Cincinnati’s offense failed to get going once again, but the Cubs jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the 1st inning and it may not have mattered all that much as the Reds were swept in Chicago to end their final road trip of the season. Cincinnati has now lost 19 of their last 23 games, leaving them at 60-99 on the year with three games at home against the Cubs remaining on the year.
| Final | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cincinnati Reds (60-99) |
1 | 7 | 0 |
| Chicago Cubs (73-86) |
8 | 12 | 0 |
| W: Stroman (6-7) L: Anderson (2-4) |
|||
| Statcast | Box Score | Game Thread | |||
The Offense
Cincinnati got a walk from Jonathan India and a 2-out single from Jake Fraley to put runners on the corners in the top of the 1st, but Donovan Solano struck out on three pitches in an inning that defined the rest of the game. When the Reds came to the plate in the 2nd they were trailing 5-0. They would once again get two runners on after Alejo Lopez singled and moved to third on Chuckie Robinson’s 2-out double, but the Reds would strand them both.
There wasn’t much threatening for the offense again until the 7th inning. Michael Siani led off with a single, moved up to second on a ground out, and then scored on a bloop single from Jonathan India to cut into the Cubs lead and make it 6-1. That would be the only run that Cincinnati would score on the day.
The Pitching
Things probably could have gone worse for Chase Anderson on Sunday, but not much worse. He failed to get out of the 1st inning, recording just one out trailing 3-0 and leaving the bases loaded. Fernando Cruz came on and would give up a 2-out 2-run double that made it 5-0 before he’d get the final out of the inning.
Joel Kuhnel took over the fame in the 3rd inning and after a shutout frame he would give up a run in the 4th before giving way to Reiver Sanmartin. He tossed two shutout innings to keep the score at 6-0. Ian Gibaut entered the game in the 7th and gave up two runs on three hits as the Cubs extended their lead to 8-1. Hunter Strickland had to work around a walk and a single in the bottom of the 8th, but he was able to do so and send the game to the 9th where the Reds needed a touchdown on a Sunday to get back in the game. They didn’t get it, going quietly in the 9th.
Notes Worth Noting
Cubs with a 5-run first inning today. Reds with 5 runs in their last 36 innings combined.
— Joel Luckhaupt (@jluckhaupt) October 2, 2022
This tweet came in the 1st inning. The Reds then proceeded to score one run during the game to make things even worse.
The most losses in a season by a Cincinnati Reds team is 101, set by the 1982 Reds. This year’s team could top that by losing the final three games of the season.
Up Next for the Cincinnati Reds
Chicago Cubs vs Cincinnati Reds
Monday October 3rd, 6:40pm ET
Hayden Wesneski (3-1, 2.33 ERA) vs Hunter Greene (4-13, 4.66 ERA)
Pretty amazing that we’re finishing the season almost exactly as we started in the first and last 25 games. On field talent and injuries are the major issues but they are not the ONLY issues if you know what I mean.
‘The most losses in a season by a Cincinnati Reds team is 101, set by the 1982 Reds. This year’s team could top that by losing the final three games of the season.”
Looks like a lock – can Bell survive if they do? There will be extraordinary pressure on the Reds to make a move. If Bell does stay, the fanbase feelings of discouragement will be higher than anytime during my following of the team since 1970. May not be fair but there it is….
I’m not a Bell fan but in fairness to him, the many trades and injuries this year left him with a low quality AAA roster to compete in MLB.
I don’t think he should be the Reds manager any more than Bryan Price should have been.
The Reds were 61-101 in 1982. Then 74-88 in 1983 with a very similar roster of players. Both 1982 and 2022 are just historically BAD seasons,
I was watching a loss to the Cubs the other night, first time I’ve watched any Reds baseball in months. They had a long shot of Bell standing in the dugout in the ninth inning as yet another game got away. The guy looked miserable. The look on his face was heartbreaking to anyone that has even a bit of sympathy for a worker put in a lousy spot by horrible owners. I can find decisions to criticize, but Bell has had no chance whatsoever this year. It’s disgusting what the ownership has done to this once-proud franchise.
The Reds gutted their team..and clubhouse… twice in one season.
You don’t see that happen too often.
