Things were going well in Hunter Greene’s return to the mound but Chicago got to the Reds bullpen late in the game and before you knew it a four run lead evaporated in Cincinnati as the Cubs scored 11 runs in the final three innings to blow away the home team in the series opener.
| Final | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chicago Cubs (31-20) | 13 | 13 | 2 |
| Cincinnati Reds (25-27) | 6 | 13 | 0 |
| W: Flexen (2-0) L: Santillan (0-1) | |||
| Statcast | Box Score | Game Thread | |||
Hunter Greene returned to the mound from a short stay on the injured list and fired off a 1-2-3 inning while routinely hitting triple digits. The bottom of the 1st inning saw the Reds offense put together five straight hits to score to take a 3-0 lead.
Two innings later the Cincinnati offense tacked on another run when Austin Hays led off with a triple and then scored on a wild pitch. Chicago would get to Greene in the top of the 4th inning for two runs after Pete Crow-Armstrong hit a 2-run home run. After breezing through the first three frames, Greene threw 37 pitches in the inning as he later walked two batters before a 12-pitch at-bat finally ended the inning.
The long inning in the 4th ended the day for Greene and the Reds went to the bullpen for the 5th. Scott Barlow sent the Cubs back to the dugout in order and in the bottom of the inning Tyler Stephenson just missed a 2-run home run and settled for an RBI double to make it 5-2. TJ Friedl capped the inning off with another run scoring hit that extended the lead for the home team to four runs.
Barlow returned to the mound to begin the 6th and got Seiya Suzuki out before giving way to Taylor Rogers who worked around a double to keep the game at 6-2. The next inning is when the trouble started as Ian Gibaut gave up two hits and three baserunners while recording just one out before the Reds called in Tony Santillan to try and get out of the jam. Instead he gave up a 2-run single on the first pitch he threw. A single followed to load the bases and then the first pitch to Pete Crow-Armstrong landed in the stands for a go-ahead grand slam.
After a walk by Santillan came next, the Reds called on Brent Suter who got out of the inning with back-to-back strikeouts. He returned for the top of the 9th and gave up a leadoff double, a 1-out walk, and then a 2-out, 3-run home run that extended the Cubs lead to 11-6. Chicago’s assault of the Reds bullpen continued in the 9th inning when Dansby Swanson hit a 2-run home run off of Luis May to finish the game’s scoring and make it a 13-6 game. Ryan Pressly would give up a 2-out double in the bottom of the 9th to Austin Wynns, but he would be stranded there as Chicago took the first game of the series with a 7-run win.
Key Moment of the Game
Pete Crow-Armstrong’s grand slam that gave the Cubs the lead.
Notes Worth Noting
Spencer Steer extended his hitting streak to 11 games with a 3-5 night.
TJ Friedl and Austin Hays each had 2-hit games.
The Reds hit zero home runs. The Cubs hit four.
Both teams walked plenty of hitters and struck out very few as the game featured nine walks and just 13 strikeouts between the two clubs.
Four of Cincinnati’s relievers were charged with multiple runs allowed in the game.
Up Next for the Cincinnati Reds
Chicago Cubs vs Cincinnati Reds
Saturday, May 24th, 4:10pm ET
Colin Reah (3-0, 2.38 ERA) vs Andrew Abbott (3-0, 1.80 ERA)
So over this poverty franchise.
If only Garrett Hampson had played.
Now, that’s funny!
Gross mismanagement. 😉
If only Garret Hampson were managing!
The Bull pen was awful but this game turned on Mclain’s knucklehead play. You are 4 up with one out in the 7th you get the out. He has had an awful year period.
Totally agree Mark, the game changed after Mclain’s miscue. We gave the Cubs an extra out and they took full advantage of that. It is early but it looks like the Cubs are a much better team than we are. A good, experienced manager is important. I still have faith in Tito. McLain has been terrible and maybe needs some time in AAA to get right?
OMG!!!! I turned off the game figuring the bullpen had it under control. Score was 6 to 3 at the time. I just want to scream sometimes…..ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!
I the reds get swept with both series against the cubs the season is over.
On to the next game, that’s all I can say. This bullpen is quite interesting, lights out some times and giving up runs like candy other times.
“On to the next game, that’s all I can say”
Cincinnati Reds motto for 30 years.
