Back in April the Cincinnati Reds and Joey Votto cut short his rehab assignment with Triple-A Louisville. Things simply weren’t going well for Votto. His numbers were terrible. His swing looked terrible. And shortly after coming back to Cincinnati, Votto would note that he simply wasn’t where he needed to be in order to be competitive on the field or in the batters box.
On June 3rd it was time to get back on the field and Joey Votto headed to Louisville to join the Bats once again. In his first three games on his rehab assignment he went 0-11 with two walks and two strikeouts. In the six games since then he’s hit safely in five of six games and is hitting .300/.483/.650 with eight walks and seven strikeouts in 29 plate appearances. Last night in Louisville he went 2-2 with a double, home run, and two walks.
In the last five games Joey Votto has walked eight times and struck out five times. He’s homered twice. It would seem that he is seeing the ball well. And he’s been making hard contact in this stretch, too. He’s put the ball in play 14 times in those five games. 11 times the ball had an exit velocity of 92 MPH or higher. Five times the ball had an exit velocity of 102 MPH or higher.
Position players can spend up to 20 days on a rehab assignment before the team must make a decision on the next move. Joey Votto’s first game on this rehab assignment was on June 3rd. That would mean that if he and the Reds wanted to, Votto could remain with the Louisville Bats through June 22nd before he would have to either be activated and join Cincinnati’s big league roster, placed back on the injured list and have to wait a bit to possibly begin another rehab stint in the future (which is what happened last time), or they could designated him for assignment (this won’t happen, but it is technically an option they have).
Of course the other thing in play is to activate him prior to his 20 full days of rehab. That decision is probably going to be up to Joey Votto himself. If he tells the team he feels right, he’s seeing the ball well, and he’s ready to go, they probably aren’t going to ask him to remain in Triple-A. From an outsiders perspective, it certainly seems that he’s seeing the ball well and hitting it well. But we don’t know exactly how he’s feeling while doing all of this. And that’s more important than anything else. Either way, at most Votto has six games left on his rehab assignment before a decision must be made.
. i think it is a good time to bring him up. Put him the 4 hole and move De la Cruz down ( or possibly up in the line up). that will take some pressure and spotlight off him. the question is what do you do with Steer?
Steer and Votto alternate DH/1B maybe.
Even though I respect Reds fans views you are Totally wrong. Votto is hitting .167 in triple A you DON’T tear down this team for name sake!!!! Retire and give back 30 Million.
Agreed. This team is performing too well w/o him, I don’t think they should make him return the 30 million – just trade him. Toronto, maybe? And don’t sign ANYONE to such an extremely l-o-n-g and expensive contract ever again.
I’m all for a Votto Swan Song, but he is getting in the way of CES being called up.
Yes he is.
Although if the Reds wanted CES up bad enough, they would already have done it.
I dont think they have a problem with a nice, taylor-made, built in excuse to keep him down, honestly. And now they’ll have two.
Why do you suppose that they wat to keep him down?
Shaky defense is why they’re keeping him down.
If not for all this youth movement going on, I’d say sure, why not bring Votto back–good, bad, or indifferent.
But I dunno man, is Bell gonna slot him at the 4 spot while he bats .190? I hope he comes back and plays great. It would be yet another nice Reds story for the year, but he was not great last year, and there’s no shame in being “done.” (but there is shame in not realizing it, pretending that you’re still who you were)
He played very hurt for most of last year. So the question is, was last year due to injury, and based on the season before which was amazing, I’m going to give him the benefit of the doubt. The Reds probably will too.
Votto in the #4 hole? Not in a million years. Bat him low in the batting order, if he starts at all. One good week against lousy AAA pitching hardly means he’s ready. Even Reynolds is hitting over .300 this year, along with a number of others exceeding their career averages. The team has better choices than Votto, Steer being one of them.
Votto and Steer can both play, if they just keep Stephenson at catcher.
