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Thread: Castellini to be -on- 700 WLW very soon!

  1. #106
    RaisorZone Raisor's Avatar
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    Re: Castellini to be -on- 700 WLW very soon!

    What I like the best is that he's gone on two different shows to say that he really didn't mean "the losing stops now" only to say "I didn't mean to say that the losing stops now, but we are going to contend in 09 and we are going to have a winning record, but the losing stops now thing was taken out of context except it wasn't out of context and I was half fooling but I wasn't really half fooling because we are going to contend."

    huh?


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  3. #107
    Redsmetz redsmetz's Avatar
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    Re: Castellini to be -on- 700 WLW very soon!

    Quote Originally Posted by red-in-la View Post
    But seriously......I think you came up with the perfect simile.

    I think we would all like to see them shoot for a C+ and would love a B-.

    I would love to see them 6 to 10 games over .500 in late August and playing in some meaningful games in September. If they ended up 6 games over in 3rd place and missed the playoffs, I would be satisfied thinking that maybe they were building a winner.

    That would make 2009 a C+ as far as I was concerned.

    If they reached a B- and missed the Wild Card on the last weekend of the year, that would also be not only satisfying but a little exciting.

    In any case, an 84-78 record would hardly be pessimistic.....
    I've hesitated to jump into these frays about the club this year. While I thought as recently as a week ago that the payroll budget had made it through the financial throes unscathed, I have to admit now, I'm not surprised by it. Castellini's having to do a heckuva tap dance to try to encourage fans to come to the ballpark, whether individually or as season ticket holders. I do know one company, which is struggling, who "downsized" their seats from the 4192 Club to regular seats last season. I'm guessing they'll just get tickets this year as customers want them, although another rep I talked to said they're doing very little of that this year.

    That said, since the budget seems to have been set, they have to put a club on the field. There's little question that Taveras is a stop gap until we see how our minor leaguers do or a better option comes by. Many have noted that the contract is not onerous, so if Stubbs develops quicker or we pick up someone else, he can be on the bench or moved. Same for the left field situation. I've suggested all along that SS was going to require seeing what develops with Gonzalez. The money's invested and if he's ready, then he's here. It would have been senseless to have a pricier option this season and then find out Gonzalez is able to go, IMO.

    Is the club perfect? Far from it. Can it contend? Probably not, but a possibility is there. Clearly we're going to have to rely on our pitchers to be as good as we think they can. We have little room for regression or not recovering from a down year. If we have any hope, it will have to be from there.

    As for long term (which is language Castellini should have been using all along, and consistently), we're adding young talent from Latin America, have continued to draft reasonably well (not perfect, of course). We've pulled a good bit out of the minor leagues, development needs to continue, particularly in the area of pitching.

    I'm aching for some Spring Training and ready for the season. Now that a chill has returned to the air here in Cincy, thinking of a warm day in the June sunshine and the beautiful grass and players scampering about. Oh, the joy! And maybe we'll win a game or two.

    BTW, to prep, I've gotten the Wire To Wire video from the library to watch this week. Play ball!
    “In the same way that a baseball season never really begins, it never really ends either.” - Lonnie Wheeler, "Bleachers, A Summer in Wrigley Field"

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  4. #108
    Greatness In The Making RedLegSuperStar's Avatar
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    Re: Castellini to be -on- 700 WLW very soon!

    Can we contend honestly??

    With this rotation? Yes
    With this bullpen? Yes.. within the division
    With this defense? Doubtful
    With this line-up? I just can't see it.. Beyond Votto you have question marks..

  5. #109
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    Re: Castellini to be -on- 700 WLW very soon!

    Quote Originally Posted by red-in-la View Post
    What are you shooting for in English?
    Right now a D- would be an improvement.

  6. #110
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    Re: Castellini to be -on- 700 WLW very soon!

