Tough decisions looming for Reds

[KronoRed]

Originally Posted by Cyclone792

That Dusty fella might be alright indeed if he can persuade this team to dump Stanton into the flooded Ohio.

No more pollution.

[jojo]

Originally Posted by lollipopcurve

I guess that's why he got several starts. If he'd pitched well, he'd still be in the rotation.

3 million for a lefty reliever was the going rate. See JC Romero.

I'll argue this forever and a day-in general, if you're consistently paying the going rate for your bullpen, then you're probably not a very good talent evaluator.

[flyer85]

if it was me the BP would look like this

Cordero, Weathers, Burton, Coffey, Bray, Affeldt and not Stanton with Belisle on the DL.

[OnBaseMachine]

Another 1-2-3 inning with 2 strikeouts and a groundout today for Bray. Make that seven shutout innings with six strikeouts and only one walk.

[Matt700wlw]

If it comes down to Stanton OR Bray...I bet Stanton gets it, based on his paycheck and the fact that Bray has options.

Economics of baseball. BLAH.

Don't forget Affeldt's getting a nice check, too...

[flyer85]

Originally Posted by Matt700wlw

If it comes down to Stanton or Bray...I bet Stanton gets it, based on his paycheck and the fact that Bray has options.

Economics of baseball.

management for losers

[REDREAD]

Originally Posted by OnBaseMachine

And that guy is Bill Bray. Kent Mercker's stuff is no where near where it was before. Putting him on the team is just asking for a disaster.

If that's true, I agree with you. I'm only going by what I hear. Maybe all this spring training stuff about Mercker being good is a smoke screen. In any event, I'm not exactly brimming with confidence with Bray. If he gets parked in AAA for 4-6 weeks while they sort out the ML staff, I'm fine with that. It's not as if it's going to cost us the pennant anyhow.

[WMR]

I guess we'll find out how serious the Reds truly are about winning.

[BRM]

Originally Posted by WilyMoROCKS

I guess we'll find out how serious the Reds truly are about winning.

No doubt. Personally, I expect more of what flyer used to call "winning with caveats".

[REDREAD]

Originally Posted by SteelSD

Even Homer Bailey, the owner of an 8.44 ERA on March 15th and who hasn't had a truly good start yet, is still starting games. Affeldt didn't get past March 13th as a potential rotation piece while "competing" with Belisle, Fogg, and three unproven kids. If you're actually being given a legitimate shot at earning a rotaton slot, a couple of bad starts by March 13th isn't going to knock you out of that particular race. Affeldt is in the pen now because he was never a legitimate option for the rotation.
I don't mind paying the "going rate". It's just that I'd rather the Reds paid the "going rate" for only pitchers who really project to be good at their jobs.

I'm going to concede that I can't read Wayne's mind. I am far from being his biggest cheerleader on this board, as you know.

But, at the time of the signing, we needed depth badly.. both in the rotation and in the pen. It's a one year deal. He did ok last year with Colorado. The key to me is that it was a one year deal, not a Stanton albotross.

Lack of pitching depth has plagued the Reds for years. I'm glad Wayne at least didn't ignore the problem this year. Although I think he overpaid for Volequez, it's still nice that he added Fogg, Afedlt, and Volquez, as well as inviting Mercker and the other nonroster guys... because this team really needed some depth.
It's just not smart to head into the season, depending on a lot of innings from Belisle, rookies, and the cast of characters that filled last year's pen.

This might be the first year in a long time that we aren't forced to give guys like Michelek and Mays significant innings, as well as having the luxury not to "Rob Bell" any prospect that is not ready for prime time.

Yes, Fogg and Affedlt might be mediocre at best, but that's still an upgrade. I would've loved to see Wayne get impact pitchers instead, but apparently, the plan this year is to just be tolerable, not to win.

[buckeyenut]

Why is it so for folks (on this board and more importantly, in the front office) to understand the concept of sunk costs? It does not cost us 3.5M to keep Stanton over Bray. We are on the hook for that 3.5M regardless. All it costs us is the difference between Bray's major league deal and his minor league deal, 300K or so.

[WMR]

Originally Posted by buckeyenut

Why is it so for folks (on this board and more importantly, in the front office) to understand the concept of sunk costs? It does not cost us 3.5M to keep Stanton over Bray. We are on the hook for that 3.5M regardless. All it costs us is the difference between Bray's major league deal and his minor league deal, 300K or so.

GMs don't like admitting to handing out foolish contracts, especially during the last year of their contract.

[princeton]

Originally Posted by buckeyenut

All it costs us is the difference between Bray's major league deal and his minor league deal, 300K or so.

to hear Dusty talk about it, the Reds sound like they're up against their budget limit and won't be able to go for many 350K additions.

But Wayne usually leaves a gap, unlike Bowden. So I figure that there remains room.

[gm]

Originally Posted by REDREAD

Maybe all this spring training stuff about Mercker being good is a smoke screen.

Watching KM walk 2 batters, get a mound visit from Baker and proceed to go 3-0 on the next hitter I was thinking to myself "I may be witnessing the last competitive inning of Kent's career" then he gets the broken bat liner and records two more routine outs

[REDREAD]

Originally Posted by WilyMoROCKS

I guess we'll find out how serious the Reds truly are about winning.

We already found out how serious the Reds were winning about this year over the winter.. there were many impact starting pitchers available which the Reds could've gotten, but instead they chose to go with a youth movement.

It's clearly obvious that they aren't going for it this year by design.

If they were going for it this year, they would've kept Hamilton and traded prospects for Haren (or another stud starter).

What they do with Stanton, Mercker and Bray is a minor compared to the opportunites they passed up this offseason.