Superior talent shone through as the New York Yankees completed a three-game sweep over the Cincinnati Reds, winning 4-1 before 33,828 at Great American Ball Park.
| Final | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York Yankees (29-20) | 4 | 6 | 0 |
| Cincinnati Reds (19-27) |
1 | 6 | 0 |
| W: Abreu (2-1) L: Greene (0-4) SV: Holmes (5) |
|||
| Statcast | Box Score | Game Thread | |||
The Reds have been hanging in there, by and large, against teams that are somewhat comparable talent-wise. But this series against the Yankees featured a team that clearly has better talent, top to bottom, in every facet of the game. Cincinnati didn’t get blown out in any of the three games, but — as simple as it sounds — didn’t have the pitching or hitting to get things done at key moments.
Both teams had six hits, but New York’s power made their hits more productive.
The loss drops Cincinnati 5.5 games behind National League Central co-leaders Milwaukee and Pittsburgh, pending the outcome of both teams’ games later today. Today’s loss ensures the Reds will remain in fifth place. Prior to today’s games, the Cardinals were also five games behind the co-leaders but had a .004 better winning percentage than Cincinnati.
The Offense
Cincinnati scored the first run of the game in the bottom of the first inning. Jonathan India, in the DH position today, led off the game with a four-pitch walk. Two outs later against Luis Severino, making his first start of the year, Spencer Steer sliced one to right field which went off the glove of right fielder Jake Bauers. The first-base umpire called the ball foul, but the Reds challenged the call. The replay showed Bauers still in fair territory as the ball caromed out of his glove. India was running on the play, and the umpires on the field allowed the run to score when the review umpires in New York overturned the call.
In the ninth inning, Jake Fraley and Steer hit one-out singles against Yankees closer Clay Holmes to bring the tying run to the plate. After Nick Senzel looked at strike three, his third K of the day, Stuart Fairchild walked on four pitches to load the bases. That brought lefthanded-batting Will Benson, who was 1-for-23 at the major league level this year at that point, to the plate. Manager David Bell (or his lieutenant, Freddy Benavides, who took over after Bell was ejected) opted not to pinch-hit for him with either Tyler Stephenson or Jose Barrero. As Reds broadcaster Jeff Brantley said, “This lefty-righty thing is all well and good, but either you can hit or you can’t.” Facing another of those big moments in which winning teams make things happen, Benson grounded back to the mound to end the game.
The Pitching
Hunter Greene had arguably his best start of the season if you look beyond the box score. It was the first time this year he pitched through seven innings. High pitch counts have hindered Greene throughout the season. Today, he threw 106 pitches in seven innings or about 15 pitches per inning.
Greene allowed only four hits and struck out 10, but as was the case throughout the series, Yankees power was a difference-maker. Harrison Bader hit a two-run homer in the fifth inning off a Greene changeup to give his team a 2-1 lead. Gleyber Torres hit a solo shot in the next inning off a four-seam fastball, and New York closed the scoring against Greene with a run in the seventh.
Kevin Herget pitched scoreless baseball over the final two innings, dropping his ERA to 1.84. It says here he’s earned a chance to pitch in higher-leverage situations than he has so far this year.
What’s news
The #Reds today sent RHP Fernando Cruz to Triple-A Louisville on a rehab assignment. pic.twitter.com/EFzTXkOP3Q
— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) May 21, 2023
Up Next for the Cincinnati Reds
St. Louis Cardinals at Cincinnati Reds
Monday, May 22, 6:40 p.m. ET
Jordan Montgomery (2-6, 4.21 ERA) vs. Brandon Williamson (0-0, 1.59 ERA)
“Cincinnati didn’t get blown out in any of the three games, but — as simple as it sounds — didn’t have the pitching or hitting to get things done at key moments.”
Yep. Got beat by four runs the first game and three runs each the next two.
The Reds were in each of the games, but that’s not what I care about at the moment. My response to Tom is this:
Right now, I wouldn’t trade the Reds big 3 starters and Abbott, for the top 4 starters on the NYYs (disregarding the IL for both teams). Yeah, it’s a work in progress, but as I mentioned the other day, the Reds have a better starting pitching core than the NYYs and the Cards.
Better times are right around the corner.
