So stupid ... it's funny

[Cyclone792]

Every once and a while over the past several years I've engaged in a semi-regular pattern throughout each season. I'll glance at some Reds' numbers, and almost every single time, I'll notice something (lots of things since the beginning of 2008) where I just shake my head and laugh to myself.

Nevertheless, here's some fun stuff I've already noticed about teh 2010 Dusty Bakers:

teh 2010 Dusty Bakers as CF: .149/.241/.216/.457
teh 2010 Dusty Bakers as P: .229/.250/.229/.479

Oh, it gets better.

teh 2010 Dusty Bakers as #1 hitter: .143/.233/.208/.440
teh 2010 Dusty Bakers as #9 hitter: .230/.266/.279/.544

Of course, I'm not advocating leading off with the pitcher - though we may get some OBP bump! - but it's just fitting that a Dusty Baker led team would have a higher on-base percentage from his pitchers and #9-hole hitters than his center fielders and leadoff hitters. And it's not just fitting, it's to the point of just being hilarious.

Remember a thread I started two years ago about Dustifying the Leadoff Slot? In that thread, I warned that through Dusty Baker's 15 seasons as manager of the Giants and Cubs, his teams leadoff hitter had an on-base percentage higher than the league average only three times. Dusty's cumulative leadoff OBPs were .334 vs. a league average of .341.

Some folks tried dustifying and rationalizing that .334 isn't too much worse than .341. Maybe they just wanted to make themselves feel better, I don't know.

Yet we're now two years and one month into teh Dusty Baker regime, and well ...

2008 Reds: .326 OBP from the leadoff guy
2008 NL: .342 OBP from the leadoff guy

And the two-hole hitters?

2008 Reds: .305 OBP from the two-hole hitter
2008 NL: .338 OBP from the two-hole hitter

Thank you, Dusty Baker and Corey Patterson. May we have another?

Move on to 2009, which was teh year of Willy T. We know how bad we looked, right?

2009 Reds: .302 OBP from the leadoff guy
2009 NL: .340 OBP from the leadoff guy

2009 Reds: .302 OBP from the two-hole hitter
2009 NL: .338 OBP from the two-hole hitter

Are we seeing a trend yet? Perhaps the first few weeks of 2010 can help us identify what we're seeing ...

2010 Reds: .235 OBP from the leadoff guy
2010 NL: .324 OBP from the leadoff guy

2010 Reds: .300 OBP from the two-hole hitter
2010 NL: .340 OBP from the two-hole hitter

What should we call something that starts off crappy and then manages to get even worse over two plus years? Whatever it is, that's the Reds' at the top of the lineup during teh Dusty Baker regime.

I thought about doing this same exercise for the cleanup hitter using OPS, but I wanted to stop the torture so I haven't bothered to look yet. I can only imagine what those numbers look like though. Any guesses?

The only idea I can ponder is maybe this is all a trick to suppress the salary potential of Joey Votto. With Ryan Howard inking his ridiculous contract, perhaps the Reds' front office figured if they ensured that nobody was ever on base in front of Votto and that the guy behind Votto was a wild hack who cannot hit right-handers, that Votto wouldn't ever be able to post those impressive runs scored and RBI totals that agents love to quote during contract discussions.

Those sneaky Dusty Baker Redlegs!

In the end, the most important number is .456 since 2001. That's winning percentage, and it reminds us that the Lost Decade laughs in all our faces (By the way, what does the Lost Decade's laugh sound like? I envision it being something similar to Heath Ledger's Joker laugh, but perhaps there's something even more sinister and hilarious out there that'd be more appropriate.).

When you get right down to it, the Lost Decade's lineup of owners, general managers and managers is almost like a Dusty Baker lineup.

Lindner
Castellini
Bowden
O'Brien
Krivsky
Jocketty
Boone
Miley
Narron
Baker

Wait, that's 10 guys. I guess we'll play by AL rules and somebody's gotta DH.

Will the madness ever end? I guess if it doesn't, all we can do is just laugh at the stupidity.

[westofyou]

Ya know, whenever I read teh Dusty I stop reading... same for Duhsty.

IMO it weakens ones argument to lean into the belittle so early in the piece.

[edabbs44]

Who would you put in CF to up the OBP from that spot in 2010?

[Cyclone792]

Ya know, whenever I read teh Dusty I stop reading... same for Duhsty.

IMO it weakens ones argument to lean into the belittle so early in the piece.

The Reds nowadays deserve nothing more than being pushed into the belittle. Last week's gate for the homestand echoes those thoughts: 15,200 average per game. Once again, apathy has taken over before May begins. People here just now just move on from the Reds, and the organization really has nobody else to blame but themselves.

I love baseball, but I'm now 28-years-old, and outside a few specific players, this organization has been largely unwatchable since I graduated high school.

