Kearns isn't ready for the bigs...

[MWM]

GAC, your logic would almost dictate he never get called up because he MIGHT struggle. I'm not sure making decisions based on what if scenarios is a good philosophy. We know the guy is good enough to hit ML pitching. This whole "build confidence" scenario is shaky, IMO. I don't think he's that weak-minded. The guy just needs ABs at the major league level.

Here's a what-if scenario for you. What if they keep him down there and he continues to light it up for an extened period of time, then they call him up and he struggles. Maybe then Austin begins to wonder if he can really hit major league caliber pitching. I don't believe any of that, but if you want to play what if, we can play what if all day long.

[Chip R]

Originally Posted by GAC

But O'Brien did Chip. O'Brien stated last Friday, when they activated LaRue, that they will not rush Kearns until they feel he is hitting consistently and is comfortable at the plate. Face it! Kearns was hitting .137 at the time of the injury. O'Brien stated last Friday... "We've told Austin that there is no timetable," O'Brien said. "We want to get him hitting like he's capable of hitting." ... http://reds.enquirer.com/2004/05/13...tes513.rtf.html

So now that he's hitting like he's capable of hitting, why hasn't he been called up yet? You're right, he was hitting poorly when he got hurt. The injury may have been a blessing in disguise. Vague statements like DanO made don't do him any favors. If Kearns was hitting a buck eighty in LOU then there would be no story. DanO could stand by his statement. But it looks like he has fulfilled DanO's criteria and he is still in Buffalo. People want to know why and it's a legitimate question. But DanO is no more forthcoming about this than a magic 8-Ball. I don't mind if DanO is tight lipped on certain things. But you can't be that way all of the time. GAC, you know how in politics how it's important to get your version of the story out there before the other side does. There's no difference in this situation. Instead of getting something definite out there about when Austin is due to return, the media gets stonewalled. So someone who may want DanO to look bad or who wants Austin up here very much makes a remark to Hal that DanO doesn't think Austin is good enough to play up here. Even if it's bull it makes DanO look like a boob.

[Dan]

Originally Posted by Redsland

Austin is on a rehab assignment, so his clock continues to run. If he'd been optioned down, then it would have stopped running.


Chip, great post about DanO's tight-lippedness. (Hmm, Carl's tight-fisted, Dan's tight-lipped… Can we work John Allen into this matrix?)

Santo, you're dead-on, as always.

nobrainer: tight a--ed

[letsgojunior]

Originally Posted by Chip R

So now that he's hitting like he's capable of hitting, why hasn't he been called up yet? You're right, he was hitting poorly when he got hurt. The injury may have been a blessing in disguise. Vague statements like DanO made don't do him any favors. If Kearns was hitting a buck eighty in LOU then there would be no story. DanO could stand by his statement. But it looks like he has fulfilled DanO's criteria and he is still in Buffalo. People want to know why and it's a legitimate question. But DanO is no more forthcoming about this than a magic 8-Ball. I don't mind if DanO is tight lipped on certain things. But you can't be that way all of the time. GAC, you know how in politics how it's important to get your version of the story out there before the other side does. There's no difference in this situation. Instead of getting something definite out there about when Austin is due to return, the media gets stonewalled. So someone who may want DanO to look bad or who wants Austin up here very much makes a remark to Hal that DanO doesn't think Austin is good enough to play up here. Even if it's bull it makes DanO look like a boob.

Chip - really great posts on this subject today.

[GAC]

Originally Posted by MWM

GAC, your logic would almost dictate he never get called up because he MIGHT struggle.

No Mike. My opinion was based on Kearns getting more than the 28 A/B's that he had gotten. I never said that their decision should be made on a "what if". I threw that question out there, because in my mind I was already seeing the thread titles on this forum if Kearns came back and continued to struggle.

It's called fickled fans

This whole "build confidence" scenario is shaky, IMO. I don't think he's that weak-minded. The guy just needs ABs at the major league level.

So then you're saying we shouldn't have sent Larson back down last year?


I disagree when it comes to young players. Here is a guy who, yes, has high expectations. But he also has an injury history too. Every time he starts to move forward, what happens? He gets a setback due to injury.

He had major shoulder surgery to end last year. He comes out of the gate struggling badly, and then gets hurt again. If this was a veteran player, then I'd agree that they'd handle it better. But you can't simply discount the fact that it's a possibility, over all that has happened in the last year to present, that it couldn't affect Kearns. His stats to start the season were not impressive at all. And yes, I understand that he was recovering from major surgery (see Casey argument ). Was he going to stay that way? No telling. But then he gets hurt again.

Besides. He got hurt on April 28th (3 weeks ago). The Drs said he could be out up to 6 weeks. It's great that Kearns is coming back faster. But for me, I can understand this mgt. taking some caution, and wanting him to have more time in the minors. He was gonna be back.

[GAC]

Originally Posted by Chip R

So now that he's hitting like he's capable of hitting, why hasn't he been called up yet?

See above response to MWM. :mhcky21:

[sig]

If I were the Reds I'd trade Kearns for Blalock. I doubt the Rangers would do this. The Rangers just signed Hank to a pretty friendly contract plus right now he is clearly a better player. Not that Kearns won't be better down the road but he is not better now.