“Freddy Benavides, who took over after Bell was ejected) opted not to pinch-hit for him with either Tyler Stephenson or Luis Castillo.“
Would have very impressive for Luis to pinch it there.
Whoops! You are correct. 😉 I will fix that.
It has been fixed to correctly say Jose Barrero.
No worries; not much difference in hitting production between Barrero and Castillo anyway.
I wish Castillo was still on the roster.
On a positive note De La Cruz has a HR and double. Broadcast said they both, “Exploded” off the bat.
Based on cal-ups so far, outside McLain, it looks like that could be a good thing because the Reds seem set on calling guys up who have not excelled at AAA. DLC appears to be hitting too well for the Reds to call him up.
Benson was called up because Ramos was injured and put on the DL, and Benson is on the 40 man list.
I realize and agree with your distaste for this move, and yes, Benson has really not proven himself to the Reds that he can even hit well at AAA.
And he will be with us for a while, until Ramos gets off the DL, or the 40 man roster is changed to include TJ Hopkins, CES, and all the rest.
EDLC is on the 40 man roster.
“EDLC is on the 40 man roster.”
Call him up. Let Barrero play the outfield at least for now. Benson is gone back down. When Friedl comes up Newman goes down. If Barrero is not going to play SS every day at least let him play outfield every day….instead of Myers who was also available to hit today late if I’m not mistaken. Maybe he can platoon with Fraley. Get Karcher off the 40 man and bring up CES. For now it could look like this until things get sorted out more.
India 2B
Friedl LF
De La Cruz 3B
CES 1B
Fraley RF
McLain SS
Steer DH
Stephenson C
Barrero CF
Bench:
Senzel
Fairchild
Myers
Maile
Casali
Not perfect but it’s a start going in the right direction. That would be a fun lineup to look forward to and very feasible without shaking things up too much to begin with.
Melvin, I think your line up will be in play sooner or later this season. I suspect around the first of August.
I am hopefully, David Bell will be relived of his duties before that occurs. If they bring up EDLC and David Bell starts Kevin Newman in front of him, this forum will likely implode.
“If they bring up EDLC and David Bell starts Kevin Newman in front of him, this forum will likely implode.”
A LOT more than just this forum will.
@Melvin I highly doubt Newman can be sent down they are not going to do that because he is making a few million bucks, and honestly as a backup player he is not that bad. Problem is bell wants to get him playing time somewhere a little too much each week.
Maybe that’s one reason Bell isn’t feeling so well these days. He can’t play Newman as much as he used to with McLain on the team. Newman is a good backup maybe for some teams but the Reds need space for the other guys.
He cant play him more or isnt?
Can’t in good conscience? 🙂 Whichever, I doubt he likes it.
Stupid assumption
Stupid? I don’t think so. Not judging from past statements and lineups.
At this point in the season the Reds are making golf look exciting!
This next series against the Cardinals may determine which direction we go for the next month or two. We seem to have some series with teams that have a winning percentage. 100 plus losses in back to back years may happen.
The Dirty Birds come to GABP one of the hottest teams in the majors having won 7 of their last 10 games and 10 of their last 13! Goldschmidt is a perrinial Reds Killer and I’m sure Bell will react appropriately!
What, exactly should David Bell do so that they win the series. What could he have done differently to change the outcomes in the Yankees series?
Goldschmidt kills everyone. He is defending league MVP. How is the fact that David Bell manages the team a factor in that? The team has about half of the tools one would need in a MLB toolbox to field a winning product consistently.
What would YOU do armed with the knowledge you have versus the knowledge and information he has?
I fully expect the Reds to lose 2 out of 3 or even all three to the Cardinals. They are hot and the Reds are cold.
This could be the middle of a long losing streak for the Reds.
The Yankees pitching this weekend was nothing to get excited about from an external evaluation of quality, yet they were plenty good enough to shut down the Reds anemic offense.
And pending the outcome of this week, do we throw in the towel for the season, or start to make wholesale changes in the Reds roster?
What should Bell do so the Reds win the Cards series? RESIGN.
“What could he have done differently to change the outcomes in the Yankees series?”
While it’s impossible to know whether these moves would have changed the outcome, here are just a few thoughts about yesterday’s game:
1) Do NOT insist on hitting an ice cold Stephenson in the middle of the order for no reason other than he’s been a good hitter in the past.
