http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs...cincinnati.com
http://hotstove.mlblogs.com/archives...n_taveras.html
So says John Fay and hot stove MLB blog....I guess we have our lead-off man now...
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http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs...cincinnati.com
http://hotstove.mlblogs.com/archives...n_taveras.html
So says John Fay and hot stove MLB blog....I guess we have our lead-off man now...
Here's the release:
CINCINNATI - Cincinnati Reds President of Baseball Operations and General Manager Walt Jocketty today announced the signing of free agent OF Willy Taveras to a two-year contract through the 2010 season.
"Willy Taveras fills two significant needs for our ball club, a speed base stealing threat at the top of the order and superior defense in center field," said Jockettty.
Taveras, 27, in 133 games last season for the Colorado Rockies hit .251 and led the Major Leagues with 68 stolen bases and a .907 stolen base percentage (68-for-75).
His .907 stolen base percentage in 2008 was the highest by a Major League player, with a minium of 60 stolen bases, since those statistics have been compiled (since 1920 in the American League, since 1951 in the National League). The previous stolen base percentage record of .896 was established by the Pirates' Tony Womack in 1997 (60-for-67).
"With the addition of Willy Taveras and Ramon Hernandez, along with Alex Gonzalez and Brandon Phillips, our defense substantially improves up the middle," said Jocketty.
Since 2005, Taveras leads the majors with 207 infield hits and ranks fifth in stolen bases with 168. In 2005 he won the The Sporting News' National League Rookie of the Year Award and finished second to Philadelphia's Ryan Howard in the BBWAA Rookie of the Year Award voting.
Comments (1) | Permanent Link
Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggggggggghhhhhhhh!!!!!
I am embarrassed to be a fan of this team. Time to exercise the opt out clause in my fan contract.
Mr. Dickerson, welcome to the party of underutilized talent. Brady Clark will show you to your seat.
But then again, who needs to actually win baseball games when you get guys who run really fast.
For Redzoners, you have your 2009 Whipping Boy as a replacement for the now departed Cory Patterson.
IMO, the Reds could have done worse and traded for the guy. A two year deal allows time for Stubbs to develop and eventually take over centerfield.
Now about that righthanded hitter for the middle of the order, Walt.....
Ruined my Christmas
Ugh.
Well...here's to 2010.
The Dominican Chuck Carr
okay so now we have the following...
1. Willy Taveras
2. Brandon Phillips
3. Joey Votto
4. LF please...
5. Jay Bruce
6. Edwin Encarnacion
7. Ramon Hernandez
8. Alex Gonzalez
Not bad if we can add a solid right handed bat for the 4 slot...
Take a deep breath everyone. Breathe in, breathe out. Pass the paper bag around if you like because when you wake up tomorrow this won't be like the old tv series, Dallas, and find out this was just a bad dream.
Do you really want a press release highlighting a record where the previously holder of the record was Tony Womack?
I guess I will withhold judgment until I see whether the $ amount is too high that Dickerson won't be able to replace him if he repeats 08 instead of 07. A plus to this is that at least they didn't trade anyone for him.
And there it is, the least suprsing deal ever.
Come on people.......really, who didn't see this coming? You had to see this coming back in November when the rumor was exposed that the Reds were talking to the Rockies about Taveras, Atkins and Torrealba. They had interest in all three players. Basically they got Taveras for cash without giving up a player.
If you can name me one free agent outfielder that we could have put in the leadoff spot, let me know. And while everyone is on the Chris Dickerson's band wagon, obviously the Reds front office isn't. And to annoint a player a starting job based on 100 ABs, that is risky IMO.
Taveras to me is the Omar Moreno of our generation. And Moreno was able to play centerfield and a few Pirates championship teams back in the 70s. When you get something for free and it only cost you cash, it isn't a horrible deal. Not great but not horrible either.