1. I have seen Merker's spring stats but what I don't know is how Merker has actually pitched this spring. Seven innings worth of stats doesn't tell me much. What is his velocity? Control? Is it smoke and mirrors?
Has he been facing real majors league players or AAA fodder?
2. Who is Mike Lincoln? Is he a 32 yr old who hasn't pitched in the bigs since 2004? If he is that Mike Lincoln - Yikes! Heres to Belisle getting healthy quickly.
Thanks.
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I think Lincoln hasn't pitched in a while because he had surgery on his arm. I don't know much about him, so I could be wrong about that.
Lincoln had Tommy John surgey and is one of the few cases where the surgery did not rectify his problems. After a long period of rehab and failed comebacks, he had a second Tommy John surgery and now is healthy and throwing harder than ever. I'm not sure you can look at his pre-surgery stats and draw any conclusion from that. He's a different guy now. This is a case where the scouts and talent evaluators are really all we have to go on IMO.Originally Posted by CTA513
All I know is 95+ is 95+ and that is something this team sorely lacks. I'm happy to see him get a shot instead of repeating the season with the guys who were so awful last year. Bray, Majewski, Coutlangus, et al had their time and weren't effective. If they tear it up and Lincoln doesn't work out, they can always make a switch. This is a case where change is good IMO. I do know is that the bullpen that we had all thought we may see when looking at the names on paper projected to be atrocious and I'm more hopeful with a complete question mark who throws hard than I am recycling multiple time failures. I'm all for Lincoln being thrown in there as a wildcard because this team needs a guy to come from nowhere and transform its middle inning black hole into something that works.
If it works out its a nice story. If not, he can't be much worse than the on hand alternatives.
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!
Mercker is supposedly around 90. If he is 90, 91, 92...he'll be ok. If 'around 90' is actually 88, 89, 90...there might be problems.
Championships for MY teams in my lifetime:
Cincinnati Reds - 75, 76, 90
Chicago Blackhawks - 10, 13, 15
University of Kentucky - 78, 96, 98, 12
Chicago Bulls - 91, 92, 93, 96, 97, 98
“Everything that happens before Death is what counts.”
― Ray Bradbury, Something Wicked This Way Comes
Heres hoping Merker has something left and Lincoln can be a feel good story. Maybe I need to watch 'The Rookie' with Dennis Quaid again.
If not Bray & Roenicke are waiting in AAA.
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I don't think he's that old
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!
Mike Lincoln...
>> 23.1% of his MLB wins (30% of NL wins) have come against the REDS.
One win was the result of a 2-run PH walkoff homer by Rob Mackowiak in the 9th inning (off Chris Reitsma) when the REDS were up 2-1 in the game. Even stranger in that game was the Todd Van Poppel quality start which saw Todd register 9 strikeouts in 6 IP.
Todd Van Poppel.....Arrghhhh!
"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 really don't like keeping Merker and Lincoln on the major league roster. I mean they both had impressive springs but, with Merker atleast, he isn't going to suprise you. They are keeping him on the club because they feared losing him. I really think in sending down Bray and eeping Merker they are doing something that doesn't make sense. In regards to Lincoln wasn't he on a minor league contract? Why not send him down to AAA for a while to see if he velocity and success continue. It doesn't make sense to bring a guy up north when you have no clue how he is going to fare against major leauge competition. Then again a guy named Andy Abad made the reds out of spring a few years ago.
Aha! So, by picking up Lincoln, we negate his ability to win games against us. Brilliant!
LOL. Shows how bad the bullpen has been since 2001. When Lincoln got a win for the Pirates, it usually meant a backdoor win when the opposition's bullpen blew the game (see Mackowiak-Reitsma).
Addition by subtraction? Or subtraction by addition? Or do we call this whole thing null?!?
Mercker and Lincoln
Last edited by RBA; 04-03-2008 at 11:15 PM.
M E R C K E R
I like Mercker but I have to admit, even when I wanted to defend him I had to wonder if there could anything left in the tank. I can say now if the Reds don't over expose him I think he'll be an asset. Lincoln I can root for but again I wonder if he can come back. So far so good - now if both can stay reasonably effective that would be so huge. I'm still on the doubtful but hoping side but I sure feel more hopeful than I did 2 weeks ago.
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