Have the Reds given up on Homer Bailey?

[Carolina Red]

It's September and I can't understand why Homer Bailey wasn't brought up to pitch. I would think we would shut down some of our other pitchers and give him some more innings in the bigs. Does this mean the Reds have given up on Homer? I'd like to know what the rest of you think.

[ChatterRed]

I'll have to go look it up, but I think Bailey has had some minor health problems this season and a "tired" arm to deal with. I think they want him to rest it, and that is why they shut him down.

[HalMorrisRules]

There certainly is no rush to give up on him. If I am correct, they still have three option years left on him so they can wait on him to turn it around. As far as not bringing him up this year in September, he had a bad year, so just cut his losses (no pun intended) and let him go home and start to rejuvenate and start putting this year's bad memories behind him.

[redhawk61]

He had a knee scope about 6 weeks or so ago, so they shut him down....However, I wouldn't be surprised if he is elsewhere next year.

[gedred69]

I know something was bothering him Quad, Groin? The decision was to just shut him down, rather than run the risk of worsening the physical problem. If this year's bitter pill taught him to put aside his giant ego, and listen to more sage instruction, he will be fine. Remember, Volquez bounced back and forth with Texas the 2 previous years, and as recent as last season was demoted all the way down to high A before rebounding.

[Ghosts of 1990]

There is no spot for him at all at this point.

[ChatterRed]

Originally Posted by JayBruce32

There is no spot for him at all at this point.

Bailey suffered from "phenom-itis", in my opinion. He believed it. The fans believed it. The minor league people who rank prospects believed it.

He soared through the lower levels and even double A, on his fastball, striking out a bunch and keeping an impressive e.r.a. At triple A he was respectable and got his chance in the revolving door 5th starter's spot on the ml roster.

He was okay at first. Opponents hadn't scouted him much, but gone were the K's, and he was throwing a ton of pitches and barely making it through the 5th inning.

What we found out is that he didn't have much else in his pitch repetoire.

Then there were the whispers of a bad attitude an unwillingness to take instruction. Probably from phenomitis.

So they bring him up to the ml club this year and he pretty much gets shelled. I almost feel like it was intentional by the Reds to allow that to happen. I'm sure they didn't WANT him to get shelled, but kind of expected it.........in hoping it would knock his ego down a notch and maybe get him thinking about listening to them. This is all speculation on my part, but the timeline of his good and bad pitching is about right.

Then we hear that Dick Pole gives him a list of things to work on, namely his changeup and curve, and sends him down to work on it. We also hear that Homer has taken it to heart and has had an attitude change, which is a good thing. He works on it at Louisville and the results aren't quite there yet, coupled with some minor injuries, such as needing his knee scoped (which I forgot about at the beginning of this thread).

I would call this a transition year for Homer. The year he finally woke up and decided to learn how to pitch rather than just thinking he was a power pitcher, which he wasn't - because his K's weren't there.

It will be interesting to see how Homer does next year. He's still young and could put it all together. It would probably do him well to spend a couple of seasons in the minors working on his pitch repetoire and learning when to throw them and where.

My gut feeling is that he will be part of some trade this offseason. Not that he has done anything wrong, but rather that the Reds have come upon many other options, such as Owings and Ramirez, and have time with some other lower level pitching prospects too.

[Betterread]

Originally Posted by Carolina Red

It's September and I can't understand why Homer Bailey wasn't brought up to pitch. I would think we would shut down some of our other pitchers and give him some more innings in the bigs. Does this mean the Reds have given up on Homer? I'd like to know what the rest of you think.

I think the Reds handled him fairly this year. I think that Bailey and Maloney are still prospects, but they didn't earn a september call up. Between his disappointing performance this year (leavened only by some improvement in pitch count efficiency and its corollary: working deeper innings per start) and his minor knee injury and the total of 147 innings (his most ever) he pitched -he was due to be shut down. He still has a very good arm, although the loss of a few mph on his fastball has me wondering if he still has that special pop to his fastball. Next year he needs to log 30 starts, which he has yet to do in his short career. He is 22 years old. Give him more time.

