reds - General Look! It’s a whole mess o’ links, direct from the home office in Cincinnati, Iowa (population 428):
–C. Trent interviewed Bill James, and part one of that interview is here. It’s great stuff, particularly when James talked about how much he loves…wait for it…Paul Janish!
–Jonny Gomes has had a great spring, but Dusty Baker urges caution about his performance because of the Arizona air, or something. Dusty also uses that as a pretext for heaping even more praise on last year’s first-round pick, Mike Leake.
–Matt Maloney to the bullpen? I don’t know if that’s a good idea, but it is interesting that Travis Wood and Mike Leake are scheduled to get starts in the next week, while Maloney is only scheduled for two innings in his next outing.
–Did you know that Reds Minor Leagues has a YouTube channel with all sorts of great videos? Now you know.
–Dusty seems to be leaning toward Chris Dickerson as the starting center fielder. Of course, since the kerfuffle about Drew Stubbs’ spring performance, he’s gone 6-9 with 4 extra-base hits. Last night, he went 3-3, with an inside-the-park homer. Once again, my friends, this is why we don’t base decisions on small sample sizes.
–Good outing for Aaron Harang. He seems to be rounding into form, and he partially credits Reds pitching coach Bryan Price. Price has been a big hit in this, his first camp with the Reds.
–Our old buddy Dmitri Young has retired. Just as exciting, however, is the Tim Birtsas sighting in that article!
–Opening Day is just around the corner. Johnny Bench will be the grand marshal of the parade, and George Grande will throw out the first pitch. I hope Grande says something goofy.
by Chad Dotson on March 20th, 2010 in 2010 Reds, The Phenom If you’re like me, you are incredibly charming. But that’s beside the point. If you’re like me, you also have MLB Network. Which means you get to watch the Reds play the Giants today at 5 pm ET. The local blackout has been lifted, so everyone can see it.
Yeah, it’s the Giants feed and yes, it’s actually on a one-hour tape delay, but still…it’s Reds baseball.
Also, the Chapmania Revolution will be televised. Aroldis Chapman is set to start pitch in Monday’s less-than-titanic struggle against Oakland, and Fox Sports Ohio will be carrying the game. Sweet.
by Chad Dotson on March 19th, 2010 in Reds - General Over at Seeing Reds, Steve calls Homer Bailey the “most important Reds pitcher in 2010.”
Don’t be fooled by Homer’s mania-free zone, though. No other pitcher on the Reds staff is more likely to see their personal success track as close with the teams’ trajectory this year than Bailey.
Do you agree? We’ve already noticed how our baby’s all growns up (I love that, because I’m insane). It’s funny how everyone’s hopes and dreams have been pinned on Homer for so long…and now that he’s on the precipice of actually realizing his vast potential, he’s been a forgotten man in camp. With the three-headed monster of youthful pitching — Aroldis Chapman, Mike Leake, and Travis Wood — wowing everying this spring, Homer has been allowed to go about his business.
All of a sudden, it’s like everyone just expects Homer to be a stud this year, even though he has really proven very little at the major league level. I’m inclined to think he’s going to have a good year, but I hope people will still be patient with the young guy.
by Chad Dotson on March 19th, 2010 in 2010 Reds, Minors  Second baseman of the future? C. Trent has a terrific profile of Todd Frazier here.
I don’t know what it is about Frazier, but I really like the kid. I had never seen him play until last summer, when I got a chance to catch several Carolina games. Before watching him play, I was indifferent. After seeing him in action, however, I came away very impressed…and I can’t really say why. He just conducted himself like the consummate pro, and he seemed to do everything well.
The question, obviously, is where Frazier will play on the big league level. I have my opinion on that, but people get upset when I suggest that the current starter at that position* might be traded to open a spot for Frazier. So I’ll keep my opinions on that to myself, thank you very much.
*I’m not going to say that player’s name, but his initials are Brandon Phillips.
by Bill Lack on March 18th, 2010 in 2010 Reds, Minors From MLB.com:
The Reds now have 48 players in Major League camp.
Prior to Thursday’s game against the Indians, the Reds optioned infielder Yonder Alonso and left-handed pitcher Bill Bray to Triple-A Louisville and optioned right-handed pitcher Jordan Smith and left-handed pitcher Philippe Valiquette to Double-A Carolina.
The club also assigned right-handed pitcher Jon Adkins and outfielder Josh Anderson to Louisville.
