I mentioned earlier that I’d try to post some pictures of the Reds Hall of Fame, for those of you who haven’t had the opportunity to visit yet. Here’s a few:

Here’s RN contributor Chris tearing his rotator cuff in the speed pitch exhibition:

They are out today on the BBA website (Subscribers only). The quick and dirty is listed below:

Top Ten Prospects: Cincinnati Reds

1. HOMER BAILEY, rhp Age: 19 Ht: 6-3 Wt: 190 B-T: R-R
2. JAY BRUCE, of Age: 18 B-T: L-L Ht: 6-2 Wt.: 206
3. TRAVIS WOOD, lhp Age: 19 B-T: R-L Ht: 6-0 Wt.: 165
4. B.J. SZYMANSKI, of Age: 23 B-T: b-R Ht: 6-5 Wt.: 215
5. CHRIS DENORFIA, of Age: 25 B-T: R-R Ht: 6-1 Wt.: 185
6. RAFAEL GONZALEZ, rhp Age: 20 B-T: R-R Ht: 6-1 Wt.: 232
7. MIGUEL PEREZ, c Age: 22 B-T: R-R Ht: 6-3 Wt.: 190
8. TYLER PELLAND , lhp Age: 22 B-T: R-L Ht: 6-0 Wt.: 200
9. JOEY VOTTO, 1b Age: 22 B-T: L-L Ht: 6-3 Wt.: 200
10. TRAVIS CHICK, rhp Age: 21 B-T: R-R Ht: 6-3 Wt.: 220

There is a live chat today at 2:00 PM. I’ll try to give some more detail later today.

Later,
Tom

From a Reds press release:

Fan voting for the candidates for the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame will begin Dec. 1 and run the month of December. Fourteen Reds players appear on the ballot, and fans can vote for up to three candidates. The top two vote-getters will be inducted into the Reds Hall of Fame during the 2006 season.

The Enquirer sponsors the Hall of Fame vote, and ballots will appear in The Enquirer throughout the month of December. Fans can also vote online by accessing the Hall of Fame link at reds.com. Ballots are also available at the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame and Museum, the Majestic Dugout Shop and the Reds Team Shop by Majestic.

Go vote for Tom Browning.

By the way, if you haven’t visited the Reds Hall of Fame, you don’t know what you are missing. It’s a wonderful place to spend some time. I’ll try to post some pictures of my Hall of Fame visit as soon as I can.

Ran across the following article on the CBS Sportline site:

Pena tells Reds he won’t accept part-time role anymore

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic — Cincinnati Reds outfielder Wily Mo Pena said Saturday that he’s ready to play full time with the team, or they should trade him to another club.

Pena batted .254 last season, with 19 home runs, 54 RBI and 116 strikeouts. He played in 99 games.

“The best thing they (the Reds) can do is to play me or trade me because I no longer want to be on the bench,” he told the Associated Press on Saturday after a winter league game in the Dominican Republic.

Pena, 23, said he’s recovered from back and quadriceps injuries that hampered his play last season and he’s ready to contribute as a regular starting player.

He said he accepted bench time last year, “but for next season they are going to have to give me a permanent position or trade me to another team.”

Pena would be my first choice to deal among the OFs, of course he’s not going to bring us the established top line pitcher we need either. It would take dealing Griffey or Dunn to land a Clement or Vasquez.

Later,
Tom

Found the following from a Boston Herald article:

After nabbing an ace, a third baseman and a set-up man from the Florida Marlins, the Red Sox are hardly done searching for what special adviser Bill Lajoie likes to call “reinforcements.”

“Second base, we have one player who has been a regular in Alex Cora, but he may be better suited as a utility player, we’ll have to see. And then there’s a first baseman who’s a left-handed hitter and probably a right-handed hitter for the outfield,” said Lajoie yesterday, before special assistant Craig Shipley added that the team also needs to get “deeper in the bullpen.”

For the second baseman’s job, there appears to be somewhat less of an internal push to have prospect Dustin Pedroia fill the position, at least immediately. Tony Graffanino is a free agent who wants a multi-year deal to return to the club, so that is not believed to be a good fit right now for the Red Sox.

At first base, Milwaukee’s Lyle Overbay and Texas’ Adrian Gonzalez have been mentioned as trade possibilities, and so have Cincinnati’s Sean Casey, the Los Angeles Angels’ Darin Erstad and Arizona’s Chad Tracy. Travis Lee is also available on the free agent market.

If Boston has some interest in Casey, I’ve read where Clement and/or Arroyo may be available. I’d also take Youkalis and Lester for Casey.