Stephenson catch? Are you kidding? That doesn’t happen too often. And keeping his bat in the lineup is helping right now either, though it has shown some signs of life recently. Votto should DH against RH’er and sit on the bench the rest of the time. Unless he proves himself capable of hitting LH’ers better than he has the last few seasons.
This is David Bell making the lineup. In deference to Votto, he will absolutely hit in one of the top 4 spots in the lineup when he is back.
Didn’t McClain and De La Cruz both hit over .300 against that same lousy AAA pitching? Encarnacion as well?
Didn’t seem to bother the people clamoring for them to come up. Terrible AAA pitching wasn’t a concern then.
Agree, LDS. Coming off injury, and not playing in the Bigs for quite some time, it would be foolish to slate him at #4. If he proves himself capable, that’s another thing, but starting him there? Please, no.
You realize that EDLC, batting fourth, leads off with some frequency in later innings. Batting order matters a little, but not a great deal. I’m of the same generation as many of you and spent lots of time as a little kid in the 50’s and a somewhat larger kid in the early 60’s thinking about batting orders. Paying attention, finally, to what actually happens during the course of games changed my focus. Having your best hitters hit lead off and the following two or three spots confers some advantage but it’s really not a big deal. If you have good hitters, you will generally generate offense. If Votto bats fourth, it won’t be a tragedy, and if he has dismal production, he probably won’t stay there for a long time.
IF he’s ready, the timing isn’t terrible, as we’re facing three righties in row.
I love the fact that CES played right field yesterday, which is coincidentally Myers position.
I bet Myers noticed that too.
He probably doesn’t care all that much, Myers knows his Cincinnati Reds career will end in a couple of months either way.
If Votto is truly back it will be a good thing for the Reds. A 2021 version is what we need. He’s still an older player who might benefit with more days off than the young kids.
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DH CES 4/9 Votto 4/9 India 1/9
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1B Steer 8/9 Votto 1/9
2B India 7/9 McLain 2/9
3B EDLC 5/9 CES 4/9
SS McLain 6/9 EDLC 3/9
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RF Benson 6/9 Senzel 3/9
CF Friedl 8/9 Fairchild 1/9
LF Fraley 7/9 Fairchild 2/9
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C Stephenson 6/9 Maile 3/9
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Trade / DFA: Casali, Myers
Option: Hopkins, Barrero, Newman
Keep Casali, dfa myers (or if he is really doing well in Louisville, see if you can trade him). Option Hopkins. Easy to get Votto on roster. Let him get a few more games under his belt and see if the performance can be sustained. If not, wait until after All Star break. If so, 1B/DH him and Speer. Don’t bat him higher than 4, maybe 6 if he’s willing. His lack of speed is to be considered. Speer can also play some OF. Bell can juggle rest/DH a whole slew of players given the flexibility this team has acquired. CES can wait ’til after All-Star break or sooner is someone gets hurt.
yep, there are a bunch of guys with positional flexibility, so there are many ways to juggle the lineup, and I agree I’d bat JV in the 6th hole. I’d love CES up to, 4 EDLC 5 CES 6 Votto, and when Votto isn’t in there that could be Fraley or Steer in the 6th.
I think there is something to be said for keeping a guy at a position. He can settle, get comfortable and find a rhythm. The offense and the defense benefit.
I don’t see many takers for Wil Myers. He signed with the Reds after receiving very little interest from other teams this past off-season. I can’t imagine his performance in 2023 has done anything increased his value.
@MBS, I think that’s a solid plan.
Where does he play? Hopefully just DH against right handed pitchers?
He is one of the worst if not the absolutely worst defenders in all of baseball.
who are you talking about? Myers or Votto. Myers is bad, but Votto is definitely not bad defensively and never has been.
Some very tough decisions on the horizon for sure. A aging HOF returning in what could be his last year with the team, some young players ready to take the next step and we are presently in the middle of a playoff chase.