Question: Do Josh Anderson and Jon Adkins make the Louisville squad?
Guess I am a little surprised that Jordan Smith was assigned to AA. He’s been there for about a year and a half, and from what I’ve noticed, if you’re moved in minor league camp, it’s down, not up…so it would seem he’s going to be at AA. Maybe because they’re moving him to the bullpen?
UPDATE: Later in the day, Enerio Del Rosario, Sam LeCure, Chris Valaika, Pedro Viola, and Devin Mesoraco were optioned to Louisville. Also, Ben Jukich was returned from the Cardinals, where he’d been a Rule 5 selection. The Louisville roster is getting really crowded.
by Chad Dotson on March 17th, 2010 in 2010 Reds, The Phenom Good grief. Is there anything Aroldis Chapman can’t do?
The young Cuban phenom made his first start for the Reds today in Goodyear, against the Brewers. The result: Three innings, one hit, one run, one walk, five strikeouts. Are you kidding me? Nothing fazes this kid.
Here’s what the Brewers’ Doug Davis said: “He’s going to be one of the greats if he stays healthy.” Corey Hart: “Nothing was straight. Everything moved.”
Then there’s this:
Chapman showed the Reds another wrinkle Wednesday.
“He looked outstanding,” Baker said. ’He had a nasty sinker, a two-seamer we didn’t even know he had. He’s slowly but slowly adding to his repertoire of pitches. He’s feeling more confident.”
Ummm…he threw a pitch the Reds didn’t even know he had???? What??!?!?!?!
Our buddy Steve over at Seeing Reds got some good pics of today’s Chapman start, including a look at that split-finger:
Steve also had a pic that apparently showed the trainers looking at what appears to be a blister or something Chapman is developing (see the pic at the bottom of this post, below the fold). It didn’t affect him today, clearly. Lots of other great pictures and video over at Steve’s site; I recommend you check them out.
At this point, you gotta believe that Chapman is going to break camp with the Reds if he keeps this up. I just don’t know how they’d justify sending him to the minors when they could have a latter-day “Fernando-mania” situation on their hands. Chapman would put butts in the seats…not to mention the fact that he certainly looks like the Reds best pitcher right now. (I still think the minors is the best option, at least initially, but sheesh…this kid keeps impressing.)
GM Walt Jocketty answered some questions about Chapman, including the question of whether he can make the team. Most interesting to me, however, is this quote from The Phenom, addressing his earlier-reported control problems:
“I fixed some of the mechanical problems I had,” he said. “My control is not a problem at this moment.”
Ten strikeouts, two walks. His control has been pretty good so far, with all his pitches. Is it possible that the instruction Chapman has received since arriving on these shores has already put the kid over the top? Should we induct pitching coach Bryan Price into the Reds Hall of Fame yet?
You know, I have a tendency to get over-excited in the spring anyway, but this is ridiculous. I’ve never seen anything like it.
Continue reading Chapmania!
by Chad Dotson on March 17th, 2010 in 2010 Reds Remember Wily Mo Pena? Check out this comment about Wily Mo from a past edition of Baseball Prospectus
Pena has a ton of power, but there’s not much else to recommend him. He won’t take walks, he struck out 442 times in 447 minor-league games, he can’t hit lefties, and, outside of a strong arm, he’s not particularly adept in the field, in part because of struggles with his weight. Still, that power is awfully alluring….
Wait…what? Oh yeah, sorry about that. The above comment is actually the note from this year’s Baseball Prospectus 2010 about this year’s non-Chapman spring training darling, Juan Francisco.
Can someone tell me what the fascination with Francisco is all about? Well, I know what it’s about; he hits the ball a long way. That’s great, I love that. Heck, my favorite Red of recent vintage was Adam Dunn. I dig the longball.
On the other hand, Francisco has walked 72 times in his entire minor league career. Yep, that covers 447 games, over which time, as noted above, Francisco has struck out 442 times. He swings at everything, and I have zero confidence that he will learn plate discipline at the major league level. No one does.
Plus, the guy is beyond brutal in the field. Maybe he can learn left field; I don’t know. I know he can’t play 3B at the minor league level, so in the bigs, he’d make Edwin Encarnacion look like a gold glover.