Sure would be nice to deal Casey and his salary, rather that one of the young cheaper OFs.

Dare to dream!

Later,
Tom

John Erardi has this delightful article about the pitching staff of the pennant-winning 1961 Reds. That staff was comprised of four pretty good pitchers: Jim Maloney, Bob Purkey, Joey Jay and Jim O’Toole.

“As soon as we got Jay, I knew we were serious,” O’Toole recalled.

Said Jay: “(The Reds) had hired an ex-football player, Otis Douglas, to run the physical part of training camp, and Mike Jennings taught us shooting. We got to the point where we could shoot the tin foil out of the hole in a Lifesaver. Other than hand-eye coordination, I don’t know what it had to do with baseball, but it must have helped.

“Pete Whisenant was our rah-rah guy. The whole thing was unique. New general manager, new outlook, new team. It was like they were expecting us to be (National League) champions, and we were.”

After a rocky start (Jay lost his first three decisions), Jay finished the season with a league-leading 21 victories.

I wish the current Reds had a staff like that one.

John Fay has this piece in today’s Enquirer about the lack of action in Reds-land:

Because other than deciding to part ways with Rich Aurilia and hiring Bucky Dent, the Reds haven’t exactly lit up the old Hot Stove League.

My theory, and I’m sticking to it, is that nothing major will happen until the ownership transaction is complete.

But even after another quiet week, Reds general manager Dan O’Brien said the Reds remain active - actively talking, that is.

“In terms of announcements, we don’t have anything,” O’Brien said. “But in terms of working through the holidays and pursuing our goals, we’re pressing on.”

It should be noted that the Reds made all their big moves last offseason - adding six players who were on the Opening Day roster - after Dec. 13.

That could be the case this year as well.

Fay goes on to bemoan the fact that the Reds didn’t acquire Josh Beckett from the Marlins, despite the fact that the Marlins had made it clear that you had to take Mike Lowell and his huge contract if you wanted Beckett. Fay says the Reds should have taken Lowell and shipped Edwin Encarnacion to Florida.

It’s silly even to consider trading Encarnacion; his future is very bright. On the other hand, a pitcher like Josh Beckett is just what the doctor ordered for this organization….

Please tell me this isn’t true.

Yes, it’s been slow around here lately. We’re recovering, I guess, from a rough season.

There are, however, some interesting things to discuss as the off-season rolls along, so expect it to get busier around here. We have some good stuff planned, including some interviews that I’m sure you’ll find entertaining.

Consider this an open thread to discuss what the Reds need to do in order to compete next season.

Dave Miley has been announced as the manager of the Columbus Clippers (AAA- Yankees). He’ll replace Bucky Dent, who will be 1st base coach of the Reds on Jerry Narron’s staff in ‘06.

Miley has spent his entire career in the Reds organization.

There was a blurb in yesterday’s Enquirer (by John Fay, sorry, can’t find a link to it) that confirmed that Lou Pinella was in town this week and met with the new Reds owners.

One passage from a Baseball Prospectus article (subscription) about park factors:

Additionally–and this is a more vital failing of runs-based park factors–they don’t tell us how a park accommodates left-handed batters and right-handed batters. For instance, Comerica, Wrigley, Safeco, Fenway, Shea and many others affect hitters quite differently according to their handedness. To cite one extreme example, from 2002-2004, Minute Maid Park’s average home run factor for right-handed batters is 116, while its home run factor for lefty hitters is 84.

Thus, Dunn’s homers might actually be depressed by heading to the supposedly-hitter-friendly Always Enron to Me Ballpark. So don’t try to get him, Houston.

From the Cincy Post:

The Reds claimed right-handed pitcher Mike Burns off waivers from the Houston Astros Wednesday and said they would add him to the club’s 40-man roster.

Burns, 27, went 2-1 in 2005 with a 2.10 ERA and 13 saves in 25 relief appearances for Houston’s Class AAA Round Rock affiliate in the Pacific Coast League and pitched in 27 games out of the bullpen for the Astros.

He was selected by the Astros in the 30th round of the June 2000 first-year player draft. Burns was a Midwest League All-Star in 2002 and a Texas League All-Star in 2004.

Stats here.

Looks like he may have had an arm issue in 2003, that year he relieved in only 14 games, after having started 28 games the year before. He’s been a reliever since, and saw some time as a closer the last two years in the minors at AA and AAA. Looks like he doesn’t allow a lot of hits, gets his share of Ks, and walks very few. But he does appear to a bit prone to the long ball. I’m sure they are looking at him as a candidate for a middle/long man in the pen. Not a terrible pickup, as far as waiver wire pickups go.