And I’m running out of years & patience with this entire ownership group.
I would love love to see my adopted home state of TN. try to lure and relocate say the, Tampa Ray’s to Nashville. A city that is one of if not the top.growing cities in the US. Very much a tax friendly state ie no state income tax.
Personally, I think “Where else you gonna go?” is catchier.
I think it’s fair that pitchers should only have to get 3 out per inning, they are facing major league hitters. The defense has to have their heads in the games too.
This franchise finds ways to lose. They’re not talented enough to NOT do the little things like defense & baserunning. They also seem to be scared by success more than adversity. As soon as they provide hope, they quickly pull the rug out. It seems the baseball gods have spoken to Reds fans. ” Thou shall NOT have nice things”.
Cubs embarrassed the Reds Bullpen tonight, showing they may be the real deal offensively, maybe a World Series type of winning team the Cubs have, with a few pitching additions at the trade deadline I think.
Armstrong looks like an MVP candidate.
You wonder if the Reds would have scored 5 runs in that first instead of 3, may have put a little more pressure on the Cubs, little more momentum for the Reds, and could have been a Reds win.
Was it really a good move to bring Greene back tonight if he was only expected to go maybe 5 innings at the most? I understand the move, and sure he wanted to start this game, but in hindsight maybe wasn’t the best move. But overall, Cubs Offense is the story.
On a few players, I think it’s a little concerning how bad De La Cruz has hit for awhile now. I thought fans were overly harsh on him, but he’s .183 in his last 60 at bats. His career now is starting to show more consistent slumping overall that I think lends to him not really being a #3 hitter in a lineup. They should consider moving him somewhere else in the order I think.
On a positive note, Spencer Steer is hitting quite a bit better. Tom Diesman seems to have been right on Steer! I was all for sending him down recently, but maybe he’s really going to get back to at least his average career hitting #s which would be a boost to the lineup moving forward.
Greene back. Gave up 2 runs on 80 pitches. Bullpen expected to succeed, but didn’t No complaints here.
Just figured this out. I actually HATE this organization.
Theres not one winner remotely associated with this team.
Any player with a spark of talent has it slowly choked out of him, by injury or indifference.
Wake me when ownership changes.
Shocker. Reds demote a pitcher with a 1 ERA to get a 5 ERA pitcher on the team and he gives up 3 runs with 1 out. Before the mental midgets step up in his defense and claim bad defense. He has a 7.11 ERA and .296 BAA. This is the type of loser move that leads to losing baseball games.
I agree the Gibault move was just dumb.
Gibaut had to get back in at some point. Staked to a four-run lead seemed like a logical time to do it. Unfortunately, it didn’t work. Plus, the defense failed him.
Just stop it. Gibaut and Richardson have a total of 25 innings pitched together. ERA for relievers are wildly unreliable measures in the best of times. In May they are even more ridiculous.
And stop with the “mental midget” nonsense. Quit trying to intimidate others who disagree with you. Jeebus.
Ok RichCringe just stick to your David Bell outbursts.
@maui Bro, if I’m not mistaken, you’ve been warned about your outbursts. Better chill.
Let me help you here. Gibaut has a 4.18 ERA and 1.424 WHIP (1.459 WHIP this year) In other words NOT GOOD. No point in demoting a reliever with a 98 mph FB and 1 ERA.
who are you REDLEGSCOTT? nobody
JK REDLEG Scott
I get tired of the excusers and splainers alway trying to say this organization knows what they are doing.
Actually, Gibaut’s xERA, FIP and xFIP numbers are better than Richardson’s. That’s not to suggest anything other than this is not the slam dunk you think it is.
Glad to help you here.
What’s fip and xfip? Pitching stats from an alternate dimension?
Some folks like information. Others run from it when it doesn’t fit their narrative. Nothing new here.
I’m just joking. I just don’t value the “if stats” as much as the real stats. If a better defensive player made the play or if the ballpark was bigger or smaller stats just don’t mean much to me.
Who am I? A better question might be who are you, Maui?
That’s easy. A disillusioned diehard 30 year fan of the worst professional team (other than the Pirates maybe) in all of sports.
Fine, red, you’re disillusioned. But taking it out on Richard, including name-calling? You decide whether that’s appropriate or not.
Fair enough.
