Reds sign Willy Taveras to 2 year deal....

[SMcGavin]

Originally Posted by KronoRed

Indeed, this isn't the first time the Reds, frightened of an unknown who might suck, went out and sign a known player who does suck.

Well said, that's a great way of putting it.

[BuckeyeRedleg]

Originally Posted by SMcGavin

Well said, that's a great way of putting it.

Krono has a way of doing that in just a few words.

[Reds Nd2]

Originally Posted by _Sir_Charles_

~Saberstats make my head hurt. Can't we just go with "awesome" or "not awesome"? Makes it easier on everybody.

Willy Taveras is "not awsome".

If it isn't clear to you now, it will soon become painfully clear once the season starts.

[WVRedsFan]

Originally Posted by BuckeyeRedleg

Hey, WV. Way to take it to my Bucks today. Wow. That was a butt kicking.

Thanks, BR.

Bobby Huggins is probably the best college basketball coach left in America. He came to WVU with a bunch of players no one wanted, worked with them, and turned them into a team that was predicted to finish next to last in the Big East into a Sweet 16 team. It amazes me that no one in American recognizes his brilliance. I am proud to call him my coach and my friend.

[BuckeyeRedleg]

Originally Posted by WVRedsFan

Thanks, BR.

Bobby Huggins is probably the best college basketball coach left in America. He came to WVU with a bunch of players no one wanted, worked with them, and turned them into a team that was predicted to finish next to last in the Big East into a Sweet 16 team. It amazes me that no one in American recognizes his brilliance. I am proud to call him my coach and my friend.

Agree, he's a great coach. I wanted him to come to Columbus after they fired Obie, but I'm happy with Matta.

I remember Larry Huggins lighting it up like it was yesterday.

[Team Clark]

Not the best signing but it is better than Hopper as your everyday CF. Not by much, but better. Somewhat...

[MWM]

I bet Marty is happy.

[Razor Shines]

Originally Posted by _Sir_Charles_

Fine, disagree. But instead of that, how about you go back and RE-READ what Jocketty stated. He never said that Taveras is the starter or the leadoff hitter.

As for what Baker has done in the past, I don't discount that. Given his tendancies...I wouldn't be surprised if he ended up leading off and playing center. But I also wouldn't be surprised to see Dickerson there if he performed well in ST. Dusty's not an idiot. While you may not like him or his style, he certainly knows the game better than a bunch of message board junkies like us. As does Walt.

You know when I first came to this board that was one of my biggest arguments against the "stat guys", but I really have had to re-think that one. Dusty was good at playing baseball, I'm not sure that means he knows the game better than some guys on this board. As for Jocketty, he's certainly put in the work to get to where he is, but just because he has the connections and the resume to do his job doesn't mean he knows the game better than some. Can he negotiate trades and contracts better than everyone on this board? Yes. Does he know the game of baseball better than everyone on this board? I have to say no. I feel really awkward saying that but I honestly believe it.

And just to pile on a little more, I didn't think the feeling of dirtiness that came with the Cory Patterson signing could be replicated, but my hat's off to you Walt. I feel very dirty, absolutely filthy. This sucks, in '08 the league figured out that you don't have to pitch Willy in the strike zone to get him out and we're going to be forced to watch him swing at bad pitch after bad pitch for 2 years, with no hope that he might get lucky and muscle one over wall. Goody.

[GAC]

Originally Posted by _Sir_Charles_

Thank you. A bit of optimism. I agree that .308 is very poor, but it's also been his worst season to date.

2005: .325
2006: .333
2007: .367

Are any of those great? No, but considering his other attributes, I'd take it for a 2 year FA signing.

But what are his other attributes? Especially from the offensive perspective?

Jocketty stated that he is hoping Willy returns to form. But lets take a look at that form, especially as a lead off hitter.

The guy has a career .668 OPS, as well as averaging 35 BBs/season, a BB/PA of .054, a #P/PA of 3.58. He's a hacker with no plate discipline aka Brandon Phillips.... yet without the Slg %.

I just want to see what kind of money they gave him.

And the defensive improvement can only bolster the development of our young pitching.

IMO, his defense cannot come anywhere near offsetting the run differential. Our offense scored 704 runs last season, while our pitching allowed 800. I look at this offense going into '09 and I don't see any great improvement as far as runs go. Maybe a slight jump. We're hoping our pitching will improve with Harang returning to form, Arroyo repeating his 2nd half performance (not the 1st), Cueto improving, and Volquez at least matching his '08.

We're counting on a lot of hope and finger crossing going into this new season.