    It's a Catch 22, really. Reds fans constantly whine about how we can't contend, while a team like St. Louis contends annually, yet St. Louis fans fill that park year after year, while Reds fans can barely get 20,000 in the park some nights, if that. However, nobody wants to pay money to watch a crappy baseball team, especially in today's economy, but it's difficult for the Reds to get more money for payroll to improve the team when the fans aren't showing up.

    Spinning our wheels, a decade and running.

  7. #111
    Man Pills Falls City Beer's Avatar
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    Re: Castellini to be -on- 700 WLW very soon!

    Quote Originally Posted by cincrazy View Post
    It's a Catch 22, really. Reds fans constantly whine about how we can't contend, while a team like St. Louis contends annually, yet St. Louis fans fill that park year after year, while Reds fans can barely get 20,000 in the park some nights, if that. However, nobody wants to pay money to watch a crappy baseball team, especially in today's economy, but it's difficult for the Reds to get more money for payroll to improve the team when the fans aren't showing up.

    Spinning our wheels, a decade and running.
    The team's committing to fielding a winner would bring fans.
    “And when finally they sense that some position cannot be sustained, they do not re-examine their ideas. Instead, they simply change the subject.” Jamie Galbraith

  8. #112
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    Re: Castellini to be -on- 700 WLW very soon!

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...012301740.html

    Natives restless in more than one place.

    I'm not quite mad as hell. And I can probably take it a little longer.

    However, my fuse is getting short when I think about the Lerners' poor stewardship of the Nationals. In a week or two, if the Nats have refused to spend appropriately on free agents to improve an abomination of a ballclub, while accepting the largesse of a city that paid $693 million to build them a ballpark, then I may go Howard Beale nutty on somebody. I've already canceled the Nationals season tickets that I waited 37 years to buy.

    The Lerners, who haven't made a serious offer to any major free agent since they failed to get Mark Teixeira last month, need to show that they deserve to be entrusted with the Nationals.

    Does the family, led by billionaire developer Ted Lerner, understand the game as much as it loves it?

    Do the Lerners appreciate the precarious state of their relations not only with fans, but with their own executives?

    Do they have any idea, after a lifetime of erecting buildings, of how to build a team? Team president Stan Kasten does. But do they? By all indications, his advice is heard but not heeded.

    And, most important, are they totally tone deaf to the indignation of a town that, after 33 empty years, is now given an inept team and an owner who won't spend, even in a dream market for free agents, despite the fact that, by 2010, he may field the lowest payroll team in all of baseball?

    The Lerners have not spent appreciably to improve their major league roster in nearly three years as owners. They couldn't sign their first-round draft pick, ninth overall, last summer. International activity is nearly nil.

    Meanwhile, their farm system, which moved up to No. 9 in baseball a year ago, has now flopped back into the bottom third, according to Baseball America, the industry standard. First-round picks Ross Detwiler, Chris Marrero and Colton Willems have regressed. A good plan has to operate at all levels at all times, including the big leagues.

    In baseball's fifth year back in Washington, it is time for a city that has waited so long and paid so much to be offered a product at Nationals Park that is worth the $29-a-ticket average cost, plus pricey food and parking.

    During a time of recession, baseball remains the best value in professional sports. Except in Washington.

  9. #113
    Member Tommyjohn25's Avatar
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    Re: Castellini to be -on- 700 WLW very soon!

    Quote Originally Posted by cincrazy View Post
    It's a Catch 22, really. Reds fans constantly whine about how we can't contend, while a team like St. Louis contends annually, yet St. Louis fans fill that park year after year, while Reds fans can barely get 20,000 in the park some nights, if that. However, nobody wants to pay money to watch a crappy baseball team, especially in today's economy, but it's difficult for the Reds to get more money for payroll to improve the team when the fans aren't showing up.

