Baseball Prospectus' Take on EE Situation

[MississippiRed]

Christina Kahrl either reads RedsZone or has the ability to psychically channel the posters here. An excerpt from the Transaction Analysis from today's Baseball Prospectus:

Transaction Analysis Article

You can almost understand it. Encarnacion hasn't produced at the plate, and he's been awful in the field, and with Josh Hamilton's arrival on the scene crowding the outfield, the Reds have their everyday center fielder now, right? They've got to play Ryan Freel somewhere, so by banishing Encarnacion to Kentucky, they get the double-edged psychic benefit of a punitive demotion for their young third baseman who's managed to not be the new Pujols while playing their Rhineland-friendly scrapper at third, Freel. It's a lovely narrative, but it's complete malarkey. Freel's been struggling through “flu-like symptoms” for a while now, and the Reds got the feel-good rush of making Encarnacion go away without actually having someone around to play third in his place, which just highlights how dumb the move was. So, instead of Freel doing something he's not very good at (play third), Reds fans have been treated to Juan Castro and Keppinger starting at the hot corner, which ought to please no one, because each is the definition of an emergency starter at third, and after a day or two, it ceases to be an emergency, and becomes instead an example of weird mismanagement. The organization threw a similar tantrum over Encarnacion's fielding problems last year, and nobody was impressed when they punished him and themselves by sitting him down. It's just not very bright to make yourself worse because you're unwilling to accept one of the prices of playing someone who's an offensive asset. You run the risk of giving yourself a complete zero in the lineup (a desultory 'mission accomplished' there when the likes of Keppinger or Castro are penciled into starting roles), and scapegoating Encarnacion because he had the misfortune of being the only everyday player to get off to a slow start seems juvenile. Last I checked, Encarnacion didn't spend the better part of a year obsessed with the intricacies of building the league's worst bullpen, but then I guess a five-week slump on the field is more expensive than a multi-month bad run in the front office. Except in the standings, of course, but that's all Encarnacion's fault too, right?

I especially like the part about the "multi-month bad run in the front office."

[TC81190]

That's ridiculous. Dude doesn't know what he's talking about.





AGAIN, Edwin is OPSing .600 and sucking it up in Louisville. That'd help us.

[reds44]

Originally Posted by TC81190

That's ridiculous. Dude doesn't know what he's talking about.





AGAIN, Edwin is OPSing .600 and sucking it up in Louisville. That'd help us.

Sucking it up in Louisville? He's had 17 ABs. Wow.

I think dude is spot on.

[TC81190]

Originally Posted by reds44

Sucking it up in Louisville? He's had 17 ABs. Wow.

I think dude is spot on.

17 ABs right in line with his month of terrible ones up here.

[WMR]

Originally Posted by TC81190

17 ABs right in line with his month of terrible ones up here.

Where do we have a snowball's chance in hell of finding any other righthanded power in this 40 man roster?

You gotta do two things: dance with the ones who brung ya and dance with the ones who've got the chance to take you there.

Radical, I know.

[Ron Madden]

Edwin is in the worst slump of his life.

I'd still rather have him than Castro or Moeller.

[TC81190]

Originally Posted by WilyMoROCKS

Where do we have a snowball's chance in hell of finding any other righthanded power in this 40 man roster?

You gotta do two things: dance with the ones who brung ya and dance with the ones who've got the chance to take you there.

Radical, I know.

Again:

.600 OPS. Where's the power? Even if Freel's .390~ SLG isnt good, its still better than .250~. He needs to re-find himself.

[WMR]

Originally Posted by TC81190

Again:

.600 OPS. Where's the power? Even if Freel's .390~ SLG isnt good, its still better than .250~. He needs to re-find himself.

His last couple games he had shown some real sparks of breaking out of his slump... hard hit at-em balls... no benefit of the doubt for EE though.

[MississippiRed]

Originally Posted by TC81190

Again:

.600 OPS. Where's the power? Even if Freel's .390~ SLG isnt good, its still better than .250~. He needs to re-find himself.

He's been in a slump, no doubt. Still the best chance we have at having a MLB average or better third baseman. I would vote for bringing him up, showing some confidence in him, and letting him work his way out of it.

[Ron Madden]

Originally Posted by TC81190

Again:

.600 OPS. Where's the power? Even if Freel's .390~ SLG isnt good, its still better than .250~. He needs to re-find himself.

The thing is EE can and most likely will get better.

[TC81190]

Originally Posted by Ron Madden

Edwin is in the worst slump of his life.

I'd still rather have him than Castro or Moeller.

Castro yes. Kepp, not yet.

[reds44]

Originally Posted by TC81190

Castro yes. Kepp, not yet.

lol.

You'd take Keppinger over Edwin?

[edabbs44]

Who cares if EdE would be better than Castro or Keppinger right now? Edwin needs to get back on track. Sometimes getting demoted gets your head back in the game...look at Teahen from last season.

[Will]

I wonder if the dude at baseball prospectus watched EE flail at anything thrown in the general direction of the plate over the last month and a half.

[TeamBoone]

The "dude" is a woman... Christina. And I think there's a lot of merit in what she says.