I'm not sold on this team right now......

[Vottomatic]

The pitching isn't as good as advertised and there are other teams in the division that appear to be better at it.

Votto isn't getting anything to hit. Bruce, for the most part, isn't hitting. Gomes has been pretty good at the plate, surprisingly. How long will Rolen hold up?

Chapman needs to be sent down and turned into a starter since he can't go multiple days in a row, essentially ending his relief pitching career.

Volquez is a problem. He's going to wear out our bullpen fast.

The sky is falling. The sky is falling.

Actually it isn't, but I see some concerns. The first month is always a look and see what you got month, and then they'll have to make some adjustments to fill weaknesses . Hopefully they do.

[Carolina_Redleg]

It's early in the season. I think the pitching will be fine. One thing you don't have to worry about is the lineup. This team will score runs. We just need the pitching to hold up.

[RedsFanInBama]

Still 90% of the season to go, but I can't say that this team is making me feel great. Maybe once (or if) we get healthy, I can get a better feel for it.

[VottoFan54]

I think we will be fine since IMO we still have our best pitcher on the DL and Bailey has the potential to have a good year, along with Volquez showing signs of brilliance but being inconsistent. If Phillips can come back strong and the young outfielders can start hitting we will be able to recover from this series just fine.

[Krawhitham]

Originally Posted by Vottomatic

The pitching isn't as good as advertised and there are other teams in the division that appear to be better at it.

2 of the starters will be back soon, plus the D-Train is being lights out in AAA

Originally Posted by Vottomatic

Votto isn't getting anything to hit. Bruce, for the most part, isn't hitting. Gomes has been pretty good at the plate, surprisingly. How long will Rolen hold up?

Votto is hitting over .400, the problem is he has only had 8 AB with runners in scoring position (but he is batting .625 when they are). Bruce is starting to hit. Rolen will last about half the season. Juan has made some good plays in the field and his bat will come around when he is playing everyday

Originally Posted by Vottomatic

Chapman needs to be sent down and turned into a starter since he can't go multiple days in a row, essentially ending his relief pitching career.

We will have 7 starters in 2 weeks plus D-Train racing down the track

Originally Posted by Vottomatic

Volquez is a problem. He's going to wear out our bullpen fast.

Yep Yep

Originally Posted by Vottomatic

The sky is falling. The sky is falling.

Yep Yep

[NorrisHopper30]

9-6 while not playing well is a good thing

[Maker_84]

Originally Posted by NorrisHopper30

9-6 while not playing well is a good thing

we played good baseball during the 5-0 start. Not playing well-> 4-6

[DirtyBaker]

Who is to say this is the real Reds team and not the team that started 5-0 out of the gate? Plus a few of those losses could have easily been wins - it's not like this team is getting outclassed on a nightly basis.

If this team goes on monthly 4-5 game tears, and treads .500 outside of those, that should be good enough to at least make the playoffs.

[Cant Touch This]

While I understand the concern - after dropping 2 of the first 3 at home to PIT - the Reds have found a way to win 9 of their first 15 games. If they continue to go 9-6 every set of 15 games, they'll end up with 97 wins. I'll take that.

Remember: Cueto and Bailey have yet to sniff the bump. In addition to a wealth of pitchers, the Reds are deep with position players. Louisville is tearing it up, and that's no surprise.

Based on what I've seen in the Central so far....I AM sold on this team. In the end, I don't think it will even be that close.

[Carolina_Redleg]

Seriously, how can you not be optimistic about this team? We have 2 starters on the DL, and Louisville is absolutely killing it right now. We have a lot of major league ready guys down there, and Dontrelle is killing it so far down there. We're 9-6 have been without BP for 3 games, and without 2 of our best starters, and our supposed set-up man has **** the bed so far. And yet we're still on a 97 win pace.

Sounds good to me. Go Redlegs!

[DaytonFlyer]

Yeah, I was a little worried seeing us drop 2 of 3 to PIT until I realized that a 9-6 pace is actually pretty darn good.

Problem is, we're not going to be playing Houston, Arizona, and Pittsburgh forever.

[Simon Rhymon]

The pitching will always be a key. However there isn't a team in baseball other than the Phillies and Giants that feels confident about their staff.

This team can score runs and defend which hopefully will overcome pitching deficiencies more than not especially when facing teams with the same dilemma. However I don't care what kind of stats Willis is putting up in Louisville. He has been awful for a long time including this spring training. A couple good outings doesn't give me any hope that he has turned it around. If he is pitching like the old DTrain at the end of July, that's a different story. But 12 innings in April gives me no encouragement that he can help the Reds.

[brm7675]

Originally Posted by Vottomatic

The pitching isn't as good as advertised and there are other teams in the division that appear to be better at it.

Votto isn't getting anything to hit. Bruce, for the most part, isn't hitting. Gomes has been pretty good at the plate, surprisingly. How long will Rolen hold up?

Chapman needs to be sent down and turned into a starter since he can't go multiple days in a row, essentially ending his relief pitching career.

Volquez is a problem. He's going to wear out our bullpen fast.

The sky is falling. The sky is falling.

Actually it isn't, but I see some concerns. The first month is always a look and see what you got month, and then they'll have to make some adjustments to fill weaknesses . Hopefully they do.

I would disagree on the pitching, outside of Edison the rest of the staff has pitched either real well or pretty darn well.

Votto is still raking even getting less to hit.

This team is still young and will struggle at times, lets remember no other team in the Central has the overall talent this team has...

[krm1580]

I think the frustration with the Reds right now comes from the fact they are 4-4 in their last 8 games but very easily could be 7-1.

The thing I find most frustrating is the number of walks being given up. The Reds are 2nd worst in the NL with walks allowed and it seems like every time a guy gets a free pass it comes back to haunt them. Its especially hard to deal with considering how good they are defensively. Odds are if the pitchers can keep it in the park good things will happen.

[arkimadee]

Look how far this organization has come in one year. We are in first place and we are all concerned. Beats chasing first place! I'd say the pitching will warm up once we hit May. It was like that last year and the year before. I do worry about Rolen but I am siked about the start of Gomes. I don't think it's a temporary thing with all the walks he is taking. Stubbs is off to a pretty good start. There will be a stretch this summer where Stubbs, Bruce, Rolen, Votto, Rolen and Phillips are all on a tear and that stretch will be when we build some games in a division lead. I would predict we will be 4 to 10 games over until about the end of May or June when we hit that stride.