Votto taking away at-bats – lots and lots and lots of at-bats – from a serious Rookie-of-the-Year candidate (Steer) while keeping a top 5 prospect (CES) in the minors who every other team in baseball would have called up by now is one of those dirty tricks life plays on the Reds. I love the guy – arguably the greatest 1B in franchise history (if you move Doggie to third) and the best player on the roster for over a decade. But this team can win the division this year and sticking a .200 batter in the middle of the order, or anywhere in the order, is not gonna get’r’done. He has to know this – I wonder what he thinks about it deep down.
He won’t wanna play himself if he’s batting around .200.
Wanna bet?
He did before. It was awful.
The reds my feel CES may need a bit more work on his contact rate and it looks like they would like to move him to the outfield. Don’t think you will see CES soon unless an injury or trade occurs.
It’s a fine line about when to bring prospects up. You don’t want them to come up before they’re ready and struggle and then possibly lose confidence. CES is a player who has struggled in the past with K’s and those can really pile up quickly at the major league level. Just look at EDLC as our top prospect. He has looked over matched recently and is hitless in the last 4 games that he has played as well as being benched tonight. Almost half of his hits haven’t even left the infield. They have to have a definitive plan on where to play CES also and what to do with other veteran players (Votto,Myers(worst hitter in baseball at this point),and Reynolds as well as 1 of 3 catchers. The 3 mentioned veterans are some of the highest paid on the team and probably have guaranteed contracts. Ownership won’t cut ties with them easily without some possible compensation no matter how many of us want them to.
Thing is, in my humble opinion, he’s earned the right to perform and succeed. He’s Votto – he can’t just be kicked to the curb. If he fails, then yes, and he’d likely agree. But he must be given the opportunity to succeed merely out of honor and respect for what he’s done for the club. Agree?
I absolutely agree.
man just watching that highlight, a couple of thoughts. the swing looks good. the running to second base on the double not so much. the reds so far this year have been built on speed. having Joey in the line up will take a way from this for sure
With that speed and all his walks he might really be “clogging up the base paths.” h/t Dusty Baker
Joey Votto has been clogging the bases in GABP for years!
I myself am a for Votto returning and being s clubhouse presence. From the articles I read he seems to be more of clubhouse leader, or at least he enjoys the team.
It will be interesting to see. Votto is a hall of fame great in my opinion. He can help the reds.
Suarez batted fifth hitting a buck seventy for most of the season if Votto come backs he will bat 3 or 4 no matter how bad his average is because that’s what Bell does.Veteran privilege over intelligent decision making.
Completely different team. I’m gonna say you are wrong. 🙂
Chris is right. Who was going to play third and bat fifth? Suarez had a decent track record as a power hitter, and the Reds didn’t have a great alternative.
TBF the spot in the order is probably a bigger problem than a spot on the roster. EDLC, McLain, Steer, India, TySteve and Joey can take 5 out of 6 spots in the lineup and Steer in RF once a week just pushes the other OFers for PAs. The rookies lose very few PAs.
However, unless and until Joey’s OBP gets above .350, he should be in the bottom third of the order. Don’t upset what has been working the past few weeks.
I think I see Joey batting 5th or 6th, until he actually shows he is getting “hot” and crushing the ball at the ML level. Glad to see he is starting to sting the ball at AAA, because that shows his shoulder strength and bat speed are coming back.
Yeah, I don’t know about constantly slotting EDLC in the 4th spot.
If CES were here, I would think about batting him 4th-5th. It would be between CES, Steer and maybe Fraley (against right handed pitching).
Agree with don’t upset what has been working. In a year from now, this will not be an issue. IMO, the freed up Votto and Moustakas money should focus mainly on pitching. Right now, the team ERA is 27th in the majors (out of 30 teams). I know pitchers are hurt, but can you imagine this team with additional bonafide starters/relievers?
Give Joey his due and play him 50% of the time at DH. Steer needs to play almost every day. Why can’t EDLC, CES and maybe even McClain all play 2/3 of the starts. As great of promise that EDLC offers, I cannot understand why Bell put him in the cleanup spot his first game and seemingly every game thereafter. Of course, they may need to rethink that as his average continues to sink. I also wonder how the grind of the MLB season might affect some of these guys down the stretch. The Reds have a Golden chance here but a 3rd straight very weak finish won’t cut it even though it is shocking how poorly the Cards and Brewers are playing thus far.