Actually, Gibaut has 7 years in ML baseball and exactly ONE good season – 2023 with the Reds. In total 159 IP in 151 games. And about half of his innings came in his one good season. Richardson may not continue to pitch as well as he has thus far, but being six years younger, with only 15 games and 31 IP, NO ONE KNOWS. As for FIP, xFIP, etc. being more information? They are not. “Stats” like FIP simply take existing metrics, weight them, and repackage them to pretend to be new information. A more objective measure would be HR%, BB%, etc. That is the pitcher faced 10 batters, walked 3, hit one, and gave up a HR. 13*HR+3*BB-2*SO/IP +constant, is simply absurd. ERA actually conveys MORE information, being a simple average. Pull this kind of sleight of hand in school and you’re well on your way to a failing grade.
Gibaut has been pretty good through April but not so good his last three outings. 2 runs against the Rockies in one inning, no runs but 2 hits allowed in two thirds of an inning against Pittsburg, and the 3 runs today against the Cubs in one third an inning. I think it is fair to say he is struggling some right now but way too early to pull the plug on him. I would argue it is more likely he returns to his April form rather than continue his struggles of the last three games. But it is something that bears watching. When this stretches happen it seems the guy always ends up on the IR so lets just hope he is healthy.
What’s a more reliable measure?
This is a prime example of the unfairness of MLB. Cubs are in a big city, and have money to spend. They have players that are proven. Reds are in a low budget market. They have players that are basically AAA or maybe AAAA, a little more than AAA, but not really good enough to be decent players in MLB. A lot of the Reds players really should be in AAA.
Sorry Jeff but money is always the easy excuse for the Reds losing. PCA has a 700k salary. There are always low budget teams that have winning seasons. Just not the Reds.
I’m sticking with my original thoughts on this. Do you really expect TB results from a Cincinnati organization? Nepotism seldom works.
One of the key moments of the game was 1st inning 1 out bases loaded. Reds had already had the Cubs on the rope. Instead of the NL Player of the week batting with his 1.300 ops and .350 batting average, Reds decided to bench him for a 32 year old mediocre retread which they love more than anything. He proceeded to ground into a rally inning double play. Benson has about 20 MLB games against lefties. Why is he a platoon player?
I don’t get it, either. Hinds going down – dont get that. The new signing…
This organization has a sick addiction to mediocre players. Grow a spine and see if Benson and Hinds are good players. The fans deserve better.
@maui Agree. We won’t know if they aren’t given a chance to prove themselves. Leave them in.
I wonder if this was just a bad game by bullpen and they bounce back especially Santillán or the Cubs offense is going to overmatch them consistently. You shouldn’t give chances to a team like Cubs right now, because maybe they are overperforming by this season time , but the Reds defense wasn’t good at that pathetic 7th and I still thinking on why Tito didn’t follow his usual plan with Ashcraft , Santillan in a clean 8th inning and Pagán later to try hold on the 4-run lead. Giving up 11 runs in last 3 innings is brutal…If the Reds could win a game in this series, it would seem today was the chance but they were unable to do it…
I agree. He also left Suter in too long, but the bottom line is that the Bullpen choices were not the right ones. The Reds were up 6-2 going into the 7th, and that’s what hurt. A lopsided score wasn’t expected, but it may work in our favor going ahead. Pitching is still our strength. When the Reds score 6 that should be enough.
0-1 in the Garnet Hampton era.
lol Thanks for making me smile man.
I’m beginning to believe that we, as a fanbase, know better than management and ownership combined. I’ve been listening to you posters for two seasons, and it’s getting really difficult to disagree with almost anything I’m hearing that critiques the team. The decision-making just seems pathetic. Am I mistaken?
Yes you are mistaken. It is easy for us fans to sit back and criticize every move without knowledge of what goes on behind the scenes. The Hind move was a confusing one. Yet I believe fans dont know more than managers or ownership.
The Hinds move, the Benson move to not play him, the new guy coming in? These moves don’t make a lot of sense to many of us. However, I’ll gladly admit that no, I don’t know what’s going on behind the scenes. I hope you’re right.
“The decision-making just seems pathetic. Am I mistaken?”
Nope. The ownership and front office are completely inept. My opinion is irrelevant. Their record speaks for itself.
