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Okay, I’ve finally uploaded some of the photos I took at Reds Fest. I know it was two months ago…get off my back!!! I’m not particularly happy with most of these; the lighting in the room was terrible for photographs in most places. They do, however, give you an idea of what Reds Fest is all about if you haven’t been. It was a blast, I gotta admit. Some of my favorites for you to look for: –The line for photos with Drew Stubbs juxtaposed with the line for Justin Lehr. I almost got my picture snapped with Lehr just because I felt sorry for the guy. We love ya, Justin! –Johnny Cueto and Daniel Ray Herrera goofing around. –Chuck Harmon. Class act. –A Reds blogger with a nervous smile getting his picture taken with Reds manager Dusty Baker, Dusty’s arm draped over his shoulder. We’re BFFs! Okay, enjoy…. UPDATE: Individual pictures under the fold, for those who can’t view the slideshow above…. Mark Sheldon reports that the Reds have not made any progress on getting Jonny Gomes signed to the minor league deal they were supposedly working on. He also adds that if the Reds do not sign Gomes, they have no plans to pursue any other external options for the LF vacancy and will go with in-house options of Balentien, Dickerson, Nix, Heisey, and Frazier. I’m probably in the minority, but I would have offered Gomes arbitration back in December and he would never have been off of the Reds roster. I would also have him penciled in to be the starting LF and the cleanup hitter. Given that, I’m all right with the path they’ve taken, but only if Balentien/Heisey/Frazier will be Reds primary starters in LF next season. I really don’t have much faith in them following through on committing to these young players in LF, given that they keep ushering in 30+ year old veterans on the decline rather than playing the young players they have. I fully expect if they are not able to get Gomes to come in on the cheap that there will be a couple of Jacque Jones-type signings and Dusty will run them out there every day since he does love him a veteran player. Every year, some analyst — be it Peter Gammons, Buster Olney, Ken Rosenthal — picks the Reds as the trendy “surprise contender for the upcoming season.” Seriously, I think the Reds have been tarred with that label almost every year over the recent “lost decade.” And every year, what happens? Right, the Reds lose and lose and lose. And Chad’s hair gets thinner and thinner and thinner. And Chad beats his head against the wall until he begins to refer to himself in the third person. I tire of it. However, I’m just as guilty as the next guy of getting all optimistic again every spring. Now, guess what? Yep, right on cue, here’s Dave Cameron — one of my favorite baseball writers — over at FanGraphs:
Go read the entire post; it’s enough to make you feel all warm inside. Bill Lack takes the reins this week for an engaging discussion with Cincinnati Reds prospect, and Redleg Nation Spotlight Player, Matt Klinker. It’s another action-packed thrill-ride episode of the Redleg Nation Radio podcast! Or something like that. You can listen with the player at the bottom of this post or right-click here to download the mp3 file to listen at your leisure. For links to all previous episodes of Redleg Nation Radio, check out the podcast’s home page. To subscribe via iTunes, click here: For the RSS feed, click here: Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. I think the Reds should’ve been number one on this list, but I’ll take #3. (Sorry; I know it’s not as exciting as I’ve made it sound.) Doing a 2009 wrapup/pre-ST interview next week with our other Spotlight Player, Logan Parker and am soliciting questions from our readers to put to Logan. Remember, these guys are our friends and our guests and I attempt to treat them as such, thus won’t ask questions that will potentially cause them problems with the organization. Remember, we are not journalists (and don’t pretend to be)…we’re fans with some access. The Wee Willy Taveras era in Cincinnati is, mercifully, over. One of our loyal readers, however, pointed me to this post at FanGraphs that kinda sums up what we went through last year:
Heh. (We can laugh about it now, right? Right?) From Mark Sheldon: The good news… The wrist has passed all of the tests, and there is nothing holding back Bruce in his workouts. “It’s felt fine and like [the injury] never happened,” Bruce said. “I’ve had no pain; it’s nonexistent. For a little bit, when I came back, it was still tight, but it’s fine now.” Glad to hear the wrist isn’t going to be an issue. On his dealing with the adversity of last season:
It was the first time Bruce experienced such a prolonged slump or dealt with a severe injury. After all, this was the top rated prospect in all of baseball in 2008, who debuted to huge fanfare in May of that season and delivered. He reached base in each of his first six plate appearances and collected 11 hits in his first 19 at-bats. Obviously, that pace was impossible to maintain, but Bruce was mostly solid the rest of the season as he became accustomed to the ups and downs of hitting in the big leagues. Electing not to play winter ball and make up at-bats from the 57 games he missed last year, Bruce instead went home to Beaumont, Texas, and decompressed. Eventually, he resumed lifting weights, running, throwing and — beginning about a month ago — hitting. His OPS+ last year was 100. That’s average…it’s not like he was a black hole. Do we want better? Sure, but he’ll be 23 around Opening Day and starting his 3rd year in the Bigs….give him a break. Then there’s this…
