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jfleur87
06-09-2006, 06:23 PM
By John Kruk, ESPN
Right now the Reds are one of the hottest teams in baseball, and it's extremely hard to pinpoint why that is after poring over their stats. They are one of the worst defensive teams in the league, they don't pitch particularly well and they strike out too much. That isn't the normal recipe for success in baseball.
Somehow this team has been able to thrive without any of the normal ingredients for a great season. The Reds have a lot of power in their lineup and can hit the ball out of the park from anywhere in their lineup. Heck, even Bronson Arroyo has a couple dingers this season. Cincy's pitching staff understands what it needs to do to win games. They know they can give up five runs and still get a W because the offense is capable of putting up eight or nine runs.

This team plays with confidence. Every time they step on the field, they believe they are going to win. They smartly imported a couple of veterans who'd been in winning situations before, such as Rich Aurilia, Scott Hatteberg and Eric Milton. Those are guys who've been in the playoffs and know what sacrifices it takes to get there.

If this team keeps up its unorthodox, winning ways, we could see those three veterans in another postseason series.



- I have never liked John Kruk very much, only Harold from the baseball tonight crew seems like he should be there, but hey, they are finally starting to talk about the reds

vaticanplum
06-09-2006, 06:27 PM
This team plays with confidence. Every time they step on the field, they believe they are going to win. They smartly imported a couple of veterans who'd been in winning situations before, such as Rich Aurilia, Scott Hatteberg and Eric Milton. Those are guys who've been in the playoffs and know what sacrifices it takes to get there.


He did not just say that. Oh my lord.

I suppose the Reds' pitching thus far this season is slightly underrated. Oh my lord, did I just say that? Maybe the apocalypse did happen the other day.

westofyou
06-09-2006, 06:29 PM
I'm de-evolving just from reading that.

savafan
06-09-2006, 06:37 PM
Has Kruk looked at the team ERA? Does he even know how to spell ERA?

RedLegSuperStar
06-09-2006, 06:39 PM
By John Kruk, ESPN
Right now the Reds are one of the hottest teams in baseball, and it's extremely hard to pinpoint why that is after poring over their stats. They are one of the worst defensive teams in the league, they don't pitch particularly well and they strike out too much. That isn't the normal recipe for success in baseball.
Somehow this team has been able to thrive without any of the normal ingredients for a great season. The Reds have a lot of power in their lineup and can hit the ball out of the park from anywhere in their lineup. Heck, even Bronson Arroyo has a couple dingers this season. Cincy's pitching staff understands what it needs to do to win games. They know they can give up five runs and still get a W because the offense is capable of putting up eight or nine runs.

This team plays with confidence. Every time they step on the field, they believe they are going to win. They smartly imported a couple of veterans who'd been in winning situations before, such as Rich Aurilia, Scott Hatteberg and Eric Milton. Those are guys who've been in the playoffs and know what sacrifices it takes to get there.

If this team keeps up its unorthodox, winning ways, we could see those three veterans in another postseason series.



- I have never liked John Kruk very much, only Harold from the baseball tonight crew seems like he should be there, but hey, they are finally starting to talk about the reds

Seems Kruk only reads into one part of the team. The Reds have the 2nd best starting pitching ERA at 4.14 and also to continue with his offensive speel. The Reds had the best offensive team in the majors last year and finished below .500 For the first time in a long time the pitching is carrying this team.. and that shouldn't be fussed about.

pedro
06-09-2006, 06:43 PM
thus was born the term "what a load of kruk"

OnBaseMachine
06-09-2006, 06:49 PM
and they strike out too much.

:laugh: :laugh:

Just like the 2005 Reds (most runs scored in NL) and 2004 Boston Red Sox(led majors in runs scored, 1st in AL in K's.)

MrCinatit
06-09-2006, 07:53 PM
My heart stopped.
I read "John Kruk On Reds" - I thought Wayne had lost it and signed a "seasoned veteran who knows how to win".

Phhhl
06-09-2006, 07:56 PM
thus was born the term "what a load of kruk"

That is very, very good. I might start using that.

MartyFan
06-09-2006, 08:01 PM
What I think Mr. Kruk is trying to say is that The Reds are Scrappy and have a few guys on the team who know how to play the game the right way....thus he is an idiot.

kyred14
06-09-2006, 08:37 PM
My head hurts.

He could have just said that they score more than the other team does. That would have been better.

IslandRed
06-09-2006, 08:41 PM
Two of those three guys Kruk named were imported last year, and fat lot of good their veteran scrappiness did us then.

But giving credit where it's due, those three are helping the Reds win ballgames this year.

Elam
06-09-2006, 09:01 PM
Kruk trying to understand stats :lol: :lol: :lol: !

