The question I always ask myself, at this point in the season, is "While injuries are part of the game, and I'm surprised we've done as well as we have, where would this team be if not for the rash, even over-the-top, injuries we've incurred, and especially to key positions?
I maintain my optimism, positive outlook, by telling myself that if we get some of these key players back, and make it into the post-season, even via the WC, anything can happen.
"In my day you had musicians who experimented with drugs. Now it's druggies experimenting with music" - Alfred G Clark (circa 1972)
The exceeding Pirates and Cardinals have made the Reds less exceeding,especially being in the same conference.I never expected either to be as good as they have been.
May the Lord bless
I really don't take much solace in the "we used to be a humiliating organization and now we're not" mantra.
Sure, I appreciate being in a race and being a respectable team much more than those horrible years.
But as I've said, if as a fan, you NEVER expect your team to EVER legitimately contend, then what's the point?
Seriously since 1990 we've never really come close to seriously pushing for the WS... Maybe in 1995, but that's about it. We've had 22 years in a row where no reasonable Reds fan could expect a truly deep October run. If we couldn't expect that in 2013.... Then when?
The finances of those organization are not going to be hamstrung by those 2 contracts...other than having those players production drop off, which is to be expected. This is not the 90's or early 2000's.
The money is coming from anew TV contract that will pay for those contracts.
The issue will be picking the right prospects to trade or keep....in order to continue building a team around them and choosing wisely on who to give the next LTC to.
The rest? I am surprisingly disappointed as I can be about a Reds team being 10 games over .500 in early August ... and trending the wrong way for the last 2 months.
I'm not so much disappointed in this season as I am worried that the Reds window will slam shut as early as next season.
The Cardinals have MLB's best team right now with a vaunted farm system to fill in for any drop off as well as a limitless ability to sign real talent long term.
The Pirates too have an exceptional young team that's emerging a year earlier than expected with guys like Liriano making that possible.
The Reds future looks quite a bit dicier. No farm system and a pretty decent but clunky MLB team. And they've run out the string in terms of payroll mobility(for now anyway).
That's what gnaws at me, not so much this season in particular.
I'm with you. I thought that the Cards were going to become a dominant team when all that talent matured (or was dealt for Giancarlo Stanton or Jurickson Profar), but thought that 2013 was the year the Reds could sneak in there while the kids all came together. I think the team still has plenty of years of competitive ball in it, but before the season, this seemed like the most likely year to be the top dog.
Cards and Pirates got better sooner than I thought they would (actually, I never really thought the Pirates would ever get this good) and the Reds, especially the foursome of Frazier, Cozart, Phillips and Hanigan, have taken a step backwards. Ludwick's loss hurts, but adding Choo, and Votto being back, more than offsets that IMO. The pitching injuries haven't really had an adverse impact. Those RH bats falling off is the difference IMO.
All my posts are my opinion - just like yours are. If I forget to state it and you're too dense to see the obvious, look here!
Falls City Beer (08-04-2013),Revering4Blue (08-04-2013),SporkLover (08-04-2013)
After the complete and utter meltdown this weekend, I've moved from "maybe disappointed" to "sorely disappointed and unbelievably angry"
If you told me these Reds would be under .500 by the end of this month, I would believe you.
I think they're done.
The "lack of heart" thing gets throw around WAY too much.... But I think it has merit recenlty--- especially this weekend. You can't tell me the Reds were fully locked and loaded this weekend.
Slyder (08-04-2013)
I'm not ready to go there yet... I still think we will rebound against the lousy teams and at minimum stay in the middle of the second WC chase. But if you told me right now that the Reds would either get hot over the next two months and make a run at the division or totally tank and fall well out of the WC race, I would not hesitate to choose the latter.
You're right. Especially Phillips and Frazier. They've got a ton of really really difficult decisions coming up this offseason.
I don't envy the FO's job at all. I'm actually wondering if maybe they should take a few seasons of stepping back, trading some principals and re-tooling. Not a fire sale exactly, but a shorter period of prospect accumulation.
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