Why would we take playing time away from Steer. He is playing very well and is consistent. Joey can DH and play the field occasionally if Steer needs a rest but that depends on his performance. I’m all for giving Joey a great farewell but not at the expense of a playoff run. I think Joey certainly understands this and will help the process.
Steer can play in the outfield, other IF spots, or DH. Votto can play 1B or DH. I don’t see Steer sitting for Votto in any potential scenario. The at bats will come from Benson, one of the backup catchers, and Senzel, who will likely settle into a platoon role. The larger question is will Votto’s bat add value? If it does, he will block no one.
After watching last night he looks close. He will tell us. I’m looking forward to another “I’m gonna prove you wrong” Votto moment. 🙂 There’s room for most everyone by the way even CES. Senzel and Fraley will be subs if they stay on the team after the trading deadline
I expect Fraley and Senzel to be platoon partners. Both have large splits but absolutely crush pitching in traditional platoon splits. They are easily in the best nine when deployed in favorable matchups.
Don’t know if Marte will make it up this year or not but it’s possible.
I hope Marte doesn’t make it up this year. There will be no where for him to play unless someone gets injured or isn’t performing and needs to be sent down. I want neither of those to happen.
Four rookie offensive starters are enough for me this year. 🙂 Here’s to Marte’s 2024 rookie of the year campaign!
Seeing Votto significantly contribute to the team this year would be fantastic.
As for Marte, I don’t see how he’s up before September. Once healthy, if he continues to rake, he’ll first spend a couple of months at AAA. A really good scenario is that he’s ready to play on Opening Day ’24 after having a month or so with the club in September.
I’m not concerned about “logjams.” Injuries happen, so good teams need quality depth on both the 26-man roster and at AAA.
But Steer is a much better first baseman than Votto. I tend to think that Joey’s best deployment would be something like what LDS proposed: DH against righties. If he hit really well, it would possibly energize the young guys even more than they are already. I’m not obsessing about where he hits in order.
If we get the Votto who hit 0.205 last year, and was hitting 0.164 in AAA before last night’s game, then I wouldn’t call him “ready” to join the Reds.
Especially if it means less playing time for Steer and his 119 OPS+ (which, by the way, is an OPS+ Votto has achieved only once since 2018).
But if he is back to something that at least somewhat resembles his 2007~2018 form, then he certainly is ready.
Why are we even talking about the stats he had in April when it was clear he wasn’t fully healthy or remotely close to ready?
Even if we look at Votto’s June stats, he was only hitting 0.136 before last night (0.557 ops).
The April stats were actually BETTER than that (hitting 0.184 with a 0.605 ops).
So, including the April stats did not seem out of line with how Votto was performing before he got a pair of hits last night off minor league journeymen Teddy Stankiewicz and Connor Sadzeck.
Well, he homered in his 1st game, so he was ready on game 1, but not the rest of the games?
Good Doug, agree 100%.
Stankiewitz pitched for Louisville last night. Votto did not hit against him.
I’m torn between wanting to see him play (hitting as a DH) and the tendencies of one HDTBell to play the veterans and a potential to want Joey at 1B a little too often (I’d prefer not at all given what we’ve seen from Steer).
Regardless, it’s time to find a way to say, “Houston … YOU have a problem!!”
We may find that Bell’s tendency to play veterans had to do with the quality of the young players available to him. He’s certainly playing young guys now.
Your right the quality of young players has made a difference but the quantity of vets made a difference as well.With Joey not having played at all and when Myers went down it left no vets at all except Newman and well we see what has taken place with him and of course the 2 back up catchers.Joey is right there based on the last few games and he will play and hit in the middle of the order.I would prefer he only DH against righties but we will see.Joey has earned the right IMO and he will get as many at bats as he wants to prove he can or can’t still do it.
We see that Newman has held up his end of the bargain, Roger.