Have to wonder if Mclain makes play at first for 2nd out how that inning would of unfolded. The ball that Espinal almost made a over the shoulder catch as well. Just bad breaks.
Reds bullpen had a bad game. It happens. They will bounce back. To me its more about the Reds than the cubs.
Well if it helps anyone the Rockies beat the world famous Yankee 3-2 lol
Yankees fans probably calling for Aaron Boone to be fired after that loss!
It’s like I always say even the worst teams in the league can win a game or two My excuse for the Reds is that they are mediocre, so they don’t count in that equation.
Throw away game. Important to learn that our bullpen is a necessity – not a strength.
Throw away game, yes, but our Bullpen has to be both our strength and a necessity, if we are going anywhere.
Reds pitchers’ injuries:
Carson Spiers – shoulder
Hunter Greene – groin
Brandon Williamson – UCL
Rhett Lowder – forearm; oblique
Julian Aguiar – TJS
Andrew Abbott – shoulder
Alexis Diaz – hamstring
Ian Gibaut – shoulder
Sam Moll – shoulder
It’s May.
This. Is. Not. Normal.
That’s almost 1/2 of the pitching staff.
Counterpoint – it is absolutely normal in the 2025 version of Major League Baseball.
Yes, there are several teams that are similar situations. Look at the Brewers pitching staff for example.
Its not normal to have almost half your pitching staff injured. Especially if its common for many others. As a former pitcher and a fan of pitching, I will not ever give up on this issue. They are absolutely doing something wrong with pitchers in today’s era. You will not even have people qualify for the Hall of Fame at this pace. Kershaw, Verlander and Scherzer will be it.
Your two sentences can’t both be true. I don’t know what to tell you – it’s normal and it’s not going to be fixable unless pitchers all learn to throw the knuckleball or underhand. If you want to be successful in today’s game where hitters are incredible, defenses know everything about you – you have to go max effort all the time. It’s why guys get hurt. But the options are either go 100% all the time and have a chance to be good or don’t and never get to the big leagues and or be any good in the big leagues. That is just unfortunately the reality of the situation. You don’t have to like it, but there’s really not much debate about it.
As for the Hall of Fame – standards change when the eras do. The best players from each era get in because they were better than their peers. That’s going to continue to be the case even if the innings or win totals don’t match the guys from the 1990’s, which didn’t match the guys of the 1960’s, which didn’t match the guys of the 20’s.
Mixing speeds is not max velocity and arguably not max effort. Its max focus. It’s an art. Same thing with location.
Glad to see Skubal go the distance today. Yes, he kept it under 100 pitches – which does not matter at all – other than getting a Maddux.
You determine who your best pitchers are. You build up their endurance. You let them pitch until they show fatigue or ineffectiveness. You don’t take them out at magic 60, 80 or 100 pitch counts.
When teams go back to that formula, they’ll pull away from the league – which all do things the same way.
Then, we’ll start building up HOF type pitchers.
We have a different perspective of “normal.” Yes – its common/every day in MLB. An approach to pitching that produces a ton of injuries, year in, year out, is not normal. Better phrase: It’s not sane.
Love the back and forth, Doug. Hope you do too.
It may not be sane, but it is certainly normal and expected.
I don’t really enjoy the back and forth on this, though. It’s pretty settled. If guys who don’t throw hard could succeed we’d see a lot more of them. But we don’t. We have clear data that shows that for every MPH harder you throw you see significantly less offensive production against that pitch. Everyone is mixing speeds. Everyone is mixing locations. Teams and players are never going back to whatever it used to be unless they start making the baseball of mashed potatoes again and it returns the dead-ball era.
While I’m a fan of high velocity pitchers, I’ll take Jamie Moyer over Joel Zumaya any day of the week. Point settled.
NYY has the lowest velocity in the league in 2025. They are in 1st place.
Quality pitchers have some velocity but know how to use secondary pitches to make themselves much better. This thing in baseball that pitchers have to throw 100 mph in order to be good is crazy.
Agreed.
https://www.fangraphs.com/players/hunter-greene/22182/stats?position=P
Fun analysis. Hunter Greene has his best runs above average (wA) at his career lowest velocity levels (FB, splitter, slider). Exception is the curveball.
