Last night the Cincinnati Reds made three selections in the first two rounds of the 2024 Major League Baseball Draft. Their first round pick was Wake Forest right-handed starting pitcher Chase Burns. Later in the night they would select shortstop Tyson Lewis out of Millard West High School in Nebraska for their second round pick and LSU right-handed starting pitcher Luke Holman went to Cincinnati in the competitive balance round B at pick #71 overall.
Today will see the Reds make another eight picks as they go about completing rounds 3-10 of the draft. Tomorrow will conclude the draft with rounds 11-20. Both days of the draft will begin at 2:00pm ET. We’ll have full coverage of all of the remaining picks at RedsMinorLeagues.com if you want to follow along.
But before all of the days action begins, we’re going to look back at Sunday night and see what the national publications and draft analysts are saying about the Reds picks.
Baseball America named the Reds first day as the most interesting draft so far. Cincinnati picked 2nd, 51st, and 71st on the night. But the Reds wound up selecting the 4th, 40th, and 43rd ranked players on Baseball America’s Top 500 prospect list. There’s more to what they wrote, but “the Reds are all-in on developing pitchers” seems to be the key take away.
ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez was asked about which player drafted has the best chance to be an MVP or Cy Young award winner one day and he liked Chase Burns as a potential Cy Young winner.
The hitters at the top of the draft were generally more polished than the pitchers, but if we’re talking about supreme upside, I’m going with Chase Burns, who went No. 2 to the Cincinnati Reds and has drawn comparisons to Skenes. Burns has a fastball that averages 97 to 99 mph and has reached 102, to go along with a hellacious slider. Burns is not as fully formed as Skenes was at this time last year; he needs to establish better command of his fastball and develop a more reliable third pitch. But his ceiling is exceedingly high.
Jonathan Mayo of MLB Pipeline had this to say about the Chase Burns selection:
The Reds were looking at many options and it may have come down to Charlie Condon vs. Chase Burns. In the end, they went for one of the best arms in the entire class, giving them their second straight Wake Forest pitcher taken in the first round (Rhett Lowder in 2023). Burns transferred to Wake Forest and its pitching lab and it had a tremendous effect as he took a step forward with all of his stuff. He has a fastball that touches 100 mph, but it’s his easily plus slider that misses a ridiculous amount of bats.
Three picks down. 18 more to go. While most drafts wind up being made or blown based on how a team’s first round pick turns out, that’s not always the case. But even when it is, the players selected on day two, and every so often on day three can add plenty of value.
Some of the more recent examples there would include guys like Carson Spiers (2020, undrafted in a shortened 5-round draft), Graham Ashcraft (6th round, 2019), the legend that is Ricky Karcher (17th round, 2017), Alexis Diaz (12th round, 2015), Tejay Antone (5th round, 2014), and Tyler Mahle (7th round, 2013).
Well, maybe they’ll acquire a power hitting OF’er via the trade market. Yeah, that’ll happen. I can’t see that their 1st day draft picks move the competitive needle all that much. Even if Burns matches Skenes (unlikely), it’s one day in 5. They needed hitters far more than pitchers.
I agree 100% LDS Condon as a corner outfielder will be more valuable than burns pitching every 5th day,I was completely shocked they passed on condon
Last year we had hitting and no starting pitching. One decent starting pitcher could have gotten us into the playoffs. Last year we weren’t saying we “needed hitters far more than pitchers”.
You don’t draft for current team needs.
Yup! It’s always surprising to see even those who have followed MLB closely for years try to apply an NFL mindset to the MLB draft.
Yup. Next year if starting pitchers catch the injury bug like they did last year and position players did this year (McLain, CES, Friedl), perhaps the pendulum will swing back the other way again.
RLN posters are short sighted though, mostly.
Actually, @Wkuchad, we were. We went into the offseason expecting Krall to address the need for a power hitting everyday OF’er. He didn’t get one. Thinking that McLain, CES, Friedl, et al are going to magically make the Reds a WS contender is pure wishful thinking. Not to mention, most of these guys have exactly one notable year of experience. Maybe they can repeat their productivity or maybe they come back and pull an India. Not to mention that the platoon strategy doesn’t work as last night’s clueless Bell moves demonstrated. And BTW Doug, I didn’t mean to put you in a coma.