TeamBoone
06-09-2006, 09:35 PM
By John Kruk, ESPN
- I have never liked John Kruk very much, only Harold from the baseball tonight crew seems like he should be there, but hey, they are finally starting to talk about the reds

Yeah, but they're certainly not very flattering.

He said the team can't pitch... gee, wonder if he's looked at the stats lately.

He said the pitching staff knows it can give up runs because the offense will make up for it. Has he looked at how many games the Reds have won by 3 runs or less?

Yeah, they're talking about the Reds, but just about everything out of Kruk's mouth is ignorant because he's too lazy to do his homework.

Tony Cloninger
06-10-2006, 12:04 AM
It's like someone told him....the Reds are in first.... write something about them and fast.

And then he basically admits he is having a hard time finding anything good to say about them.

He is baseball's version of John Madden...... the past your prime John Madden, not the 80's John Madden. We got bad pitching here....bad defense there.......BOOM.. then we have homers..... BOOM....and then you got your veterans over here.....spitting and chewing and grabbing themselves...leading by example.

At least Orestes Destrade... spells it out better. He talks about them needing some relief help. Buster Olney talked about possible available pitchers like Roberto Hernandez ( 2.30 ERA in PITT)..... 2 others i cannot remember the names. BUT at least they offered something better.... than Phi Betta Kappa Kruk.

TeamBoone
06-10-2006, 12:12 AM
Orestes Destrades... he's the one that said the Reds are the real deal and will be in it for the long haul. He defended his stance well to the two others who did not agree.

Question though... who the heck is he? I've never heard of him.

Tony Cloninger
06-10-2006, 12:16 AM
He was signed by the Florida Marlins from japan right before their first year in the leauge. He was their starting 1st baseman for the first few years. Not a real popular player with the fans.....they expected more.

Think Dan Driessen from 1978-1980.....minus the walks and way more strikeouts.

westofyou
06-10-2006, 12:16 AM
Orestes Destrades... he's the one that said the Reds are the real deal and will be in it for the long haul. He defended his stance well to the two others who did not agree.

Question though... who the heck is he? I've never heard of him.
He played 1st base, was a star in Japan and came back to be the Marlins initial first baseman in their 1st season.

He crashed and burned.

OldRightHander
06-10-2006, 12:18 AM
Orestes Destrades... he's the one that said the Reds are the real deal and will be in it for the long haul. He defended his stance well to the two others who did not agree.

Question though... who the heck is he? I've never heard of him.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/d/destror01.shtml

He's also on XM in the mornings with the Baseball This Morning show they have on there. He's on there with Mark Patrick and Buck Martinez. He seems like a fairly sensible fellow.

Ltlabner
06-10-2006, 08:58 AM
Right now the Reds are one of the hottest teams in baseball, and it's extremely hard to pinpoint why that is after poring over their stats.

What the editor removed from the story so it never made it to print was the rest of that sentence.....

....it's extremely hard to pinpoint why that is after poring over their stats, because I have no idea in $&*@$ what any of that gibberish means. It's all a bunch of numbers, and % signs and abreviations. I mean, whoever heard of the word "era" in baseball. I thought "era" was a period of time. And "OPB"...I thought that was a rap song from a few years back. It's all greek to me. Speaking of Greece, did you know that dougnuts were first made in grease...yuuuummmmm..doughnuts......They are one of the worst defensive teams in the league......

TeamBoone
06-10-2006, 10:32 AM
After poring over the stats he should have a pretty good idea of why the Reds are winning, and he should be able to identify their weak spots as well. Obviously, he was looking at the right ones or more likely, doesn't know which ones to look at.

Now, I don't get deep into the fancier stats, but even I have the basic ability to pick out which ones give me a good enough overview and comparison to other teams to decipher what's being done well and what isn't.

Good grief... and this guy gets paid to do this (and probably is paid quite well I might add).

realreds1
06-10-2006, 11:03 AM
Kruk was the same guy who retired in the middle of a game in 1995. He retired after a base hit that raised his career batting average to .300. He said that's how he wanted to go out... keep that in mind. :p:

TeamBoone
06-10-2006, 11:45 AM
Kruk was the same guy who retired in the middle of a game in 1995. He retired after a base hit that raised his career batting average to .300. He said that's how he wanted to go out... keep that in mind. :p:

The sad part is that ESPN hired him.

Steve4192
06-10-2006, 11:46 AM
Has Kruk looked at the team ERA?

Probably not. But I bet did look in the 'runs against' column, where the Reds rank in the bottom half of the National League.

ERA is all well and good, but it doesn't tell the whole story. Sure, the Reds pitching staff has been victimized by some shoddy defense, but they have to bear some responsibility for imploding after a defensive error. The truth is, the Reds are well below average when it comes to preventing their opponents from crossing the plate. The pitching staff's pretty ERA is something of a mirage.