Later,
Tom

Since 1900 there has been 2113 “team” seasons completed by AL and NL teams, out of these 2113 seasons there have been 727 seasons where the team achieved at least 85 wins, that translates to a winning percentage of .552 prior to expansion in 1961 and .525 after MLB expanded the season to 162 games a year.

The Reds can claim to have achieved 36 of those seasons, roughly 5% of the total for comparisons sake the Yankees have achieved 68 of those seasons with at least 85 wins (9.3%)

Out of those 727 seasons only 102 teams can claim to have 85 wins and an ERA below the league average.

Still with me?

Let’s refresh, that’s 102 seasons (4.8% of the seasons since 1900) where a team had a below league earned run average and at least 85 wins.

To further illustrate by breaking it up in half you’d find that between 1900-1950 there where 808 “team” seasons played in MLB and only 20 seasons where a team had 85 wins and a sub average ERA, that’s only 2.4% of the seasons played. BTW none of those were Reds teams.

Since 1951 when Gabe Paul became GM of the Reds and station to station baseball more common the feat has become more of a common occurrence, happening exactly 82 times in 1306 “team” seasons completed since 1951 for a percentage of 6.2%.

The Reds have been responsible for 9 of those seasons for 11% of the total. That’s second to the Reds Sox total of 11 times (13%)

ERA               	     YEAR       DIFF   PLAYER   LEAGUE      W    DIFF   PLAYER   LEAGUE
1    Reds                     1969     -.53     4.13     3.60       89    102      798      696
2    Reds                     1965     -.34     3.88     3.54       89    138      825      687
3    Reds                     1977     -.30     4.22     3.91       88     67      802      735
4    Reds                     1978     -.24     3.82     3.58       92     34      710      676
5    Reds                     1980     -.24     3.85     3.61       89     24      707      683
6    Reds                     1986     -.20     3.92     3.73       86     17      732      715
7    Reds                     1985     -.11     3.71     3.60       89    -12      677      689
8    Reds                     1956     -.07     3.84     3.77       91     83      775      692
9    Reds                     1963     -.01     3.30     3.29       86      6      648      642

All the above seasons except 1985 were carried by an above league average offense, 1985 the Reds finished 12 runs below the league average.

Note that of those seasons with 85 Wins and a below league average ERA the Reds came home with nothing more than a season marked with offensive exploits, like this year with a better “below average” staff.

Below are the seasons where the Reds had above average team ERA numbers and at least 85 wins.

ERA                      YEAR     DIFF   PLAYER   LEAGUE       W
Reds                     1976     0.00     3.51     3.50      102
Reds                     1992     0.04     3.46     3.51       90
Reds                     1988     0.11     3.35     3.45       87
Reds                     1979     0.14     3.60     3.74       90
Reds                     1995     0.15     4.03     4.18       85
Reds                     1962     0.19     3.75     3.94       98
Reds                     1974     0.21     3.42     3.63       98
Reds                     1943     0.23     3.14     3.37       87
Reds                     1973     0.24     3.43     3.67       99
Reds                     1972     0.24     3.21     3.46       95
Reds                     1961     0.25     3.78     4.03       93
Reds                     1975     0.27     3.37     3.63      108
Reds                     2000     0.31     4.33     4.64       85
Reds                     1967     0.33     3.05     3.38       87
Reds                     1970     0.35     3.70     4.05      102
Reds                     1904     0.39     2.34     2.73       88
Reds                     1990     0.40     3.39     3.80       91
Reds                     1926     0.41     3.41     3.82       87
Reds                     1964     0.46     3.07     3.54       92
Reds                     1941     0.47     3.17     3.63       88
Reds                     1922     0.56     3.53     4.10       86
Reds                     1999     0.58     3.99     4.57       96
Reds                     1944     0.64     2.97     3.61       89
Reds                     1939     0.64     3.27     3.91       97
Reds                     1919     0.68     2.23     2.91       96
Reds                     1923     0.78     3.22     3.99       91
Reds                     1940     0.80     3.05     3.85      100 

13 of the 27 in the table above were title seasons.

BTW The Reds 1976 team has the lowest ERA vs. the league for a team with 100 plus wins in NL history, the Yankees 2004 team is the only team with a negative vs. the league.

An average ERA could take a team pretty far, a below average ERA is nothing more than a lottery ticket.

The Reds spent their paycheck on scratch and win tickets last year that’s for sure.

ERA                             DIFF    PLAYER   LEAGUE      W     RUNS      PLAYER   LEAGUE
1    Reds                       -.95     5.18     4.23       73    64         820      756

To Adam Dunn