Yes Chad, just last year the Reds had SEVENTEEN pitchers start a game for them. Ashcraft has become a question mark, Montas is gone by year’s end, and Spiers has already moved to the IL.
No LDS, they don’t need hitters far more than pitchers. What minor league pitcher is currently banging the MLB door down? (crickets chirping). India, EDLC, Candelario, Steer, and Stephenson form a solid top of the lineup. Waiting in the wings are McLain, CES, Marte, Friedl, Hinds, and Arroyo. It’s safe to assume that 2 or 3 of the above will get healthy and/or progress to make it 7 or 8 really good position players. It’s safe to assume that we will see further growth from the young top of the lineup – is anyone putting good money on Elly not becoming a superstar?
I was driving the Condon bus and was initially disappointed. However, I’m ok with trashing the serious time I spent reading about Condon (all 3 or 4 hours of it) and I do now see the serious wisdom in investing in frontline pitching. It is the path to SERIOUS contention.
Last year Benson had an OPS+ of 129.
Fraley 108
Friedl 117
Steer 118
Why wouldn’t he think he would get good production out of at least 3 of the 4 guys?
Instead he got 1, and Steer has mostly been 1B.
Now if you want to say…6-8 weeks ago….Krall should have seen the dilemma the outfield was in, and go out and get a Rooker/Robert type of guy in a trade, then yes, I see that as a failure.
VA, I agree. The FO surely expected more from the players that had assembled. Of the guys who have regressed this year, I’d expect Friedl to bounce back once he gets healthy.
Of the players that people are calling for:
Chisholm – no thanks, he’s not even as good as Friedl.
Rooker – he’s not an outfield upgrade, he’s a butcher in the field. I wouldn’t spend valuable assets on a DH.
Robert – A possibility, but he comes with concerns. He’s only stayed healthy for a full season once in his career. And there’s a lot of swing and miss in his game, and a big chase rate. Yet, you can’t deny he has talent. With Hinds setting the world on fire, even though I’m somewhat skeptical of his staying power, I’d wait on Robert unless they get a nice deal on him.
The Reds pitchers are 12th in pitching and the hitters 26th. They need hitting. If Candelario’s .239 career average is one of your anchors, you need hitting. As for drafting for your current needs, maybe not. The trade market is a better choice. They failed miserably at that. Slater isn’t going to change the team’s trajectory. But, I’m sure Bell loves having him.
@LDS, yes he did, he got Candelario, which in combination with CES made Steer a full time OF. So Steer was the answer to the OF deficiency.
Can’t have enough pitching. The Reds are on that slippery slope right now with Ashcraft,Williamson and Spiers out. I’m good with the pick. I wanted Condon but happy with Burns.
LDS, I get why you use batting average when trying to support your point. Yes, you are correct that the Reds team BA is 26th. However, their team OPS is 17th and OPS is a much more relevant stat. And if you’re going to hang your hat on BA, there’s no need to mistate Candelario’s career BA. It’s .242, which you’ve been citing and harping on for months and months now.
And what is the average MLB BA this year? It’s .243, so yes he’s Joe average when it comes to BA. Of course, Candelario is a doubles machine, so let’s not look at that.
It’s much easier to draft a stud hitter than a stud pitcher in the middle to late first round, which is where they will be drafting for the foreseeable future. If you’re drafting second overall, you grab a stud pitcher if there is one. The 2023 season taught us what a lack of pitching does to a team. The Reds have a half dozen good hitters on the IL or in the upper minors. They certainly do not have much quality pitching ready to perform in MLB beyond the top 3 in the rotation.
Or to make it even simplier, the Reds are 14th (of 30) in runs scored. This is, despite all of the injuries, not a bad offensive team.
Exactly they are at best average. You have proven my point.
Sorry, no. Your point, which you make each and every day, is to bash everything the Reds do. You grasp at lesser stats like batting average in order to try to bolster your point, but it’s a weak effort. The Reds have lost McLain, CES, Marte, Arroyo, and Freidl for extensive parts of the season and are still producing average offensive output.
