coachw513
08-01-2008, 01:33 AM
I decided to write you because I've already been told by Bob that losing isn't an option and that we are going to win, so that's about all I needed to hear from him...
I'm also not going to write to Dusty out of fear that at some point in the conversation the words "Corey Patterson", "CF" and "lead-off" will be used in the same sentance..quite honestly my health is not capable of handling such immediate stress...
So it's up to you Walt...see, I have faced increasing scrutiny and sarcasm related to my undaunted love for your Reds...nothing like 1 of my friends noting to me in June "Man, I would have thought you'd have given that team up a long time ago"...or maybe the joy of a family vacation with my wife's "people" only to be told: "I don't know a single Reds fan in the whole world except for you. It's not much fun, is it?"
Well, no it isn't...well documented earlier this week, this decade of futility may not be the worst in team history, but it's pretty darned awful...and when you consider it began with the anticipation of adding baseball's greatest player to a near playoff team, well how exactly did it go wrong???...
Well, I could start with some discussion about the lack of continuity among management, throw in some detailed analysis about draft pick success and the failures at trying to create a quality ML pitching staff...but I'm going to try and stay positive and talk about the chore from here...
I mean, there are days it feels a lot better around here...the young arms Volquez, Cueto, Thompson, Bailey, Burton...Bruce, Votto, Encarnacion, Phillips...it's a nice little core of guys for you to work around, yes???
Well, thanks for asking, I would like to offer some thoughts...
That Adam Dunn guy is really good...you mind getting off your butt and signing him to 4 years/65 million, WHILE ALSO GAINING UNDERSTANDING FROM BOB THAT OVERALL FRANCHISE PAYROLL WILL INCREASE 20 PERCENT PER YEAR THE NEXT 3 YEARS...first the Dunn part...Walt, I don't expect you to understand all the stats out there nowadays...I certainly don't...but I do understand this...if we score more runs (or allow less runs), we'll almost certainly win more games...even if we consider Dunn to be a hack in LF (and I think he's much improved) the guy is a run producing machine in a run-dysfunctional lineup (feel free to explain some of that to Dusty)...but some think that 15 million + to Dunn is too great a cost to our overall payroll...well, then Mr. "We Will Win" needs to trust his good buddy and cut loose a little more coin the next few years...
2. Trade Arroyo for value if possible...at 12 million next year, his greatest asset might well be his vacant contract allowing those 12 million to help in negotiations with CC, Sheets, et al...and signing 1 of those guys (or someone similar) is critical to the development and protection of the young arms of Volquez, Cueto, Bailey and Thompson.
3. What to trade for??...the list is fairly simple...we need a CF or RF that is a high OBP RH stick with a great defensive player...we need a primary catcher, one that would share time with David Ross (but hopefully be better than him)...we need 1 top of rotation starter and 1 more setup man
4.Make good decisions with the "chump change"...we don't need any more 3M for Patterson contracts...but giving the appropriate offer to Hairston JR. is important because he could play a role here long term if the money makes sense...I thnk we need to cut bait with Freel and Weathers, necessitating the need to find a quality young reserve OF who can bring some RH speed and defense to the mix, and 1 more quality established set up man, preferably one with high k%, high k/bb rates and low FB%....find a guy that misses bats, right??...oh and why we are at it, can we go find a realistic big bat off the bench...it really is embarassing (unless he's batter against Greg Maddux) to have Javier Valentin being our big bopper in late game PH situations...we can't pluck anyone out there to be better than that???
5.There would be nothing wrong with Affeldt (read cost-effective above), Lincoln, Bray, Burton and Cordero the essense of the pen...leaving 2 spots for the resurgent Majewski (just seeing if you were paying attention) and for that young guy Roenicke...do you mind getting him up here asap...let's see what he can do because he has the right arm for the job...
6. Speaking of the rest of the year, can you convince your buddy Dusty to put Chris Dickerson in his lineup 3-4 times a week to see what his skill set might bring to this team...we really do need a great defensive outfielder...Stubbs isn't ready yet, but maybe Dickerson can pull off a "garry maddox" look a like...speaking of defense, why not look at Brandon Phillips at SS for the rest of the season??...I think Phillips is GG-capable at both spots, but clearly SS is more important and would have a palpable effect on EE over at 3rd and with Dunn in left...with Griffey gone, Phillips clearly moves up the totem-pole in leadership...ok Brandon, time to show your teammates you are taking charge of your team...make us better!!...it will make Keppinger more suited defensively and additionally makes it easier for our promising prospects who don't project to SS but can be ML infielders..
7. So to try to summarize:
Sign Dunn...trade Arroyo (and other fungible parts-a Keppinger type or minor league positional prospects) for catching help or OF/leadoff help AND TO HELP in the payroll flexibility to go sign a franchise #1 starting pitcher...use trades and FA to find your leadoff hitter/defender, catcher, 2B (since Phillips is now our SS), and 1-2 more "miss bats" quality relievers...
Anyways, I just want to wear my Reds jerseys down here in Florida without folks laughing or smirking...I just want to turn on my Direct TV and get fired up about an actual pennant chase with a good baseball team...and I need it to be you to get it done, Walt...is this too much to ask???
Well, stay in touch and I'll be watching while my wife simply rolls her eyes:rolleyes: and reminds me we go through this angst every year...I guess I'm hopeful we can change that...