Both stretches of miserable play followed.
Actually between the lousy finish and start of the season, the Reds were basically a .500 team and most without Castillo, Mahle, etc. The team under Bell has historically had a difficult time starting and finishing seasons. I really don’t see an argument for retaining him.
Well, his team had a huge collapse in the last 2 months of last year, so they gave him a 2 year extension.
Cardinals fired their manager after making a huge run to make the playoffs.
Yup and they cratered the year before in the playoffs. Quite the resume enhancer.
Hopefully, in another week or so (or do they have to wait until after the World Series), we’ll get an idea of who is NOT returning to the team next year, both players and management. I thought I’d read somewhere that players couldn’t be on the IL in the offseason. If that’s really true, the FO has a big job ahead.
I would think (and hope) that a managerial change be announced the day after the season is complete.
I believe the guys on the 60 day DL must be placed back on the 40 man roster. That means decisions have to be made both in regards to who those guys replace and who else needs added before the rule 5 draft.
Guys on the short term IL (10 days for position players/ 15 days for pitchers) still count against the 40 man roster. Guys on the 60 day IL do NOT count against the 40 man roster. At the end of the season, the 60 day list must be reabsorbed into the 40 man roster.
Per the Baseball Reference 40 man and IL lists for the Reds they currently have a dozen guys on the 60 day list. When these guys are “brought back” then the 40 man roster must be culled to no more than 40.
Guys moved off could be from the former 60 day list or guys who were on the 40 man roster all along.
Also there are a number of guys on expiring contracts who will become free agents and thus no longer count against the 40 man count.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/CIN/2022-roster.shtml
“Also there are a number of guys on expiring contracts who will become free agents and thus no longer count against the 40 man count.”
I should have made clear these are players who have 6 years or more of MLB service time as of the end of the 2022 season and who are not under contract for 2023. I checked this several weeks back and believe the number is around 7, including some on the 60 day IL.
That is one ugly mess to clean up.
There about 30 players on the 40 man roster who could go without making much a difference.
I see no hope
No reason to and this is a huge problem. If management sits on its hands it will only intensify.
“Were you gonna go” well Reds owners and ownernship group. This fan is done rooting for your joke of a organization. If reds sell the team. I will be back, otherwise. ” It’s on to Seattle ”
I have enjoyed talking with all and stuff. Think I am done for this season.
Only 3 more creative recap titles left to cover. How many ways can we say we got smoked?
On we go …
I was hoping for the old standby: “Reds rally falls short!” being used today.
“India singles in a run!” might have worked but the irony likely would have been wasted.
Over the 2nd half of the season
Kyle Farmer is slashing 0.179 / 0.220 / 0.286 when he plays SS
Kyle Farmer is slashing 0.267 / 0.297 / 0.412 when he plays anything other than SS
Those are interesting numbers.
Here are Barrero’s at short: .158 /.189 /.215
Not like Farmer is a huge improvement there.
And neither screams $5+ million a year and everyday starter.
Reds FO is flushing 2023 season down the drain.
Reds will get a top 5 pick likely in draft
Moose and Votto contracts are purged
Bullpen is developing per Bell.
Zinter will take all of the blame for 100 losses and be let go.
2023 is a 90-100 loss season as well.
Likely so.
Houston Asterisks had three 100 loss seasons in a row before making their turnaround.
Yes, Zinter needs to go. But, if he’s the fall guy for this season’s disaster, then the FO isn’t being serious. And a top 5 pick isn’t worth much if the team can’t develop them.
They can take Williams and his philosophy too
Reds are in the amateur draft lottery without a doubt. Draft is looking very strong with OF’s.
Reds only had 1 extra base hit today, Robinson’s double. Cubs had 5 doubles and a triple, half of their 12 hits. Hard to win like that in any game.
If the Pirates hold on in the 9th we WILL BE TIED….Scratch that. We ARE tied.
Oh Boy! We have something to play for….
Yeah buddy. lol If both teams tank equally that’s bad news for the PIrates. They should have NEVER beaten us seven games in a row. Dumb dumb dumb. 🙂
As reds fans all we can do is hang in there. The silver lining is that it is an aging league. Especially with the star position players. I mean eventually Players like Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt WIll retire and there will be nobody any good to replace them. The league will re equilibrate and then the reds can be competitive again but this is a few years away.