“Make no guarantees”? “Threaten his role”? WTF, over? Mark, what are you writing, brother? I had hoped I would be able to attend the Reds fantasy camp this year, but circumstances conspired to prevent my attendance. My fingers are still crossed that I’ll be able to go next year. For now, I’m living vicariously through Slyde, who is having a great time, evidently. I’m jealous! Sure, we all do! The Reds are holding a lottery for Joe Fan to have the chance to pick up Opening Day tickets. I’ll say this: the timing is perfect. I’ve never seen you guys so excited. (Although I gotta say, it makes me really sad that our expectations have dropped so low that getting rid of a crappy player and signing a sucky shortstop has made everyone excited. Mark Sheldon is reporting that the Reds have signed 35-year-old shortstop Orlando to a $3M contract for 2010, that includes a $3M option for 2011 and a $1M buyout. It is not yet known if the 2011 player option is a club or a player option. This move will also require that somebody be removed from the 40 man roster. No word on this yet. There is your opening day SS and two-hole hitter. Let’s hope that Cabrera’s -13.7 UZR/150 last season is not the first sign that he has lost a step at SS and that he can return to the league average OBP he put up in 2007-2008 rather that the poor .316 OBP he put up last season. This kind of feels like Alex Gonzalez part two, doesn’t it? Hopefully it is a club option and we will have less chance of getting stuck with him for a second year. Does anyone think this may be the Reds opportunity to make a statement and dump Willy Taveras? I don’t think they will dump him at all, but if they do, I think it will be just before they break camp in Arizona. Will Paul Janish make the opening day roster now? I think it will be awfully hard to keep the light hitting SS as one of the backup infielders and I expect that he will not make the opening day team. He will have a tough time beating out Rosales, Sutton, Frazier, Burke, and Cairo for one of the two backup IF spots. UPDATE: (By Bill Lack) From today’s Enquirer by John Erardi: On his contract:
So, maximum it’s a $3.02M deal, minimum it’s a $2.57M deal.
“The description applied to Cabrera, ’can hit a little,’ is the key,” said Greg Gajus, a statistical analyst. “Cabrera isn’t really a league average hitter; never has been. He has a low walk rate, and not much power. He’s the type of hitter than has to hit .300 to help much. If he hits .260, it’s a disaster. “There aren’t many good-fielding 35-year-old shortstops,” he added. “That projected (dropoff) in defense wipes out most of the substantial difference in offense. I’d call him a small upgrade at best.” So, a small upgrade for $2.5M – $3M…therein lies my problem with this signing. From the MercuryNews.com site:
I thought Miles was making less than Taveras? How do they save $1.7M? I just wanna ramble a bit about recent events. Is that alright? The last few weeks have been more interesting, from a Reds hot stove perspective, than we’ve seen in years. Do I agree with every move Walt Jocketty has made? No. Do I think the Reds are better now than they were a few weeks ago? Yeah, probably. That’s a good thing. Willy Taveras has actually been traded:
Aaron Miles stinks, and I like Rosales’ chances of becoming an effective backup in the major leagues…but Willy Taveras is gone! Our long national nightmare is over! Miles is actually a lot like Taveras, in some ways. Both guys were non-tendered, then signed to absurd two-year contracts (Miles was given his contract by the Cubs). Miles and Drew Sutton are likely the backup infielders on the Reds, and with the roster as it currently stands, Dusty Baker won’t be tempted to play Miles too often. (With Taveras on the roster, there was always the chance that he’d play too much.) My guess is that this signals an imminent Jonny Gomes signing. A final instant-reaction: I don’t know why, but I love the symmetry of fan-favorite Rosales and fan-least-favorite Taveras involved in the same deal. UPDATE: Heh. Within minutes of making the trade, the Athletics designated Taveras for assignment. Talk about wasting no time. Frequent commenter “hoosierdad” directed my attention to the following piece at The Hardball Times. It’s an excerpt from Chris Jaffe’s book, “Evaluating Baseball Managers,” dealing with our own intrepid manager, Dusty Baker:
Read the entire excerpt, especially the parts about Dusty’s time in Chicago. Surely I’m not the only one who sees many similarities with the current version of Baker with the guy who failed so miserably with the Cubs. I’m afraid the Reds, as currently constructed, are a team that highlights Baker’s weaknesses as a manager, rather than accentuating his strengths. Of course, if Walt Jocketty keeps stockpiling 35-year-olds, Baker is going to feel right at home. |
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