2) Strongly “urge” Myers to move closer to the plate.
3) When TS walked to lead off the 6th inning in a tie game, pinch run Fairchild for him. Try to manufacture a run with some combination of steal, hit and run, bunt.
4) Strongly encourage steals and/or call hit-and-runs at every opportunity.
5) I don’t recall the situation, but there was a scenario where it would probably have made sense to ask Barrero to bunt. Instead, he swung away and struck out.
6) Insist that nobody look at strike three unless there’s a REALLY good reason for it (e.g., a pitch an inch off the plate that would result in a walk, where a walk would actually be more beneficial than putting the ball in play). On a team that struggles to score runs, guys should be absolutely embarrassed to strike out without attempting to protect the plate, but guys on this team do it repeatedly — apparently without anyone telling them to stop.
7) Tell guys to STOP checking their swings when they have two strikes. Instead, shorten the swing and swing at anything close. This has been Baseball 101 for a hundred years, but guys on this team keep striking out on check swings. Stephenson did it in the bottom of the 8th (and he shouldn’t even have been in the game at that point). The frequency of check-swing strikeouts and taken strikes threes is ridiculous. Almost nobody is going to be a good hitter if that’s their approach to hitting.
8) Allow Farmer to remain in the game when he’s cruising along and only thrown 15 pitches. Don’t use Sims until you actually need to use him.
9) Allow Diaz to at least start the 10th inning. Leave him in until he shows signs of struggling. Don’t use any other pitcher until you actually need to.
This is just off the top of my head. I could make lists for the other two games, but game 2 was the one that bugged me the most.
*Actually, I think Farmer had only thrown 13 pitches when he was removed. I believe Diaz had thrown 15. In any event, both guys were removed when there was no reason to assume they were out of gas, and both were getting guys out.
Brian, I agree the Red’s lack of talent would make it difficult even for for someone like Sparky Anderson to win games. Having said that, I don’t think David Bell is a very good manager. He is just another weakness in a team full of weaknesses.
‘J’; Your statements on the plague of taking third strikes by Reds hitters is exactly my feeling. The Reds have a weak offense until all the young players are brought up who are ready, and that’s certain with the no show of their big offseason acquisition, Myers. But this continuous taking third strikes is really deflating. If the pitch is near the plate, swing the bat to possibly make contact. A strikeout is at least some effort to make contact.
Senzel was 0 for the weekend with 6 Ks (3 today). Thought he was turning a corner but maybe not.
His splits against righthanded pitching are terrible. Hopefully this is a slump he will recover from, but if not, he may be playing his way into a platoon role.
Senzel is a good defensive 3b and probably 2b
He is elite righty bat against lefties but isnt an every day player because he cant hit righties
That said… he has value with 2 legit mlb skills
Play him and trade him in july for a AA pitcher. Marte is still aways away from 3b
Marte may not be far away from AAA.
I’d promote Marte to AAA, when EDLC gets the call up to the Reds. 2024 opening day isn’t out of the question for Marte if he continues like he has this season.
if he continues like he is in AAA he may be up this year.
Before the season, I predicted Marte would be on the roster in September and go to ST next season with a solid chance to win a starting job. I like his chances of achieving both.
Who is the guy on extra innings trying to tell people how exciting this team is and defending Bell. I admit Bell doesn’t have a lot of talent to play with right now but how is using the talent he has is the issue. On another note Will Benson needs sent down for anybody. The guy on extra innings is trying to say batting Benson was not Bells decision, it was plain and simple. I miss the days of Tracey Jones, love him or hate him, he told it like it was.
I slightly preferred the late Doc Rodgers to Tracey’ but, they were both guys who explained what was really going on and what the backstory was when there was a relevant one.
Benson may or may not ever hit at the MLB level. However, his recent AAA stats (79 AB–small sample size, not minute) include a .468 OBP, 21 walks and only 13 K’s. McClain, whom most of us were clamoring for, had also started hitting well in AAA relatively recently. We can all come up with preferred lineups, relief pitchers, pinch hitters and strategies for their deployment, but the players currently available to Bell or the multitude of shadow-managers here are not–with a very few exceptions–difference-makers. They aren’t really good players being thwarted by where they bat in the lineup. I’ve gotten really tired of the deck-chairs-on-the-Titanic metaphor, but it serves nicely in this circumstance.