    Spinning our wheels, a decade and running.
    That really has alot to do with it, and that post strikes a personal nerve with me as well. Throughout my entire life (29 years old), I made the trip down to the park countless times (ling in KY while younger, Dayton later on). The years 2002, '03, '04 etc. the trips slowly started to dwindle over time, wholly due to the product on the field. I still watch/DVR every game, if I'm in the car I'm listening to WLW every pitch, I still sweat, moan, cheer, and cuss right along with the action...I just feel less compelled as time goes on, and the losses pile up, to pay through the rear end to do so. I don't care about new ballparks, free hot dogs, party decks, or smokestacks....I care about one thing, the pennant. Show the willingness and knowhow to earn one of those, I'll show my willingness to spend my hard earned money to rotate those turnstiles at the gate. Right now? I've been falling for it long enough. I can watch it on TV for the monthly price of cable.
    Benzinger backing and calling! And the 1990 world championship series belongs to the Cincinnati Reds!

  10. #114
    Member Tommyjohn25's Avatar
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    Re: Castellini to be -on- 700 WLW very soon!

    Quote Originally Posted by Falls City Beer View Post
    The team's committing to fielding a winner would bring fans.
    Bingo. You pretty much effectively said what I said, in about 150 less words.
    Benzinger backing and calling! And the 1990 world championship series belongs to the Cincinnati Reds!

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    Re: Castellini to be -on- 700 WLW very soon!

    I don't focus too much on what owners say because often they are very big picture and not mired in the details of baseball.

    But I'd like to hear Jocketty go on the air for a somewhat detailed discussion of the team's direction.

    Hopefully, he would say that the team didn't want to spend a load of money on the current free agent/trade crop because they don't see the right fit out there for the team. That right now they are focused on mining for and developing prospects. That very soon they expect to have Alonso and a few others in the majors and expect at that point to be a high level team. They will add major players from the outside when difference making players are available and fit the needs -- and will do so reasonably soon.

    I've been pretty supportive of the strategy, but the Reds are not conveying this message to the public.

    The other thing that should be addressed is a very simple financial point concerning 2009. We all expected another $7 or $8 million of payroll for 2009. We all expected a major hitting addition, probably on a short-term deal. You can get a hitter for that amount. Why didn't it happen?
    Last edited by Kc61; 01-24-2009 at 11:16 AM.

  12. #116
    Titanic Struggles Caveat Emperor's Avatar
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    Re: Castellini to be -on- 700 WLW very soon!

    Quote Originally Posted by westofyou View Post
    http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...012301740.html

    Natives restless in more than one place.
    The Washington situation is completely inexcusable. They have a top-10 media market, a gorgeous new park and one of the wealthiest areas in the country to draw fans and money from, yet they continue to operate like they're the Montreal Expos. They should have been hot after every major free agent this offseason.

    Quote Originally Posted by Kc61 View Post
    ant to spend a load of money on the current free agent/trade crop because they don't see the right fit out there for the team. That right now they are focused on mining for and developing prospects. That very soon they expect to have Alonso and a few others in the majors and expect at that point to be a high level team. They will add major players from the outside when difference making players are available and fit the needs -- and will do so pretty soon.
    As M2 (I believe, forgive me if I'm crediting the wrong person here) pointed out, though -- building through the minors is a strategy that requires more than just showing up for the draft and selecting a player every time your turn comes up. It requires consistently flipping major league talent for multiple productive minor leaguers and collecting a large pool of talent that is all on roughly the same timetable for reaching their prime, pre-arb years in the big leagues.

    The Reds aren't doing that. At all. They're sitting back and waiting for a miracle to happen. That isn't a strategy.
    Last edited by Caveat Emperor; 01-24-2009 at 11:17 AM.
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  13. #117
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    Re: Castellini to be -on- 700 WLW very soon!

    Quote Originally Posted by Caveat Emperor View Post


    As M2 (I believe, forgive me if I'm crediting the wrong person here) pointed out, though -- building through the minors is a strategy that requires more than just showing up for the draft and selecting a player every time your turn comes up. It requires consistently flipping major league talent for multiple productive minor leaguers and collecting a large pool of talent that is all on roughly the same timetable for reaching their prime, pre-arb years in the big leagues.

