Reds 2018 - We got what we got, now come to the park and get a bobblehead.

BULLPEN STATUS-

Well what did Uncle Bob get at the market? They picked up a couple of relievers on 2 year deals in David Hernandez (from AZ) and Jared Hughes (from Mil).

What does this mean? It gets some depth to the Reds bullpen which wore down last year with the starters not being able to amass innings. Some people see this that Michael Lorenzen could be given a shot at the rotation as these two guys could be the setup guy along with Wandy Peralta, who had a nice year out of the bullpen last year for the Reds.

Reds have a bunch of AAAA guys in Austin Brice, Kevin Shackelford, Cody Reed and possibly who ever loses in the rotation sweepstakes in spring training. Brice had some good innings last year. Shackelford is an older prospect, but he seemed to get better in the past year or two in the minors and was used with success as a closer. Shackelford gets a bit more movement in his hard stuff, he could get really good. He strikes out guys, but they hit him too.

Bullpen was the backbone of the staff last year, I think it could be pretty good again as Raisel Iglesias is probably the best pitcher the Reds got and he is their closer. Got to figure if it's not happening, the Reds could deal him for some stuff at mid-season as you could get a loaner +1 season setup in such a trade.

Cool Votto video...I got to think JV could be a star announcer if he wants after he retires.

https://www.facebook.com/Reds/videos/10156285000238760/

"You and I have something in common, they pay me to walk."

http://www.stadiumgiveawayexchange.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Cincinnati-Reds-Bob-Ross-Bobblehead-4-25-2018.jpg

lol joey clowning on the guy for telling him to pull the ball

i just saw that fiona bobblehead and i GASPED

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSSGuZnbBS2dlsdDKWws2BcW7-nn15Nat_e1_h1RS5swI4aNNB77w

The pigs fly one is kinda telling.

I kinda dig the rest, but the Chewbacca should have a jersey top on with #77.

i haven't seen nick senzel play. but he sounds like joey votto?

One of the toughest outs in the minors, Senzel combines a patient, discerning offensive approach with a simple swing, superlative hand-eye coordination, and bat control. He’s an opportunistic power hitter who has shown dramatic improvement at third base over the last two years (he was not good at 3B as a sophomore at Tennessee) and is working to expand his defensive resume to accelerate his timetable to Cincinnati with Eugenio Suarez currently occupying third. He’ll likely be up in 2018 and should make an offensive impact immediately.

https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/2018-top-100-prospects/

There is certainly quite a bit of hype around Senzel, there was quite a bit of comparison to Kris Bryant when he was drafted and last year. Don't think he will start the season in Cincy, but I think the plans are he will be there soon.

Suarez did play short, but I think since his defense has turned into a positive at third, they are loathe to change something that is working.

With Scooter G. coming out of nowhere having that big power year and the lingering injury to prospect Dilson Herrera who the Reds got for Jay Bruce, there is a bit of a log jam at second. Playing second has also been listed as a possibility for Senzel too.

Reds were pretty high on Jose Peraza and with Zach Cozart moving on, the shortstop job is his to lose.

Reds and Bryan Price are smart they may steal a page out of the Cubs book and use Senzel to move stuff around. Genette and Peraza have both played a bit of outfield.

If Senzel and Jesse Winker get the lineup and can get on base like they did in the minors, Reds are going to score some runs with Votto, Duvall and Suarez. They were a pretty good hitting club last year and could get even better.

follow-up question: is nick senzel 15?

https://i.imgur.com/gGKftjJ.png

did you all see this?

https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/an-interesting-and-bad-suggestion-for-billy-hamilton/
http://tangotiger.com/index.php/site/article/should-billy-hamilton-come-in-as-an-early-inning-pinch-runner-and-stay-in-t

it's an interesting idea, albeit one that will never, ever ever ever happen: never start hamilton. instead, wait until someone who isn't joey votto reaches base, then substitute hamilton in and keep him in the rest of the game. his added value on the bases is so incredibly high that it more than compensates for the various other factors in play, adding a grand total of 0.06 runs per game, on average.

tbf, i can't imagine any MLB team that would be willing to do try it. but the reds in particular would seem to be a bad fit, considering all of the controversy about joey votto's amazing ability to get on base (bet you guys are sick to death of hearing about that)

gabe kapler would do it. but it would take a special situation like the one he's in now -- new manager/young team/no overwhelming expectations

wow that is a really cool idea...

Reds fanbase is all tore up on Hamilton and his 'value' as a hitter. One thing I think that might not exactly show up in his defensive stats is not only did he save an out in the outfield, he saves extra base hits ALOT.

The reason the Reds have lost has been their pitching the past couple of years. They had about the worst rotation in baseball last year and had the worst bullpen in baseball the year before.