[Ghosts of 1990]

Originally Posted by ChatterRed

Bailey suffered from "phenom-itis", in my opinion. He believed it. The fans believed it. The minor league people who rank prospects believed it.

He soared through the lower levels and even double A, on his fastball, striking out a bunch and keeping an impressive e.r.a. At triple A he was respectable and got his chance in the revolving door 5th starter's spot on the ml roster.

He was okay at first. Opponents hadn't scouted him much, but gone were the K's, and he was throwing a ton of pitches and barely making it through the 5th inning.

What we found out is that he didn't have much else in his pitch repetoire.

Then there were the whispers of a bad attitude an unwillingness to take instruction. Probably from phenomitis.

So they bring him up to the ml club this year and he pretty much gets shelled. I almost feel like it was intentional by the Reds to allow that to happen. I'm sure they didn't WANT him to get shelled, but kind of expected it.........in hoping it would knock his ego down a notch and maybe get him thinking about listening to them. This is all speculation on my part, but the timeline of his good and bad pitching is about right.

Then we hear that Dick Pole gives him a list of things to work on, namely his changeup and curve, and sends him down to work on it. We also hear that Homer has taken it to heart and has had an attitude change, which is a good thing. He works on it at Louisville and the results aren't quite there yet, coupled with some minor injuries, such as needing his knee scoped (which I forgot about at the beginning of this thread).

I would call this a transition year for Homer. The year he finally woke up and decided to learn how to pitch rather than just thinking he was a power pitcher, which he wasn't - because his K's weren't there.

It will be interesting to see how Homer does next year. He's still young and could put it all together. It would probably do him well to spend a couple of seasons in the minors working on his pitch repetoire and learning when to throw them and where.

My gut feeling is that he will be part of some trade this offseason. Not that he has done anything wrong, but rather that the Reds have come upon many other options, such as Owings and Ramirez, and have time with some other lower level pitching prospects too.

Good post. I agree that he will most likely be traded this offseason. I think he'll be one of the pieces that gets us a really good RH bat.

[HalMorrisRules]

Originally Posted by redhawk61

He had a knee scope about 6 weeks or so ago, so they shut him down....However, I wouldn't be surprised if he is elsewhere next year.

This is absolutely not true. He won a playoff game on Sept 4th against Durham.

9/4 Box Score

[Ghosts of 1990]

Originally Posted by HalMorrisRules

This is absolutely not true. He won a playoff game on Sept 4th against Durham.

9/4 Box Score

Good find.

Redhawk care to elaborate?

[UGADaddy]

Originally Posted by JayBruce32

Good find.

Redhawk care to elaborate?

they said he wasnt 100% in that game and were just being safe by not calling him up... IMO he didnt deserve it anyway.

http://cincinnati.reds.mlb.com/news/...=.jsp&c_id=cin

[ChatterRed]

Originally Posted by UGADaddy

they said he wasnt 100% in that game and were just being safe by not calling him up... IMO he didnt deserve it anyway.

http://cincinnati.reds.mlb.com/news/...=.jsp&c_id=cin

I agree that he didn't deserve a call-up. Nor did I want him up. I want him to heal and rest and get his head on straight.

I will give him props for pitching 6 innings, allowing only 2 hits, and striking out 8 in that playoff game, though.

[GOYA]

I was at that playoff game and Homer looked great. There was no noticeable sign of injury. At the time, I thought he was pulled because the score was so lopsided. His fast ball was low to mid 90s and he had a good slider working.

You can listen to the radio broadcast here:

http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/m...d=416&sid=t416

A day or so later I heard that his right knee was still bothering him a bit.

[Old NDN]

I don't think they have given up on him yet. I think the Reds have grown weary of his attitude and not getting enough positive results from their efforts at developing him. They have found multiple pitching options through trades and in the minors, who are eager to learn and listen. There's still hope for him, but he's no longer crucial to the Reds' success. Let's hope the "switch comes on" for him soon.