Oh, and did everyone see we’re one step closer to the Las Vegas Ace-thletics?
yes. worrisome to me. what mlb means as “expansion” may just mean moving teams from older cities to up and coming cities. Nashville, Charlotte, Jacksonville all eventually will get teams. Not sure if the talent is there to add 3 teams so they likely will be moved from cities like Pittsburgh, KC, Cincy in the years to come
I guess there’s no word yet on any moves today. I’m sure Doug will let us know ASAP.
Yep, I have been back scouting the Bats Twitter account for their starting lineup nothing as of 1:55 eastern Friday. ‘;-)
Barrero to AAA, Senzell to MLB
1 Release Myers.
2 Send Barrero and Hopkins to Louisville.
3 Bring up CES, Senzel and Votto.
The Reds should never have 2 catchers in the lineup at the same time. That takes a spot away from likely a better bat.
Sounds like a great plan to me.
I’m not sure it’s time – yesterday was literally his first multi-hit game of this rehab stint – but he’s getting close. Two walks, two line drive extra base hits, and no outs is a good day even against AAA pitching. IF he’s healthy and IF he is truly ready then of course they should add him to the lineup. It will cost Benson, Hopkins, Newman, Senzel, maybe Fairchild, and one of the backup catchers some at bats, but if Votto hits then that’s an upgrade. No way Steer, EDLC, McClain, India or Friedl get displaced so that’s fine. Any talk of how he hit (with extreme injuries) last year, or in April when he clearly wasn’t ready isn’t germane. A healthy 2021-version of Votto would be a big boost to this lineup. If / when he’s ready for that then call him up. I’m hoping he has two more solid games this weekend then joins the team on Monday or Tuesday. No brainer for me.
Exactly what I was thinking. Give him a couple more games, feel comfortable and then you are back home playing Colorado. Seems like a perfect time to debut.
CES to RF. Wasn’t it like four days ago Krall cited first base defensive improvement as one of the reasons for keeping him down? Boy these guys will say anything when it’s expedient to do so.
Yeah. This talk of CES needing to “work on things”…the guys if batting over 0.350 in AAA ball, and is hitting a homerun about every 11 AB’s.
What’s left to work on? Oh yeah, he strikes out too much. Yeah, right.
I would take CES as DH/1st baseman if he batted 0.300 and hit a HR every 15 AB’s (on average). And he is still in AAA because of the Votto/Myers roster dilema.
Moving him around to different positions is the Reds literally trying to find a position that he can adequately play defensively to justify calling him up. They don’t want to call him up and then not play him. With the Reds playing so many players out of their normal positions leads to a very poor defensive team which they are. Especially magnified by really poor starting pitching. Pitchers getting hit and bad defense causes big huge deficits which are eventually going to burn you. Did you see Barrero playing centerfield in KC the other night. That was a horrible display. Multiple bad plays and probably made it alot easier to send him down. Being a tremendous defensive player at one position doesn’t mean that a player can easily become good at any position.
Actually, the Reds’ defense, poor early in the season, has been steadily improving. The Reds are far from being the only team that has players playing multiple positions.
CES is the guy in waiting for the first base job or at DH.Votto is in the way right now and well we will see how it plays out.
Votto is needed to mentor these young guys. He will only come back if he knows he can still bang. We’ll see what he decides to do.
Let’s not forget he was also traveling with the team before being assigned rehab again. Votto was helping the team with plate approach when he was on the IL. I wonder how the Reds preformed while he was in the dugout compared to him not being there. Would be an interesting breakdown
Whatever they do, the Reds better not start Votto against lefties. They’ve owned him for about 5 years now.
Love Votto, but not sure disrupting the vibe and success they’re enjoying now is what’s best.
I was at the games in Louisville Wednesday and Thursday. The three hits he had, a single, home run and double were all smoked and pulled hard to the right field side of the diamond. I haven’t seen him before that, but for these two games he was spot on.
Also of note, both of these games were using the automated ball/strike calling system. Impressive. And I think it helps Votto with his eye since he is not getting rung up by umpires on bad calls.