Of course, his career low FB average is 97.6 though. 🙂
The fact that Santiago Espinal is batting second every single day for an MLB team in 2025 is wild. That’s 10 straight games now. He’s one of my favorite players, but so was, like, Luke Maile and I didn’t need to see him in that role either.
Steer could be heading in that direction soon…
Yeah, I think that’s the play.
I would rather see Espinal play backup more and start on occasion too. He seems to play better when that is happening. Unfortunately, injuries are preventing that from happening.
We have not seen a melt down this bad all season. Some will say the Cubs are that good, and others will say we put the wrong guys out there on the mound. I have to go with the latter. That the Reds gave up 11 runs over the last 3 innings is far from normal. So, I have to give the Cubbies some credit as well. But we have to put our best out there on the mound. The move to take Greene out was not bad. But to think we had the game in the bag was not. Our bullpen needed to dominate. And we didn’t send out our best to get the job done. Tomorrow is another day…
No, the Cubs offense is that good. They have the most double digit scoring games this season in MLB and overall for the season they are top #3 in batting average, #4 in home runs, #4 in on-base %, #3 in slugging %, #3 in stolen bases, and #1 in scoring. The only reason they aren’t running away with the division is their bullpen is bottom half so far.
I made the right decision in skipping the game, so I missed the blood pressure spike, but I will say that Santillan has been one of our best, widely extolled here at RLN. Suter has also been effective.
Gibaut in the seventh inning with the Reds leading was a reminder of the opening day loss. A Reds series win is still a possibility.
Gibaut has been fairly effective after the opening day debacle.
Gibaut is an average pitcher at worst this season. He is going to give up runs sometimes and sometimes he will be very good. Some freak out if anyone gives up any runs. No hitter or pitcher is going to be perfect.
Nothing but good news as always from this consistently, constant, incompetent organization. Francona repeatedly shows he doesn’t know what he’s doing. Defense is terrible. Offense blows. Pitching is horribly underwhelming. Sound familiar? Sound like the last 30 years? Thought so.
Pitching “horribly underwhelming”? Last night, yes. For the season to date, the pitching has been good. And I expect that Francona certainly knows what he’s doing, but we’re seeing the result of the options available to him.
Pitching has been good for the most part for sure. However our bench now includes two catchers, Joe and Hampson. I’m sure that’s enough by itself to strike fear into any other team we face. lol
They used to say, “you can’t win without the horses. This is a .500 roster. I expect them to fluctuate between +8 & -8 all year long. In a weaker division, when you get to +3 or +4 it provides the appearance of contention, not unlike the latest wrinkle cream provides the appearance of being younger. The “arrived early” group from ’23 will either get better or they won’t. Right now, the clock is ticking towards the next rebuild.
This team will not have any player(s) reach 90 RBI.
This team will not have any player(s) reach 200 hits.
This team will not have any player(s) score 100 runs.
This team will not have any player(s) hit 30 HR.
This team will not have any pitcher(s) get to 15 W.
This team will not have any pitcher(s) get 200 K.
Neither did the 1990 Reds.
This team is 25-27 after about 1/3 of the season.
The 1990 Reds were 56-58 the last 2/3 of that season.
This team will not be the 1990 Reds but it’s way too early to give up after a bad game.
Correction. 1990 Reds were 33-12 after 45 games, then 58-59 the next 117 games,
They were amazing out of the gate. Almost every player was hitting over .300. They were leading the league in both hitting and pitching for a long whole if memory serves.
Yes. 9-0 to start the season. They were dominant through August but “rested” in September. They returned to early season form in October.
Yes, it is way too early to give up on the season whether you’re a lifetime Red’s fan or not.
Going to say though if the Reds get swept by the cubs both this series and the next series in about 1/2 a week after this one, It’s going to be pretty darn tough to catch up to the Cubs unless they have a total collapse.
Probably just flukey but possibly some people just showing up without deep study of the opponent. Cubs jumped their bones, maybe something Francona can help fix.
No. They managed one game under .500 with one of the easiest schedules out of the 30 teams thus far. June is going to bury them.
The first 6 innings was the team that beat the Indians. The last 3 innings was the team that lost to the Pirates and White Sox. Tonight’s the beginning of the 39 game stretch against .500 + teams. Was not a good beginning. 0-1.
Especially the next 3 weeks are really important to this team’s chances.