All I know is that Dusty is sitting at hope and salivating in his egg nog with a roster of speedy players who can "make things happen". And that "thing" is giving up a helluva lot of outs IMO.

We might lead the majors in stolen bases, but our attempts will probably quadruple with Baker experimenting with all types of situational hitting to force the issue and produce offense.

[dougdirt]

Well, its 5am and I still don't feel any better about this. Still want to vomit. The Reds are pushing me closer and closer to taking up alcohol, and lots of it.

[Tom Servo]

I took a nap before and when I woke up I was hoping that somehow I had merely dreamed the Taveras signing. Alas...

[edabbs44]

Reds think speed's the ticket
Signing Taveras signals new direction
By John Fay • jfay@enquirer.com • December 28, 2008

The signing of Willy Taveras might be a precursor to a new, different type of Reds team.


General manager Walt Jocketty said as much when he said the club is still interested in bringing back Jerry Hairston Jr.

"He could end up being the left fielder if we can't get that RBI man, which might be hard to do at this point," Jocketty said. "We may have a different type of team, where we rely on speed and defense and try to manufacture runs. We've still got some guys who can hit the ball out of the ballpark - (Joey) Votto, (Jay) Bruce and (Edwin) Encarnacion. But we're going to be a little bit different kind of team."

How different? Consider the Reds had Ken Griffey Jr. and Adam Dunn as starting outfielders for the past seven seasons. Griffey and Dunn have 889 home runs between them. Taveras and Hairston have 46.

The Reds targeted Taveras as soon as the Colorado Rockies, his last club, didn't offer him a 2009 contract. The Reds were the first team to call, and quickly made an offer.

"He fills a couple of needs," Jocketty said. "He gives us very good defense in center field, and he's potentially a very good leadoff man."

Potentially is the key word in that sentence.

Taveras is coming off a year in which he hit .251 and had a .308 on-base percentage.

"He needs to get back to the way he was swinging the bat and getting on base a couple of years ago," Jocketty said. "Jamie Quirk, who's with us now, was with Willy in Colorado and feels like Willy can get back to that."

Taveras hit .320 and had a .367 on-base in 2007. His career on-base percentage is .331. He has virtually no power. His career slugging percentage is .337. He has 80 extra-base hits in 1,973 career at-bats.

Taveras is one of the fastest runners in baseball. He led the majors with 68 steals last season and was caught only seven times in 75 attempts.

Taveras is still young. He turned 27 on Dec. 25. He sees this as an opportunity to get his career back on track.

"It's a young team," he said. "I think I fit in well. I'll come in and play hard. I'm happy to play for Dusty (Baker). It's an opportunity to play every day, no matter what happened the day before."

Taveras mentioned Baker several times in a conference call with reporters.

"I've heard from plenty of guys that he lets you do what you do well," Taveras said. "I'm looking forward to playing for him."

Taveras broke into the majors with the Houston Astros.

"A couple of teams were interested," he said. "The best situation was with the Reds. I really like playing in the Central Division. I feel lucky to play for Dusty."

The Reds have an offer out to Hairston. They are still in the running to sign Rocco Baldelli, another free-agent outfielder. Jocketty said the Reds still are looking into Baldelli's medical reports but expect to have further discussions.

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/2...812280439/1071

[Raisor]

Originally Posted by D-Man

Where do you get your RC numbers? Hardball Times shows data that is much different than what you have presented. Consequently, I interpret it much differently.

Got them from ESPN.com

Don't really see that much of a difference.

Year	RC	PA	RC/100	RC/600
2005	63	635	9.92 (11.01)	59.53 (66.06)
2006	65	587	11.07 (11.11)	66.44(66.66)
2007	52	408	12.75 (14.09)	76.47 (84.54)
2008	47	538	8.74 (10.54)	52.42(63.24)
Total	227	2168	10.47	62.82

If anything, the Hardball numbers make him seem worse then the ESPN numbers.
.[/QUOTE]

[Marty and Joe]

With the Taveras signing and Walt's mention of potentially going smallball or finding other ways to manufacture runs... the next logical move is to convince Hopper to become the every day bunting coach versus spending his time in AAA.

He could spend all of his time teaching Taveras and Dickerson how to bunt for basehits and everyone else - pitchers of course included - to bunt period.

Only half joking.

[remdog]

Originally Posted by _Sir_Charles_

Bruce also got lots of starts over vets Patterson & Freel too.

Bruce was called up 5/27/08. Freel went to the DL (for the rest of the year) on 6/4/08. They were both on the active roster at the same time for about one week so that's a bogus point.

Rem