The power, however, is legit, and he has looked good over the last three weeks, which is why people are touting him as a platoon partner for Jonny Gomes in left field. He actually has more power than Wily Mo…but he gets on base less. Ugh. It’s not a perfect comparison, but from the Reds’ perspective, it works. And that’s today’s topic of discussion:
Juan Francisco = Wily Mo Pena. Discuss amongst yourselves.
by Chad Dotson on March 17th, 2010 in 2009 Reds Well, kinda. If the right team calls, David Weathers says he’ll listen, but it doesn’t sound like the phone is ringing off the hook.
I will freely admit that my dislike for Weathers has been completely irrational. He always seemed like a great guy, his teammates clearly liked him, and he really had some great moments for the Reds*. The bad moments just added up for me, I guess. If he never pitches again, he had a great career and Redleg Nation wishes him the best.
*That said, I hope the Reds aren’t the team that gives him a call. My heart can’t take it.
by Chad Dotson on March 16th, 2010 in 2010 Reds Drew Stubbs or Chris Dickerson? That is the question.
I have never been a fan of letting spring performance dictate roster decisions of this type. Stubbs and Dickerson have roughly 20 at-bats this spring; are we really going to make a decision based on 20 ABs? Seems silly.
That said, Stubbs was named CF heir-apparent in the off-season, and he hasn’t done anything to justify that since spring training started (before today, at least; he had an excellent game this afternoon). Dickerson, meanwhile, has been great. I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see the Reds decide that Stubbs isn’t ready, and hand the CF position over to Dickerson. Two things about that:
1. It wouldn’t be all bad. Dickerson isn’t a bad option. He’ll get on base a bit, and his centerfield defense is pretty darn good (even if it isn’t as good as what we’ll see from Stubbs). In fact, just forget the last twenty at-bats, and you can still make a good argument that Dickerson should be the starter.
2. If the Reds make a decision like this based on 20 at-bats, I have serious concern about the people in positions to make judgment calls with this organization. That’s a ridiculous way to run a business. If you think Stubbs is better, as the Reds have said for the last several months, how can 20 ABs change your mind?
I don’t have any problem at all with Chris Dickerson as the starting centerfielder and leadoff hitter for this team. I like the guy. Heck, I like Stubbs too, though I’ve never been completely sold on him. But the idea that the Reds would turn on a dime, based on a tiny sample size…well, that just rubs me the wrong way.
Okay, I’m glad to get that off my chest.
by Chad Dotson on March 16th, 2010 in 2010 Reds, Minors We are now less than three weeks away from Opening Day, and I can’t wait. How about you?
The news seems to be coming faster and furiouser, so to speak. Here’s a quick roundup of items that I couldn’t justify posting individually. As a group, however, it’s a wonderfully fruity Spring Training Roundup! Woo-hoo!
–My excitement over Mike Leake and Travis Wood has almost reached peak levels.
Travis Wood, the Reds’ minor league pitcher of the year, and Mike Leake, the club’s top draft pick from 2009, keep rolling.
Wood pitched three innings of one-run, one-hit baseball Monday in the Reds’ 13-5 victory over the Oakland A’s.
Leake followed with two scoreless innings. He gave up a hit and struck out four.
Wood has gone seven innings and given up only one run. He’s allowed two hits, walked five and struck out seven. Leake’s allowed two hits, walked one and struck out six in five shutout innings.
Dusty Baker’s conclusion on Leake? “That little dude can pitch.” That’s great.
I mentioned yesterday that I didn’t think either of these guys would break camp with the Reds, but chances are excellent that at least one of them will be in the big leagues to stay at some point in 2010. That’s a good thing, Reds fans.
–John Fay talked with our old buddy Adam Rosales, who played for Oakland in yesterday’s game against the Reds. Rosie went 3-3, with an RBI, and he also made a couple of nice plays at shortstop.
–Reliever Carlos Fisher has a sore right elbow.
–Steve has some interesting observations on yesterday’s action.
–Cincinnati.com has put together a page they’re calling “SportsTalkCentral,” a good clearinghouse for information about all local sports.
–Our buddy C. Trent, who is doing a bang-up job over at C-Nati, was interviewed on NPR’s Talk of the Nation. You can listen here.
–Doug has a bunch of interesting items about the minor leagues, including the latest on Jordan Smith, who has impressed the Reds brass, even though he was hammered around a bit in his last outing.
–You gotta watch this video.
