Your opinion of the Reds- January 2014

[REDREAD]

I just love it that only 29% of votes are satisfied or moderately satisfied
True Redszone.

[GAC]

[bob jones]

yes I am completely satiated by the acquisition of Branyon Pena

[Unassisted]

Neutral. IMO, the roster is a work in progress. Ask again later.

[Plus Plus]

yes I am completely satiated by the acquisition of Branyon Pena

I'd love to hear a critical analysis of the Pirates' offseason, which was headlined by signing Edinson Volquez and Clint Barmes, and followed a season where basically everything went right- a stark juxtaposition to the 2013 Reds, who had everyone underperforming or getting injured.

If the Cardinals and Pirates were making splashes and the Reds were in a bad position, I would be more concerned. Instead, neither the Cardinals nor the Pirates are doing anything meaningful, and the Reds' inactivity hasn't been due to an obvious lack of opportunity (e.g. a Dan Uggla for good players trade).

Complaining in this way smells of "spoiled Reds fan" to me, or of people who get the majority of their Reds information from Lance McAllister.

[LoganBuck]

I'd love to hear a critical analysis of the Pirates' offseason, which was headlined by signing Edinson Volquez and Clint Barmes, and followed a season where basically everything went right- a stark juxtaposition to the 2013 Reds, who had everyone underperforming or getting injured.

If the Cardinals and Pirates were making splashes and the Reds were in a bad position, I would be more concerned. Instead, neither the Cardinals nor the Pirates are doing anything meaningful, and the Reds' inactivity hasn't been due to an obvious lack of opportunity (e.g. a Dan Uggla for good players trade).

Complaining in this way smells of "spoiled Reds fan" to me, or of people who get the majority of their Reds information from Lance McAllister.

My problem is that this team can take small steps to improve the team dramatically, and they don't. Why not find a platoon bat or two? Aside from the discussed Matt Kemp deal, many people have extolled the virtues of finding a suitable left handed platoon/bench bat with power. This player could greatly strengthen the outfield, particularly left field. These types of guys were available in free agency, and via trade. Yet here we sit less than a month from the start of spring training.

[westofyou]

My problem is that this team can take small steps to improve the team dramatically, and they don't. Why not find a platoon bat or two? Aside from the discussed Matt Kemp deal, many people have extolled the virtues of finding a suitable left handed platoon/bench bat with power. This player could greatly strengthen the outfield, particularly left field. These types of guys were available in free agency, and via trade. Yet here we sit less than a month from the start of spring training.

Never saw the Reds grabbing a OF as a FA unless it was tweener. The list of FA OF's is not that robust this off season five of them inked ML deals

PLAYER	POS	AGE
D.Robinson	LF	26
Adron Chambers	CF	27
Juan Perez	CF	27
Chris Coghlan	LF	28
Xavier Paul	LF	28
Felix Pie	LF	28
Delmon Young	RF	28
Quintin Berry	LF	29
Jacoby Ellsbury	CF	30
F. Gutierrez	RF	30
Chris Dickerson	LF	31
Sam Fuld	LF	32
Nelson Cruz	RF	33
Austin Kearns	RF	33
Endy Chavez	RF	35
Matt Diaz	LF	35
Andres Torres	LF	35
Carlos Beltran	RF	36
Juan Pierre	LF	36
Reed Johnson	RF	37
Mark Kotsay	LF	38
Raul Ibanez	LF	41

[LoganBuck]

Never saw the Reds grabbing a OF as a FA unless it was tweener. The list of FA OF's is not that robust this off season five of them inked ML deals

PLAYER	POS	AGE
D.Robinson	LF	26
Adron Chambers	CF	27
Juan Perez	CF	27
Chris Coghlan	LF	28
Xavier Paul	LF	28
Felix Pie	LF	28
Delmon Young	RF	28
Quintin Berry	LF	29
Jacoby Ellsbury	CF	30
F. Gutierrez	RF	30
Chris Dickerson	LF	31
Sam Fuld	LF	32
Nelson Cruz	RF	33
Austin Kearns	RF	33
Endy Chavez	RF	35
Matt Diaz	LF	35
Andres Torres	LF	35
Carlos Beltran	RF	36
Juan Pierre	LF	36
Reed Johnson	RF	37
Mark Kotsay	LF	38
Raul Ibanez	LF	41

Jason Kubel was available too. He signed for $2M on a minor deal. Players can be traded for as well. A flyer on Grady Sizemore would help I guess.