I guess most of us will not see the David Bell ejection today ’cause of that Peacock nonsense. The umpire explained yesterday’s ejection situation as sweat, rosin, and black fur from a hand glove worn underneath the fielding glove. Nothing was on the pitching hand. I guess Bell is still not satisfied or maybe he harbors ill will toward Peralta. Brought up in the Red’s org and still ineffective in his age 27 year in 2019, he was picked up on waivers by Bell’s former team (Giants) and has been gold ever since. Kevin Gausman and Disco were obtained in similar transactions and thrived in SF for that magical 2021 season of theirs after making mostly misses under Bell.
For @BrianRutherford! With respect to how to handle Goldschmidt in the upcoming series I’m hoping Bell DOES NOT do what he did with Rizzo in Game 2 against the Yankees! With 1st base open, 2 runners on 2 out and the Reds leading 4-3, Bell chose to pitch to Rizzo! Result? A game-tying single! Again, Cardinals have a lot of good hitters but it is the Manager’s job to MANAGE the in-game action and react accordingly which I’m sure others on this site will agree that Bell has been, shall we say, inconsistent!
If the young studs at Louisville are not ready or are not coming up, what is wrong with Matt Reynolds being called up? Seems to me he is a stronger hitter than Myers, Newman, Benson, and Barerro. Can just about play anywhere. Just don’t understand some of this logic that is being applied to call ups. I can’t be the only one who sees we need bats and the 4 guys above sure haven’t provided such.
One other comment. Doesn’t the non use of Stephenson pinch hitting for .040 Benson tell you something re: what the Reds think of Stephenson right now? Game on the line and Benson is the choice over Stephenson. Pretty sad. Who would have thunk that 1 year ago?
Didn’t you see Kevin Newman’s strong hit into left field making him one for three today? HIs BA is now .240 and going up.
OK. Perhaps I shouldn’t have included Newman in the grouping. But we know Reynolds can hit 240-250 and can play anywhere. The general point still holds. He is better than some of our current players. No, not as good as the Louisville studs but better than some of our guys.
I don’t know why Krall and ownership can’t see there are holes in the the dike. If they don’t act, this thing is going to get to the point where it doesn’t matter.
Who would have thought that the “big 3” would have only 4 wins total after 45 games.? Shorts starts are a big part of the problem here. Getting these guys to go 6 and 7 innings with some consistency would help both them individually as well as the overall team. More rested bullpen.
Looks as though well over 100k attendance for the home series. Could just be the Yankees effect, but I still think people will better attend seeing youngsters, win or lose, than seeing never were and aren’t now players even if they produce an extra win or two.
Our attendance spike was totally because of the Yankees. No doubt about it.
No no no. It was the black uniforms Friday night. 🙂
Manager David Bell (or his lieutenant, Freddy Benavides, not doing there part to do their best to give the Reds at least a “chance” to win, or “try” to win. Also, Reds ownership and general manager also to blame. 1. Not acquiring a left hander or two in the off season…and having Gibaut pitching to Rizzo last night, ending up with Rizzo hitting a home run. With one left hander injured, Reds only have one left handed pitcher in their bullpen. May have not made a difference in facing Rizzo last night, but at least you are making an effort and trying, when bringing in a left hander to face Rizzo. Also, today in the 9th inning, could have brought in Stephenson to pitch hit in the 9th inning. May not have made a difference, but again, at least you are trying and making an effort to win. Benson is not going to hit! He has proved that this year! Reds management being lazy in these two situations, and not proactive in at least making an effort and trying to win!
I was shocked Bell let Hunter Greene go 7 innings, and over 100 pitches.
Exactly my point
oops, meant for comment below
It feels like everyone just forgot that there’s a three batter rule for pitchers, just saying “bring in a lefty, duh” sounds completely silly to me. I routinely see people criticize Bell about when he should pull a guy and pitch someione else without thinking about the hitters around the guy they’re trying to avoid. Who cares who the other guys he faces are, amirite? What handedness is Judge again?
Benson’s “proven” nothing. I’m not sure which magical outfielder you think they should call up from the Reds system but by all means feel free to float a name.
Doesn’t have to be an outfielder but Friedl is coming back soon anyway.