Votto has to be so excited that he can just grip it and rip it now that the stupid infield shifts are gone. If he’s feeling good and seeing the ball, then watch out.
If they need an example, just follow the path the Cardinals used last year with Pujols.
He was used very sparingly, the caught a heater towards the end, and the adjusted his playing time accordingly.
Correct me if I am wrong here, however this late posting a lineup. I am to believe they made some roster moves today.
Of course could just be the anticipation of Votto being up as well.
Senzel off IL, Barrero down to Louisville. Good move. Barrero can finally get at bats. Hope to see Senzel at 3B a lot still. India can DH more and maybe play 1B occassionally.
Finally, maybe Barrero can play every day . Though I bet Bell sticks Senzel in the OF instead of 3rd
Barrero not in the Bats lineup tonight. Maybe hadn’t arrived yet?
How many games or even innings has India played at 1B?
Senzel is the odd man out. They will never start Senzel at 3rd with any regularity as long as Elly and McLain are around. Nor will they have one of their most productive players (India) DH or play 1st any more than they have to just just to get Senzel playing time in the infield.
Lineup is out with EDLC on the bench and Newman is starting. The Astros are starting a RHer
Saw that. Maybe he needs to clear his head for an extra day (or part of it)? His last couple games were a struggle based on what I saw.
Let’s see how Nick does transitioning back to the big club.
No doubt he does. But any excuse to start Newman works for Bell.
Yes and it weakens 2 positions defensively with lefty Benson on the bench.
You know, for awhile there, I thought Bell had finally figured things out and was putting out decent, consistent lineups.
Now we’re right back to Bell throwing together complete nonsense.
For the last time: NEWMAN SHOULD NOT START AGAINST RH PITCHERS. Why doesn’t Bell get this? I have no problem with Neman playing against LH pitchers, even leading off. But against RH pitchers? Newman should never sniff the lineup.
Where is Benson? He was doing so well, he hits RH pitchers well. If he’s not injured, there is zero reason why he shouldn’t be playing.
EDLC, ok, fine, maybe he needs a break, he was scuffling a bit there. But I hope Senzel’s return doesn’t mean EDLC is set to ride the bench now.
It’s just infuriating. Bell has the exact same information we do. Why is he not playing his best players?
Just complete nonsense.
CI3J, I agree with you often, and I’m certainly not a fan of Bell at this point, but I can’t agree with the statement that Bell has the exact same information as we do. We don’t get to know when a player isn’t feeling well, tweaked something, requests a day off, or other little inside information like that. All of which can impact the lineup. I often disagree with Bell’s lineups for the same reasons you do. And there certainly are trends that we can see over time and disagree with. But the manager definitely has more information than we do.
It really is difficult to make genuine predictions as opposed to reacting after the fact. That’s why I stick to the latter: Senzel plays third, Newman gets key hit, Reds win. Newman generally doesn’t hit righties well but has gotten some hits against them lately.
I suspect David Bell has no fear of losing his job. And because of this I pull for the man as hard as I can. He is our manager whether we like it or not, or justified or not.
While a RHP, France, the Astro’s starting pitcher, has strong reverse splits thus far. Perhaps a rationale for today’s lineup.
Good post Bk. that was my initial thought but too lazy to look it up
Wonderful. Playing one of the best teams in the majors at their home field, trying to climb up to .500, trying to climb up to first place that’s in our grasp…and we sit out best player. Oh well. Let’s win anyway.
EDLC? He hasn’t ben hitting much lately–very small sample size–but aren’t we in favor of playing guys who hit well the previous game and not playing guys who didn’t?
haha You’re twisting things there a little. Guys who are hot and seeing the ball well you definitely want them in there. As I said before baseball is a game of failure. So no I wouldn’t bench my best player in a critical game because he might be in a mini slump. That’s not who he is. He’ll come out of that mini slump. Now an average journeyman retread yes bench him because that’s who he is. He’s already proven it. Of course basketball is different but would you have benched Michael Jordan because he wasn’t shooting well for a few games? It’s been said that EDLC is the “basketball version” of Michael Jordan. Like Jordan EDLC helps win in many ways.
