Secondly, when are the Reds going to feel that its important to have a third baseman who can throw.

Arroyo has no business on the mound until they figure out what is wrong with him. Is it the carpel tunnel or something else? DL the guy until the problem is solved.

I guess sometimes it’s easier said then done, but in this case it seems some of these decisions should be easier made then talked about…that was terrible grammar, but you get my point!

The thing that has surprised me about Hannigan is his defense. That in itself should lend him to more starts.

It seems like Baker and company are their own worst enemy at times. We don’t trust Hannigan can handle the fulltime duty so we trade for a veteran C…Hannigan proves he is pretty good, but we’ve committed to this veteran Catcher being the number one guy for some reason and we’re sticking with him.

I know a lot of you are in the Encarnacion camp. It seems like from website to website people disagree on him as they did on Adam Dunn. I’m not in the EE camp. Sorry, I just can’t go with you guys on him. The last thing this lineup needs is an inconsistent hitter who strikes out and fails to get runners in from third base on a consistent basis.

Everyone is all excited to get EE back. Do people realize most of our success is dependent on EE, Hairston Jr, and Taveras for the rest of the season? We are relying on Taveras to get on base and create havoc…we’re relying on Hairston to provide speed and solid play at SS…and we’re relying on Encarnacion to be the “right handed bat” we so desperately need.

I see our success depending largely on 3 unproven everyday players who are inconsistent at the plate, inconsistent in the field, and are below average situational hitters.

I hate to be so negative… but I don’t see this team making a surge with the current everyday lineup. They play hard and don’t give up. I guess Dusty and the guys deserve some credit for the attitude of this team which seems to be a lot better then previous years…but they lack consistency and production at 3-4 spots most days of the week.

We’re relying on 3 unproven

That guy is such a streaky hitter. Too bad he was on a cold streak the last season and half in Cinci after about a half season of looking pretty good.

Hernandez isn’t the primary reason the Reds are only at .500 even though he couldn’t buy a hit in June, the guy was one of the few in May outside of Votto that got some hits when needed earlier on. Hanigan has earned more playing time in my book, but I think Hernandez is an improvement over the Bako boys for the past couple of years. Hernandez is probably only here this season, so it isn’t that big a deal. I figure they will go with Hanigan full time next year. I’d put playing Hernandez a step or two behind the odd using of the pitching staff, not playing the hot hitting outfielders and playing people out of position (although Hernandez did field OK at first) as an issue.

Eddie, Edwin, Ed…you can get to the ball pretty well, sometimes even quite impressive but you are so erratic throwing the ball.

Interestingly enough, his UZR at 1B was -2.9 which is among the bottom 10 among those who have played 1B.

He’s hitting .252/.333/.368 for a 84 OPS+
Is that decent?

Of the 9 qualified Catchers (lots of catchers are getting more rest days this year), Hernandez is 8th looking at WAR

Hernendez is among the bottom 10 among catchers in creating runs above the positional average

T8 Francisco Cervelli -5
T8 Jamie Burke -5
T8 Jeff Mathis -5
T8 Bengie Molina -5
T8 Michel Hernandez -5
T8 Mike Redmond -5
T14 Ramon Hernandez -4
T14 Taylor Teagarden -4
T14 Raul Chavez -4
T14 Robinzon Diaz -4

38 catchers have produced more runs than Hernandez when looking at RARP

and another guy on the club is among the top 10 AND play darn good defense
RCAP RCAP
1 Joe Mauer 40
2 Victor Martinez 23
3 Brian McCann 17
4 Mike Napoli 11
5 David Ross 9
T6 Jesus Flores 8
T6 Jorge Posada 8
T6 Ryan Hanigan 8
9 Jason Varitek 7
10 Chris Iannetta 5

I don’t have any idea what “a decent job” is but I don’t think what Hernandez has done this year is it

I think this team is gonna just play between 2-3 games below or above .500 unless they make a fairly big trade. I’ve criticized Dusty a lot, but they don’t have the talent on a daily basis to beat good teams.

It would be nice to see Hannigan maybe bat second. Seems like Dickerson has some nice at bats where he works the pitcher. He and Hannigan at the top of the lineup would be a nice lead in to Votto. But then you have Hernandez who has done a decent job, but is probably taking some valuable playing time away from Hannigan.

Oh well, they just aren’t that great. A mediocre team. Hopefully they can stick around the race to make things interesting…it’d be nice to be within say 3 games around July 31st so this club is at least thinking about making some upgrades.