ALL of those players will be available to the team LONG BEFORE any draft choice is. And just about all of them have had success in MLB. Only 3 of the Reds top 10 prospects are pitchers. They needed pitching and they got arguably the best pitcher in the draft.
This discussion would be moot if McClain and Friedl were playing everyday, and chances are they will be next year. CES as well, Marte will find his stroke, and we’ll be looking at the last two 1st round picks as a feather in Krall’s cap.
The ‘89 Reds had talent that was banged up all year. They won the WS the following year.
Batting average is NOT a lesser stat. All the other stats, like OPS, slg pct, etc derive from batting average. Too many people buy into “advanced stats” without looking at where the numbers come from.
Not to wade into a head butting argument…,but ‘total runs scored’ is also deceiving in evaluating the Reds offense, which has been very inconsistent….a fair number of blowouts followed by limpid production.
The recent St Louis series comes to mind.
Developing consistency with the young hitters and stressing fundamentals, hitting, running and fielding will go a long way towards that goal.
I won’t pivot to criticize Bell’s approach right now.
Even with the injuries…the team could be playing better and winning a few more games.
Enough to make the playoffs? Who knows?
I haven’t been taken by many of the suggested trades for RH hitting OFs mostly because I think the Reds stash of trade value has fallen considerably.
There’s been a lot more fun nights of baseball this season, fewer BP implosions and seeing Greene and Lodolo and Abbott improve has been great.
Even EDLC is playing much improved.
The skeptics who loudly claimed that Hinds “didn’t earn it!” are even enjoying his play.
The return of Friedl, McLain, CES and Marte isn’t going to mean instant offense and may do little for this year.
But if even 2 or 3 of them do next year, that will be great.
This season? There’s always Austin Slater.
I’ll never be a fan of Bell, but the team has been more fun to watch, the nightly goof ups and sloppy play notwithstanding.
@earmbrister
Power hitters typically strikeout alot. Strikeouts do not advance runners, and strikeouts kill a rally. The Reds have put next to no value on batting average and the results speak for themselves. I dont care about anything except wins and losses and the Reds are a game out of last place. The pitching has been more than passable. The Reds have a lineup full of high strikeout batters, and unless someone is called up from AAA to inject some energy, they are the most boring Reds team to watch offensively in a long time. The approach to building a team is not working.
The Reds learned nothing in drafting Senzel and Hendrick, high school hitters who failed as pros.
The whole “starting pitcher is less valuable because he only plays one every five days” is a bit deceiving.
This is because, in that one day, a good starting pitcher is going to face about 20~25 batters.
Whereas, a good, everyday position player will get about 20 plate appearances over those 5 days.
For example…
So far in 2024 both Greene & Abbott have faced 440-450 batters.
While, De la Cruz and Speer both have about 400 plate appearances.
That is a fascinating way of looking at it! We’ve lost to some very good pitchers… and the toughest have been the true pitchers with multiple pitches and good control. Poor kid from the Marlins was 1-9 but his era was solid and they’d only scored 21 total runs of support for him in many starts… we can’t be that anemic offensively… but we often are against that type of pitcher.
But they only affect the game every fifth day regardless of batters faced.
Maybe their thinking is, we can sign good hitters to come in and hit at GABP.
Good , free agent pitchers would rather not pitch at GABP as their home park.
Balls can fly out of GABP!
That is a really good point. It’s easier to convince a hitter to come to GABP. This could be exactly what they are thinking.
Why doesn’t everyone else see that. You will NEVER GET A GREAT PITCHER to sign as a free agent in Cincinnati!! The Reds do not have the money to throw at pitchers like some of the other teams and pitchers would rather pitch in ball parks that are not so homer friendly. The Reds will always have to get young pitchers and try to trade them like they did Castillo, Gray and Mahle before they hit free agency.
Seems like a cheap pick by a cheap owner who’s team plays in a Little League Park.
You must’ve made a wrong turn at Albuquerque, as I believe you’re looking for the A’s Nation site.
Haha love it
Yeah, as I said on another site, the pick of Burns can be criticized, but not based on money. The Reds have shown that they will spend their entire draft pool allotment, and that’s all you can ask.