[westofyou]

Jason Kubel was available too. He signed for $2M on a minor deal. Players can be traded for as well. A flyer on Grady Sizemore would help I guess.

Yeah I have seen the trade as being what they wanted more than those FA 's there

[Plus Plus]

My problem is that this team can take small steps to improve the team dramatically, and they don't. Why not find a platoon bat or two? Aside from the discussed Matt Kemp deal, many people have extolled the virtues of finding a suitable left handed platoon/bench bat with power. This player could greatly strengthen the outfield, particularly left field. These types of guys were available in free agency, and via trade. Yet here we sit less than a month from the start of spring training.

My issue is that this ignores the fact that the Reds already used a lot of prospect-ammo to acquire Latos and Choo, that Jocketty doesn't often trade away prospects who end up being stars (meaning that he probably has a good reason to hang on to the prospects that he does), and that the Reds are a young, extremely competitive team that has literally no sign of imminent decline, and one that will more than likely see improvement just by going to war with the current roster and utilizing internal upgrades like Cingrani over Arroyo.

I understand always wanting to be better, but once your team is already very good, it becomes a lot harder and happens a lot less often. It's like going to Jeff Ruby's and complaining that your asparagus is undercooked, when the alternative is having gone to Applebees (Reds 2001-2009) and hoping to not get any hair in your food.

[LoganBuck]

Prospect ammo expended is a bad argument. Latos deal was 2 years ago, and didn't trade away any guys that had a spot on this team, except the catcher. Choo deal was Stubbs and Didi, the current state of roster would be unchanged. If they didnt blow high draft picks on utility guys and bullpen arms maybe the farm would have useful pieces.

[Plus Plus]

Prospect ammo expended is a bad argument. Latos deal was 2 years ago, and didn't trade away any guys that had a spot on this team, except the catcher. Choo deal was Stubbs and Didi, the current state of roster would be unchanged. If they didnt blow high draft picks on utility guys and bullpen arms maybe the farm would have useful pieces.

I think that's fair, but at the same time the Latos deal took 2 first round picks and a 1-supplement, and the Choo deal took a top-100 prospect. Before those deals, the Reds' farm system was regarded very highly. They would have had to have extremely productive drafts to fix those situations.

[LoganBuck]

Those players were 2008-2010 draft picks. Where are the other players? Major League success has masked player acquisition and development failures on the farm.

[RedlegJake]

If they didnt blow high draft picks on utility guys and bullpen arms maybe the farm would have useful pieces.

I'd be willing to bet they haven't picked a single guy saying "He'll be a great utility player!"

[mth123]

Prospect ammo expended is a bad argument. Latos deal was 2 years ago, and didn't trade away any guys that had a spot on this team, except the catcher. Choo deal was Stubbs and Didi, the current state of roster would be unchanged. If they didnt blow high draft picks on utility guys and bullpen arms maybe the farm would have useful pieces.

I think the Reds have done well developing in house players. The biggest holes on the major league team are CF and Catcher. Mesoraco has been a bust for 2 years straight and Hamilton stalled in AAA. The Reds had the players lined-up, but the last two haven't come through. The reason I'm dissatisfied is that the Reds are ignoring how poor they were and are just handing them the job anyway. If they would address those two spots with reasonable major league players (not stars), this team would look a lot better. Instead we get Skippy Schumaker and Brayan Pena.

Horrible!