Lots of interesting tidbits in today’s Enquirer:
He makes some interesting comments:
When asked about Junior and his injury:
He’s questionable (for Tuesday night). To be serious, the injury is not a serious one. He had another MRI last week where there was still some fluid on his tendon (in his right knee).
Q: When Griffey comes back, do you want him in center field? And if he goes to center, what are you going to do with Ryan Freel?
A: All I know is we’re a better team with Ken Griffey Jr. on it. That’s (Reds manager) Jerry Narron’s job to figure that one out. That’s a nice problem when you have too many good players. It’ll be a juggling act for him. I don’t know when Griffey comes back that he can play every day. I think the wise thing might be to sit him down. But I know he’ll argue that he’s fine and ready to go. But I think we need to use some common sense. He’s not 21 anymore.To be serious, the injury is not a serious one. He had another MRI last week where there was still some fluid on his tendon (in his right knee).
On Sean Casey:
Q: Whose idea was it to trade first baseman Sean Casey?
A: The guy before me (Dan O’Brien). I’ll tell you I was very disappointed not to work with Sean Casey. … I would have approached him about re-negotiating his contract to see if we could have worked something out there. But I know he’s a big favorite here. He’ll be a free agent at the end of the year, too. So you never know. But he’s got a serious back injury that he has to recover from.
So, we’ve got a part time Junior to look forward to and Krivsky’s possibly interested in bringing Casey back to town. Great.
And the Reds Notebook has some interesting items also:
Some Reds followers are down on Edwin Encarnacion’s fielding at third base (nine errors), but does anybody remember Barry Larkin? The Reds great was as sure-handed as they come at shortstop, but it wasn’t always so automatic. When Larkin was Encarnacion’s age (23), he made 29 errors.
This was brought up, I believe, on the Reds Listserv yesterday and is a very good point. Encarnacion is reportedly working hard on his defense with Bucky Dent. I think patience here is appropriate.
Reds pitching sensation Bronson Arroyo (5-1) will anchor sports on today’s WKRC-TV (Channel 12) 6 p.m. telecast. He’s following in the shoes of another local sports sensation, Bengals wide receiver Chad Johnson, who also has anchored Local 12 sports.
Cincinnati might not have the reputation of Boston, but I think Arroyo will find the media much more friendly.
The Reds’ relationship with Jung Keun Bong effectively ended when the club agreed to release him to allow him to return to his native Korea and enter the draft there.
“He didn’t want to be here anymore,” said Johnny Almaraz, Reds director of player development/international operations. “His father isn’t in the best of health, and he wanted to go back and play closer to his family.”
By rule, Bong can’t pitch for the Reds for nine more years.
Bong, along with Bubba Nelson, was obtained for Reitsma from Atlanta on March 26, 2004. It was former general manager Dan O’Brien’s first trade.
Nelson was released earlier this spring. So the Reds basically have nothing to show for dealing Reitsma, who has been a setup man/ closer for the Braves since the trade.
Someone reported this as a possibility a few days ago on a different thread. This might be the worst trade for the Reds since the Frank Robinson deal.
“We’re working on some mechanical things with Homer (Bailey),” Almaraz said. “When he gets consistent with them, we’ll move him – probably to Double-A at the halfway point.”
As I guessed yesterday. Taking a quick look at the Lookouts schedule, it appears the AA All Star game is probably around July 10th.
The Reds pitcher, who is trying to come back from June surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff and frayed labrum, returned to Cincinnati after making the second start of his rehabilitation assignment.
“We just pushed it too much,” Wilson said. “My velocity went way down. We hit a wall, man.”
The velocity on Wilson’s fastball hovered around 86 mph during a seven-inning rehab start with Single-A Dayton on April 27. It dropped into the low 80s during a six-inning start with Triple-A Louisville on May 2.
My guess is that if Wilson pitches for the Reds at all this season, it won’t be until after the All Star break. I just hope that if they’re still in contention, they don’t think he’s the answer for the rotation, rather than going out and getting someone to help them.
Have to agree with Greg. Robinson was a historically bad trade, Reitsma has proven to be a serviceable set up man, but hasn’t carried another team to pennants on his back yet that I am aware of.
maybe a better GM gets better prospects for Reitsma, maybe not, that’s why they’re prospects – it doesn’t always work out.
Bottom line to me though, is that reitsma should have been traded for prospects when he was, so it’s tough to say that it was a terrible trade.
Not “Robinsonesque” but still a pretty bad trade.
not to change the topic from the always enthralling reitsma trade debate, but can someone explain to me the line from Kriv “this is not a serious injury?”
is that a dig at JR. for not coming off the DL for a month? if not, what makes something a serious injury? does it have to be life/career threatening? This has limited him to 8 of the first what 33 games, that’s not serious?
and am i wrong in remembering that JR. originally didn’t want to go on the DL?
This is getting weirder and weirder.
Bill that was dreadfully out of line about the Reitsma trade. If the Reds had Chris Reitsma any longer than they already did, I would have jumped off a very tall building eight or nine times by now.
By rule, Bong can’t pitch for the Reds for nine more years.
Is there a way the Reds can release Dave Williams to Korea?