10 Reasons Why The Reds Will Win The NL Central

[Krusty]

10 Reasons Why The Reds Will Win The Central:

1. A double play duo of Gonzalez and Phillips along with a combo of Freel/Denorifa in center with a solid catcher defensively in Ross gives the Reds best defense they have had in this decade.

2. Brook Jacoby will be the hitting coach that gets Dunn to cut down on his strikeouts by at least 25-30 and put the ball in play more.

3. Junior will play at least 120 games and provide at least 30 HRs and 90+ RBIs. Playing RF will be less stress physically despite what Junior is saying now.

4. Harang and Arroyo will be one of the best one-two tandems in the NL Central. Each player could easily win between 15-20 games apiece.

5. Milton, Lohse and Saarloos are very capable of winning 10-12 games apiece.

6. Aging veterans Mike Stanton and David Weathers will be able to hold the fort in regards to the closer role till Eddie Guardado is ready by the allstar break. But if Todd Coffey or Bill Bray show they are ready to assume the closer role, the bullpen becomes stronger yet.

7. Edwin Encarncion will have a breakout season and will make fewer errors than he did in 2006.

8. The combination of Scott Hatteberg and Jeff Conine at lst will put up better numbers than any year that Casey manned the position.

9. The emergence of Homer Bailey sometime around Memorial Day will bolster the rotation and add more depth to the pen with either Saarloos, Belisle or Ramirez.

10. There is no reason why Krivsky and Castanelli won't be aggressive as they were in the first year running the show. And no matter how you look at, the Cardinals, Astros, Cubs and Brewers each have their flaws going into spring training.

Call me crazy if you want but if this team can avoid the injury bug, I see this team winning close to 90 games this season.

[TOBTTReds]

I'm calling you crazy.

[deltachi8]

if we weren't already crazy we would go insane.

[redsfanmia]

Only in the Bizzaro World could any of these things happen.

[edabbs44]

Reason #11: Krusty starting drinking at noon today.

[deltachi8]

Reason #11: Krusty starting drinking at noon today.

you say that like it's a bad thing.

[Hap]

1. Agree Completely

2. That's what we said about Chambliss.

3. I agree that Junior will be productive at times, but he will also show signs of aging.

4. Easy call....just see last year....both guys are still on the way up

5. Ain't gonna happen.

6. Solid yes....spectacular no

7. He will put up good numbers. He will have more errors than last year because he will play more games.

8. No way will they reach 40 doubles and 20+ homers like Sean did in 1999 and 2004.

9. Homer Bailey is still a year or two away.

10. Agree completely.

[reds44]

I could see it happening. We're not going to be as bad as 90% of the people on this board think. I will gurantee that.

[Bigredfan#1]

Could everything fall into place like you say? Yes! Will it, probably not. I believe the Reds are in trouble offensively!! Love Griffey but he is starting to show the wear and tear of playing on artificial turf. I hope you are right about Dunn but would not count on it. I do think EE is in for a breakout season. Reds need another bat to compete and a closer!!

[redsmetz]

1. Agree Completely

2. That's what we said about Chambliss.

3. I agree that Junior will be productive at times, but he will also show signs of aging.

4. Easy call....just see last year....both guys are still on the way up

5. Ain't gonna happen.

6. Solid yes....spectacular no

7. He will put up good numbers. He will have more errors than last year because he will play more games.

8. No way will they reach 40 doubles and 20+ homers like Sean did in 1999 and 2004.

9. Homer Bailey is still a year or two away.

10. Agree completely.

The two I've highlighted, I'll comment on.

It's not out of the realm of possibility of those three putting up ten wins. Milton could have easily been to that this year with a little bit of help from the pen. Lohse has exceeded that number twice in his career and fallen one short in the two years prior to 2006. I'll cross my fingers on Saarloos, but I think he's capable.

Regarding Bailey, I don't think he'll break with the club. He's going to do some time in AAA. While I think May might be optimistic, I think he could be up some time this year. At worst, he's only a year away, not two.

Hats off to Krusty for dragging some optimism on to the board!

[hippie07]

Krusty - you may be crazy -- but I like it - finally a little optimism on RedsZone... it's a new season guys - and we're supposed to be fans... why not believe, dream, and/or pray... it could happen!! Add in a few advantageous trades and... maybe we can make something out of this season!!

[pahster]

8. The combination of Scott Hatteberg and Jeff Conine at lst will put up better numbers than any year that Casey manned the position.

You do realize that Casey had an OPS above .900 three times right? And that neither Conine nor Hatteberg ever have (though admittedly Conine came within a couple of points twice, but that was in 1994 and 1995)?

[GoReds]

2. Brook Jacoby will be the hitting coach that gets Dunn to cut down on his strikeouts by at least 25-30 and put the ball in play more.

If Dunn improves - and he could - I think it will be because he figured something out for himself. Brook Jacoby will just be incidental. If that happens and Dunn does take that next step, it would be a very satisfying thing to see. If not, then this board is going to be a repeat of last year with Dunn threads galore.

6. Aging veterans Mike Stanton and David Weathers will be able to hold the fort in regards to the closer role till Eddie Guardado is ready by the allstar break. But if Todd Coffey or Bill Bray show they are ready to assume the closer role, the bullpen becomes stronger yet.

I think this hinges entirely on Coffey and his ability to step into the closer's role for good. He does that and it improves the staff A LOT. He has some questionable periods and the bullpen is in trouble. I think the bullpen is in for a long season. Krivsky's going to be fielding questions about the bullpen makeup again at the ASB.

[BigRed]

Kudos, Krusty. I love to hear some optimism around here. You would think with most of the chat on this board that the Reds were expected to lose 120 games this year.

I don't know enough about Jacoby to say whether he can get Dunn to cut down on the K's. I think that the hitting coach can make a difference, but the only person that can make that change is Dunn himself. He has to realize that even if he hits a few less HRs that putting the ball in play more will result in more RBI's and more wins. He has to buy into this, though? If Dunn only hits 32 HRs, but drove in 125 runs and hits 285 how much better will the Reds be?

With regard to Griffey, Narron has to be careful and have enough guts to give Griff days off whether Jr. thinks he needs them or not. He can put up numbers, but you have to be smart and keep him rested to help avoid injury.

I agree with Pahster. #8 won't happen, but if they are respectable, it should be good enough. With any luck, maybe Votto is the man in 2008.

With regard to # 6, the season hasn't started. I think the closer role solves itself either by performance or a late pickup during the spring.

[HumnHilghtFreel]

#8 is the only one I really don't think will happen. The rest I think are possible.