Knee Jerk Reactions to 1st Round Picks from around the league

[HokieRed]

Doesn't suggest negativity at all. By the time you got to the 7th pick, there wasn't the clarity of choices there had been earlier. You could make a good case for Alonso, Gordon Beckham, Crow, or Smoak. I imagine Reds fans were probably about equally split among Alonso, Beckham, and some other pick (one of several). So 33% is just about what I'd expect. Doesn't suggest negativity; I'd call it rather a high level of knowledge and informed opinion. I like the choice but would have been equally happy with G. Beckham and maybe with Smoak, though not with Crow because of the injury risk. If Alvarez or even Matusz had fallen to us, by some quirk, I bet you'd see those "negative" Reds fans poll at something like 90% happy.

[BuckeyeRedleg]

Cutting history off at 76? How about 7 postseason appearances in 38 years, going back to 1970....

Poor babies.

That's right. I'm cutting history off at 1976 because 1977 was the first year I can remember caring about the Reds or baseball. I was six.

It was also the first year without Tony Perez. The end of the Big Red Machine.

At 37, I have zero memory of the BRM. I was still pooping my pants when the Reds were on top of the baseball world. So, yeah, poor me (and anyone else under 40) that I see three stinking post-season appearances in 32 years.

I would bet the Reds are in the bottom third in all of baseball during that time period, so, the point is that there is a large percentage of the current fan base that wasn't lucky enough to be spoiled during the 70's and they haven't had a whole lot to cheer about.

[macro]

To follow up on Buckeye's point, only the Nationals/Expos have fewer post season appearances than the Reds dating back to 1980.

[Topcat]

The problem exists that the current regime takes the heat for past failures. It's wrong but sadly you can't go back and aggressive stupidity is just that stupidity.

[Stewie]

I'd like to know the rationale behind the 32% who liked the Anthony Hewitt selection for the Phillies.

[WrongVerb]

Guys, one other thing to think about...

More than once in the past 15 years the Reds didn't select the best player available because of need or lack thereof. This time they went with Alonso even though we've got strong LH hitters and a good young 1st baseman, because he WAS the best player available. Let things shake out and see where the chips fall in 2-3 years before passing any kind of judgement.

[Highlifeman21]

I wonder what would have been the Reds % if we had taken Gordon Beckham instead.

[11larkin11]

That's right. I'm cutting history off at 1976 because 1977 was the first year I can remember caring about the Reds or baseball. I was six.

It was also the first year without Tony Perez. The end of the Big Red Machine.

At 37, I have zero memory of the BRM. I was still pooping my pants when the Reds were on top of the baseball world. So, yeah, poor me (and anyone else under 40) that I see three stinking post-season appearances in 32 years.

I would bet the Reds are in the bottom third in all of baseball during that time period, so, the point is that there is a large percentage of the current fan base that wasn't lucky enough to be spoiled during the 70's and they haven't had a whole lot to cheer about.

Lucky you. I was born in '91, so I have 0 memory of the Reds ever winning something. My first baseball memory is the '97 WS. Best Reds team I ever saw was the '99 one game playoff team.

[Mario-Rijo]

Lucky you. I was born in '91, so I have 0 memory of the Reds ever winning something. My first baseball memory is the '97 WS. Best Reds team I ever saw was the '99 one game playoff team.

Ouch, I feel for ya bub! I am just a hair younger than BRL (36 in Oct) and '90 still plays in my head from time to time. I really didn't watch/listen to too many Red's games until the Milner/Redus years and didn't watch/listen consistently until the Davis/Larkin years. Watched or listened to every single wire-wire game of that '90 championship season. And watching that season is what spoiled me rotten and also showed me what it takes for a ball team to play winning baseball. And '99 barely scratches the surface.

It's too bad we had the strike or we might be talking about the last great Red's team of '94 who were 18 games over when the strike happened. Probably didn't have enough pitching but we certainly were headed for the playoffs assuming we could hold those pesky Astros off.

[marcshoe]

amazing what 7 consecutive losing seasons will do.

And yet 89% of Pirates' fans approved of Alvarez. It would seem to me that by now Pirate fans would just assume that whatever the club did was wrong--particularly with the recent failed first round picks.

[11larkin11]

Ouch, I feel for ya bub! I am just a hair younger than BRL (36 in Oct) and '90 still plays in my head from time to time. I really didn't watch/listen to too many Red's games until the Milner/Redus years and didn't watch/listen consistently until the Davis/Larkin years. Watched or listened to every single wire-wire game of that '90 championship season. And watching that season is what spoiled me rotten and also showed me what it takes for a ball team to play winning baseball. And '99 barely scratches the surface.

It's too bad we had the strike or we might be talking about the last great Red's team of '94 who were 18 games over when the strike happened. Probably didn't have enough pitching but we certainly were headed for the playoffs assuming we could hold those pesky Astros off.

As you can probably assume from my name though, I grew up idolizing Larkin, but I didn't even really get to see him until the end of his prime. I have a framed picture of Griffey's first game in 2000 in my room with a gold coin with Griffey's face on it, and my favorite part of it is Larkin standing right beside him.

[Mario-Rijo]

As you can probably assume from my name though, I grew up idolizing Larkin, but I didn't even really get to see him until the end of his prime. I have a framed picture of Griffey's first game in 2000 in my room with a gold coin with Griffey's face on it, and my favorite part of it is Larkin standing right beside him.

I hate to make you feel worse but you really missed out on alot of "amazing". Anybody that's watched him in any aspect of the game on a consistent basis and were not awed by not only his play but with the grace and majesty he did it with are not human.

The man was simply blessed and he did it all w/o so much as a speck of smugness.

[ChatterRed]

The Reds may have picked the one guy closest to being major league ready, also.

[marcshoe]

I hate to make you feel worse but you really missed out on alot of "amazing". Anybody that's watched him in any aspect of the game on a consistent basis and were not awed by not only his play but with the grace and majesty he did it with are not human.

The man was simply blessed and he did it all w/o so much as a speck of smugness.

I'm not sure of the clearest way to say this--of all the players I've seen, the "in person" aspects of seeing Larkin and appreciating him were greater than any other. I mean when I was actually at the game instead of watching him on television the things he did became much more clear. Nearly every time I ended up keeping a close eye on him, seeing how much he knew about the game, appreciating the grace and ability that stood out so much more than it did on tv.

[Mario-Rijo]

I'm not sure of the clearest way to say this--of all the players I've seen, the "in person" aspects of seeing Larkin and appreciating him were greater than any other. I mean when I was actually at the game instead of watching him on television the things he did became much more clear. Nearly every time I ended up keeping a close eye on him, seeing how much he knew about the game, appreciating the grace and ability that stood out so much more than it did on tv.

Absolutely brilliant!