In the meantime I guess next year I will hopefully enjoy Joeys fair well season. I would keep Bell around for 2023 just to get Joey to the finish line. Who would you get to take over next year anyway
Make Joey the Reds Player Coach for 2023 which would at least make it more interesting in the interview room. Hire Eric Davis as the bench coach. Keep Benavides on as well.
I think Votto would be even handed but tough and no nonsense as a manager. But I bet he has handled his money well enough that he is interested in the job. Now a booth spot might be another matter. Or maybe in our dreams he finds a partner or 2 and buys the team.
Votto has handled his money well enough he is NOT interested in managing.
Stupid me for using a stupid software keyboard to type real sentences 😉
Great idea, Jim. Joey Votto and a couple partners buy out the managing ownership share of the Castellini’s. A dedicated Redleg such as Votto for new direction for the team and revitalize the fanbase.
I don’t see Votto as the leader type. He’s great with the fans, entertaining, etc. Great on the radio. I’ve not seen or read anything suggesting an inclination to lead or manage, compared for instance to Farmer.
Lose the rest and let history place this ownership where it deserves to be remembered.
…as in the worst? haha
How about those One Run Reds!
Pirates won.
I’m not sure why people want to move EDLC to centerfield. We don’t have a proven shortstop yet so let him stay there. The guys behind him might not make it at short. We all thought Barrero would and he hasn’t shown anything yet. Leave EDLC at short in Louisville next year and if Barrero still stinks in May, then bring EDLC up. Everybody is yelling about Senzel getting moved around and now they want EDLC too.
A lot of Chicken Littles around. Yes, this season is a unmistakable failure. Granted. I still don’t understand the thought that the Reds will not spend money of FA’s in 23, and no, I don’t mean 5M – 10M. I doubt the 23 payroll will be under 100M. I think it will likely between 110M – 120M.
Chicken Littles? Have you taken a look at the standings lately?
@Votto Yes I have. ”Yes, this season is a unmistakable failure. Granted.“ I am as frustrated with this season as anyone.
I maybe should have clarified my comments better. I was referring to the 23 season being over before it began talk.
Like I said above, 110M is my guess on the floor, and I’d be absolutely shocked if it fell bellow 100M. That won’t be enough money to be a winning club, but they could still be competitive.
MBS, where does your confidence in this front office come from? I would truly like to know.
The past two season they have done nothing but dump salaries. The few contracts they have taken on (Pham, Drury etc.) were traded a few months after the Reds signed them.
In the past year, the Reds have traded their entire starting rotation, along with Jesse Winker, Tucker Barnhart and Eugenio
Suarez.
Again, why do you have any confidence at all that Bob Castellini is going to spend enough money during the off season to make this team competitive in 2023???
I’m serious, I would really like to know how you have come to this conclusion.
Votto and Moose don’t come off payroll ’til 2024…so no big contracts before then…and if Reds keep to current strategy…no big contracts ever again under this ownership. 5 and a half years and out.
1) The 21 team was poorly constructed, and needed to be remade. .500 was the ceiling for that group. The Castellanos contract was a joke with 2 opt outs. We had 5 3B’s starting on a regular basis in positions they were not cut out for. That was DW’s team, and Krall needs to build his.
2) If the Reds didn’t sign Solano 4.5M, Pham 6M, and trade for Minor 10M the Reds could have been in the mid 90M payroll for 2022. So that says to me that while he may have a budget, it’s well north of 100M.
3) I think Krall went out and got what he thought the team needed to make this club competitive, a couple of good bats against LHP, and a LHP to replace Miley. I see him continuing to signing FA’s in 23, hopefully with better results.
Only 1 of us can be right, I sure hope it’s me.
You can’t really count players who are signed in March and then traded in July.
The Reds added players like Pham, Drury, Solano and Mike Minor with the intention of trading then after a few months.
They only carried Solano and Mike Minor for the entire season because they were hurt and unable to establish any trade value this season.
So, for example, although it sounds impressive to say the Reds signed Tommy Pham for $9 million dollars, in reality, that contract only cost the Reds slightly over $3 million.