They scored runs last year and yes it is true with a few more base runners, they could score even more runs, but if they don't get that team ERA under 5 - there is not jack that is going to improve.

Don't know how much it is getting talked about in baseball circles, but the Reds pulling off an extension to Eugenio Suarez buying out his first four years of free agency is a big win. They have gotten Tucker Barnhart signed through his free agent years too. Suarez isn't Manny Machado, but he is pretty darn good and the Reds have him signed to budget for his peak. Tucker Barnhart seems to me to be ready to take the step to All Star Game at the plate to go with the glove. Those two and Votto is a pretty nice foundation to build the club for the next few years. It is a big win for the team.

It is kind of funny how the vultures are spinning over Bryan Price's head. He's on a last year of a deal coming off three bad years with low talent and now Cincy has hired John Ferrell in the front office scouting pitching. This is after Barry Larkin played with the idea of being the Reds manager in an interview. Jim Riggleman has also been bench coach for a year or so, ready for his step in moment.

there are dudes you want when you're rebuilding and dudes you want when you're ready to win. probably isn't much difference, but managers get stuck with labels just like players do

whenever the reds are ready to compete, bryan price won't be their manager. neither will jim riggleman. it'll probably be some young white ex-catcher who's never managed before, but farrell's won a world series so he at least has a shot

David Ross! Your next job is waiting for you if the price is right!

Reds will probably go as far as their rotation will carry them this year, which probably won't be far. That said, I got a feeling Cincy is going to score some runs and hit a fair bit of home runs. The Griffey/Dunn Reds were that way too, as they scored a lot of runs and lost a bunch of games.

REDS ROTATION:
Homer Bailey
Luis Castillo
Sal Romano
Tyler Mahle
Amir Garrett

DeSclafini is hurt and out for a couple of months. Brandon Finnegan could be back mid-April.

opening day...L 2-0 vs. Nationals.

Nice start by Homer Bailey. Seemed to get better as the game went on.

Scooter Genette had impressive game at the plate going 4-4.

Ex-Red factor - Zack Cozart went 3-6 with a dinger in first game with the Angels leading off and playing 3b.

Scherzer is a beast. Reds lineup struck out 14 times.

By the media coverage, it looks like everyone should be on a Bryan Price watch.

It has been an ugly start. When they get a good start, they don't hit. When they score a few runs, the pitching gives up way more. There have also been some miscues in the field and base paths, so there has been some ugly baseball.

3-17

Wow, it is really getting fugly. When you start talking about the worst start in club history and you have been playing since 1882, that says something (not good).

Not that anyone knows who the Red's GM might be, but the position has been changed.

Welcome Nick, you are the next contestant to try to live Burt Reynolds on a Mac Davis budget.

https://redlegnation.com/2018/05/10/reds-promote-nick-krall-to-gm-position/

5-2 on a west coast trip to LA and SF is usually a good sign for most Reds clubs, but with the April start, it is a bit more tempered. Usually the west coast sojourn is where many a Cincy season has gone to die.

Got to say, while Adam Duvall hasn't been hitting much since last year at the all-star break, he seems to save his big games for his former team the Giants.

I realize Jon Lester sucks at hitting but intentionally walking the .233 average Ian Happ three times (so far) is an interesting strategy.

They just did it with one out, I guess to set up the double play, but Lester just sac bunted, bringing in another run. Should've probably just pitched to Happ and Lester.

can't believe you're accusing jim riggleman of poor tactics

dang he LOVES the IBB

I got to figure that the Reds winning on a Billy Hamilton walk off walk is a pretty obscure thing to happen.

Thinking about how terrible the Reds have been his year is leading me to remember the worst team in Reds history in my memory, the 1982 Reds which went 61-101. I saw a couple games that year and was at peak baseball card nurddom. Big contrasts in style of play of that era and now.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/CIN/1982.shtml

Current 2018 Reds are 22-41 (on pace for 57-105 yikes!)...maybe the worst Reds team ever if this happens or at least since the 1930s.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/CIN/2018.shtml

Hard to believe the Reds team ERA is actually improved at 5.01 over 5.18 last year. It still has to be the worst rotation in the National League and I don't think it is even close.

82 reds at least had (a little bit of) gary redus

i mean joey votto is pretty cool, but he's no gary redus. joey votto never hit .462/.559/.787 (while stealing 42 bases!) in any professional league

also mario soto was legit good

Mario Soto is one of the best pitchers in Reds history and he pitched on some bad clubs. Like many great Reds pitchers, he also got hurt and it slowed his career.

Their rotation and bullpen was not very deep and they did not score all that many runs, which is why they were bad.