[Ghosts of 1990]

"Good" stuff! haha. This is completely hideous. Can't wait to tell my friends who watch the Reds every night about this one

[lollipopcurve]

I love baseball, but I'm now 28-years-old, and outside a few specific players, this organization has been largely unwatchable since I graduated high school.

Oh the victimhood.

Seems to me you're getting plenty of enjoyment out of some poor performance.

[WMR]

Good stuff.

[WMR]

Oh the victimhood.

Seems to me you're getting plenty of enjoyment out of some poor performance.

Oh yeah, I'm sure Cyclone would prefer the Reds suck wind.

[Cyclone792]

Oh the victimhood.

Seems to me you're getting plenty of enjoyment out of some poor performance.

Some of you folks from out of town just don't get it. You watch from afar, but you haven't the slightest idea the current environment here.

This Reds organization is a running joke here in Cincinnati. Their on-field performance isn't just having an impact on the stats and standings, it's a PR disaster. It stretches from the owner's seat to the front office to the manager's seat to the players on the field.

Try explaining to Joe Fan here why he should shell out his money to watch this team, and after he's done laughing at the organization, he'll laugh in your face.

Meanwhile, keep sitting several hundred miles away in a different part of the country and believe that things are looking solid here. You can believe what you want, but you'll be believing in a fantasy if you're not looking at reality.

[WMR]

Some of you folks from out of town just don't get it. You watch from afar, but you haven't the slightest idea the current environment here.

This Reds organization is a running joke here in Cincinnati. Their on-field performance isn't just having an impact on the stats and standings, it's a PR disaster. It stretches from the owner's seat to the front office to the manager's seat to the players on the field.

Try explaining to Joe Fan here why he should shell out his money to watch this team, and after he's done laughing at the organization, he'll laugh in your face.

Meanwhile, keep sitting several hundred miles away in a different part of the country and believe that things are looking solid here. You can believe what you want, but you'll be believing in a fantasy if you're not looking at reality.

The closer you get to Cincinnati, the bigger laughingstock the Reds become.

[mbgrayson]

The funny thing is that Stubbs was even quoted the other day as saying he liked batting 7th. Yet, the CF leads off, and the SS bats second.....

I honestly think that when we get the inevitable manager change, if we hire someone who simply moves the lineup around to put high OBP guys (do we have any?) in the #1 and #2 slot, we could score more runs on a regular basis.

Also, we have to get the whole team OBP to a higher plane. There is a direct correlation between OBP and runs scored. Until the Reds organization starts to value that, we will continue to lag in run production.

So far in 2010, the Reds are 25th in MLB in team OBP at .312. We are tied for 16th in runs scored with 87 runs. We are 15th in team HRs with 20.

Of course much of the problem in 2010 has been with pitching....and that is a different thread....

[Sea Ray]

I think you're putting too much blame here on Dusty Baker. It's not like he's had better options. As you go up and down the lineup you'll find that his players are underperforming the league avg. Managers are only as good as his players.

[Hoosier Red]

I agree, let's Cyclone the lineup. See how the production stacks up 1-9.

[TRF]

How much is a trip to the Zoo? a family of four will cost about $70 before food. Get a souvenir or two and you are easily at $120-150. Now how many times can you go to the zoo? It's an all day thing and while I go every time I am in Cincinnati, I can't imagine going three days in a row.

Kings Island? Last time I went took me two days to recover. $300 for four of us. That's parking, food, admission, and a bunch of stuff.

I can get 4 bleacher seats for $28. total. I can park for $2 under Fountain Square. I can spend another $20 on snacks with the idea that we'll eat out after the game.

And I'll see baseball. Even my girly-girl daughter wore a pink Reds Jersey. We saw fireworks and the team actually won.

And I saw baseball. Hard core fans will show up regardless. Some fair weather fans too. That's how you get 15,000 fans instead of 1,500. And yes, winning could turn them into the 90's version of the Indians, but the Reds didn't draw all that well in '99, one of their best regular seasons ever. That had nothing to do with the FO, the manager, the players, or the season and everything to do with Cincinnati and its residents. Cincinnati is a big city with a Mayberry mentality. It would rather stay home, sit on the porch and enjoy the evening.

[RedsManRick]

Some of you folks from out of town just don't get it. You watch from afar, but you haven't the slightest idea the current environment here.

This Reds organization is a running joke here in Cincinnati. Their on-field performance isn't just having an impact on the stats and standings, it's a PR disaster. It stretches from the owner's seat to the front office to the manager's seat to the players on the field.

Rightly or wrongly, I've let the Reds' backwards attitudes become my representation of the city at large; Seriously behind the times and too proud to admit it.

I think Baseball has increasingly gone from the everyman's game played in sandlots and alleys to a big business, run on the principals of business. But the city remains provincial and its ball club reflects that.