Reds promote Yonder Alonso to Louisville

[Will M]

HBP - broken bone in his hand

thanks.

Dorn is a guy who the organization doesn't think much of & may get very limited opportunities to prove himself in the bigs. being out 6-8 weeks with a broken hand doesn't help.

[TC81190]

If Joey Votto OPS .950+ for the next 4 years just watch and see all the press he gets.

I don't know. Cincinnati is no Philly. Who had a guy here for awhile who did just that, and he didn't really get a ton of press.

[Will M]

Well lets confine the "Should the Reds sign Votto" talk elsewhere boys & girls.

Alonso's path to the majors has been staked out and laid forth for him, with no hurdles blocking the path.

The question is - does he treat AAA pitching like a bull in a china shop and force the Reds hand? Or does he answer with a whimper?

Time will tell, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

A #1 draft pick two years ago is a Gomes/Nix platoon away from the bigs.
IMO if Alonso can't help the team this year then you begin to seriously question whether the team made a mistake with the pick. i understand he is just 23 years old but if he can't crack the bigs at age 23 his chances of being a future All Star seem a bit remote. not saying it couldn't happen. just saying late bloomers who become All Stars are a bit rare.

[kbrake]

Anyone have any details on how Alonso has done in LF so far this year?

[Mario-Rijo]

I certainly consider Votto a core player for as long as he's here, but I think the estimates given here are way too low, unless the whole market collapses due to the economy and general bad attendance. Seems to me a lot of the speculation here is based on undervaluing Votto. For instance, who would pay up for Carlos Pena rather than Votto? My assumption is that Votto is playing himself into a group that includes Howard, Fielder, and Gonzalez, a group just one move down from Pujols. What did Howard get? Would you really rather have Howard than Votto?

I disagree with you, power is the premium those guys are getting paid for and Votto has yet to top 30 HR's. Sure the smart sabermetric using teams will appreciate him just as much if not more but there are few of those teams and even less who aren't gonna want a deal because the rest of baseball isn't madly pursuing. And again that's why you lock him up sooner rather than later. He'll be 27 in september and this will be his 1st arb. eligible season. Which means we already have control of him until he's 30. I don't see many teams giving a 30 year old 1st baseman with less than 30 HR's a season 20 million a year. Especially when he is doing his damage in GABP. Sign him up after this year or next for 6 years @ 12-15 million per and I don't see how he can turn it down.

It's not like Alonso isn't gonna ask for the stars at some point so might as well take the bird in the hand.

[jmcclain19]

Alonso actually has pretty close #s to newly promoted Mets 1B Ike Davis.

I've been bagging on his power but to be fair, he's on par with Davis who is not a bad player at all.

Whether or not you want those numbers from the #7 overall pick is a different argument, but if he can figure out a way to churn out that niche, that's a useful piece to the Reds.

[UPRedsFan]

Understand the argument about being 23 already, but he did have the injury that slowed his progress significantly. If he's not 100% give him another year before you pronounce him not worthy of being an all star caliber player.

[Caveat Emperor]

Alonso actually has pretty close #s to newly promoted Mets 1B Ike Davis.

I've been bagging on his power but to be fair, he's on par with Davis who is not a bad player at all.

Whether or not you want those numbers from the #7 overall pick is a different argument, but if he can figure out a way to churn out that niche, that's a useful piece to the Reds.

This.

And, let's be honest, the Reds aren't getting tremendous / irreplaceable production from Left Field right now as it is (offensively or defensively). If Alonso can hit reasonably well and field reasonably well, there will be a spot on the major league lineup card for him in fairly short order.

[Will M]

Understand the argument about being 23 already, but he did have the injury that slowed his progress significantly. If he's not 100% give him another year before you pronounce him not worthy of being an all star caliber player.

fair enough.

[mattfeet]

Alonso was hitting .267/.388/.406 at Double-A Carolina.
He'll continue to play both left field and first base at Louisville.


Good deal.


-Matt

[_Sir_Charles_]

Anyone have any details on how Alonso has done in LF so far this year?

I've seen this question posed several times over the past few weeks and I haven't seen an answer anywhere. I'm sure I could've overlooked it, but regardless...anybody have a first-hand account of how he's played defense in the outfield up to now?

[Will M]

I've seen this question posed several times over the past few weeks and I haven't seen an answer anywhere. I'm sure I could've overlooked it, but regardless...anybody have a first-hand account of how he's played defense in the outfield up to now?

it seems like we have a couple of guys (GOYA comes to mind) who watch the Bats games nightly. nobody i know of watches the AA games every night. so hopefully GOYA & others can fairly quickly give the rest of the board an assessment of Alonso's defensive ability in LF.

[1990REDS]

Anyone know if his glove work is improving or not? I know that has always been a big question about him.

[berryluther]

Promoting or Showcasing?

I think he will be the key to any deal Walt makes.

[TC81190]

I've seen this question posed several times over the past few weeks and I haven't seen an answer anywhere. I'm sure I could've overlooked it, but regardless...anybody have a first-hand account of how he's played defense in the outfield up to now?

I'd like to know this as well, it's not like we're getting killer D out there other than when Nix is in the game. I think Joey Votto is probably a good comparison to what Alonso's upside is, so if we could get another player in the lineup capable of those numbers, we'd be looking good. Which isn't to say Gomes hasn't been playing well as of late, if they could push him to the bench and get better numbers in the lineup, they would be better overall.

Alonso actually has pretty close #s to newly promoted Mets 1B Ike Davis.

I've been bagging on his power but to be fair, he's on par with Davis who is not a bad player at all.

Whether or not you want those numbers from the #7 overall pick is a different argument, but if he can figure out a way to churn out that niche, that's a useful piece to the Reds.

The numbers aren't exactly eye popping, but I haven't been disappointed with the pick at all. I think he will develop into an above average player offensively and has had overall good numbers in the minors. The only reason he hasn't lately is because of that hamate injury, which is completely understandable and a legit reason for less than 100% production.

It's not like Drew Stubbs anyway, where the excuses about his numbers always pertained to the league or parks he was playing in or they were changing his swing or something. He needed a lot of adjustments. Alonso will be fine as is once his hand is 100%.