Ridiculously Early Grades for the Reds

[Ironman92]

13.6% of the season has been played. Give some early grades of what you have seen so far.

Team....B- 7th best record in the NL

Starting Pitching.....B-

Cueto......A

Latos......C-

Arroyo....B+/A-.....per what was expected I can go A-

Homer....B

Leake.....C-/D+.....basically he and Bronson have done what I thought the other would do.

Relief Pitching....A-

Sean Marshall....A-.....one bad curveball

Aroldis Chapman....A+

Ondrusek......A+

Arrendondo.....A

Bray.....C-/D+

Simon....B-

LeCure.....C+

JJ Hoover.....Incomplete

Hitters/Fielders B-

Votto.....B+ but no worries

Bruce....B+

Stubbs.....B-/C+

Cozart.....B

Rolen....C-

Ludwick....B-

Heisey.....B-

Hanigan....B

Mesoraco.....C+ (starting to be hard not to look at the numbers when Meso catches vs Hanigan)

Valdez.....C

Willie Harris.....F

Brandon Phillips.....B

Frazier/Cairo/ Incomplete

Dusty Baker....C+......overall team is a B-.....he's one notch below IMO

[New York Red]

I don't think it is "ridiculously early" for grades. Heck, I was grading them after the first week, and again after the second week, etc. I grade them daily, lol. It's hard to grade hitters this early though, because of pitchers we've faced, hot and cold streaks, and the small sample size, but I think you're pretty accurate in most categories. Your grade for Marshall is better than mine, as well as your grade for Dusty. But then again I've hated Dusty since the 70's.

[Ironman92]

I'm bumping Bruce up to a B+

OPS .954

[New York Red]

I would bump Cozart up to an A, maybe an A-. I love his overall game so far, for a rook. After one month, my biased pick for NL ROY. How can you give him less than an 'A'?

[Krawhitham]

13.6% of the season has been played. Give some early grades of what you have seen so far.

Mesoraco.....C+ (starting to be hard not to look at the numbers when Meso catches vs Hanigan)

If you had to catch Latos & Leake your CERA would be a little jacked too

[Krawhitham]

I would bump Cozart up to an A, maybe an A-. I love his overall game so far, for a rook. After one month, my biased pick for NL ROY. How can you give him less than an 'A'?

Maybe the fact he was hitting 0.259 before today's game, and is hitting .171 when he is not in front of Votto (leadoff)

[R_Webb18]

mbn to be ludwick and get a b and bat 190. yea he had few good winners but cmon lets be fair.

leake id say d

id could see b for votto b/c he's better

bruce is an a

[Ironman92]

Ludwick's mom regularly makes me cookies.

[Krawhitham]

mbn to be ludwick and get a b and bat 190. yea he had few good winners but cmon lets be fair.

leake id say d

id could see b for votto b/c he's better

bruce is an a

Bruce was 0 for his last 19 at one point, he is a solid B+

[DGullett35]

I give Stubbs a B-. he needs to go back to that 2 hole however

[R_Webb18]

Bruce was 0 for his last 19 at one point, he is a solid B+

thats like 4 games i thought this was based on 22 games?

[New York Red]

Maybe the fact he was hitting 0.259 before today's game, and is hitting .171 when he is not in front of Votto (leadoff)

In his defense, everyone hits better in front of Joey. I realize there are negatives, but he's a rookie, so I judge him on a different scale. Based on my own preseason expectations, I have to give Cozart an A or A- for the month of April. He leads all NL rookies in almost every offensive category, and defensively he's shown the ability to make the routine play as well as the spectacular. I love what we've seen from him thus far.

[The DARK]

I'd give the team on the whole a C-. While I was never totally convinced they were the outright favorites in the division, I had hoped for a better overall record than even at this point. The bats have been quiet and streaky, while nobody's stepped up and had even a remotely good season other than the rookies and Jay Bruce as of late. Starting pitching's been a mixed bag as well; while it's nowhere near as atrocious as it was at this point last season, only Cueto and Arroyo have been anywhere near consistent. Latos and Bailey have shown flashes, but are off to their usual rough starts, while Leake has been unexpectedly bad. The relief corps have exceeded expectations, though. Simon has really turned it around (albeit in mop-up duty), and Arredondo, Chapman, Ondrusek, and Hoover have been excellent. Marshall had a few rough outings, but hasn't been altogether off his game and could be explained by the transition to closer. LeCure and Bray haven't been good at all this year, but their damage has been mitigated.

We're hardly in dire straits, but this team definitely has the capacity to do better. The last few days have been promising, on the whole.

[The Rage]

1.Joey Votto: C
2.Brandon Phillips: D
3.Hanigan/Mes: B
4.Jay Bruce: A
5.Scott Rolen: F
6.Ludwick/Heisey: F
7.Cozart: B
8.Bench: F
9.Cueto: A
10.Latos: F
11.Arroyo: B
12.Bailey: C
13.Leake: F
14.Chapman: A
15.Marshall: D
16.Middle Relievers: B

That sums it up. I suspect Phillips,Latos,Bailey,Votto and Marshall's grades improve so that is good news while some like Arroyo and middle relievers declines a bit.

[Ironman92]

thats like 4 games i thought this was based on 22 games?

17/22 A
5/22 F

Overall B+