Exactly my point
Well, some positives from today’s game are that Greene did make it thru 7 innings! Plus, the long starting stint by Greene did afford the majority of the Reds BP some much needed rest ahead of the invasion of The Birds, the Dirty Birds that is! Herget, in his 2 innings of relief, was outstanding! Hopefully, he will be as successful going forward! And finally, no new reported injuries that I’m aware of!
Finally, allowing a relief pitcher to go two innings but it’s usually done in the middle relief. We need Fernando Cruz back to his normal self and he started his rehab down in Louisville today. It went well. One inning, one K, no hits, no BBs.
The Reds are now the sole owners of last place. The Dodgers were of no help this weekend, dropping 2 of 3 to the Cards. Remember when the Cards were in last place, about 5 games behind the Reds. I remember those days like it was only a couple of weeks ago. Ah, the memories.
I knew it would not last. Cardinals just had a bad stretch for some reason. I predict that they will be back in 1st place in August at the latest. Oh, and if I am wrong. Amazing!
That’s what I’m thinking.
If you look at the up coming series, the Cards just took 3 of 4 from the Dodgers and and have won 11 of 14, going from 10 and 24 to 21 and 27. The Reds have lost 6 of 7 and the offense looks awful. The starters have been decent but the pen is running on fumes. This has the ear markings of a 4 game sweep and an 0 and 7 home stand, but you never know. I would send down Benson, Barrero and Fairchild and bring up all 3 from Louisville = EDLC, CES and Hopkins. Line up Monday 1b = CES, 2b = India, SS = EDLC, 3b = Senzel, for now, Dh = Steer, LF = Hopkins, CF = Mclain, RF = Fraley, C = Stephenson or Maile. May seem like a gamble but what is there to lose.
Would like to point out that Maile has sure done a nice job as a backup both on the field and hitting wise.
I truly seemed to me this was a MLB team playing a AAA team. As Tom stated, I could not find a single area of the game where the Reds had an advantage.
You missed one advantage. Playing on the home field. 🙂
Yes, with around 30 percent of the fans cheering for the Yankees.
I was able to watch the game in Peacock. Greene looked in my opinion outstanding. He seemed to be in command of all 3 pitches today. Gotta believe he will get some wins this season.
Reds have to score though as was mentioned by I think Larkin, Greene hasn’t had the run support this season.
In most of the best case scenarios I gave the Reds had a shot of winning 70-75 games. Now with their big three starters injured and or underperforming it’s going to be a long year. I anticipate most player activity at trade deadline. Look for some be traded off the MLB roster albeit for not much and that will allow AAA guys to come up.
Even though I don’t agree I don’t think we will see EDLC, CES or Hopkins until August and that is sad.
Mark – I am not sure why Hopkins is not up now. HE is having is best year at the plate. I have no idea how good of a defender he is. But he can’t be any worse at the plate than Benson.
I think EDLC may not be up until September when the roster expands.
I think the issue in the room for CES comes down to one word – Votto. CES has played 11 games at first and 7 at DH – positions that Votto will likely play. So until the bridge is crossed I don’t see him here – unless some trade is made.
CES has also played 3B in AAA.
With absolutely no word on anything about Votto I fully expect he is done.
Just my gut feeling. Maybe he plays for a month as a goodbye tour.
You’ll hear something tomorrow on Votto. David Bell wasn’t going to have information after the Reds game today about something that took place in Louisville while the Reds game was happening.
Is it just me or did Saturday then again and more particularly, did Bell’s countenance seem weary when they caught him on camera? Through his tenure there have been times I have seen what seemed to be a look of disgust, frustration or consternation flash across his face and then wash away almost as quickly. However, except when arguing with umpires he has been largely been poker faced. Today he just looked weary and worn.
He wasn’t his ol’ tinkering self this series, for sure.
I was ok with each of the lineups the past 3 days. and yes he didn’t seem to mess with things as much.
My wife caught him the other day and asked, “Is he on anti-depressants?”
To me, Bell typically has a somewhat flat affect which is a big piece of why people say he is dull, boring, and uninteresting in his post game remarks. Today (Sunday), I thought he looked just worn down and out.
I’m still amazed anyone watches/listens to his postgame interviews, especially if they dont like them.
if I was managing the Reds, I might be.