Right Walt??
I'm also not going to write to Dusty out of fear that at some point in the conversation the words "Corey Patterson", "CF" and "lead-off" will be used in the same sentance..quite honestly my health is not capable of handling such immediate stress...
So it's up to you Walt...see, I have faced increasing scrutiny and sarcasm related to my undaunted love for your Reds...nothing like 1 of my friends noting to me in June "Man, I would have thought you'd have given that team up a long time ago"...or maybe the joy of a family vacation with my wife's "people" only to be told: "I don't know a single Reds fan in the whole world except for you. It's not much fun, is it?"
Well, no it isn't...well documented earlier this week, this decade of futility may not be the worst in team history, but it's pretty darned awful...and when you consider it began with the anticipation of adding baseball's greatest player to a near playoff team, well how exactly did it go wrong???...
Well, I could start with some discussion about the lack of continuity among management, throw in some detailed analysis about draft pick success and the failures at trying to create a quality ML pitching staff...but I'm going to try and stay positive and talk about the chore from here...
I mean, there are days it feels a lot better around here...the young arms Volquez, Cueto, Thompson, Bailey, Burton...Bruce, Votto, Encarnacion, Phillips...it's a nice little core of guys for you to work around, yes???
Well, thanks for asking, I would like to offer some thoughts...
That Adam Dunn guy is really good...you mind getting off your butt and signing him to 4 years/65 million, WHILE ALSO GAINING UNDERSTANDING FROM BOB THAT OVERALL FRANCHISE PAYROLL WILL INCREASE 20 PERCENT PER YEAR THE NEXT 3 YEARS...first the Dunn part...Walt, I don't expect you to understand all the stats out there nowadays...I certainly don't...but I do understand this...if we score more runs (or allow less runs), we'll almost certainly win more games...even if we consider Dunn to be a hack in LF (and I think he's much improved) the guy is a run producing machine in a run-dysfunctional lineup (feel free to explain some of that to Dusty)...but some think that 15 million + to Dunn is too great a cost to our overall payroll...well, then Mr. "We Will Win" needs to trust his good buddy and cut loose a little more coin the next few years...
2. Trade Arroyo for value if possible...at 12 million next year, his greatest asset might well be his vacant contract allowing those 12 million to help in negotiations with CC, Sheets, et al...and signing 1 of those guys (or someone similar) is critical to the development and protection of the young arms of Volquez, Cueto, Bailey and Thompson.
3. What to trade for??...the list is fairly simple...we need a CF or RF that is a high OBP RH stick with a great defensive player...we need a primary catcher, one that would share time with David Ross (but hopefully be better than him)...we need 1 top of rotation starter and 1 more setup man
4.Make good decisions with the "chump change"...we don't need any more 3M for Patterson contracts...but giving the appropriate offer to Hairston JR. is important because he could play a role here long term if the money makes sense...I thnk we need to cut bait with Freel and Weathers, necessitating the need to find a quality young reserve OF who can bring some RH speed and defense to the mix, and 1 more quality established set up man, preferably one with high k%, high k/bb rates and low FB%....find a guy that misses bats, right??...oh and why we are at it, can we go find a realistic big bat off the bench...it really is embarassing (unless he's batter against Greg Maddux) to have Javier Valentin being our big bopper in late game PH situations...we can't pluck anyone out there to be better than that???
5.There would be nothing wrong with Affeldt (read cost-effective above), Lincoln, Bray, Burton and Cordero the essense of the pen...leaving 2 spots for the resurgent Majewski (just seeing if you were paying attention) and for that young guy Roenicke...do you mind getting him up here asap...let's see what he can do because he has the right arm for the job...
6. Speaking of the rest of the year, can you convince your buddy Dusty to put Chris Dickerson in his lineup 3-4 times a week to see what his skill set might bring to this team...we really do need a great defensive outfielder...Stubbs isn't ready yet, but maybe Dickerson can pull off a "garry maddox" look a like...speaking of defense, why not look at Brandon Phillips at SS for the rest of the season??...I think Phillips is GG-capable at both spots, but clearly SS is more important and would have a palpable effect on EE over at 3rd and with Dunn in left...with Griffey gone, Phillips clearly moves up the totem-pole in leadership...ok Brandon, time to show your teammates you are taking charge of your team...make us better!!...it will make Keppinger more suited defensively and additionally makes it easier for our promising prospects who don't project to SS but can be ML infielders..
7. So to try to summarize:
Sign Dunn...trade Arroyo (and other fungible parts-a Keppinger type or minor league positional prospects) for catching help or OF/leadoff help AND TO HELP in the payroll flexibility to go sign a franchise #1 starting pitcher...use trades and FA to find your leadoff hitter/defender, catcher, 2B (since Phillips is now our SS), and 1-2 more "miss bats" quality relievers...
Anyways, I just want to wear my Reds jerseys down here in Florida without folks laughing or smirking...I just want to turn on my Direct TV and get fired up about an actual pennant chase with a good baseball team...and I need it to be you to get it done, Walt...is this too much to ask???
Well, stay in touch and I'll be watching while my wife simply rolls her eyes:rolleyes: and reminds me we go through this angst every year...I guess I'm hopeful we can change that...
Right Walt??