When is the last time ownership failed to spend their full signing bonus allocation? Top picks usually sign for less than slot value with the savings going to players later in the draft.
Yep.
The Reds are cheap. But not in the draft or international signing pool. They have spent nearly every available penny to them in the draft since it went to a “draft pool allotment” system up to the point where if they spent any more they’d have to forfeit the following year’s 1st round draft pick.
If and when they sign Burns for underslot (because almost everyone in the top 10 signs for under slot), that money will just be spent on players taken later in the draft.
The issue with not taking Condon over Burns is looking at the current Major league lineup and the upper Minors and you see a lack of a true legit power source in the lineup. Condon is a College player who could move quickly and be in Majors as early as middle of 2025. Reds have controllable arms at MLB level and a few pitching prospects close. Picking Condon would have made sense if Reds are trying to win with the current controllable pitching staff. Also, Reds aren’t built for there ballpark currently. Adding power is desperately needed. A losing record at home in 2023.was a big reason they missed playoffs and losing at home in 2024 will be big reason they don’t contend. Winning teams and team that make playoffs win at home. Reds DO NOT and the current structure of the offense is a huge reason why… Those are reasons why I hate the pick of Burns over Condon….
@Jim – that isn’t necessary true. Not every concessous top hitter works out. Look at Spencer Torkelson best College hiter in 2020 who the scouts raved about; yet he is in triple A. There is nothing wrong with the Reds drafting to their strength. Maybe the Reds felt this years hitters were inflated by the higher offense this year and not that good in a macro perspective.
Doug, what are they talking about Tyson Lewis and Luke Holman?
I wonder if the Reds already pick its more expensive guys last night and they will be for low-rank or unranked prospects starting today or maybe there is still chance for a top 50 prospect if it is viable. I think OFs Mike Sirota or Kavares Tears could be pretty additions or catcher Kevin Bazzell perhaps at 3rd round…
This year’s team has challenged the theory pitching wins! An anemic offense has stymied really good starting pitching this year. However, Burns in a rotation with Greene, Lodolo, Lowder and Abbott, sounds dominant. Also, the return to health of McLain, Encarnacion-Strand, Friedl and the emergence of Rece Hinds is extremely encouraging and exciting! Lock up the core of young players. already on this team and add a couple of impact pieces to this young, exciting team the sky would be the limit. Unfortunately that would require spending a fair amount and our ownership doesn’t seem committed to winning. But hey, where we going to go?
Rhett Lowder seems dominant to you? You may want to let the hitters in AA know because currently, Lowder has an era over 5.00
While Lowder isn’t dominating, saying he’s not based on ERA is terribly misleading and quite unfair. He currently plays on perhaps the worst minor league team every fielded by the organization with only one other player (Pitelli) that may sniff the majors. The defense behind him is terrible at best most nights. Sure he needs to improve and continue to hone the mechanical changes he made this season, but he has looked very good most of the time and he just goes out and knows how to pitch. Already having the “feel” part down for a first-year pro is light years ahead of what most guys his age can do. I’ve really been encouraged by his performance and look forward to see what he can do in the 2nd half. Hopefully he can gain a little more consistency and make the transition to Louisville before seasons end.
Baseball truth: “You can never have too much pitching”. I’m guessing management is subscribing to the idea that when you find yourself with a surplus of major league pitching, they’ll find that many of those coveted hitter prospects suddenly become more available through trade. Shrug.
I am here for a Reds pitching staff leading the league in ERA
I preferred Condon (or Caglione or even Weatherholt), but I don’t dislike Burns at all. He’s, questionably, the best upside SP in this draft. Not many times Reds can get that as they seem to always draft between 5 and 17 or so.
As with all baseball drafts, we won’t know a thing for a good three years. Rookie phenoms that become all-stars (a few probably), phenoms that flame out, injuries, mental health issues, run-ins with the law, etc. No telling if Burns becomes the stud of this draft or not (or maybe the HS SS or second SP does).