No surprises here, the Cubs have a superb lineup, in order to beat them the pitching and defense must be absolutely lights out.
Too funny. The reliever the posters complained about most put up a superb 1.1 innings. Other relievers posters wanter used instead, not so good. Bullpens across MLB must be really sorry if this was the 11th best in baseball!
About 10 days ago, I read the Reds had faced the 2nd easiest schedule in MLB. Let’s see where the 30s retread crew is on July 1
McLain doesn’t take an out with a 4 run lead in the 7th and they gave away an out on the bases. What is Francona doing again? June schedule will bury them. I am 1000% convinced this season is over. If you can’t beat the White Sox, Nats, Miami etc then I guarantee pain. Apologies to the one poster, but the Reds are not getting better. Anyone that does show signs like Marte promptly DLs for 2 months.
Trade the Pagan’s, Rogers, etc and rebuild. Pacers had a scrub named Malcolm Brogdan that was only decent because Giannis drew so much attention he was always wide open. We got Aaron Nesmith for him, who won Game 1. Do you trust Krall to make good moves? Idk but my patience is exhausted. Even the Dunn & pot belly Junior Reds could hit 4 HRs on any random day
How is Mclain mistake Francona’s fault. Francona is a hall of fame manager. He made the right moves yesterday and it didn’t workout. Reds bullpen has been a strength all year and one bad game. Lastnight.
I get the frustrations, however let’s see where they are in a month from now.
Tito when asked said he thought McLain should have flipped it to EDLC rather than try for the tag.
Another article on signing Garrett Hampson. Signing him to a ML contract? Yikes
https://blogredmachine.com/reds-fans-furious-nick-krall-latest-front-office-faceplant?utm_campaign=FanSided+Daily&utm_source=FanSided+Daily&utm_medium=email&sc=c3a8b03aa4675c74ec4c35e25be58c93e3c61b5ef7e6fc8f70a8923b59647687
Yes but I liked the movie Dumb and Dumber and even like the second one but this one Dumb and Dumber 3 is well just over the top.This isn’t even little league or even T ball this is far worse.For a team that cries we ain’t got no money and even if they signed him for 50 bucks this puts us at the top of the list,if we weren’t already,as the laughing stock of MLB.
I’ve been critical of the Reds and Steer for playing hurt this year, and I still think it was stupid on both sides. Having said that he really is turning it around.
April Slash Line
.188/.270/.300
May Slash Line
.286/.337/.442
Hopefully that shoulder holds up because we need all of the offense that we can get.
He has rebounded nicely, almost like he’s healthy and trained for a full season of MLB now. However, I don’t blame a player for making himself available; I blame the front office and manager–it’s their job to put players in the best position to succeed. Steer’s March/April production was very predictable. Stephenson appears to have needed more time during his rehab as well.
Trade EDLC to Yanks for Lombard Jr., Jones, and Williams, who can be flipped at the deadline and allows Pagan to be traded while his stock is up.
This what I would do as a Reds executive. He is a better fan draw than player. Perfect for the Big Money teams.
JMB: Did a bit of research on your trade proposal. If that is all the Reds get in return for Elly that would be the largest fleecing in the history of baseball. Williams poor play resulted in him no longer the closer and was replaced by Luke Weaver and right now has very little value. The other two are ok’ish. Reds need to get a lot more back for a young, cost controlled for years, generational talent that is expected to be an all star most every year (except for so far this year). I looked over the Yankees players in both the majors and minors and they don’t have the players to match up to Elly’s value or that they would give up. However you bring up a good point. Starting to seriously consider trading Elly. Every year Reds fall apart like this is another wasted year of getting Elly on the cheap and the Reds certainly can not afford to do that.
I had the misfortune of being at last night’s debacle. Possibly the worst Reds game I ever attended and I have spent my entire life watching bad baseball.
I knew better when purchasing the tickets, but foolishly proceeded anyway. That is the story of my relationship with this franchise.
I didn’t attend a game after June last season and that is where it is headed again.
As sad as it sounds, I think last year’s team was better. How they managed to finish just 4 games under .500 I’ll never know.
