Loading ...Forgive the less-than-delicate headline; just a little play on “Willy, Mickey, and the Duke.” Yes, I know, I’m ever so clever.
Anyway, how about this comparison?
Willy Taveras, Reds CF/leadoff hitter, through June 13, 2009:
.229 batting average, .283 on-base percentage, .289 slugging percentage, 572 OPS
Corey Patterson, Reds CF/leadoff hitter, through June 13, 2008:
.195 batting average, .232 on-base percentage, .352 slugging percentage, 584 OPS
Dusty Baker for Manager of the Decade!!!
Dusty’s teams have historically made the playoffs despite his presence in my opinion, they guy is just an awful manager.
The fact that this type of crap has happened two years in a row, shows that the Reds are really not interested in winning.
Is anyone really surprised that Taveras has been this bad?? It was clear that it was a poor signing and there was a reason that the Rockies wanted nothing to do with him anymore.
I understand that the Reds are not loaded with talented offensive players, but, to put the two worst hitters on the team in the 1 and 2 spot in the lineup is just sad.
Corey Patterson hit 10 home runs and had 34 RBI last year.
Willy Taveras, extrapolating to the same AB that CP had last year will hit 2 HR and have 16 RBI.
I never understood the Dusty signing in the first place…the only reason he was any good in SF was Bonds/Kent and in Chicago he is remembered the most for ruining pitchers careers and playing guys like Patterson/Nefi Perez. He is a good guy, good personality, but just a simply poor manager. His legacy with the Reds will be sticking with crappy veterans (Patterson/Bako/Taveras) for too long and poor lineup construction.
While I agree that the disaster of signing Taveras to be the every day CF was easily foreseen, I don’t agree that it means the Reds aren’t interested in winning. In fact, I think Dusty Baker wants to win intensely. The problem is that he’s hopelessly old fashioned in his approach to baseball. Dusty still thinks the best lead off hitter is someone who simply is fast, instead of someone who gets on base a lot. He is also incredibly stubborn when it comes to admitting mistakes. But I do think he wants to win.
I would agree Steve…I would say that is the whole organization altogether. I don’t think they embrace the statistical side of things. You don’t have to buy into the Sabermetric thing totally but you have to embrace some of it.
I agree that Dusty wants to win…but he doesn’t seem to have any clue how to go about doing it. That said, this can’t all be blamed on Dusty (as much as I’d like to sometimes)…look at the Reds roster, who do they have? Jocketty seems to hate putting people on the DL, he won’t do anything about the disaster that is Lincoln & Burton, and there really isn’t a single threat in the lineup besides Phillips (and occassionally Bruce, but he’s been pretty bad lately too it seems).
I don’t think they embrace the statistical side of things. You don’t have to buy into the Sabermetric thing totally but you have to embrace some of it.
I’d be happy if they just cut out the stupidest 10% of the decisions.
CeeKeR is correct. This roster is just a mess. They have 13 pitchers! Yet two of them are utterly un-usable. They have a backup SS with exactly the same (perceived) strengths and weaknesses of the starter. They have no backup 1b, and took a month to add a single RH bench bat who could theoretically hit a HR.
Baker’s not blameless – he’s playing Willy Taveras over Chris Dickerson against RH pitching, for God’s sakes – but I don’t know that Earl Weaver himself could’ve coaxed 4 runs/game out of this bunch.
Yes, the overall starting roster is a huge problem. It is loaded with players who are CAREER low OBP guys. Taveras, Hairston, Hernandez, Gonzalez, etc. all have terrible career records at getting on base. Given that two of our three big hitters (Bruce, Phillips, not Votto) are also relatively poor at OBP, it’s a recipe for prolonged slumps.
“but I don’t know that Earl Weaver himself could’ve coaxed 4 runs/game out of this bunch.”
Put JH JR in for Gonzo, bat Hanigan 6th or 7th, not 8th, and play Dickerson over Taveras vs RHP (and LHP for all I care). Then we’ll score 4 runs/game.
It’s now becoming really clear what a near total failure the off season effort was. The two main new position player acquisitions were Hernandez and Taveras. While Hernandez has been surprisingly great at 1B with Votto’s injury, surely using Hanigan as a starting catcher and picking up a more experienced backup 1B would have been better. The signing of Taveras (to a 2-year deal!) was just an unmitigated misjudgment.
Signing Arthur Rhodes turned out well, so far. Signing Mike Lincoln to a 2-year deal, not so much.
Then there is the action we didn’t take – signing a power hitting OF.
Seems like our judgment in the new players we signed, along with the evaluation of our current roster (Dickerson, Hanigan, Lincoln) were both pretty questionable.
Dusty isn’t responsible for the talent level, but he IS responsible for getting the most out of what he’s given. Players do not have to have great talent to do things fundamentally correct. Are the Reds executing? Who’s responsibility is it? Is the best line-up available to him being put on the field each day?
Dusty was a horrible choice from the beginning. He’s a good, nice man….but is inept as a manager. Once the Reds went to trying to play small-ball offensively, it was only a matter of time before Dusty’s inability to TRULY MANAGE would be exposed.
Here we are folks, he’s being exposed.
We can blame Dusty all we want, but the Reds simply need better options to put in the line-up. The players that we have that should play everyday on any team is Votto (DL), Phillips, Nix/Gomes (I like them as a platoon), Bruce (even with his slump).
As bad as Willy is, I don’t believe that Dickerson is the answer in CF, should he be given a shot, yes, but if you remember he played awful to start the year and played is way out of being the starting LF. So yes, he should be given a shot but he is not the answer there.
I also like the Hernandez/Hanigan duo at C, I think that Hernandez started to come on the past month and then Dusty started hitting him 4th and 5th and he just isn’t that good. If you keep him and Hanigan as a platoon at C and keep them hitting 7th and 8th then there numbers will look much better than having Ramon hitting 4/5.
Other than that, our Bench, there is no one that should be an everyday player. Janish I think deserves more of a shot cause he can flat out pick-it and I have no doubt he could put up similar numbers to the SS in Tampa has this year and did last year (can’t think of his name right now).
Simply put the Reds need an infusion of a middle of the order presence and lead off hitter. It is a shame to see the great bullpen (minus Lincoln) and rotation go to waste night in and night out. They have to go get someone soon (in my opinion) because Votto and Phillips need someone else in the lineup whether it be a leadoff type guy or middle of the order type guy. There are enought positions that are holes for the Reds to where it doesn’t matter where the guy plays in the field.
Janish could not hit as well as Jason Bartlett this year.
Bartlett’s current numbers in 44 games this season – 373/.418/.596 (OPS+ 161)
Speaking of Corey – the Natinals just called him up.
Pinski very true, I did not realize he was having that good a year. However, right now Janish is right around the career numbers of Bartlett and I don’t think it is absurd to think he could potentially keep those numbers given he plays more than once a month to develop any kind of consistency at the plate. Yes, Janish is more of a glove guy but who knows given the opportunity what Janish could do.
AVG OBP SLG
SEASON .373 .418 .596
CAREER .285 .345 .384
“The signing of Taveras (to a 2-year deal!) was just an unmitigated misjudgment.”
This is so very true. It just made no sense at all. Taveras is just not a good player, never has been and never will be.
The point is Brian, is that Dusty is being paid 4 mil per year to get the most out of his team? Is he?
Do they really all suck this bad or is he not coaching them up/pushing the right buttons?