My one concern is this, the Reds, as an organization, seemingly have a very difficult time teaching upside SPs a reliable 2nd or 3rd pitch. Even more so, they seem to have trouble teaching SPs to throw fastballs that actually have movement. Straight 100mph fastballs are batting practice to about 75% of MLB hitters. Hunter Greene can’t reach consistent Cy Young consideration yet because his FB is straight as an arrow and very hittable. They need a riding or rising (not falling as much) or a cut fastball…something. Even I can throw a FB that tails away as a teenager and though I never got above 82mph or so, my FB was no more hittable than a straight 92mph high schoolers FB.
Doug, any insight on Reds development/system and any intriguing hires or out-sourcing (are they teaming up with one of these Driveline types of facilities)? Any hope for improving pitching development to get good prospects to become good SPs (Atlanta, Tampa and some other orgs come to mind here).
…or a split-finger, which is VERY devasting and great for an HR-prone park like GABP. That said, not sure if there is high injury correlation with using a split-finger somewhat frequently, but Hunter Greene with a split-finger…imagine the flailing swings and bulging eyes. We can dream.
Don’t agree with you that the Reds don’t teach movement. It was just a couple of years ago that they pretty much led the league with pitchers in spin rate. Take out Greene and their starters all have excellent movement on their fastball. Heck, more than one teammate has said it’s not even fun to play catch with Ashcraft because his ball moves so much. Lodolo has excellent movement. I think you are getting caught lumping all the pitchers into the same category as Greene when it comes to movement on fastballs.
Many prognosticator’s picked Burns to go third to the Rockies. My understanding is that it is very hard getting pitchers to sign with them due to their well known conditions at the ballpark. I can not imagine Reds being too far behind in that regard. I always imagine a 10% hitter friendly surcharge added on by agents when Reds try to sign a FA pitcher. Drafting a pitcher who profiles high strikeouts and low walks is not a bad thing for GABP. Learning a quality third pitch as some have noted will be essential to long term success at least as a starter. He has ace potential. Burns would have been a great get but it’s not like he does not come with his own set of question marks. Would i have preferred Condon, yes, but I am not as bummed out as seems like many RLN posters are with who we ended up with.
Burns would have been a great get. Meant to say Condon. Proof reading is essential.
Off topic but the Nationals released Nick Senzel… our RH power hitting OF need might be solved! Now if we can just get Dan Bilardello to come out of retirement for Catching depth.
Lol… my money was not on a Dann Bilardello reference in today RLN! Thanks for that, clammy! 🙂
I grew up in Atlanta, how about I see your Bilardello and raise you a Biff Pocoroba!
Always loved that name, he and Bruce Benedict weren’t much as hitter go, but that name. ;^)
I am not saying that I think it will happen. But, it would be far easier to sign a big time slugger, that it would be to get a top line starting pitcher in free agency. I wanted Condon, but I think we have drafted a future star.
I agree with you, Sir. I was very excited about the potential of getting Condon. The team still has a chance this year and needs to get busy soon for sure.
However, it’s very hard to argue with getting what is noted by many to the best pitcher in the draft. I too think they drafted a star.
I see the Nick Krall apologists are out in force today.
Why, by stating well supported points?
Why is it when a person comments that doesn’t fit the “norm” on rln they are “apologist “? That seems very short sided.
I was a big fan of Condon and Cags.
But it’s hard to argue getting the best college pitcher in a year where college offenses were explosive.
Just remember, we are 1 serious pitcher injury away from having to start Lyon Richardson or Randy Wynne in meaningful games. That’s probably a little bit scary in an mlb front office.
Aguilar might be ready next year. But otherwise, their aren’t any starting pitchers in upper levels knocking on the door of the majors. As someone else pointed out, we ended 17 starting pitchers in 2023. We have been very fortunate to have good starting pitching health this year.
Redsvol, I think you will find that at this stage of the season, every team is one injury away from having to use Lyon Richardson as a starter. The Dodgers are starting Richardson’s sister.
Off topic, but the Dodger loss Sunday was an excellent flop. The Dodgers were up 1 headed into the bottom of the ninth; Tigers go triple-single to tie it up, so they had a runner on 1st and 0 out. Sac bunt to the pitcher, who fumbles the play to leave runners on 1st and 2nd with 0 out. Next hitter also bunts to the pitcher, who throws to third for a force, but throws it away and the winning run scores. This was the day after the Dodgers blew a 9-4 lead after 8.5 innings.