Redus got to the bigs a bit late for that day at age 25. Reds had hyped him to the fans going back to the late 70s. He had a long career though, still playing at age 38.

https://78.media.tumblr.com/6ce69340abe28b0c86158349c8366299/tumblr_p92dmkKdrp1vyppq9o2_500.jpg

KLU

Don't know if I have posted this here, but this is a good article about Klu's days at Indiana.

https://247sports.com/college/indiana/Article/The-Legend-of-Ted-Kluszewski-140317

The one long home run they describe is just a monster shot if you have ever been in that part of IU's campus.

Big Klu was also the hitting coach for the Big Red Machine.

Klu did not draw the walks like Votto, but for a guy with that much power, he did not strike out all that much and he was a career .298 hitter.

votto is 0-0 with 4 walks in 6 innings so far

RIP marty brennaman

Oh there has been howling about Votto going 18 games without an RBI. He hit something like .340 during the streak that ended, but not exactly pointing out that Duvall and Hamilton are still not even hitting their weight (well maybe Billy is)...

Going back to LaRussa, the Cardinals were not afraid to pitch around Votto and make one of the other Reds beat them.

Carlos Martinez seemed determined to pitch around everyone today, intentionally or not

La Russa otm, choose your outs.

lookin' at Scooter

https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-evolution-of-scooter-gennett-power-hitter/

I think Scooter's hitting really muddied up what Reds want to do with him.

Oh. My. God. "In 2008, a local columnist advocated for the Reds to trade Votto, Cueto, and Bailey for Joe Blanton" https://t.co/gf26hpS7II via @OldTakesExposed

— keithlaw (@keithlaw) June 14, 2018

Cool picture of a very young Scooter Gennette meeting Ken Griffey Sr.

https://scontent-ort2-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/36284776_10156633035963760_9122644243330891776_n.jpg?_nc_cat=0&oh=04fc8f4de4486368ad727604be56e5c1&oe=5BE4B09A

Well that was pretty fun.

One interesting thing about Reds history is that they have had a relative continuity at short stop with quite a few players playing multiple seasons as starter.

Starting in 1951 to 2018, 67 years - 6 guys have 59 years of that time...

Roy McMillan 10 years starter
Leo Cardinas 8 years starter
Dave Concepcion 16 years starter
Barry Larkin 18 years starter
Zach Cozart 6 year starter
Jose Peraza 1 year starter (current)

McMillan to Larkin was pretty much consecutive with one year of Kurt Stillwell. The Reds had a couple single seasons at shortstop by vets like Tony Fernandez and Orlando Cabrera too.

Peraza has had a nice season thus far, I think the plan is for him to win the job and be there for a few more years. We will see.

https://www.si.com/mlb/2018/07/05/johnny-bench-cincinnati-reds

Nice profile on Johnny Bench from SI this week.

Might be a year or two away, but quite a bit of Reds fan writing seems to be on this guy Taylor Trammell. He clubbed this pitch. Word is that he is very impressive with the glove in centerfield too.

https://www.facebook.com/Reds/videos/10156681376553760/

The Reds are not a very good team, but they have definitely played some weird and wild games this year.

This first start near 'no no' and then Bud meltdown in the ninth with the Cards last night was a strange one.

indeed. and this is a really, REALLY weird game, tonight

It's nice to see someone with Suarez that can get big hits against the Cardinals, someone has got to get the hit as you know they are going to avoid Votto.

BP used to be one guy that hit the Cardinals pretty well. Jay Bruce not so much.

btw the Reds' TV team said that the alarms have gone off before games "a lotta times."

what the HELL is a Joey Votto "funko pop"?

Funko pops are pretty weird collectibles, some people are mad about them.

I've ended up with a couple Reds bobbleheads (Sean Casey & George Foster).

https://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/16df25209ea90a65bf63d028ad6e4fc155e9953c/c=129-0-895-576/local/-/media/2018/02/12/Cincinnati/Cincinnati/636540261575819599-vottofunko.jpg?width=534&height=401&fit=crop

Morbs I’m truly dismayed that you have to learn about Funko Pops now, I’m real sorry

does the head pop off? then i'd like a Marty Brenneman

"Harvey, 29, is making $5.625 million this season, though the Mets assumed the remainder of Harvey's salary when they traded him for Devin Mesoraco in early May."

Aha...I did not catch this point when the trade was made before. Basically, the Reds got to save Mesoraco's salary and get a starting pitcher for free.

Even if they don't get much for Harvey, still pretty good deal. It's not like pretty much any of the AAA prospects the Reds have like Robert Stephenson, Cody Reed, Brandon Finnegan, etc can throw strikes with any regularity.

I'm kinda thinking the Reds really might truly want to consider giving Lorenzen some time in the outfield and just start using him as a sub when it's his off day.

The dude has got some power.