Or drinking heavily. Or something.
It has to be somewhat humiliating to manage a team, even the priviledge of managing a major league team, and work for such a thoughtless and careless bunch of “owners”, who mouth platitudes about “winning” but tie the hands of the General Manager (or whatever Krall’s title is this week) in terms of improving the team.
The Yankees are just a better team than the Reds. I am glad I did not watch any of games this weekend. The Reds have to get better. I doubt the Reds impressed the Yankees.
Worse than that, the Yankees aren’t really, really good – they’re old, in a tough division, and not going to have any surprising new performers aside from trades. That said, they will surely do anything possible before the deadline to improve, but there just may not be enough talent out there for them to move much.
Prior to this ownership group, the longest stretch between World Series APPEARANCES was 21 years (1940-1961) . We’re now at 33 years 🙁 , and counting
Can not think of anything more telling about ownership. Wonder how much longer it can go on with the fans? Guess the older fans die or stop watching and the younger ones don’t look back that far and does not mean as much for them.
Any update on Friedl? Seems to me the Reds offenses misses him badly.
Tomn – he posting for today’s game Dog said that TJ could be activated at the earliest Tuesday. So maybe by the end of the week?
Sorry Tomn – I fat fingered my reply Doug said in todayk’s posting at earliest by Tuesday
“…if you look beyond the box score”. The game is played with only two outcomes, either a Win or a Loss. None of the rest matters. Greene came into the game, per pre game notes, with a 4.60 ERA. His in game ERA today was 5.14. I’m thinking that is sufficient to say this was not his best start, as he remains winless in 2023.
This is like one of those famous riddles. “A pitcher goes 9 innings and gives up 3 earned runs, which means his ERA for the game was 3.00. Everyone agrees it’s his best start of the year even though his ERA for the season is only 2.90. How is this possible?”
Ok tell me why we need to keep giving Casali playing time, when Maile is doing so well. Stephenson seems be be getting stronger, and a 3rd catcher seems a bit useless.
DFA Newman / Promote EDLC
DFA Karcher / Option Fairchild / Promote CES
DFA Kuhnel / Option Bracho / Promote Abbott
DFA Casali / Promote Hopkins
Let’s play our best team, Mr Krall.
Would love to see these moves happen but I just don’t think they are going to get rid of Newman. Also, would like to see Abbott given about 3 or 4 more starts and look at his total AAA results then and make a decision in June on bringing him up or not. I like Casali as a backup, but Maile has done a nice job both hitting and defending.
I want to see our other big hitters brought up just like the next person, but I honestly don’t think it will happen until maybe July.
Casali has been the best defensively. Catcher’s ERA:
Casali, 3.30 (0.18 below career average)
Maile, 6.48 (~2 runs above career average)
Stephenson, 5.51 (~1 run above career average)
Predictably, Casali is the best with the pitching staff.
Offensively:
Casali, 18 OPS+ (71 points below career average or a BABIP that is 74 points below career average)
Maile, 137 OPS+ (73 points above career average on a BABIP that is 70 points above career average)
Stephenson, 77 OPS+ (30 points below career average)
Casali’s EV and HardH% are also down–father time may have caught up with him. Alternatively, Maile has been lucky, and Casali unlucky. Both could be due for move much closer to their career averages.
Not really advocating for either player, but just offering an answer to your question.
Both seem tradeable, even if its just cash. Casali seems the better sort to pair with Stephenson, and he also has an option next season. What’s most unfortunate is the Reds are shallow on catching depth in the minors, though I dont think that’s a good reason to handcuff the major league roster.
@BK, good info, I did think about the pitching side of things, to me it doesn’t outweighs the offensive side. The main reason is I didn’t feel like using the pitching side of things was laziness. I didn’t feel like seeing who was catching which pitchers.
I’d be ok with either, I’m just not ok with both I guess.
Fairchild vs. Hopkins:
Fairchild is better defensively and faster. Offensively at AAA:
Fairchild, .890 OPS in 403 PA.
Hopkins, .869 OPS in 269 PA. He’s also not on the 40-man roster.
Fairchild is currently below career numbers, Hopkins is well above his career numbers. I wouldn’t pull the trigger until these trends continue for at least another month. Hopkins ceiling is likely platoon partner with Fraley. Fairchild’s ceiling is likely fourth outfielder with a more diverse game.
