Pedro is the worst pitcher I've seen in the majors this year. Not just with the Reds, but in all of MLB.
joshua (08-04-2013)
I grew up in a family with divided loyalties. I color myself a baseball fan, however the Cards being one of the inherited teams, and the Reds the other. These series kill me because I love seeing these two NL Central teams succeeding....and it hurts to see either of them struggling.
This series has pretty well put paid to any hope of the division, or even second place. So I guess it's seven more weeks of trying to keep our noses in front of Arizona.
Not exactly what we expected, is it?
joshua (08-04-2013)
"I'm going with 88-74 and 2nd place behind STL. As with many games last year, our offense will be MIA, with the biggest non-factor being Ludwick......opponents will pitch around Votto all year, giving him the most walks in MLB. He will get frustrated later in the season and his average will fall to around .285-.290, having to swing at bad balls to try to get a hit. Now if Jocketty has the guts to pull a trade early enough in the season, like Bailey, Corcino, and Lutz to Minnesota for Willingham, or the same 3 to Miami for Stanton (preferred), we will win the division and go deep in the postseason.
If not, it will be a frustrating year with Dusty getting the boot."
I posted this on March 28 in the wins prediction thread. Myself , along with many other members of RZ saw this team had problems. How could Walt and the front office not see them. Did they just want to climb in their holes and hope everything would turn out ok. This team is a ways away from being a championship caliber team. It's going to take a major overhaul to get it where it needs to be. And we don't have the $$ or the players in the minors to do it. The window is closing already. I am very frustrated.
I hate the "40-man roster" excuse nonsense though. Are they really concerned with losing Pedro Villarreal off waivers? How about bring up someone who is actually an MLB-caliber pitcher, like Armando Galarraga. I don't care that he's a starter, at least he's a legit pitcher.
It's just lazy by the Reds. "Oh, Villarreal is on the 40-man roster, let's call him up!" Who cares if he's on the 40-man? Take him off the 40-man if you need to. He's not good and the Reds shouldn't care if another team claims him (which I can't imagine would happen since Villarreal can't even get AAA hitters out).
Phillip Ervin 3-3 so far today. Two singles. A double. A run scored and one driven in. Hitting .368. Something positive.
LexRedsFan (08-04-2013)
And again, Dusty gets the blame because the front office has made zero trades to help this team. Lots of injuries and some weak minor league help outside of Cingrani, where is the anti Walt crowd?
The pitching was great on the coast. Team didn't hit. Those are the games you have to win, when your pitching is great.
Now there have been a couple bad pitching games. Not really surprising, and even better offenses wouldn't win them.
Have to capitalize when pitching is going well.
Villareal is on the forty man roster, so he is a natural mop up pitcher for a few days. His job is to just pitch some innings in lopsided games for a few days.
Board Moderators may, at their discretion and judgment, delete and/or edit any messages that violate any of the following guidelines: 1. Explicit references to alleged illegal or unlawful acts. 2. Graphic sexual descriptions. 3. Racial or ethnic slurs. 4. Use of edgy language (including masked profanity). 5. Direct personal attacks, flames, fights, trolling, baiting, name-calling, general nuisance, excessive player criticism or anything along those lines. 6. Posting spam. 7. Each person may have only one user account. It is fine to be critical here - that's what this board is for. But let's not beat a subject or a player to death, please. |