The Reds aren’t the only team to flub games.
No doubt Old Big Red other teams do make mistakes that cost them games and just last week the Dodgers got swept in Philly and announners said the reason was the Dodgers did not play one clean game in the series.Reds at last look were second in baseball in getting thrown out on the bases which doesn’t include pick offs or caught stealing and again at last look 29th in baseball in fielding.There isn’t a stat for throwing to the wrong base or missing a cut off man or I got it you take it plays which the Reds do way too often.Reds record in one run games is indicative of this kind of play.Throw in the occasional head scratching moves by the manager along with just an awful awful job yesterday as an example that he is still in way over his head in now year 6 we get the 2024 version of the Reds.I love em but unless they fix the issues which they seem to be reluctant to do or dismiss those responsible to fix them we will remain a team that embraces its losing culture.
Roger, the only problem with your narrative is this:
The Reds led MLB in one run victories just last year.
The only problem with your counterpoint is that you are talking about last year.
This is this year.
With this team, with these hitters, with these pitchers and the same manager.
You’re like the guy always bringing up the 1963 Reds and saying “See!”
It’s 2024.
The team should be evaluated on how it’s performing in 2024.
2023 is no longer relevant.
I am not a Nick Krall fan-boy, but to say the man and his staff doesn’t do their best in drafting players or signing int’l players is way off mark. They actually do a pretty good job at it. They spend the money they are alloted and sometimes go over on the int’l side. Now, if you want to rag on Krall due to his poor trades last year during the rebound year, than yes that makes sense (even so, he did a pretty good job in the trade market the couple years before that). Also, remember that Krall is still at the will of the Kroger Man and his money. We all hope that the Reds trade for someone at the deadline, but that probably won’t happen if it means adding dollars.
Frankly, I think it is a bit silly for people in our position to have a real strong opinion about the top few players in the draft, or really the draft in general. Most of us saw a few of them on TV in the post-season, and maybe caught a game or two live, if had a chance to see some ACC or SEC games this season. It’s fun to pay attention to the draft class, but we all basically have no idea what we are talking about. Skenes was obvious last year, but that happens about once every 5 years.
It isn’t easy even for the guys who supposedly know what they are doing and who have detailed reports on hundreds of guys. Ten years ago, in the 2014 draft, the top two picks were Brady Aiken (unsigned by the Astros and apparently injured) and Tyler Kolek, neither of whom pitched more ML innings than my mother did. 17 of the top 30 guys picked in the first round of 2014 recorded less than 1 bWAR. The first round did include Kyle Schwarber (4th, and from Middleton, apparently), Aaron Nola (7th), Trea Turner (Padres, 13th) and Matt Chapman (25th).
I happened to be in Winston-Salem in late March and saw Wake Forest host UNC on a Friday night. Chase Burns got shelled. I think UNC hit 4 homers off him. The WF ballpark is small except to center, but the homers were all no-doubters. Burns did bear down and pitch fairly well from about innings 4-6, but tired. (Kurtz of WF stunk that game, too; was 0-5, I think.) But it was one game; Burns was otherwise excellent, although he lost his final game. Burns is from the Nashville area, where Derek Johnson lives, and the Reds certainly knew a lot about him.
Based solely on what I saw, I wasn’t rooting for the Reds to take Burns. But they did, and I can’t reasonably argue with it, and I certainly can’t change it, so I will pretty much accept that the same guys who’ve drafted and developed Greene, Ashcraft, Lodolo and Abbott pretty much know a ton more about evaluating young pitching talent than I do.
The first 3 guys this year are eerily similar to last year’s draft: (1) a power pitcher from Wake Forest: (2) a high school shortstop from outside the traditional areas for HS talent; and (3) an LSU pitcher.
Your mom should have worked harder on developing that third pitch.
My brothers and I used to say our mom didn’t have much of a fastball, but had a wicked breaking pitch. None of us could hit it when it was on.
Lol!
Well said, as usual, OBE
And from the surprise bin ….
Rece Hinds: NL Player of the Week
Krall doesnt pick players
He does set the organizational priorities and plan
Amateur scouting director Joe Katuska pretty clear on this one.