–Finally, Paul at Uni Watch commented on the Reds change in what they require of their minor leaguers, uniform-wise:
Sad news out of Reds camp, where the team has announced that minor leaguers will no longer be required to go high-cuffed. But maybe it’s not so sad after all. Consider: If a player is required to cuff high in the minors, he’s apt to think of the exposed-stocking look as one of those annoying training-wheels things that only minor leaguers have to do, same as double-flapped helmets. Then, when they make the bigs, their teammates say, “You’re in the majors now, wear your pants down like a big-leaguer,” and then we end up with Pajama Pants Nation. So I think it’s possible that these teams that require their minor leaguers to go high-cuffed actually end up hurting the cause.
Like me, Paul is a devoted supporter of the stirruped look. Interesting theory.
by Bill Lack on March 16th, 2010 in 2010 Reds I have to admit, it isn’t often that an article loses me in the first paragraph. From MLB.com:
Because of his inexperience at third base, prospect Juan Francisco seemed to have a distant shot at the Reds’ left-field vacancy.
UPDATE: I just received a very nice email from Mark explaining that this was a communication mistake between he and his editor that has been corrected. We appreciate Mark’s letting us know.
I’m not doubting his possibility of making the team in LF, especially with Drew Stubbs really struggling offensively; I question the “inexperience at third base” part of the sentence.
Not one to “pick a nit”…but according to Baseball Cube, he’s played 392 minor league games and 390 of them have been at 3B.
Even later in the article, we find this:
In 397 Minor League games, Francisco has logged five of them in left field. In winter ball with the Cibao Gigantes, Francisco played 36 games at third base and 18 in left field.
Despite the unexplainable first sentence, the idea of a Gomes/Francisco platoon in LF could really help this team offensively; assuming Francisco’s the hitter he’s shown last fall, in the Dominican League, and this spring thus far.
by Chad Dotson on March 15th, 2010 in 2010 Reds, The Phenom I don’t want to brag, but I’m really awesome. Also, I predicted that Matt Maloney would be the fifth starter for the Reds to open the season, and I was 100% correct.
Okay, it’s not really official (and it wasn’t really that difficult a prediction), but we can all read the tea leaves here, can’t we? Who else is going to get the fifth starter spot? Justin Lehr? He can’t get into a game. Do you really think Dusty Baker is going to pick him? Perhaps Aroldis Chapman? Despite all the hype, I just can’t see the Reds starting him in the big leagues. We may see him in Cincinnati by May, but I would be very surprised if Chapman made the Opening Day roster.
Travis Wood? Mike Leake? Nope; according to Dusty, those guys really aren’t in the running:
“I don’t know. This is Leake’s first spring training and Wood’s first major league spring training. Pitch first. Then we’ll see what’s happening. Let’s go pitch, son, that’s all. Don’t worry about making the team, don’t worry about not making the team, just pitch. That’s what they’re doing. If they’re not here when it breaks, they’ll be here soon. If they keep pitching like they’re pitching, they’ll be here sooner than most of us think – if there’s room or other people aren’t doing the job. … I can’t have them all, Chapman, Leake, Wood, Maloney and Lehr feels a little left out right now and I don’t blame him, but there’s some dude’s that’s dealin’.”
First of all, I love the way Dusty talks. He’s cool (did you know he played with Hank Aaron?). Secondly, the way I read that, Leake and Wood may be here soon, but not to start the season. For what it’s worth, I don’t necessarily disagree with that decision, if that is what the Reds do.
Maybe I’m reading too much into those comments. So it’s Maloney, right? Well, there is one other pitcher in contention.
Mike Lincoln. Ugh.
Lincoln will be making his third start of the camp today. By my calculation, that is more starts than anyone else on the staff. I just can’t see the Reds naming Lincoln the fifth starter, considering that he isn’t very good. They won’t do that, right?
Right?
UPDATE: Okay, I guess I forgot about Micah Owings. He’s kinda been the forgotten man all spring, and I get the impression that he isn’t being seriously considered for the rotation right now. Maybe I’m wrong. Or maybe Owings should just play left field.
by Chad Dotson on March 15th, 2010 in 2010 Reds Many of you have voted in the latest “Pulse of the Nation” poll, over there in the left sidebar (if you haven’t voted yet, what are you waiting on?). Anyway, the question is what Dusty Baker has to do to save his job past this season.
We’ve all submitted our opinions, but while making his prediction for 2010, Dusty appeared to be lowering expectations. Well, sorta:
Manager Dusty Baker was asked if he thought the Reds were poised for a breakthrough season.
His answer: one step at a time.
“A winning season first,” Baker said.
