I am so disgusted about the direction of this franchise that I can barely think straight. When Bowden and Boone were fired, it was a wonderful opportunity to take the Reds in a new direction. Instead, they hired Dan O’Brien and Dave Miley — which equals more of the same.
I know that I promised that I was going to be upbeat about the rest of this season, but it’s difficult to remain positive.
One of the most disgusting storylines surrounding the team is the continual attempt by O’Brien and (especially) Miley to beat down their stars on a daily basis. Take a look at this:
Adam Dunn was given another day off Friday, and he was about as happy as he was for his last day off June 3 in Colorado. That time, he didn’t complain because he wasn’t hitting well.
Now he is vocal about it after hitting a 455-foot homer Thursday.
“I don’t know why I’m off,” he said. “And, of course, they didn’t tell me Thursday  that would be too easy, they waited until today (Friday) when my mom and dad are here for the games.
“I found something working with Chris Chambliss in the batting cage Thursday,” Dunn added. “That’s the way it usually happens for me. Something snaps into place and I say, ‘Oh, yeah, that’s it,’ then I’m able to take it into batting practice and into games.”
Asked what would have happened if he had hit a 500-foot homer, Dunn said, “I probably would have gotten two days off.”
Dave Miley is incompetent, and that’s all you can say about him. He’s incompetent, and he’s joining forces with Dan O’Brien in an attempt to sour Dunn on this organization to the point that there is no chance he’ll sign a long-term contract with the Reds.
Dunn is the best player this organization has had in thirty years, and they’re treating him worse than they treated Juan Castro. That’s a crime, and O’Brien and Miley should be forced to pay with their jobs.
And then there’s this:
Dunn and Austin Kearns have talked often via cellphone since Kearns was demoted last week to Class AAA Louisville. Dunn misses his friend and lockermate.
“I hate it without him,” Dunn said. “All they’re doing is seeing if they can break his confidence, then they’ll want him to start from scratch. He is finally fed up and said he is just waiting to see what happens, knowing if they don’t want him, he can go somewhere else and play every day  like Atlanta, Washington, the Chicago Cubs.
“When that happens, I know what will happen … he’ll hit .325 with 20 homers and 100 RBIs.”
Good-bye Dunn. Good-bye Kearns. It’s been nice knowing you.
Until this team gets new management — from the top down — the Reds have no chance to compete. And it doesn’t have anything to do with small markets or tiny budgets or anything. It has to do with incompetence, and the Reds are being run by people who don’t have a clue what they are doing. Here’s an example of that incompetence:
The shocker is that Kremchek admitted the Reds knew Wilson had a partial tear in his rotator cuff and labral deterioration three years ago when they signed him.
“We signed him anyway,” Kremchek said.
They signed him anyway! Now, all this can’t be laid at O’Brien’s feet, but O’Brien re-signed him. And now we have half a season with an ERA over 7 to show for it. These decisions aren’t just mistakes, they cost the Reds wins. It’s Steve Avery all over again.
Hiring Brad Kullman as GM would have been a good step, but they went with the old-schooler O’Brien…who is going to lead this team straight down the drain.
I’m tired. Tired of investing myself in this club and getting nothing in return. Tired of getting excited only to have my hopes dashed. Tired of cheering for one of the top ten players in the league, only to watch the Reds treat him as if he didn’t matter to the future of the franchise.
I’m simply tired, and many other Reds fans are, as well. At some point, we’re all going to find something else to occupy our interest and our love. It is becoming increasingly clear that the Reds don’t deserve that love…and I’m not even sure that they want it.
These are sad times for fans of this storied franchise….
Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit drinking/doing cocaine/whatever. -Lloyd Bridges, Airplane
I hope its the A’s or someone I like.
At some point this organization has to hit rock bottom. When the Reds hit that point things have to get better. My problem is that everytime I think they’ve hit that low, they find a way to hit a new one. They continue to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
Oh and by the way no more trades with the Braves. Reistma for Bong and Bell. Boone and Remlinger for Michael Tucker and Rob Bell. O’Brien should be warned that if he seens Shurholtz he needs to run the other way.
Michael Tucker and Rob Bell
And Denny Neagle… Boone was flippedwith Klesko to San Diego in a worst trade.
How could I have forgotten about Neagle. Another in a long line of great Reds pitchers. We did get one decent season out of him.
Ugh, Dunn is *not* the best player this organization has had in 30 years. You need to quit smoking whatever it is that you’re smoking, and realize that 450 homeruns does not make a player a superstar. Eric Davis, if not for the injuries that forced him out of Cincinnati, would have put up WAY better offensive numbers than Adam Dunn, AND….Davis was SO much better an outfielder than Dunn. That guy was just amazing, anyone that can’t see that needs to take off their “homeruns are everything” blinders. Dunn is really nothing more than a slugger that strikes out a ton and plays OK defense. He’s also a guy with a poor attitude, inability to adapt to the game.
Dunn has a bit of a point about not being told the day before, but other than that, his complaint is pretty lame. He found something in the batting cage… gosh, I wonder if it was something like, “Oh, I see. I have a long looping swing that makes me only able to pull the ball, hit a lot of popups, and strikeout. But then again, it has allowed me to hit a homerun 18 times this season. So, I think I’ll stick with it, regardless of the fact that I am a large contributor to this club’s inability to score a run after a leadoff double.” Yeah, that was probably it. And its too bad length of homerun doesn’t figure into the number of runs you get. Then he might have a point.
And, I should say, I like Dunn. He’s a fun player, but he isn’t fixing the gaping holes in his game. If you think he’s worth the $8-10 million/year they’d have to pay him in arbitration, then YOU would have to be incompetent.
And the Reds are trying to break Kearns’ confidence? If he is a big leaguer, hitting .224 with low run production and a high strikeout total should have broken his confidence.
Regardless of who the Reds trade, I want to be able to look at the team after the trade deadline and say, “Okay, now we’ve got pitching.” And even if they trade Dunn and Kearns, they’ll still score enough runs. This is perhaps the only bad team that has a chance to be a better team after the trade deadline.
Oh, and aside from that, I have a theory… just a theory about how the Reds are among the leaders in runs scored/game. Here it is: They beat the crap out of bad pitching, while doing very poorly against good pitching. I think this is particularly true for guys who strikeout a lot. It seems like guys who hit for high average, rather than power with low average, are more consistent against good pitchers.
Just a theory, you may be able to prove it wrong. I don’t know.
Are all the guys at the Redzone as enlightened as you are?
Just found this blog. Nice!
On Dunn: His OPS may compare with a selected group of former players, but I’d argue that someone who hits .300 is always better than someone who hits .240, assuming all the other stats remain the same. Ditto striking out. Better to ground something with a chance of being caught than standing there looking at the third strike with men on first and second and two out.