They got caught holding the bag with Mike Minor and Solano.
@Votto, I don’t think it makes much sense to sign a player for the sole purpose of trading him 3 months later. I think once the season was over (lets be clear that happened in the 1st month) Krall pivoted to trading anyone remaining who had value.
We’ll continue to disagree, as we look at this half full glass of water. That’s actually a lot more fun for me. There isn’t much to get excited about with our 22 Reds, so a bit of good natured back in forth is a welcomed distraction.
At this point I am expecting us to be under 100 million next season. I would be shocked it is higher.
The way the team is playing currently I expect the Reds to break their worst season record.
Jay I agree. I bet payroll will not be much north of $80,000,000. If they can trade a prospect or two to get a team to take on the final year of Moose’s contract, I think it will be substantially less than $80 Million. Basically, Votto and mostly league minimum salaries.
We got burned so bad on the Moose and Shogo deals that management made the decision to not take anymore chances on anyone making any kind of money again. They opted to get rid of the veterans and rebuild with kids. We have been seeing our future lineup this past month or so and I dont know about you but I dont see any improvement anytime in the near future. Yes a healthy Stephenson will definately help but not to the tune of 30 more wins. Votto was sub .200 for most of the season with little power and is not going to come anywhere close to earning his $25 million next year. That ship has sailed. We do have 3 promising young starting pitchers but with no offense even they will struggle to be successful. I’m not sold on Diaz as a top notch closer either. He has great stuff but has only been successful a little over half the times he pitches. How many games have we lost in the 9th inning the last 3 years because we didnt anyone that could get 3 outs without blowing a lead? It seems like that our most consistent contributors the last 2 years are other teams castoffs. Is a top draft pick really worth suffering thru a season like this. How about Senzel? How has that worked out. If he hadn’t been a top draft pick he probably would have already been out of baseball. They have to much invested in him to just let him go and if they didnt he would have already been gone. Whoever they have in the organization that judges talent both draft picks and veterans is obviously not qualified for the position they are in.
I mean, they might spend in a Donovan Solano type way. But, in ownerships defense, the roster they’ve compiled is so devoid of talent where would you even start in FA?
The Dodgers should offer to take on the final year of Moustakas’ contract in return for Hunter Greene. The Reds would jump on that offer.
Is Griffey Jr. getting paid more than anyone currently on the active roster? I believe he is. About to burn all my merchandise. (Kidding, never). It’s just boggling how the current team is so much worse than the team that took the field on opening day. Why doesn’t anyone care about winning???
I’m very disappointed in the way the offensive players are finishing out the season. Most of these guys haven’t even eclipsed 300 at bats or 100 innings so the excuse can’t be it “being a long season”.
Players who give up when they haven’t even played a half seasons’ worth of innings are no players I want on the next Reds team. And the coaches have enabled it.
Try this one for size. Everyone is trying as hard as they can and just aren’t very good. These aren’t good players slogging thru a bad season. Most of these guys are playing for their major league future, somewhere else. They have no reason to dog it.
How much of the current roster would it take to unload or reduce the Moose salary? Everyone, of course, is tradeable, but I think the only 4 keepers are Votto and the 3 starters. Maybe TySteve also stays.
Could they take 10m off of Moose’s contract if they included a bunch of others? Could Diaz take off 10m by himself?
That or we get a bad contract in return.
Wisconsin fired their football coach because of a 2-3 start. They’ll have to pay him millions of dollars to not be their coach anymore. Nobody thinks Wisconsin has one of the best rosters in college football, but they looked at those results and said “this is worse than we expected, and it seems to be getting worse, we need to take action.” Some sports organizations do factor results into the equation. Others say “meh, who are we to expect anyone to ever get better; everyone should just get worse, that’s just how it is in sports. We like the guy in charge, he’s our pal, so let’s bring him back no matter how badly everyone is playing.”
Regardless of the dialogue above, I still would lobby for Joey Votto as a player manager for 2023 and see how he does. Bell and DJ need to find new clubs to manage.
i think it is a great idea. The reds are going to need a gimmick to keep reds fans interested over the next few years so why not? Joey as player manager, Kyle farmer as player bench coach. Cowboy as pitching Coach and Larkin as hitting coach. nobody will be listening or watching anyway so no need for them to be in the booth.