    The Reds aren't doing that. At all. They're sitting back and waiting for a miracle to happen. That isn't a strategy.
    I don't think that is a fair assessment. The only top veterans they have to flip is their starting pitching and closer and that would put the team in the dumpster for 2009. I can understand why they aren't ready to do that.

    The Reds last year made major international signings of prospects, competing with large market teams. They signed Alonso -- a tough draft sign -- to a major league contract. they aren't just sitting back.

    Keep in mind that the flipping veterans for kids concept is very hard to do at this time. Teams are holding on to top young kids because they are cheap and can be productive. And Harang isn't exactly at his peak value.

    No, it's wrong to say the Reds don't have a plan. They are not conveying it to the fans very effectively, I'd say.
    Last edited by Kc61; 01-24-2009 at 11:26 AM.

  14. #118
    breath westofyou's Avatar
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    Re: Castellini to be -on- 700 WLW very soon!

    The Washington situation is completely inexcusable. They have a top-10 media market, a gorgeous new park and one of the wealthiest areas in the country to draw fans and money from,
    Yet they are on their 4th franchise in MLB history. Maybe the market isn't there in reality.

  15. #119
    Titanic Struggles Caveat Emperor's Avatar
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    Re: Castellini to be -on- 700 WLW very soon!

    Quote Originally Posted by Kc61 View Post
    I don't think that is a fair assessment. The only top veterans they have to flip is their starting pitching and closer and that would put the team in the dumpster for 2009. I can understand why they aren't ready to do that.
    The Marlins traded Josh Beckett, Dontrelle Willis and Brad Penny.

    The Athletics traded Mark Mulder, Tim Hudson, Rich Harden, Danny Haren and Joe Blanton.

    The Fish & the As are the two model franchises for any team that wants to "build from within" -- and they both have shown willingness time and time again to deal quality pitching to help stock the farm system.

    If the Reds are really going to throw their hands up and admit they can't win in the economy, their best bet would be to deal Harang & Arroyo for as many top-flight prospects as they can get and eat contract to get Cordero out the door for as many prospects as they can get. Bring up kids from AAA to replace them, even if they're not nearly as talented. You're writing this season off anyway -- what benefit does having Harang or Arroyo around give the team if they aren't trying to win?

    It's all about the churn -- bring in lots of high-upside kids and hope that a bunch of them reach the big show at around the same time to open a window for your ballclub.

    The Reds last year made major international signings of prospects, competing with large market teams. They signed Alonso -- a tough draft sign -- to a major league contract. they aren't just sitting back.
    Every other team is out scouring the Latin and Asian markets. The Reds aren't the only team that signed major latin talent this past offseason.

    I'm happy the Reds signed Alonso, but the other teams all made draft picks too. Many of those draft picks are as highly regarded (or more highly regarded) than Yonder Alonso. You don't get ahead if you do what everyone else is doing and then lay back while they do more (sign Free Agents, etc.)

    Keep in mind that the flipping veterans for kids concept is very hard to do at this time. Teams are holding on to top young kids because they are cheap and can be productive.
    Yet other teams manage to do it constantly (including the aforementioned As and Marlins) -- often by avoiding targeting the "crown jewel" prospects and focusing on guys with solid upsides who can provide cheap, above replacement-level production at key positions for years and free up the payroll dollars for harder-to-fill spots.

    No, it's wrong to say the Reds don't have a plan. They are not conveying it to the fans very effectively, I'd say.
    The Reds have a plan -- it's bury their heads in the sand and wait to see if the cavalry ever arrives.
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  16. #120
    RZ Chamber of Commerce Unassisted's Avatar
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    Re: Castellini to be -on- 700 WLW very soon!

    Quote Originally Posted by Krusty View Post
    Bob needs to just shut up. That is why you pay Rob Butcher.
    You are so right here.

    Bob needs to sit down with Butcher or some other wordsmith on the payroll, articulate what he's trying to convey, and let his PR expert craft the words to spin it. Without that kind of expert help, Bob is a bull in a china shop when he gets near a microphone.
    /r/reds


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