Michael Lorenzen was also a CF in college at Cal Fullerton and was considered a prospect that could have gone either way as an outfielder or pitcher.

I think Lorenzen has game and the Reds might as well use him that way. They have been using him as a pinch hitter quite a bit.

gotta say it's pretty amusing how the Reds keep ending up with these weirdo outlier players like Billy Hamilton and Aroldis Chapman, and now Lorenzen. what do they have to lose by giving him time in the outfield?

Seems the Reds manager's job is going into the second round of interviews. These appear to be the last three.

Brad Ausmus -- don't know much about him, but I got to think this would be the 'old school' type hire,no?
Rocco Baldelli -- local press said his interview went very well and the idea of someone who came up in the Tampa setup would work well for the Reds being a similar market club. I'd say this is the 'new school' type hire.
David Bell -- this one has the added bonus of being a legacy hire for the club since his grandfather and dad played for the Reds. These kind of historical lines things have been a big part of the 'story of the franchise'. I think kinda likely, except I think other clubs are going to want to hire him and the Reds probably don't want to pay big dollar.

I really wish Eddie Pérez would get a shot somewhere, but he seems to have vanished in the last year.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DqN7G41WsAAV6F_.jpg:small

no goggles, no credibility

We might have the next weirdo outlier player for the Reds here...too bad they cannot go together like Voltron to make some super player.

https://redlegnation.com/2018/11/14/tj-friedl-the-bunt-king/

Looking at the Reds 40 man, this looks like a possible roster prediction for opening day.

1 1b Joey Votto
2 2b Scooter Gennette
3 ss Jose Peraza
4 3b Eugenio Suarez
5 lf Matt Kemp
6 cf Yasiel Puig
7 rf Scott Schebler
8 c Tucker Barnhart
9 util Alex Blandino
10 c Curt Casali
11 of Jesse Winker
12 of Philip Ervin
13 ? ?
13 1 Anthony DeSclafani
14 2 Alex Wood
15 3 Tanner Roark
16 4 Luis Castillo
17 5 Tyler Mahle

18 6 Raisel Iglesias
19 7 Michael Lorenzen
20 8 Jared Hughes
21 9 David Hernandez
22 10 Amir Garrett
23 11 Sal Romano
24 12 Brandon Finnegan / Wandy Peralta

they could be really good if the pitching is decent. the hitting looks fearsome

I guess if you plug in Wood and Roark's numbers from last year in place for the bottom of the Reds rotation from last year (like Homer etc.) - you would expect to see a 10 game improvement.

That's a .500 ball club...

If Garrett and Romano take a step up while in the pen and the others can stay healthy and productive, that could be a wicked good bullpen.

They don't have a true CF. Ervin plays there but he is sloppy in the field. Schebler has played a bit there and some speculate that Puig could do ok out there.

I think the thing with Kemp is to be judicious in using him. I think to maximize what they got, I wouldn't play him every day and I would use him as a split player at times. The more he plays, especially in the field, he will get hurt.

I still could see the Reds making another deal. They got the pitching depth that they could flip Iglesias for a center fielder. They could possibly add in Kemp for a AL DH setup.

Nick Senzel is the X factor player, some have speculated he could be in the CF mix too. I don't know, I'm leary of a player that has issues with vertigo. Hopefully he can stay healthy.

I think for Senzel to get to the bigs, it would be good if Scooter was moved on, so he could play a more natural position.

Got to go with good news when you can get it.

https://www.mlb.com/news/inbox-ranking-nl-central-teams-top-prospects/c-302315802

Jonathan Mayo

I've listed the top five for each organization, ranked by how I would line them up.

1. Reds: Nick Senzel, Taylor Trammell, Hunter Greene, Jonathan India, Tony Santillan
2. Pirates: Mitch Keller, Ke'Bryan Hayes, Travis Swaggerty, Oneil Cruz, Cole Tucker
3. Cardinals: Alex Reyes, Nolan Gorman, Dakota Hudson, Ryan Helsley, Andrew Knizner
4. Brewers: Keston Hiura, Corey Ray, Brice Turang, Lucas Erceg, Tristen Lutz
5. Cubs: Miguel Amaya, Adbert Alzolay, Alex Lange, Brailyn Marquez, Aramis Ademan

It's close at the top for me, but the Reds currently have four guys on the Top 100, while the Pirates have just three. The Senzel-Trammell-Greene trio, all in the top 25 overall, is tough to beat, as good as Keller and Hayes are at the top of the Pirates' list. If Reyes comes back healthy in 2019, he and Gorman make for a formidable 1-2 punch on the Cardinals' list, though Reyes will also graduate the second he records a big league out. (He is at 50 IP for his career, and we graduate prospects once they get past that rookie-eligible threshold.)