Maybe we can get a Pitching prospect back in exchange for Brandon Phillips sometime over the next 8 months.
As loaded as we are with young pitching talent at the Major League level, I'd still like to have more balance in the upper dozen prospects.
Junior Arias
Brad Boxberger
Daniel Corcino
Jonathan Correa
Danny Dorn
Juan Duran
Mariekson Gregorius
Ismael Guillon
Jacob Johnson
Ryan LaMarre
Kyle Lotzkar
Felix Perez
Henry Rodriguez
Neftali Soto
Ronald Torreyes
Chris Valaika
Maybe we can get a Pitching prospect back in exchange for Brandon Phillips sometime over the next 8 months.
As loaded as we are with young pitching talent at the Major League level, I'd still like to have more balance in the upper dozen prospects.
I don't really think that's necessary. The Reds are loaded with pitching in the lower levels. Fortunately they have 6 or 7 Major League ready arms already producing. That will get them through the next 2-3 years until the next batch of arms are ready.Originally Posted by Kingspoint
"No matter how good you are, you're going to lose one-third of your games. No matter how bad you are you're going to win one-third of your games. It's the other third that makes the difference." ~Tommy Lasorda
The Reds have more young pitching competing for spots on the big league team than they have spots both in the rotation and the pen. There is no one to play 2B. Brandon Phillips is flawed, but he's still pretty good overall. Dealing him would be creating a big hole that the team has no one to fill.
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!
My voting at this point looks like an '80's compilation...
Duran
Duran
Duran
Duran
Valaika can more than fill it for the difference in salaries.
Ugh! Well below average defense. Little to no power. Below average speed.
Teams like the Pirates play guys like Valiaka. Teams that want to win deal him to the Pirates or Royals.
Valaika isn't in my top 20.
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!
I don't think Valaika has well below average defense. Phillips has spoiled you with his defense.
Maybe so, but the drop-off would be huge. The Reds are trying to win, Making such a drop voluntarily to save money is a move for a rebuilding team not a team going into its best 5 year period in two decades. The suggestion of dealing Phillips for a pitching prospect and going to Valaika is absolutely crazy IMO.
As for Valaika, IMO he's Todd Walker without the power or on base skills. Hopefully Hamilton can be ready in two or three years, until then, the Reds should finad a way to hang onto Phillips. He's the guy they should be trying to extend at a discount, because I just don't see an adequate replacement until Hamilton is ready.
Last edited by mth123; 11-13-2010 at 04:41 AM.
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!
Agree 100% with mth on Valaika's offense. Haven't seen him enough to have an opinion about his defense. But in about 800 AB's at AAA, he's got an OPS south of .700, hits a HR about one in 80 AB's, and a K to W ratio of 4 to 1. He's not in my top 20. I'd much rather have kept Rosales.
Funny how Valaika was voted the best Second Baseman in the International League last season.
Must be just horrible to receive that type of accolade.
Valaika doesn't have any weaknesses. He's very well-rounded.
So far Walt has done nearly everything I would do. I agree with his thinking 99% of the time.
If Walt decides to keep Phillips for the entire season next year, then I'll agree with you, mth. If Walt decides to trade Phillips and go with Valaika before the end of next season, then I'll have to say that you were wrong about Valaika. I'm going with Walt's call on this one as the final judgement.
Does he have any strengths?
Valaika has a very questionable K/BB rate. His power is pretty questionable too. I like him as a prospect, but he certainly has some questions in his game.
While he's considered to be weak in the "power" category,...
...I was looking at the "power" being more as "acceptable for National League 2nd Baseman" standards.
NL 2nd Basemen averaged a .387 SLG in 2010.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/le...g=NL&year=2010
That's a number I think Valaika would attain if given full-time plate appearances.
While that NL league-wide number reflects all 2nd Basemen, and not just the Starters, Valaika would more than likely hit down in the order, giving him a chance to relax a bit more at the plate his first year as a starter, too.
I just don't see anything in him that's projected to be negative when he can end up costing 1/50th of what Phillips will cost while producing at about 80% of what Phillips will produce at.
Last edited by Kingspoint; 11-14-2010 at 11:36 PM.
That he has no weaknesses is his strength. But, pure strengths like AVG, Speed, OBP, Super Glove or SLG? No. But, Championships are won with players who give you a "solid" effort every night. I know that's a cliche', but I think it fits for Valaika.
Again, I yield to Walt. What he decides upon between now and the trade deadline next summer concerning Brandon will tell me how he feels about Valaika.
As we speak, Brandon Phillips is $11M of the $46.8M committed so far with guaranteed contracts of players on the roster (or bought out) for 2011. Votto is going to get a heck of a raise in Arb. I'd rather use the $10.56M difference between Phillips and Valaika's salaries and put it towards a long-term contract for Votto, while at the same time receiving a pretty good exchange for Phillips as far as minor league talent goes. The REDS might have to manipulate that trade and pay a portion of the salary, but everything depends on the players being negotiated for, teams with, etc.
Worst-case scenario is that we raise payroll to pay for the new round of arb-eligible players while keeping Phillips the whole season, we don't sign Votto this season to a long-term contract giving us less bargaining power next winter when we have to sign him to a long-term contract, fan attendance doesn't increase (very possible) making an increase in payroll a bad investment decision.
We aren't the Yankees. The REDS have to make sound business decisions first based on projected fan attendance. The fans did not react positively to the improved performance by the team in 2010. They could very well respond the same way in 2011, and that's the prudent thing to expect. I just can't see a sound reason for retaining Brandon Phillips for the second half of 2011, and preferably, the entire season of 2011,...not with Valaika ready to take over.
Last edited by Kingspoint; 11-14-2010 at 11:54 PM.
Posting Permissions
|
Board Moderators may, at their discretion and judgment, delete and/or edit any messages that violate any of the following guidelines: 1. Explicit references to alleged illegal or unlawful acts. 2. Graphic sexual descriptions. 3. Racial or ethnic slurs. 4. Use of edgy language (including masked profanity). 5. Direct personal attacks, flames, fights, trolling, baiting, name-calling, general nuisance, excessive player criticism or anything along those lines. 6. Posting spam. 7. Each person may have only one user account. It is fine to be critical here - that's what this board is for. But let's not beat a subject or a player to death, please. |
Reply With Quote