Joey Votto's arrival in Cincinnati

[AmarilloRed]

I hear he is shortly to be called up to the parent club, and he is tearing up at AAA. Do we know when that will be? I fear the Reds will trade Adam Dunn and stick Votto in LF. If that is true, we may not see him until July. I see he is playing lots of LF, and I think his natural position is first base.

[reds44]

Whenever Dunn or Hatteberg is traded or gets hurt.

[HBP]

Originally Posted by AmarilloRed

I hear he is shortly to be called up to the parent club, and he is tearing up at AAA. Do we know when that will be? I fear the Reds will trade Adam Dunn and stick Votto in LF. If that is true, we may not see him until July. I see he is playing lots of LF, and I think his natural position is first base.

I think Joey is having a great season so far, but I don't necessarily think he's tearing it up. Compared to last season in the Southern league, his OPS has dropped from .956 to .889. More specifically, his slugging has dropped from .547 to .471 (his OBP has increased though). It was to be expected that his numbers would drop a bit because of better competition, so this isn't a major concern to me (his slow start in April didn't help any either).

I just think fans need to make sure that they don't expect a Todd Helton clone right away or anything like that when he first comes up. He still has plenty of time to develop more power and in time be a Helton type of player. BTW, I think the perfect situation to get him playing time is to trade Hatty to the Yankees and still let Conine or someone else play against lefty's. There are significant drops in Votto's AVG and OPS when facing a LHP.

[bucksfan2]

HBP take out his awful first month and what are his numbers? It seemed as if he started to play a lot better once he got glasses.

[5DOLLAR-BLEACHERBUM]

Originally Posted by HBP

I think Joey is having a great season so far, but I don't necessarily think he's tearing it up. Compared to last season in the Southern league, his OPS has dropped from .956 to .889. More specifically, his slugging has dropped from .547 to .471 (his OBP has increased though). It was to be expected that his numbers would drop a bit because of better competition, so this isn't a major concern to me (his slow start in April didn't help any either).

I just think fans need to make sure that they don't expect a Todd Helton clone right away or anything like that when he first comes up. He still has plenty of time to develop more power and in time be a Helton type of player. BTW, I think the perfect situation to get him playing time is to trade Hatty to the Yankees and still let Conine or someone else play against lefty's. There are significant drops in Votto's AVG and OPS when facing a LHP.

I have heard alot about trading hatte lately, IMO I would keep him and Conine both even with votto up. Next season we are going to be short of bench players and I would take Hatte and conine off of the bench over anyone we will sign to fill the job next year. That would give you...
1b. Votto
2b. Phillips
3b. EE
ss. Gonz
lf. Dunn(if not traded)
cf. Hamilton
rf. Griffey
Bench- Hatte, Conine, Val, freel off of the bench.
compare this to our current bench situation and I would hate to see a guy that can handle the bat like Hatte leave town unless the return is well worth it.

[HBP]

Originally Posted by bucksfan2

HBP take out his awful first month and what are his numbers? It seemed as if he started to play a lot better once he got glasses.

By month:
April - OPS .693 AVG .192
May - 1.114 .402
June - .788 .320

[johngalt]

Originally Posted by 5DOLLAR-BLEACHERBUM

I have heard alot about trading hatte lately, IMO I would keep him and Conine both even with votto up. Next season we are going to be short of bench players and I would take Hatte and conine off of the bench over anyone we will sign to fill the job next year. That would give you...
1b. Votto
2b. Phillips
3b. EE
ss. Gonz
lf. Dunn(if not traded)
cf. Hamilton
rf. Griffey
Bench- Hatte, Conine, Val, freel off of the bench.
compare this to our current bench situation and I would hate to see a guy that can handle the bat like Hatte leave town unless the return is well worth it.

Having Hatteberg and Conine both on the bench severely limits what Narron (or whoever the manager is) can do with the reserves. Neither guy can play anywhere but first base for any extended period of time. You can get away with one guy like that on the bench, but for the most part, reserves need to be able to play multiple positions.

[AmarilloRed]

I think one of the reserves will end up being traded. You only need one reserve to play first, unless you have a player who can play multiple positions. We can keep either Conine or Hatteberg; I dont see us keeping both when Votto comes up.

[The_jbh]

Votto is a lefty... naturally i think Conine sticks as a platoon guy... id rather have Hatte off the bench though...

[reds44]

Originally Posted by The_jbh

Votto is a lefty... naturally i think Conine sticks as a platoon guy... id rather have Hatte off the bench though...

Why does he have to platoon? You only need a platoon if Votto can't hit lefties. I have no idea if he can or not, but considering he is hitting over .300 in AAA, I think he can handle both.

[mth123]

Originally Posted by reds44

Why does he have to platoon? You only need a platoon if Votto can't hit lefties. I have no idea if he can or not, but considering he is hitting over .300 in AAA, I think he can handle both.

Vs. LH: 65AB, .262/.386/.323/.709 BABIP - .356
Vs. RH: 187AB, .332/.430/.508/.938 BABIP - .377

I think he should platoon if it can be done.

[NJReds]

Originally Posted by mth123

Vs. LH: 65AB, .262/.386/.323/.709 BABIP - .356
Vs. RH: 187AB, .332/.430/.508/.938 BABIP - .377

I think he should platoon if it can be done.

If you platoon him, how will he develop his hitting vs. lefties? The Reds took the same approach on O'Neill. The knock on him when he he was traded to NY was that he couldn't hit lefties. The Yankees just threw him out there everyday, and it worked out.

[mth123]

Originally Posted by NJReds

If you platoon him, how will he develop his hitting vs. lefties? The Reds took the same approach on O'Neill. The knock on him when he he was traded to NY was that he couldn't hit lefties. The Yankees just threw him out there everyday, and it worked out.

Ease him in. While he's getting used to the majors lets leave the lefty issues off of him. Year two, let him play against lesser lefties and year three throw him in. O'Niell was a veteran who had all the other adjustements to major league life behind him by the time he started playing against lefties everyday.

[bucksfan2]

Platooning Votto would be one of the dumbest things you can do. Platooning in general I think is stupid. There are only some pitchers that I would platoon against but if you think too much about it you end up with ph Hamilton with Castro.

I think that Hatty will be back for a bat off the bench next year. I think a small market team will eat up his small salary for next year. That said when Votto comes up he needs to play every day.

[MikeS21]

Did anybody catch the "Ask Hal" segment in the DDN where Hal McCoy said that a NL scout for another told him that he doubts Votto can hit in the majors? The scout also told him that his team would love to get Hatteburg.