I’m not certain that EDLC is currently the Reds’ best player, Melvin. Highest ceiling? Probably, but the current best might be McClain. Elly is, indeed, in a mini slump (we hope it’s mini),and he probably got a day to relax and decompress, which might serve him and the Reds better than another ofer. You still haven’t documented your frequent claim about consecutive multi-hit games. It may be a real thing; we all remember some instances of it happening (even with Billy Hamilton), but we may be forgetting a large number of times when it didn’t. I confess that that sort of internet sleuthing is beyond me. Suffice it to say, the Reds won anyway.
Player X with these stats wouldn’t be allowed in the stadium without a ticket. Joey Votto will bat 4th. Say good bye to the playoff chase.
I suspect a team would give Player X a spot at the top of the lineup if Player X was one year removed from hitting 139 wRC+.
Despite all the buzz, that guy had a higher wRC+ than anyone on this squad has currently (Maclain is currently at 137)
If he is healthy and in good form, he deserves it.
If Votto is going to have an obp of over .400 and is hitting around .280ish I am perfectly fine with him coming back up. He probably will provide a little pop too that this team does not have a ton of.
Bell is going to bat him somewhere 3,4,5… That is just reality. I wish he would bat him like 6th or 7th but that is not going to happen.
I read that while on the DL, and with the team that Votto has been like another batting coach for the young players. That alone makes him valuable to this team.
The young players can look up to himmore so than the other hitting coaches because they have all seen him play at a high level, and most likely have a lot of respect for what he has to say about hitting.
These ballplayers can play most any position, but pitcher and catcher. A move to the leftfield or right field spot won’t hurt the team. How many chances a game does a corner outfielder handle? Maybe 5 or 6 a game and some of those are can of corn type. I guarantee you these young studs can handle the corner outfield spots. Keep the best BATS in the game.
Would be really nice to have a hof veteran if we do make the playoffs. That kind of presence would be invaluable.
Good to see Senzel healthy and back. I’m still really disappointed that Barrero (finally healthy) always got the short straw from Bell, and especially so in favor of Newman. But I’m glad Barrero will now get consistent at bats. I expect him to go on a tear in AAA playing every day. And now we have to find more playing time for Newman, against a righty no less, and it’s EDLC riding the bench after an off day? Well at least the Astros aren’t very good and won’t require the Reds’ best to beat them. Sigh…
Agreed
Short straw? Perhaps if he wasn’t striking out 3 times a game on balls a foot outside he may have gotten more plate appearances.
You never read Catch 22 did you? Almost every single hitter struggles at first, sometimes after a brief flurry of success. Matt McLain is a huge outlier. EDLC has struggled after a brief explosion – do you want to bench him for Newman as well? Barrero needs at bats, and when he’s played regularly he’s shown regular improvement. I will be surprised if, now that he’s over the hamate injury that hampered him last year, Barrero doesn’t hit really well at AAA. Whether he’ll ever have another chance to hit well in Cincinnati is a separate question, and IMHO that’s entirely in management. But he’s a squandered resource – at least so far. I hope he thrives at AAA and comes back strong.
Also – just checked the game logs. Barrero struck out 3 times in a game exactly twice all year, and never 4. Spencer Steer has done it 4 times this year, and EDLC twice in 9 games. Time to give up on them too? Of course not. I stand by what I said. Barrero got the short straw.
At AAA, Barrero will get the at-bats he needs to learn how to hit pitches other than a fastball. That’s been his Achilles. I wish him nothing but success.
Agree Scott. It’s not that he needs to learn to hit breaking balls – he needs to learn to recognize and lay off them. I’ll be rooting for him and hope he thrives in Louisville, maybe in Cincinnati eventually, or maybe with some other organization after he gets traded for other upgrades to the Reds system. And I’ll also be rooting hard for those guys still on the Reds – Newman, Hopkins, Senzel, Fairchild and of course all the current and future stars.