John Fay has this interesting piece in this morning’s Enquirer, entitled, “The Team Believes; Should We?”
Sure, they can.
There’s no reason to think otherwise.
That’s my short answer to the rhetorical question we’re trying to answer today, which is: “Can the Reds stay in the race for the playoffs for the long haul, or will they be looking up from fifth place by the Fourth of July?”
My short answer, again, is yeah, sure. Why not?
But that is not to say they definitely will. In 2004, the Reds went into June 21/2 games in front in the National League Central at 32-21. They ended up 76-86.
To avoid a similar collapse, things must continue to line up as they have so far. The Reds have to avoid further injuries. They have to continue to get the quality pitching they’ve been getting.
The fast start has done a lot of good things. Chief among them is the change of attitude in the clubhouse after five years of steady losing.
“I really like the team chemistry,” Reds general manager Wayne Krivsky said.
The Reds now believe they can win.
It’s a reasonable question, after what we’ve seen over the last five years. Can the Reds hang in the race? Should we believe?
What do you think?
I believe because of Wayne Krivsky and Bob Castellini. I still think they have some ideas to improve this club yet this year — and are willing to put some things in motion.
The toughest issue is to fix the defense within the context of where the defensive problems are coming from — LF, 3B and inconsistency at SS — all players who are part of the “core” moving forward.
Junior is no longer the CFer you want to be building around for the long-term either. Several have made the observation that Freel, Denorfia and QM have all gotten to balls that Junior wouldn’t get to in CF — and that is a real problem when Dunn is also in LF.
I read over at REDZONE where someone suggested that EE move to 1B — which avoids the insane number of throwing errors, move Lopez to 3b, play Phillips at SS and let Freel and even Olmedo try 2B.
I see the logic behind it — but as I commented over there as well, I don’t see it happening.
EE has 9 errors at 3B so far, but I think the plan is to live with that and pray that he improves. Lopez drives Narron crazy with his inconsistency at SS, but I think he is planning on going with that as well.
Anyway, all those moves still doesn’t address a very poor LF – CF combo with Junior back.
Krivsky and Narron would love to stick Denorfia in CF for an extended period and Junior’s agreement to play 1B would help that.
Interesting roster moves to come — I suspect.
Why Griffey at First? Why not Dunn at First and Griffey in Left. Griffey still has some value in the OF, he takes better routes to the ball than anyone else, he’s just not as fast as he once was, BUT I bet he could still beat ole Dunners in a foot race. How many times have we seen Dunn, Freel and Pena (back in days of yore) run in when they should have run out, run out when they should have run it. I have yet to see Denorfia play the OF, so I can’t tell you he would be any better than Freel CF.
For all the errors EdE does have, lets look at who else has been as bad. Morgan Ensberg has 7, Miguel Cabrera has 8, David Wright has 6. That looks like good company, especially considering how much the media talks up David Wright’s defense.
Also if making a bad play on a flyball was an error, how many would Dunn have?
If you really wanted to play with the infield the best bet would be to move Edwin to 2nd, and Phillips to short (and that’s only based on minor league reputation), and Felipe to 3rd (but notice this wouldn’t necessarily fix the defense at 3rd because his 8 errors lead all SS).
I’m OK with Dunn moving and Junior in LF — something’s got to0 give. They tried Dunn at 1B in ST and changed their minds for some reason that has never been fully explained anywhere.
Only two reasons were given for not following through with switching Dunn to 1b. After the Pena trade, it was stated that Dunn was never comfortable at first and now with Pena gone it freed up an outfield spot. Someone should have taken a hard line approach with Dunn (as they will have to with Griffey) and simply say, “Too bad if you’re uncomfortable; it’s better for the team.”
i think people are blowing the bad infield D way out of proportion. Not when noticing how it is affecting the team, obviously it’s killing us right now. But in calling for all these position changes, like young players don’t usually make errors.
for comparison, brooks robinson made 21 errors in his first full season, in 140 games, a pace that would have had him at 24 over 160. barry larkin made 48 errors in his first 2 full seasons, which was only 267 games, so a pace for 58 over 324.
lopez and EdE are young, and they work hard. If Ede finishes the year with 30 errors so be it, he’s 23 and that’s what is to be expected. That doesn’t mean he can’t play 3rd, ditto lopez at short.
as for griffey, i’m wondering if he’ll be back at all this year. I’m half expecting the announcemnt of another major surgery any minute now. and if he can’t understand that he shouldn’t be in center anymore, and is allowed to stay, then the inmates are officially running the assylum.
it reminds me of the 2003 ALCS when grady little asked pedro if he could pitch the 8th. Pedro says yes, yanks win the series, and grady little is fired, not pedro. At some point it is management’s reponsibility to take control and say “i don’t care if you think you can do it, i’m telling you that you won’t be.”
The Reds are my favorite team, but they are total idiots. They should have moved Griffey to 1st base 3 yrs. ago. You could have anyone else on the entire roster go diving around like a jackass in center and risking injury rather than continuously placing this guy on the DL over 1 funky out. I it’s a case where he’s not willing, I could understand, but this is silly. Let’s not forget this is the best, non-steroid using player the game has to offer. One bag!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!