You can have the best manager and coaching staff in the world but if they dont have any talent to work with success is gonna be hard to come by and if you dont win games fans are going to quit coming to games. i dont care if the Big Red Machine made up the entire coaching staff if they arent competitive fans wont come. Gimmicks are not a long term solution. There has to be people in the organization that are good at evaluating and developing talent and trainers that can properly train them to get in the best proper shape to help get them from getting hurt.. Our triple A team is also the worst in baseball. Tampa Bay has a bunch of no name low wage players every year and yet they are very competitive year after year. They also have a very limited fan base. When players there get good they go to another team that pays them more money and they replace them with more no name low wage players and keep on winning.
CIN needs to move India to 3B. He is -15 in terms of DRS at 2B. That is the worst in the league.
That move should happen this winter before going into Spring Training 2023.
Come on 102!! I haven’t been this excited since opening day. But hey, where am I gonna go ???
in all serious though. the reds stink, true. But the bigger problem in my mind is that the league is collapsing right in front of our eyes from the bottom up. there likely will be 4 teams with 100 losses and many other teams that were quite close.
you also have 4 teams that could get to 100 wins. that used to mean something.. not anymore. I mean were you really that impressed with the Yankees this year?
i think the win totals will continue to dwindle for teams like the reds and pirates for the foreseeable future and will continue to be inflated for teams like the dodgers and yankees. 120 loss and win season will be common place and I don’t really think it is good for the league.
i do give credit for the commissioner’s office for at least trying to make things competitive (unlike the nba which has done nothing). i like the shift ban and oversized bases but much more really needs to be done to increase competition because there just isn’t enough talented position players right now. Do you ban the curve ball, 4 strikes for a k? I am not sure what the answer is but overall i think both the nba and mlb are in a lot of trouble due to low talent levels
Baseball has the serious problem of an aging fan base. It’s not being addressed, and I think this golden goose will eventually fade away. Nobody who can try to fix it cares.
To those above who want Votto or Larkin to be Manager, I say terrible idea. Neither would have any idea how to turn this around. It would be more of a clown show than it is now.
Larkin did play winning baseball, but has shown no interest in the hard work of managing…. or else he would have taken a minor league job at some point.
Votto hasn’t won anything. The Reds have lost way more than they have won since he’s been here. At no point has he put the team on his back as real winners do. At no point has he talked at any length of his hate for losing, unlike a certain other guy who has twice as many hits. Keep in mind, the Reds are 2-9 in the playoffs in all his years. It’s a small sample size, but it shouldn’t be. He is part of the losing tradition.
David Bell has two things going for him that will likely save his job. One is his last name. The other is his cheap contract.
If they were to fire him, I am certain they would find someone just a cheap. Wash, rinse, repeat. Nothing will change under that scenario.
The Reds need a tough guy who will hold guys accountable. A guy who has won. A tough no nonsense guy. A guy who will take you out of the game immediately if you don’t run out a ground ball or run into the Centerfielder on a ball he’s supposed to get. That will cost at least 5 x what Bell makes.
Other than India and Stephenson there’s a total lack of position players talent in the 40-man roster, a lot of fat to be trimmed this offseason.
Barrero should get another season to fish or cut bait, but otherwise, I agree.
I believe there are a number of position guys who are fringe to decent complementary pieces but a dearth of outstanding to true high end players.
Friedl, Fraley and Fairchild all have seasonal OPS+ greater than league average. Two of the 3 are solid OFs and baserunners in addition. The other, Fraley, would be fine as a DH or corner OF if paired with a solid RH platoon bat.
Solano is not part of the future (age) and has cooled in the last month but fits the same mold, still right at league average offensively for the season.
Our misery is thankfully, rounding 3rd and heading for home.
I’d blow-up the entire coaching staff and give Bruce Bochy a call. Get serious about at least trying to turn this debacle around. Granted, Bruce lives near idyllic San Diego and probably wants nothing to do with this train wreck but I’d still rattle his cage.
Agree on Bochy. Doubt they would pay him and doubt he would do it though.