Leake needs to be in AAA

[Maker_84]

and not come back this season. that is all

[Orodle]

haha. If a few of those grounders were more left or right and they are double plays.

[mmt1552]

I wouldn't be opposed to trying Homer Bailey out as a starter in Leake's place. Leake's struggling and with this being his first professional year and never thrown this many innings before, who knows if he returns back to April/May form (for this year). Homer has been pitching great in AAA, and h pitched real well to end the season last year, maybe he's a better pitcher at the end of a season.

[cbowen2112]

haha. If a few of those grounders were more left or right and they are double plays.

Pretty much my exact thought. One real mistake pitch was sent into the bullpen. Other than that one rough and unlucky inning, the Reds played very well and scored some runs throughout. Could have easily gone our way tonight, like it did the Cardinals....Hilarious how Leake is the hero and now the villain in Cincy. I think he gets sent down to limit his innings and could come back in some relief role. The kid can flat out pitch.

[webbbj]

i don't think its as simple as he just got unlucky. he missed a lot of his spots that inning. those ground balls weren't necessarily line shots but they were hit w/ above avg. contact. if the defense was positioned differently that could been a lot easier inning after that well hit leadoff double.

[RedsFanInBama]

Tonight's game was not a simply him being unlucky.

Jay crushed a ball. Pujols hit a rope. Schumaker obviously ripped one.

This is becoming a trend with Leake. I don't know if it's simply a matter of the league figuring him out or what, but he's been less than effective for most of the last two months. He's had a good start or two sprinkle in there, but most have not been even quality starts.

It's completely fair IMO to wonder if he should remain in this rotation. I didn't expect him to go out there and beat Chris Carpenter, but I did expect him to at least give us a chance and keep us in the game. He failed to do that for the second straight start.

[Hondo]

Dude. This is the most Innings he has pitched all year... He was probably the candidate to skip instead of Wood...

Given his recent struggles against, uh hmmmm, the Astros...

I dont think him pitching in AAA makes much sense...

[bshall2105]

When it comes down to it the question is if Leake is one of the 5 best starters the Reds can put out there. Right now it's probably a no. I believe that Bailey can step into the rotation and be a better pitcher than Mike right now. For that reason I think it's time for Leake to finally get a taste of the minors.

[RedsFanInBama]

Dude. This is the most Innings he has pitched all year... He was probably the candidate to skip instead of Wood...

Given his recent struggles against, uh hmmmm, the Astros...

I dont think him pitching in AAA makes much sense...

If they want to stretch him out to 170 innings, AAA does make sense until he reaches that number. They may not want to do that, but I had heard that was the number they were shooting for. You can still take him out of the Reds rotation and stretch him to 170 in AAA before shutting him down. Would take a few more starts to get there (he's at about 130 now).

[GaiusBallstar]

http://www.thestranger.com/lineout/files/2007/03/pink_floyd_the_wall.jpg


I think Mike has hit a wall, maybe not the wall mentioned above, but a wall nonetheless.

Gonne be interesting to see what they do with him, I think he'll get one more chance though.

[couch_manager]

The Reds do need to consider sending him to AAA. Either the hitters have figured him out or he's tired. The ground ball hits don't bother me that much (that's to be expected with a sinker ball pitcher)...what does is the HR's.

In his first 11 starts, he allowed 4 HR. In his 10 starts since, he's allowed 11. This has helped cause his ERA to skyrocket. In his first 11 starts, his ERA was 2.22. In the 10 starts since, his ERA is 5.72 (that's not including the 6 runs he gave up in Pittsburgh that were nulled--with those included, it'd be 6.67).

I don't know how much longer they can continue sending him out there with Homer Bailey pitching so well in rehab.

[GaiusBallstar]

The Reds do need to consider sending him to AAA. Either the hitters have figured him out or he's tired. The ground ball hits don't bother me that much (that's to be expected with a sinker ball pitcher)...what does is the HR's.

In his first 11 starts, he allowed 4 HR. In his 10 starts since, he's allowed 11. This has helped cause his ERA to skyrocket. In his first 11 starts, his ERA was 2.22. In the 10 starts since, his ERA is 5.72 (that's not including the 6 runs he gave up in Pittsburgh that were nulled--with those included, it'd be 6.67).

I don't know how much longer they can continue sending him out there with Homer Bailey pitching so well in rehab.

Nice stat, to add to your point, his xFIP has been far above his actual ERA the entire season. Before the start tonight his actual ERA was 3.43, and his xFIP was 4.41.

Alot of this is just regression to the mean.