“ Ive told you guys 1,000 times, We like middle of the field offensive players and starting pitcher profiles. Thats where we’re going to start and where we will continue to look.”
On Burns. “He’s a big hairy monster. Those are the guys that pitch at the front of the rotation… pitch in October..pitch at the end of the games. Theyre the ones you give the ball to”
Pretty clear the profile of player Reds are targeting .
Criticize the choice or the plan but dont say their isnt a plan
Hats off, Old-school. There is a plan and those guys have done a great job gathering a starting pitching staff derived from this draft over the last few years. I see no reason Lowder and Burns will not be an integral part of that staff in the not so distant future.
There is no doubt it’s a challenge getting interest from front-line free agent pitchers and there are not many who clearly qualify for front of the line (or worth the cost). So, we have to build that internally or through trades (which the management has done well).
There is also no doubt we need a top line outfielder/bat to supplement what we have. But, I’d say any of those now available are a few month’s rentals. If we can get a rent-a-bat for a reasonable price, we should.
I think we then should look for a big bat this offseason.
Go Reds!
All I know is you can’t keep saying next year, Reds lost 3 players before season even started, playing 100% in spring ball.. crazy, protect yourself for the long haul. They need another strong bat to go along with all this pitching!
“All I know is you can’t keep saying next year”
….but yet they still do. It needs to STOP NOW.
100%! We built this team to contend. To improve upon last year’s 82 wins. 3 bullpen pieces, a middle of the rotation starter, and a power switch hitter. I suspect all 3 have performed close to expectation. Sure, there have been injuries, maybe more than average, but 3 were in March and not last week. There has been 90+ games to assess this team without Friedl, Marte, and McLain. 1 has returned and a second is returning next week. Hinds has won us a few extra games. Dunn, Hurtubise, Benson, Capel, Thompson, and others have lost us a few more. That is my heartburn. We have rolled out this same deficient lineup for 90+ games and get “this is who we are.” Why can’t we be better than 3 games under 500 instead of the tomorrow nonsense that “ we will turn this around”. I don’t have confidence in that statement and that is my rub. After 90+ games, we are 3 under with top shelf pitching. We are atrocious in tight games and not because of a leaky bullpen. And we don’t need (or want a big bat like Bellinger or Guerrero? Why not? The misguided “Will turn it around” belief? Don’t want to win bad enough to pay some smasher $8M for 2 months? Don’t want to trade CES, Fraley, or a couple of prospects? They may not make with a big bat but don’t we want to give these guys a fair shot? Gosh, the Cubs were 8 back of the Reds on August 1 last year. The Dbacks similar. You don’t hope or wait for the bargain that never comes. You go get what you need, thump your chest, and say go get them boys. Think of packed and loud GABP.
Getting a top end pitcher is what wins big games, playoffs! You can trade for hitters easier than very good pitching! World series winners always have two or three aces! Great job on drafting the best pitcher!
I can see why the Reds picked Burns over Condon and no one knows how that will work out, least of all me.
But I can see why this Reds’s regime does a lot of the things they do, year after year after year, and how is that working out so far? Two decades ago, Bob promised “championship baseball” in the Queen City.
Let’s face it, Cincy fans including the majority on this board are quite patient—way more than most fan bases, imo. (I have lived in Vegas for over 40 years and people here are not patient with losing). So it’s second nature for the apologists on this board who-while complaining a lot-rarely if ever miss a game. And break out in optimism over even one decently played win. Great loyal fans-to a fault!
But given this regime’s poor track record, I would have loved to see the Reds pick Condon and set him loose asap to see what he might do to change the mediocre offense this year into a run for the playoffs.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it probably wouldn’t happen like that anyway, Bell is still managing/tinkering in his own little world and some injury or suspension would torpedo everything. But we all keep hoping to see something better, don’t we?
Maybe Rece is our Condon. Maybe things will change this year. Maybe, the team will start playing fundamental and disciplined baseball and Burns wins the Cy Young someday.
But don’t tell me wait for next year because under Bob’s watch, next year comes and doesn’t change anything.
We will know in a couple years if this was a good draft or not for the Reds. It is not that hard to pick Burns, then look for the highest ranked players. Why were they passed up if they were so good.