Reds 2002 and 1992 Previews

[Donder]

With the slow news week (the front office seems to be taking a deserved week off for the holidays), I thought this 2002 Reds preview (wow that pitching staff was horrendous!) with the 1992 preview attached at the bottom (Greg Swindell is a "Clemens-type") was a fun read.

http://www.thediamondangle.com/archi...n_preview.html

How much better is it to be a Reds fan now than 10 years ago?

[Captain13]

Holy smokes. Brings back memories (not all good, but not all bad).

[brm7675]

Wow...Larkin not a HOF candidate according the the writer....

[OGB]

Gives some perspective to all of the people talking about pillaging our farm system this offseason. We've had 1 winning season since 2002 and how many of the players from 2002's, "minor league system full of quality players" ever went on to have success at the major league level?

[The Rage]

Gives some perspective to all of the people talking about pillaging our farm system this offseason. We've had 1 winning season since 2002 and how many of the players from 2002's, "minor league system full of quality players" ever went on to have success at the major league level?

Your missing the point. Not only did nothing of that era of farm system do anything in the majors, they were so bad, the Reds couldn't trade them for cheap hardware like Latos.

FWIW, the 2002 pitching staff was the last "ok" staff for the next 4 years.

[Eric in IL]

Love the 2002 preview. "The ace will be Joey Hamilton." Yikes!

[OGB]

Your missing the point. Not only did nothing of that era of farm system do anything in the majors, they were so bad, the Reds couldn't trade them for cheap hardware like Latos.

FWIW, the 2002 pitching staff was the last "ok" staff for the next 4 years.

No, youre missing the point.

Obviously, the Reds farm system wasn't in as good of shape overall back then as it has been the past 3-5 years, but there were still players that people deemed "untouchable," there were still prospects that fans and the front office projected to be good major league players and the backbone of this organization in the future.
The Reds had one player from that era of the minor leagues (not counting Votto who was drafted that year) go on to be an above average big leaguer - Adam Dunn. The following is a collection of some of the Reds other top talent from 2002:

Wily Mo Pena
Austin Kearns
Ben Broussard
Ty Howington
Ray Olmedo
Steve Smitherman
Travis Dawkins
Bobby Basham
Chris Denorfia
Edwin Encarnacion
Dustin Moseley
Dane Sardinhia
Daylan Childress
Chris Gruler
Brian Reith

Obviously, this is a reflection of a poor front office, but any team, at any point in time is going to have an overwhelming minority of their farm system destined for mlb success. The Reds have had one winning season in the past decade. If it takes trading some minor league players who have no guarantee of big league success--and even if they do it might not be for 2-5 years-- to get established pros who have had excellent numbers the past two seasons, consider me all for it.
In the end, without Latos and Marshall, the Reds probably aren't good enough to win the division or maybe even make the playoffs in 2012. With them, they may be good enough to win it all. I'll take that over another year of mediocrity and worrying about the future.

[Captain13]

No, youre missing the point.

Obviously, the Reds farm system wasn't in as good of shape overall back then as it has been the past 3-5 years, but there were still players that people deemed "untouchable," there were still prospects that fans and the front office projected to be good major league players and the backbone of this organization in the future.
The Reds had one player from that era of the minor leagues (not counting Votto who was drafted that year) go on to be an above average big leaguer - Adam Dunn. The following is a collection of some of the Reds other top talent from 2002:

Wily Mo Pena
Austin Kearns
Ben Broussard
Ty Howington
Ray Olmedo
Steve Smitherman
Travis Dawkins
Bobby Basham
Chris Denorfia
Edwin Encarnacion
Dustin Moseley
Dane Sardinhia
Daylan Childress
Chris Gruler
Brian Reith

Obviously, this is a reflection of a poor front office, but any team, at any point in time is going to have an overwhelming minority of their farm system destined for mlb success. The Reds have had one winning season in the past decade. If it takes trading some minor league players who have no guarantee of big league success--and even if they do it might not be for 2-5 years-- to get established pros who have had excellent numbers the past two seasons, consider me all for it.
In the end, without Latos and Marshall, the Reds probably aren't good enough to win the division or maybe even make the playoffs in 2012. With them, they may be good enough to win it all. I'll take that over another year of mediocrity and worrying about the future.

Very well said. I agree whole-heartedly. I wish you had said this to start a trhead, I would be very interested in the replies.

[The Rage]

No, youre missing the point.

Obviously, the Reds farm system wasn't in as good of shape overall back then as it has been the past 3-5 years, but there were still players that people deemed "untouchable," there were still prospects that fans and the front office projected to be good major league players and the backbone of this organization in the future.
The Reds had one player from that era of the minor leagues (not counting Votto who was drafted that year) go on to be an above average big leaguer - Adam Dunn. The following is a collection of some of the Reds other top talent from 2002:

Wily Mo Pena
Austin Kearns
Ben Broussard
Ty Howington
Ray Olmedo
Steve Smitherman
Travis Dawkins
Bobby Basham
Chris Denorfia
Edwin Encarnacion
Dustin Moseley
Dane Sardinhia
Daylan Childress
Chris Gruler
Brian Reith

Obviously, this is a reflection of a poor front office, but any team, at any point in time is going to have an overwhelming minority of their farm system destined for mlb success. The Reds have had one winning season in the past decade. If it takes trading some minor league players who have no guarantee of big league success--and even if they do it might not be for 2-5 years-- to get established pros who have had excellent numbers the past two seasons, consider me all for it.
In the end, without Latos and Marshall, the Reds probably aren't good enough to win the division or maybe even make the playoffs in 2012. With them, they may be good enough to win it all. I'll take that over another year of mediocrity and worrying about the future.

That list you made was weak weak stuff besides Kearns. Nobody wanted most of those players and the ones they did, were weak sauce value wise, not even close to Alonso, Grandel or Wood. The Reds tried to deal for a prime Brad Penny in 2002 and just didn't have anything the fish wanted, so they got Dempster instead. Maybe they should have dealt Kearns, but the Reds offense was already pretty weak.

You must perform in the minors and have the talent other teams want.