I had some random Reds thoughts

It doesn't happen that often anymore and where else am I going to post them?

- I always figured Brandon Phillips would hit .300 at least once in his career. Call it the Mariano Duncan Theory (though Duncan did it twice). This could be that year.

- Jay Bruce is going to win an MVP award one of these years. He's pretty damn good right now.

- The Reds have a number of players and pitchers who overcame some major struggles/flaws on their way up the ladder. It's really a testament to the developmental folks. It's also a sign that Tim Naehring is long gone.

- One thought related to that: If the Reds are doing a good job of turning raw talents into players, then emphasize tools in the draft.

- Second thought related to that: The Yorman Rodriguez Project is still in its early days.

- What's the ETA on Brad Boxberger? Got to be soon. He's ridiculous in AA.

- And Josh Smith? Whoa. Best 20th round pick ever.

- I don't care what a team like the Reds theoretically should pay its closer, Francisco Cordero has done his job like a pro since he arrived. He's 3rd all-time in franchise history in saves and he'll probably have four of the top 10 single season saves totals in franchise history after this season concludes. I hope people have had the good sense to enjoy him.

- Jose Reyes may be on the market very soon ... I'm just saying.

- With the caveat that you should always worry about your starting pitching, I wouldn't worry overly much about the starting pitching. It's early and there's enough options in the majors and AAA for it to sort itself out.

- Joey Votto is quite a bit better than Albert Pujols at this moment in time.

- Has anybody calculated the Reds' record with and without Scott Rolen the past three seasons? I bet the difference is striking.

Nice post, M2. I was just wondering a few days ago where you had been.

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Originally Posted by M2

- I don't care what a team like the Reds theoretically should pay its closer, Francisco Cordero has done his job like a pro since he arrived. He's 3rd all-time in franchise history in saves and he'll probably have four of the top 10 single season saves totals in franchise history after this season concludes. I hope people have had the good sense to enjoy him.

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I'm not sure if it was going through Krivsky's mind when he signed Cordero, but I think one of the reasons you have to not worry about whether the Reds "overpaid" for him is that they could afford to do it based on the other pieces that would be in place.

With the talent that was coming up in Votto, Bruce, Cueto, etc., you had to figure that a good number of your top players would be in their 1-3 years during the majority of his contract. Since those guys would be pretty significantly underpaid in terms of contract vs. production, you could take the risk of perhaps giving Cordero more in order to lock down a spot on your team that was a glaring weakness. And that's exactly what he's done, whether everyone wants to admit it or not.

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Originally Posted by M2

- Jay Bruce is going to win an MVP award one of these years.

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I've been thinking the same thing as of late and I was going to start a thread concerning just that but I figured a "So when is Jay Bruce going to start to hit" thread and a "Jay Bruce is going to win a MVP"thread couldn't possibly coexist in RZ.

Jose Reyes to the Reds might be the most obvious trade in the history of baseball.

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Originally Posted by reds44

Jose Reyes to the Reds might be the most obvious trade in the history of baseball.

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Just a thought, but does Walt have a history of going after players who are a little hot doggish?

Not saying that he doesn't, just can't think of Reyes being his kind of player.

I hadn't seen Boxberger's numbers as of late. WOW.

It is not at all fair to blame Tim Naehring for twenty years of poor minor league production. He was there less than two years if I recall correctly. By the way, he is a nice guy.

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Originally Posted by edabbs44

Just a thought, but does Walt have a history of going after players who are a little hot doggish?

Not saying that he doesn't, just can't think of Reyes being his kind of player.

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Jim Edmonds had WAY more detractors than even Reyes does now. Walt has snagged him up twice.

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Originally Posted by Spitball

It is not at all fair to blame Tim Naehring for twenty years of poor minor league production. He was there less than two years if I recall correctly. By the way, he is a nice guy.

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He was here less than two years for a reason. Some absolutely idiotic quotes and ideas come from that guy.

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Originally Posted by Cedric

He was here less than two years for a reason. Some absolutely idiotic quotes and ideas come from that guy.

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Proof? Links?

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Originally Posted by Cedric

Jim Edmonds had WAY more detractors than even Reyes does now. Walt has snagged him up twice.

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Solid point, but did he at that time the way Reyes does now?

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Originally Posted by Spitball

It is not at all fair to blame Tim Naehring for twenty years of poor minor league production. He was there less than two years if I recall correctly. By the way, he is a nice guy.

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Naehring was player development director for 6 or 7 seasons, then minor league field coordinator for a couple seasons before he was fired.

I wouldn't necessarily put blame on him either, just correcting that part.

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Originally Posted by edabbs44

I hadn't seen Boxberger's numbers as of late. WOW.

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Yea he's done well. I wouldn't be surprised if he's in Louisville by mid-season. He may get a September call-up, but I doubt it. Next year for sure though.

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Originally Posted by M2

It doesn't happen that often anymore and where else am I going to post them?

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Feel free to post them more frequently -- this site is all the richer for having you around. Your contributions have been missed, at least by me.