Winner winner chicken dinner. The team needs improved in a few areas to make a playoff run or even continue success over the course of the season. Ride whats hot and what we have while we can but at the deadline get a guy or two that'd help the reds arrange the lineup in a better way. You'd think after experiencing the 2011 regular season meltdown, and the 2012 postseason meltdown, reds fans would understand that we need to always be looking at ways to improve the club at the right cost.
Last edited by Old school 1983; 05-29-2013 at 01:26 PM.
The only major spot for improvement for this club is the need for a left handed reliever.
UNDER A "FLAWED" LINE-UP, this team still leads the National League in Runs Per Game, is first in OBP, and second in OPS. The line-up for all intents anf purposes is working.
When I read these posts, basically every person that plays on the left side of the field should be replaced and sent packing. That is not how it is done with a TEAM.
Dusty CLEARLY defines roles for his players and then gives them a minimum...MINIMUM of 1/3 of a season to show what he can do in that role.
You cannot run a baseball team based on the short term.
In theory a solution to this team's two hitter would be a platoon with Robinson and Paul in left field, and then pencil in Cozart in the seventh position of the line-up. However, then against right handers you have three left handed hitters in a row, which plays perfectly for a left handed reliever in the 6th through 9th--unless you then bring in Robinson to pinch hit for Paul in those situations (which will then leave the bench with NO right handed threat off of the bench)
It is plausible, I suppose. However, when your lead off hitter is hitting .154 against left handed pitching, then do you bench him against left handers and then put Robinson lead off, and hit Cozart 2nd?
Dusty Baker has won over 1600 games in the major leagues. I trust in Dusty.
Don Cameron
A man who embraces loyalty
I didn't read every post in this thread, so I don't know if it has already been mentioned, but I think Dusty also wants a good bunter hitting second. Cozart is second in MLB when it comes to sacrifice bunts.
http://espn.go.com/mlb/stats/batting.../type/expanded
When I started this thread, I believe it was a night Cozart was sitting out and Izterus playing SS in his place was batting 2nd and went 0-5 and killed some rallies. Plus Cozart was really struggling. In retrospect, with Cozart making contact now and bunting well, the Reds winning and scoring runs this thread seems silly.......but that is why baseball is such a great game, plenty of second guessing and conversation, probably more than any sport
There is a difference between flawed and incomplete. The reds lineup isn't flawed based upon the numbers they are putting up, but I have to ask could t it be a lot better? The whole left side of the infield isn't in question in my mind. I just like to bring up the fact that the need of a right handed power bat doesn't have to come in strictly the form of a left fielder. I'm fine with cozart at short and can live with Frazier at third if nothing better can be had. Looking at the reds lineup realistically they are one piece short in the fact that ludwick got hurt. Lets fill that void and try to add some speed if possible. No lineup is perfect and improvements at the right cost are welcome. I think our competition will improve theirselves at the deadline. Sitting on our hands would be foolish. Lets get a lefty reliever and a righty bat and maybe try to find a way to squeeze in Hamilton up here if he can continue improving his numbers in AAA.
Just because you can sacrifice bunt/hit doesn't mean you're necessarily good at it. On Tuesday night he had a sacrifice bunt that he popped up toward the pitcher with men on first and third. The guys on first and third didn't run because of the popup. When the pitcher dropped the pitch, he was able to throw out Choo on first leading to an out and no run scored.
I have to admit that he's performing much better now than he was, though. Still not a #2 man IMHO, but he's not generating an out every at bat like he had been doing.
I wasn't claiming that Cozart was a good bunter or that I agree with Dusty's strategy. I was just trying to point out another possible reason he has Cozart hitting second.
My opinion on the matter is that Dusty is stuck in an 80s way of thinking, where teams would often have a bunter hit second. And the reason Cozart has so many sacrifices is because Dusty calls for him to sacrifice a lot, not because he's great at it. Giving up outs like this has been shown counter-productive in most situations (there are certain situations where it makes sense, but those are exceptions, not the rule). I don't agree with Dusty's strategy, nor do I believe Cozart should be hitting second. Over the course of the entire season, Cozart will end up with more PAs than Phillips, Votto, and Bruce because of this, and that's a bad thing.
Board Moderators may, at their discretion and judgment, delete and/or edit any messages that violate any of the following guidelines: 1. Explicit references to alleged illegal or unlawful acts. 2. Graphic sexual descriptions. 3. Racial or ethnic slurs. 4. Use of edgy language (including masked profanity). 5. Direct personal attacks, flames, fights, trolling, baiting, name-calling, general nuisance, excessive player criticism or anything along those lines. 6. Posting spam. 7. Each person may have only one user account. It is fine to be critical here - that's what this board is for. But let's not beat a subject or a player to death, please. |