You need to stop telling people about Curtis Granderson or my fantasy baseball league is eventually going to get wind of it.Originally Posted by ochre
GAH!
You need to stop telling people about Curtis Granderson or my fantasy baseball league is eventually going to get wind of it.Originally Posted by ochre
GAH!
"The problem with strikeouts isn't that they hurt your team, it's that they hurt your feelings..." --Rob Neyer
"The single most important thing for a hitter is to get a good pitch to hit. A good hitter can hit a pitch that’s over the plate three times better than a great hitter with a ball in a tough spot.”
--Ted Williams
Excellent post. The person Castellini hires as GM is critical obviously. One thing I do lie is that the new GM will not have to report through Allen, a guy who clearly knows nothing about building a winning ballteam.Originally Posted by SteelSD
I agree that "take one strike" has some merit if properly implemented. Ted Williams was selective as a hitter and didn't just go up to the plate hacking at anything close to the strikezone. While Teddy Ballgame would on occasion swing at the first pitch, he usually would wait and would only swing a pitch he could handle, strike or not, unless he already had two strikes on him.
For that matter, "pitch to contact" would make sense if it meant "throw strikes," but the idea should be "pitch to avoid contact." Reds pitchers are all too well able to make contact with opposing bats.
"Hey...Dad. Wanna Have A Catch?" Kevin Costner in "Field Of Dreams."
i agree. he's actually fairly comparable to Corey Patterson in center.Originally Posted by Cedric
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yes, this really is how we make our living.
Ced, you state:
...without rhyme, reason, or -ahem- facts, and I'm the one who needs to bring them?Originally Posted by Cedric
Please.
But since I'm a nice guy, here's a fact: Wily Mo Pena can't catch a baseball. "Above-average CFs" can.
Makes all the routine posts.
So you can state something without anything to back it up and it's fine. I state it and it's "...without rhyme, reason, or -ahem- facts."
It's a personal opinion that the guy is above average defensively in CF. His ZR and his fielding percentage backs that up. Don't get mad because you just watched Wily Mo in RF and automatically assumed he wasn't good in CF because you clearly didn't watch him in CF.
If it's so funny then why are respected posters on this board agreeing in this very thread? Laughing at a lot of people then huh?
This is the time. The real Reds organization is back.
First of all, you never stated it was your opinion that WMP was above-average. You stated it as fact, when it is not, and failed to back it up, since you can't.Originally Posted by Cedric
Furthermore, there are not "posters" and "a lot of people" agreeing with you that he's above-average. There is a single poster who compares him to Corey Patterson. Everyone else simply says he covers more ground than the alternatives, which is not in dispute.
"Can't catch" ≠ "above-average CF."
Makes all the routine posts.
pick out the Wily MoCode:ZR RF FPCT 891 2.22 986 866 3.05 985 880 2.81 991 864 2.45 991 870 2.48 989
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yes, this really is how we make our living.
What I've seen of Wily Mo is more like a circus in the outfield than a polished performer.
He takes terrible routes to the ball. Seems uncertain a lot of the time.
Maybe with more reps his pure talent and physical skills will carry him past what looks to me like major shortcomings in baseball IQ and instincts, I don't know.
But I can't imagine calling him a good centerfielder at this point in his career.
We'll go down in history as the first society that wouldn't save itself because it wasn't cost effective ~ Kurt Vonnegut
The sound man should play "Thunder and Blazes" whenever a ball gets hit in his direction.Originally Posted by RFS62
Makes all the routine posts.
Great post. Saved me from having to do any typing on the subject.Originally Posted by wheels
I'm not a system player. I am a system.
We have several major holes that need to be addressed:
1) As other posters have mentioned, the defense is simply atrocious, and that's likely being generous. Dunn is transitioning to first for the first time in his career, Junior is old in centerfield, WMP is an adventure, Kearns has lot speed and range, Aurilia is, well, TimmAH, etc. There are few areas of strength that one can point to in this current defensive setup. Given our pitchers' propensity to give up hard hit balls, our defense will likely consistently give the opponents four outs, etc.
2) The pitching is obviously our gaping hole, with Gopherball Milton leading the pack. And it's no longer just the starting pitching either - our bullpen is a shadow of what it was during its heydey in the JimBo era. The combination of poor starting pitching and a bullpen constantly affected by performance/attrition/injury is just a huge detriment and is a weight that always pulls the team down.
3) The offense has potential but has several large question marks. Dunn has proven over the past 2 years that we can count on him for 900+ OPS, etc. However, I'd contend that it's very difficult to pin a number on anyone else. Lopez, WMP have the potential to put up big numbers, but the key word is of course potential. Junior is obviously always an injury risk, and I'm unsure about how Kearns will fare after what probably was the worst year of his professional life.
4) FO - Obviously a huge move getting rid of Dan O'Binder -pretty much anyone with a passing a knowledge of sports in general could have done a better job. I'd like to see a successor who appreciates both the sabermetric philosophy, as well as traditional scouting methods, and will run a tight ship.
I don't really think any of these major deficiencies can be corrected immediately, but I'm hopeful with Castellini at the helm that we'll start seeing positive moves in the foreseeable future.
They've got a good piece of that defensive puzzle on hand in Edwin Encarnacion. When the light comes on for that guy in regards to his arm, he'll make Lopez's job easier and that side of the infield becomes almost as airtight as it was in 94 when Tony Fernandez and Barry Larkin were holding down the fort. I'm not sure about Dunn's ability to field grounders just yet, but he should be more rangy than Casey on flares and such to his side. He'll need to feel his way around a little bit, but the guy's logged a decent amount of time out there already, so the transition won't be as painful as we're wont to think. He should also provide a nice tall target, maybe enough to snag an errant Edwin Encarnacion throw here and there that Casey couldn't reach. As for Freel...Run that little sucker out there as much as possible, and if he gets gassed, I can deal with seeing Womack out there every four or five days....I guess.
This all hinges, of course on the willingness of whoever is in charge to deal with the growing pains of Edwin. This is going to be an important year for him, and I hope someone mandates that he gets the lion's share of the time out there. With Kullman at the riegns, I feel a lot more confident that it will happen.
But until something is done about the outfield range situation, and with a staff stocked to the gills with fly ball pitchers, expect lots of outs to be given away. There's nothing an improved infield can do about that.
"Baseball players are smarter than football players. How often do you see a baseball team penalized for too many men on the field?" ~ Jim Bouton
Hey, I'm just happy to be here, coach.Originally Posted by M2
"Baseball players are smarter than football players. How often do you see a baseball team penalized for too many men on the field?" ~ Jim Bouton
I'm pretty sure everybody just ignores me anywayOriginally Posted by SteelSD
4009
I think one of the things that is being missed in the CF debate (apart from all the figures being bandied about) is that whilst Junior is older and not able to cover as much territory as he once did he can still command his part of the field and run the outfielders. This is especially the case if the REDS are going to have the younger players out there which will be the case. CF is also the blend between the infield and the outfield which means that with the new infield defense we will need experience. CF is not the major threat area. 1B and the pitching are way before CF is. If the REDS are going to keep WMP then they really need to look at having him take special practice with fielding otherwise he is going to be better off traded.
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