Tito used his B relievers to get through innings 5 and 6 and he went with Gibault just back off the IL and another B team reliever to start the 7th after the Reds added on.Nothing wrong with the plan but it just didn’t work out.The Tiger has been excellent and it was mentioned on the game thread Tucker looked like he knew the slider was coming when he hit the two run single and then another slider on a tee for the grand slam.Biggest play was not getting the second out.The real issue for me is that right now the Cubs are hitting and with power and well we haven’t done that yet and may never this year.If and its a big if the Reds get Marte and CES back and healthy at third and first and Ty Steve MM and Steer healthy and hitting like we know they can our hitting and power is there.No way and I mean no way should we get out homered at home but we did to the tune of 4-0 but when you must play Espy and Lux plays and Joe plays and the back up catcher plays they bring no power at all and that’s what we see and have seen.To be honest wouldn’t you pitch around the other guys if they were hitting to pitch to these guys with the game on the line or when a homer gets you back in the game.Sure you would and thats where this team is at and will remain until guys return.One last thing and then I won’t bring up Hinds again.Its beyond me that Joe is signed and put right in the lineup ahead of Hinds or even Benson at any time for any reason regardless of who is on the mound.Power plays at GABP and you have to put as many power guys out there as possible.Hinds/Benson can also run and throw and now and I am done we sign the guy yesterday and how does he fit and where?TIto was be wondering what did I get myself into.He may still like going to the circus but every day?
Typical Reds organizational loss from the top down.
Half done, half right, half the time.
And that’s grading on the curve.
A glance at some of the help offered David Bell/Terry Francona since 2022
Mike Ford
Dominic Smith
Austin Slater
Bubba Thompson
Edwin Rios
Conner Capel
Wil Myers
Livan Soto
Eric Yang
Levi Jordan
JT Riddle
Taylor Motter
Ronnie Dawson
Colin Moran
Albert Almora
Jason Vosler
Hunter Renfroe
Nick Martini
Connor Joe
Henry Ramos from (Lance Mcalister X account).
Obviously, the list only includes those from 2022 until today. Now, had they went back one year, they would have had to include the amazing Asdrúbal Cabrera!
Also, don’t forget Ty France and the former cardinals outfielder, Harrison Bader. Oh also, Tony “I’ll slap your face” Pham.
Now that’s funny.Needed that one.Thanks
That’s the clearance rack for you.
If your going to cause the Reds fans on here additional pain and suffering you could have at least listed them in alphabetical order. ?
I think the most depressing aspect of this whole debacle known as the Cincinnati Reds is that we don’t have any real hope for improvement or change. There are no impact hitting prospects banging down the door to get on the Major League roster. The best we can hope for is CES and Marte to spark the team when they return, and for McLain, Steer, Lux, De La Cruz, and Stephenson to all improve closer to their ceilings. Expecting a bunch of young guys, most of whom have under two years of service time, to carry a team is poor management from the top of the organization down.
I would try to package Martinez, Rogers, and Pagan in the same deadline deal to get the best offensive player or prospect in return. Provided you could find a team willing to take on that much salary for a half season.
The Reds have some decent trading chips this summer, but I don’t trust Nick Krall to get the best return.
Nope but I can see him going all in on a BOGO deal soon though.I mean that’s all that left that he hasn’t done.Maybe just maybe he gets two Garrett Hampson’s for the price of one
When the Reds move Martinez, Rogers and Pagan that will give the Reds $40 million dollars most of which can be to reallocated to the offense.
I believe the focus this offseason must be “#gettheoffense”. It shouldn’t be focused on just the outfield. Get the best offensive players you can regardless of position, because other than Shortstop (and it’s even questionable) the Reds need offensive upgrades at every position.
So, if you can land a power hitting first baseman …do it. Do not again count on players like Steer, CES or Candelario. They are just not that good. The same for every other position except shortstop.
It’s time to recognize the rebuild has been a failure and move on.
+1million!
Steer has carried an OPS of .779 in May, or about 40 percent above league average. His season numbers will be weighed down by his March/April numbers all year which were badly affected by him logging just seven at bats in Spring Training.
Now, Stephenson was also limited in Spring Training, and McLain missed all of 2024. Perhaps there are some good reasons to hope that both will follow the pattern that Steer has and improve as the season progresses.
The exhibition team exhibited themselves to be an exhibition team.
Cubs are just a much better hitting team. Top to bottom our offense just isn’t nearly as good as theirs. Sad but true.
