Loading ...From Hal McCoy’s mailbag, I submit this without comment:
Q Paul Bako has set career highs in runs (28) and RBIs (34), not a good accomplishment when you are in your 11th major-league year and are 36 years old. Are the Reds keeping him for next year and why did they ever sign him in the first place? — Charles, Dayton
A Although he is in his 11th year, he has seldom been a regular. He is known for his defense and handling of pitchers, although the defense part is suspect this year. Bako is best known for answering an obvious question with, “Do you think I’m stupid? Didn’t you ever hear of the Hindenburg baby?” He knows it was the Lindbergh baby, but he waits for a reaction. Well, you have to be there. I doubt if he’ll be back and only Dusty Baker can answer why he was here.
And only Krivsky and Castellini can answer why Baker is here.
Hal said
One problem, Hal. With Griffey’s star power and Dunn’s majestic homers, they were losing. Losing. Losing. Now they are winning more than they lose. Try again. Reformulate.
That’s arguable, Mark. We have just recently had a hot streak that makes it seem like we’re winning more, but before Griffey was traded I remember that we were very close to getting back to .500 a few times, and then we had that terrible terrible streak of losses after the trade. Show me the stats that we’re playing better. If anything it seems to me that we’re about the same.
We’re off topic here. I want to say, with regard to Bako, that there is no way he should be back next year, and if they do invite him back it will be just another sign that Castellini and Jocketty are lying to us when they say they are serious about building a contender. It seems to me that we have a great, cheap back up catcher in house named Ryan Hanigan. I hope we go out of house, probably in the trade market, for a good starting catcher, and stick with those too. I am very tired of having 3 catchers on the 25-man, this being the third season we’ve done so (LaRue, Ross, Valentin; Ross, Moehler, Valentin; Ross, Bako, Valentin). Bako and Valentin should not be back next year! We’ve got a lot of great prospective bench players like Dickerson and Keppinger, and I hope we make room for them on the bench instead of the starting lineup. A good place to start in making room for them is only having 2 catchers. Hanigan and a good starter (under 30, acquired in a trade)
The Reds are 17-23 (.425 WPct) since trading Griffey. Through July they were allowing 5 Runs per game. I know it’s popular to blame the Reds losing record on Dunn & Griffey, but them just ain’t the facts. This team’s problem for the past decade has been pitching.
Now that they finally got some, can someone explain wtf Volquez was doing throwing 121 pitches on Saturday or why Cueto’s first outing after an injury was pushed to 115?
The Reds on the day Griffey was traded were 51-58. During the time between the Griffey trade and the Dunn trade, with Dunn mired in one of his periodic slumps but playing every day, the team was 1-9. During the time that the team has played without both Griffey and Dunn, they are 16-14. Case closed.
So it’s Dunn’s fault the team went 1-9 in the 10 days following the Griffey trade? It had nothing to do with allowing 19 runs to the Nationals in a 3-game series (6.3 runs per game avg) or 32 runs to the Astros in a 4-game series (8 runs per game average)?
If Dunn would have just hit a mammoth 10-run homerun during his last game in a Reds uniform, they could have won by 1 run and avoided an Astro sweep!
I’m glad that the Reds have been winning the past 10 days…that 7-3 record is the only reason you can quote a 16-14 “winning record” without Dunn.
Interesting to note that their last 7 games have all been 1-run games. The Reds have won 5 of those. (so a week ago they were 11-12 w/o Dunn…did they finally learn how to win without him?) They’re going to have to average more than 3 runs a game to keep winning like that over a full season.
If Dunn would have just hit a mammoth 10-run homerun during his last game in a Reds uniform, they could have won by 1 run and avoided an Astro sweep!
Great line, Greg! It ranks up there with Jesus’ bases empty grand slam.
The young guys’ spirit is finally rubbing off.
More telling was the stats they posted during the Snakes series. With or w/o Dunn for either team, the offense output for both teams was nearly identical. For my money, that tells me he just isn’t the impact player everyone wants to make him out to be.
I agree, Sultan. The 16-14 record, however, is the only comparison available, as that is the team’s performance without the big guns. They did worse when Dunn and Griffey aboard.
Face it – the team was structured as a high-risk high-reward team. It depended on the performance of the superstars. They did not deliver. Now they are squeaking out runs, pitching well. They need some more offensive pop. I assume management knows that without my telling them.
For my money, that tells me he just isn’t the impact player everyone wants to make him out to be.
Name an impact player that could make that Arizona offense click. Bonds? Pujols? Howard? Braun? They’d walk them knowing Reynolds was coming up next.
No one is citing Dusty’s famous quote after he is hiring about how he was getting calls from players who were interested incoming to the Reds. Well it didn’t take us long to figure out who those guys were: Patterson, Bako, and Hairston. Hairston has been respectable but unable to remain healthy and the other two have been appropriately labeled the Mendoza Twins. But really in all honesty Bako was respectable for the first month and a half and we had no choice with Ross starting the season on the DL. Patterson was a huge bust but we must face facts the reason this team was mired in the cellar after two months of play is because the #3 hitter and the #4 hitter in the lineup were batting .235 combined and using up nearly half the payroll. Their joking side-betting personality in the clubhouse was a poor way to introduce the youngsters to major league baseball. They were poor leaders. They are not the impact players their salaries command. When Arroyo told the media that Dunn was bragging about looking at a 30M contract it was very telling and Dunn flat out denied he said that and Hal McCoy took him for his word. Bull biscuits! Why would Arroyo lie about something like that? Dunn just doesn’t want to be branded the jack ass he obviously he is.
Now they are squeaking out runs, pitching well.
Yeah, pitching well, like 19 runs to the Nationals.
Let’s blame Aaron Harang next. He’s been with the franchise since 2003. The Reds obviously can’t win with him.
Aaron – good thoughts. I don’t think the idea of Dunn’s lack of leadership is properly addressed by his followers. I think he not only failed to be a leader, but think he was even a negative influence. Griffey at least had a positive outlook, but did not inspire anyone around him to excel. You’re exactly right that the two ate up payroll without leading the team anywhere.
There was an obvious friction between Dunn and Arroyo. You can pick whatever side you want to be on. A better question might be why would Dunn tell Arroyo how much he was seeking if he didn’t get along with Arroyo? A good second question might be why would Arroyo say that about a person that he didn’t care for a whole lot?
You’re exactly right that the two ate up payroll without leading the team anywhere.
So is Aaron Harang a bad leader? What positive influence has he had on the Reds pitching staff? Who has he inspired to excel? The Reds pitching continues to be amongst league worst throughout his time in Cincinnati.