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c- Hannigan 1) Stubbs
1B- Votto 2) Phillips
2B- Frazier 3) Votto
3B- Rolen 4) Bay or Holliday
SS- Phillips 5) Rolen
LF- Bay or Holliday 6) Bruce
CF- Stubbs 7) Frazier
RF- Bruce 8) Hannigan
Thats a good lineup.
SP- Cueto
SP- Harang
SP- Bedard or FA starter
SP- Bailey
SP- Owings
CL- Cordero
R- Masset
R- Burton
L- Rhodes
L- Bray
R- FA or minoe league guy
R- same ^
I'd love to have Holliday, but by what means do we pick him or Bay up ?
We don't.Quote:
Originally Posted by BigPoppa
Probably safe to pencil in Gomes at that spot.
Exactly right...Why would either of the two want to leave the "baseball heaven" (Boston/St Louis) they are currently in to come to 15 yrs of losing???Quote:
Originally Posted by BigPoppa
Sometimes we lose sight of the idea that free agents are "free" to choose where they want to go and right now Cincinnati might be a tough sell...
I said last year I wanted the Reds to trade for Bay....I think he's the guy they needed. I don't think you'll see either him or Holliday hit the market though, they'll both be extended.
What happened to Arroyo? Did the Reds find somone to take his contract?
One thing I am willing to bet on, is at this time next year there will be a thread titled 2011 Reds :D
Well, money is an issue for this franchise that you have to take into consideration. They have 3 albotrol contracts( 4 if you count Rolen, but I don't want to get into that.) Those 3 are Harang, Arroyo and Cordero. At least one has to be moved to allow salary relief. Considering you are already down one starter, Volquez, I wouldn't imagine one of the two starters would be moved, so that leaves Cordero. Now, since he has a high salary and 2 years remaining, I wouldn't imagine he brings much if anything back.
Bruce is a huge key. Going into next year, he HAS to hit. No ifs, ands or buts. He has to hit for this team to make any movement next year. He, Votto and Phillips can be an effective middle of the order tandom.
The two areas that will have to be addressed by going outside of the organization, is shortstop and leadoff hitter. All along, I have thought that top of the order hitters is much more of a need for this club than middle of the order hitters. Dickerson could be an ok guy, at least against lefties. So maybe they could slot Stubbs in there or bring in a decent vet to hit against lefties. That still means they need a shortstop.
Because of the large contracts for Harang and Arroyo, I believe they will be here in 2010. Cordero could be gone. I look at our pitching staff, and because our offense is, at this time, the worst in the majors, there is an ENORMOUS
amount of pressure on the pitchers to be nearly perfect. Just think how you go about your daily lives and consider how you do under EXTREME PRESSURE. Yes, all of the starters have had bad games, but they all have had good games where they have lost because of the inept offense. It is the offense that has taken us down, not the pitching. Except for the Phillies game (22-1), most of our games have not been blowouts, but winnable games if our offense had shown up. Look at the past few years...Unless we got home runs, most of the time we lost. We haven't been able to manufacture runs for several years. With Dunn, Griffey, Kearns, and others capable of the long ball gone, you would have thought our home run production would be down. It may be down in total numbers, but we are still depending on it to score. We rank near last in EVERY offensive category except home runs. WE MUST LEARN HOW TO MANUFACTURE RUNS. Hitting home runs is NOT going to get us on the way to contention.
Another note to the above... Look at the Dodgers this year. They are near the bottom in home runs, but they have the best record in baseball.
If we've got Dusty at the helm next year, the only way we field a successful team is if we grab Ichiro to lead off.
Another tidbit... AOL Fanhouse just released its newest MLB power rankings. The Reds are DEAD LAST. Even below the Padres and Nationals.
It's worse than that. From this article:Quote:
Originally Posted by BigKlu
The Reds owe six players a combined $57.25 million for 2010 – Francisco Cordero ($12 million), Aaron Harang ($12.5 million), Bronson Arroyo ($11 million), Rolen ($11 million), Phillips ($6.75 million) and Willy Taveras ($4 million).
This year’s Opening Day payroll was $73.5 million.
I think part of this thread is unrealistic. There is very little chance of the Reds signing either Holiday or Bay. there will be a lot of competion for next year's outfield, but in reality unless leadership changes Taveras will be in center and Bruce in right. That leaves Nix, Gomes, Balentien, Dickerson, Stubbs, Heisey and McDonald fighting for left.
I personally would like to see Dickerson in center because outside of speed and it isn't much he is a better player than Taveras. I think mcdoanld might even be better. I'm not sure about Stubbs and Heisey yet. I am intrigued by Balentien.
I know it won't happen, but I would like to see a line-up like this.
Phillips 2b
Dickerson CF
Votto 1b
Rolen 3b
Bruce RF
Balentien LF
Sutton SS
Hanigan C
Yeah why would we even talk about getting Holliday or Bay? I think flash's lineup looks the most realistic to me. Unfortunately I do not see that lineup doing a whole heck of a lot