McLain and De La Cruz have not looked good. Injuries certainly haven’t helped but that’s a league wide issue.
It’s frustrating though with our pitching we don’t need the best offense but we are way too wildly inconsistent. Way too many shutouts offensively. That’s embarrassing.
Jason T: Then there is the “minor issue” and I blush to even bring it up but the Cubs team salary is close to 214M and the Reds team salary is about 140M. What could the Reds do with 70M more to spend?
Of course this “minor issue” is obvious and I blush to bring it up but they play in a much larger market. Clearly that affords them a much higher payroll. Plus their fans pack in Wrigley on a consistent basis. Again, more money, more payroll. Didn’t think that was the topic more so of expectations versus reality.
That doesn’t account for some of our highly touted younger talent, Cruz and McLain underperforming. I don’t think we were expecting that. Especially with a winning veteran manager at the helm.
That 70M would probably go for another boatload of prospects who need time to mature. I’m increasingly not sure that Nick Krall and this front office will be able to acquire consistent veteran offense which has been needed for the last few years since Castellanos and Winker both made the AllStar team. Good pitching also needs runners across the plate.
Jason T: Oh yes I know that you know and we all know that we are a small market team. Sorry I did come off a bit snarky as I re read it but did not mean to. However IMO team salary is very relevant. You have to spend money to make money and field teams that are not wildly inconsistent year after year and have competent back ups when the injuries happen.
Its clear that Tito likes Gibaut. Why? Dunno. Like him coming out of spring training…Tito got lambasted on opening day…used him wisely since. W/ a 4 run lead probably thought it safe.
Missed the McLain play that everyone calls bonehead. What was it, can’t see on Highlights or Condensed? I take it he tried to tag runner ?? Should have been out 2.
Tough luck on the blooper..a little shorter/longer…out 3.
Santillan normally a fireman…but not last night.
Monday morning quarterbacking, but I probably would have kept our foot on the Cubs neck and gone w/ the regular routine…Ashcraft 7, Santillian 8, and Pagan 9. Get that win. No guarantee we score any runs rest of the series.
The next 10 days should confirm or deny what a few of us have thought since spring training. That the Cubs built a better team over the off-season …even trading 3 top prospects. We go 2-4 in these 6 games with the Cubs and we are looking at 7-8 games back on June 1. That should be a strong enough data point for even the most optimistic to conclude we didn’t add the right pieces this winter and it is now sink or swim. Krall’s history here is not good as he tends to value the future more than the present and we are always building the farm and never the major team although we are now 3 years into this rebuild. We lost Castillo, Mahle, and Gray and added Steer, CES, and Marte/Arroyo. On one hand, we will have Krall’s history of not trading for the big bat, and on the other hand it will be pretty darn obvious and urgent that offensive help is needed to makeup 7-8 games on the Cubs.
On the other side of the coin if we go 4-2, then there is data that suggests we can makeup 4-5 games on the Cubs, especially if key injured pieces start returning. But please, no more of the Louisville crowd. That hasn’t worked and won’t work.
Reds could have had Tucker or Goldie at reasonable one year deals but opted to pay Martinez 21 mil.Could have added 10 more mil and got both of these players.I am not sure if the Reds had money to spend it would be spent wisely but I doubt we will ever find out.Good grief they just gave the new guy 900 k to sign with no minor league options.Can’t wait to see him and Joe and Espy and Lux on the field at the same time.May make a fortune if I could figure out who hits the first long ball.Please remind the front office where the Reds play or better yet just watch the games.
Found the ‘bonehead’ play by McLean on the MLB.TV Archive. I would disagree that it was bonehead. Unfortunate yes. McLean is charging the ball and the runner goes just in front of him. In retrospect, get the out at first but in that situation you’re also thinking keep the runner out of scoring position…and he’s right in front of you.
Then there is the ? of the runner being out of the baseline. Reading the rules on running out of baseline…baseline is established only after defensive player attempts to tag, then baseline is from the runners current position straight line to bag. Playing the archive footage and stopping it, it sure looks like the runner is just off the grass when McLain commits to tagging him. The runners next step is in the grass and if it is more than 3 feet in, he should be out. Boy it looks close to me. Judgement call by ref. Unfortunate. Followed by blooper. A game of inches.