TeamBoone
06-10-2006, 11:51 AM
Probably not. But I bet did look in the 'runs against' column, where the Reds rank in the bottom half of the National League.

ERA is all well and good, but it doesn't tell the whole story. Sure, the Reds pitching staff has been victimized by some shoddy defense, but they have to bear some responsibility for imploding after a defensive error. The truth is, the Reds are well below average when it comes to preventing their opponents from crossing the plate. The pitching staff's pretty ERA is something of a mirage.

Any stat in isolation does not tell one anything. But if you pick and choose, you can get a fairly accurate overview with just a glance.

Steve4192
06-10-2006, 12:18 PM
Any stat in isolation does not tell one anything. But if you pick and choose, you can get a fairly accurate overview with just a glance.
Absolutely true.

But if I were forced to choose only two stats to explain a team's performance, I would choose 'runs scored' and 'runs allowed'. Every other newfangled metric out there is, in one way or another, trying to determine the components of those two basic aggregate statistics. Some (like OPS, RC/27) do a great job of sorting out the components, but others (like BA, ERA) are far from perfect. When in doubt, go back to the basics ... and the basics say that the Reds aren't very good at preventing runs.

westofyou
06-10-2006, 12:43 PM
and the basics say that the Reds aren't very good at preventing runs.Yep, minus 3 on 6-1 and now plus 28, a 5 game skid can replace that spread in the blink of an eye. 47% of the Reds games have seen the Reds give up 5 runs or more.

Yachtzee
06-10-2006, 01:49 PM
I'm de-evolving just from reading that.

We are Devo.

http://fusionanomaly.net/devoarewenotmenwearedevo.jpg

Jr's Boy
06-11-2006, 10:30 PM
Probably not. But I bet did look in the 'runs against' column, where the Reds rank in the bottom half of the National League.

ERA is all well and good, but it doesn't tell the whole story. Sure, the Reds pitching staff has been victimized by some shoddy defense, but they have to bear some responsibility for imploding after a defensive error. The truth is, the Reds are well below average when it comes to preventing their opponents from crossing the plate. The pitching staff's pretty ERA is something of a mirage.
Nah it's all done with mirrors.

15fan
06-11-2006, 10:34 PM
He played 1st base, was a star in Japan and came back to be the Marlins initial first baseman in their 1st season.

He crashed and burned.

I watched him play regularly with the Columbus Clippers in the mid-80s.

Think he was the team's "big name" after Mattingly and before Jay Buhner.

What memories...

Heath
06-11-2006, 11:15 PM
Orestes Destrade seems like he graduated from high honors from the Craig James Broadcasting School. I'm looking to see what he can do as an analyst, instead of Baseball tonight fodder.

John Kruk was let go from the BDSPP drivel on Fox. Maybe he was in the trade for Ron Dibble.

By John Kruk is a misnomer - should have read By John Kruk as read to Trey Wingo.

Heath
06-12-2006, 09:13 AM
We are Devo.

http://fusionanomaly.net/devoarewenotmenwearedevo.jpg

Just WHIP it......

RichRed
06-12-2006, 01:13 PM
Has Kruk looked at the team ERA? Does he even know how to spell ERA?

Or OPS? (Here's a hint, Krukkie, it starts with O-P).

I heard he and Ravech talking about how it basically didn't make sense that they were scoring so many runs. In other words, how do they score so much with such a low BA and BA w/RISP?

How about checking out OPS, in which they rank 2nd in the NL, only .003 behind the Dodgers. He must have missed that one when he was "poring over the stats."

It continues to amaze me (I know, I know, I shouldn't be surprised) how little grasp the pinheads on Baseball Tonight have over this stuff, especially given that those pesky little stats are available on the web site of the very company they work for.

TeamBoone
06-12-2006, 04:27 PM
You'd think the powers that be at ESPN would realize that he not only makes himself look stupid, but them as well.

Heath
06-13-2006, 10:54 AM
You'd think the powers that be at ESPN would realize that he not only makes himself look stupid, but them as well.

That's the Krukie MO. And ESPN is paying him well to do it.

blumj
06-13-2006, 11:25 AM
ESPN has proven many times over that looking stupid doesn't bother them. And why should it? The "E" in ESPN stands for Entertainment, the "N" does NOT stand for News. They're the sports version of E Entertainment Television, not CNN. If you want ESPN to be more than that, you're expecting them to be something they're not, although there are occasions when they do pretend to be. John Kruk is an entertaining personality, intelligent analysis is outside his area of expertise, and there's no reason to expect it of him.

smith288
06-13-2006, 11:41 AM
http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/320000/images/_321481_jabbathehutt150.jpg

Found a pic of Kruk sunbathing...not pretty.