“We haven’t had a winning season in this organization in nine years. You’ve got to have a winning season first. There are teams that go from worst to first. But there aren’t that many in the history of baseball. We weren’t close to the worst, but . . .”
Can’t really disagree with any of that, and I’m on the record as saying that the Reds may get to .500 this year, but I have a hard time seeing them compete for a playoff spot.
Dusty goes on to blame injuries for last year’s lousy record, which is a loser’s mentality that I hate to hear. Almost every losing team can blame injuries. Guess what? The winning teams had injuries, too.
Anyway, I’d be very happy with a .500 record this year. What about you?
by Tom Diesman on March 15th, 2010 in Minors, More Stirrups Please (Editor’s note: File this under “Great Minds Think Alike”; you may have seen a version of this post earlier today. Tom and I wrote similar posts on the same subject and posted them within minutes of each other. I’ve combined those two posts into this one. –Chad)
CHAD: I don’t like this one bit:
It might be of subtle notice but Reds minor leaguers are no longer required to wear their socks high over their pants. Being clean shaven is not mandatory anymore either. That rule extended to coaches too. Triple-A Louisville manager Rick Sweet is wasting no time growing a mustache.
I don’t care about the facial hair, though we still have a strict no-facial-hair policy for the editors here at Redleg Nation. It’s the other part, about the socks, that irritates me.
I’ve been on a crusade to get the Reds to wear the old-style stirrups again. Well, it isn’t really a crusade; all I’ve done is complain on a dumb little blog, but still…the stirrups are classy and they make the uniform look much better.
I don’t know if I can bear watching the minor league Reds now. They’ll all probably wear those stupid long pants that come down under their cleats. Ugh.
Wonder if I can talk our Spotlight Players into wearing the high socks for us? I’m looking at you, Logan Parker and Matt Klinker!
—–
TOM: I must say I am saddened by this news. I know in the bigger scheme of things it probably doesn’t really matter and is merely a personal preference on my part. I’ve never liked how the big baggy pants all bunched up over the top of the cleats looks. I think it looks sloppy. I also dislike that the players’ uniforms look different, with some players wearing their pants traditionally showing their red socks, and others with the frumpy bunched up look going on.
I think having the minor leaguers all required to wear their uniforms the same instills a little bit of the importance of being a team. I believe it also provides a bit of discipline in the young men, which seems to be missing in many places these days. I don’t mind as much that the clean shaven rule was also dropped, as long as they require them to keep their facial hair neatly trimmed. Like I said, I’m sure this is just an old-school personal preference on my part, but I always liked that the Reds required their minor leaguers to do this. How is everyone else out there in Redleg Nation feeling about this bit of news?
by Chad Dotson on March 14th, 2010 in 2010 Reds The Reds played a couple of games today, and a good time was had by all. Aaron Harang had a good outing in the “B” game against the Indians: 4.1 scoreless innings, giving up two hits, striking out two, walking two. The big guy threw 62 pitches. Not bad.
At first I thought, “Hey, 4.1 innings, that’s a lot for this early in spring training.” Then it occurred to me that we’re just over three weeks from Opening Day. Shazam. The season’s almost here!
There was an “A” game today, as well. Yeah, I was surprised, too. I just figured, we’re new in the Cactus League, we’ve had 9 straight losing seasons, they will probably make us play against JV squads, at least for the first year. But no, the Reds get to play against the top players from other organizations, including the White Sox. Of course, the game was a tie, which is like kissing your sister, as the saying goes. It’s much better than kissing this, though.
I think I’ve had too much caffeine.
Anyway, Brandon Phillips, Joey Votto, and Matt Maloney were pretty good. BP and Votto had been struggling mightily before today, 0-14 and 1-15 respectively. Today, Votto went 2-3, with an RBI, and BP had a walk, an RBI single, and a 2-run homer. That’s okay, I guess, but if Phillips weren’t such a slacker, he would’ve pitched too.
Matt Maloney, my pick to win the 5th starter’s spot, rebounded from a poor performance in his last trip to the mound. Maloney tossed three scoreless innings, giving up three hits, two walks, while striking out two strikeouts. The big lefty also picked off two runners; that’s the type of thing that will get you noticed by the manager when you’re trying to win a spot in the rotation. This was actually the first time Maloney has started a game this spring, so I’d say he helped his cause mightily today.
Oh, and Red Hot Mama got to visit the new ballyard in Goodyear, and she has the pictures to prove it.
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