I personally dont give hopkins the call until there’s an injury, I know everyone loves his numbers but he feels like a fringy type and we have plenty of those already on the roster. Its great he’s hitting and I want him to get his chance, but I’d rather see the production prolonged first. He’s very important as depth. Same sor tof feelings on Robinson, who is crucial for our depth at C.
Going to have to agree to disagree on this one. I have never liked Fairchilds game, and now with the loss of power, I like it even less. I will completely agree that both Hopkins and Fairchild are role players, not starters. We have an organizational lack of depth in outfielders. No help on the Horizon, we probably need to look outside to get a true difference maker in the OF. I kinda think that Collier will become an outfielder, but his slow start makes it seem as if he’s going to indeed be many years away.
I has been in the group wanting McLain in June, EDLC or CES in July, Abbott in August and Marte to the Bats in September. Changed that to McLain soon, EDLC in June, CES and Abbott in July, Marte to the Bats when EDLC comes up and one of the two MLB spots in September.
Now – McLain stays, EDLC and Abbott this week or next, CES soon though they may be looking at his K%/chase rate, and Marte to the Bats now and who knows what he’ll do there.
It’s the first time in a few seasons that there “FA-to-mid-season-trade-for-prospects” strategy has flopped – Myers and Newman aren’t getting anything worthwhile. Still, they have to go for whatever they can get.
Now it’s time to watch Salazar, Phillips and Petty to see if they can keep moving up this season.
For EDLC I think it comes down to roster spots and how they want to view Senzel going forward. I think the Reds hold on to Myers and Newman, but both their spots especially Newman’s are getting crunched. Newman’s been good versus LHP, so Barrero is also potentially optionable. Votto coming back soon is another wrench, and the pointless 3 catcher system seems abandonable for me as well.
So it really depends on anyone’s preferred infield configuration whether he has a spot, but 3B looks ripe for the taking. That could be Elly at SS and McClain/India at either 2B or 3B, or Elly at third. That pushes Senzel and Barrero to the outfield, so if you want Barrero getting ABs, that will end all talk of that. I think the two aforementioned players are destined for the bench which isnt too bad a problem to have.
I’m not sure we see CES before Sept. There are strikeout issues there I think a lot of people are ignoring. That’s not even mentioning his defensive drawbacks, and I’m strongly against the people that think he should come up and just DH.
For the most part I guess what I think is a lot of people will scream for guys to be called up but pay literally no thought to how the roster looks after you do that. DFA ‘insert player you happen not to like’ is about the only response I’d ever expect.
This season was for sorting and that’s about it. Lodolo and Myers pretty much sealed their fate with ineffective/injured play. They might’ve won 76 games if everything maxed out. So it didn’t, no big deal
Stoudt looks interesting to me. Abbott will get his chance too. And all this young hitting talent! I’m excited
ditto @IRM
Good point made by @2020ball. I unfortunately see continued play by Newman and Myers to offload at trade deadline (July 30?), chance to see if Senzel can hold third or just be platooned with Fraley or traded, Barrero (whatever), and other unsettled bits.
Although I really like the play of McClain, he will take a while to see his full hitting potential. Can David Bell and staff handle 3 or 4 more new guys coming in the next month? I think not. What about Joey?
By having this lineup of “versatile” guys, you actually make the sorting more difficult since no one has a chance to play his best position on a consistent basis. I still like that @old-school comment about having no “positional integrity”. Look for a roundup and purge in July and then the flood of new talent to come in and replace most of the “veterans” and those without a chair. Until then, it is David Bell’s team with all the whistles and options but few worth considering. After that, you may have a very interesting situation even as the team struggles to win 70 games but who cares then. This could be the beginning of a new exciting team that is not David Bell’s anymore.
DataDumpster: I think that it might be–or also be–that players with lots of positional flexibility tend not to be stars, having parlayed their general usefulness rather than transcendent skill into a MLB career. A set lineup may be at least partly a function of having having position players clearly superior to the alternatives.
What?? Theres been countless allstars that can play multiple spots. Generally they play one so they have a set spot on a team. Too many to count SSs are capable of playing elsewhere. Dont understand this thinking. Judge played all three OF spots last year. Sure didnt affect his hitting.