[Vottomatic]

I think they need to just DL him with a tired shoulder. Plain and simple. Shut him down for the season. Don't wear him out at triple A. It serves no purpose.

[couch_manager]

I think they need to just DL him with a tired shoulder. Plain and simple. Shut him down for the season. Don't wear him out at triple A. It serves no purpose.

If you shut him down for the season now, you run into the same problem with innings next year. He needs to be evaluated medically and if everything checks out, he should go the minors and get his 170 innings in.

[Caveman Techie]

If you shut him down for the season now, you run into the same problem with innings next year. He needs to be evaluated medically and if everything checks out, he should go the minors and get his 170 innings in.

+1

He needs to get stretched out, if there isn't anything medically wrong with him they need to get him used to the workload.

[redraider10]

I could see Leake be in AAA for 10 games after Travis Wood gets his 10 games in just trying preserve the innings pitched. He will need to work on his mechanics down there and try to get back to beginning of season form.

[Reds]

Leake says he feel fine, just hit a rough patch here. If you think Bailey could do more, now, you must try it though. Players like Leake and Gomes that were so frickin' hot the first half of the year that have cooled are going to have to suck it up if it benefits the team.

[Krawhitham]

Shut him down for 2 weeks, Cueto had the same issue last year. They shut him down for two weeks and he came back stronger than ever.

By DL'ing Leake you can bring Wood back up now and it solves Leake's inning issue

Wood does not really have an inning issue, he added 40 innings last year if he adds another 40 this season it puts him just over 200 innings

[Hondo]

Shut him down for 2 weeks, Cueto had the same issue last year. They shut him down for two weeks and he came back stronger than ever.

By DL'ing Leake you can bring Wood back up now and it solves Leake's inning issue

Wood does not really have an inning issue, he added 40 innings last year if he adds another 40 this season it puts him just over 200 innings

I totally agree... But doesn't Wood have to stay down 10 days or if they put Leake on the DL, can Wood come back up to fill that spot?

[Krawhitham]

I totally agree... But doesn't Wood have to stay down 10 days or if they put Leake on the DL, can Wood come back up to fill that spot?

If they DL a pitcher he can come back before the 10 days

[scott91575]

Shut him down for at least 20 days. I said this at the beginning of the year. If he is down for 20 days you add 1 more year to his free agency timeline.

The Super 2 thing is already blown unless he spends a fair amount of time in the minors next year. Yet that is arbitration. Pushing back free agency if a big plus.

[Vottomatic]

DL him with shoulder exhaustion for the rest of the season.

[sivman17]

Once again everyone is overreacting. Bryan Price said he's still hitting his marks. Leake said he's just throwing too many strikes. Since teams have a scouting report on him now, they know he throws a lot of strikes.

I believe he will make the proper adjustments and figure things out. He's a gamer. You have to believe he is to work on it till he's right.

[Dale4Saul2Red0]

Leake's not a bad pitcher so any bashing of him is unwarranted. He ran out of steam, it was expected. I mean how many guys come straight from college to being a staple in a major league bullpen. A learning curve was expected, and he is going through that now.

He'll be replaced in the rotation soon enough, but we as Reds fans need to thank Leake for the contributions he gave us, and look forward to the bright future this kid has. PERIOD!

[Reds]

Dusty said in the pregame comments that Leake is scheduled to pitch Saturday as of right now. He also mentioned Bailey pitching an inning tonight as a reason why he might not be able to come up on Saturday. Sounded fairly sure Leake would pitch Saturday.

[texasdave]

Dusty said in the pregame comments that Leake is scheduled to pitch Saturday as of right now. He also mentioned Bailey pitching an inning tonight as a reason why he might not be able to come up on Saturday. Sounded fairly sure Leake would pitch Saturday.

Then what would be the point of pulling Homer out of the starting rotation and having him relieve?

[cincysportsfan]

Leake's not a bad pitcher so any bashing of him is unwarranted. He ran out of steam, it was expected. I mean how many guys come straight from college to being a staple in a major league bullpen. A learning curve was expected, and he is going through that now.

He'll be replaced in the rotation soon enough, but we as Reds fans need to thank Leake for the contributions he gave us, and look forward to the bright future this kid has. PERIOD!

True that! I'm tired of reading all the bashing posts about Leake. Earlier people said he should be rookie of the year. Now people want to run him out of town.

With that said, I like the DL option for 2-3 weeks and then see if he can pitch in the majors late in August.

[bshall2105]

True that! I'm tired of reading all the bashing posts about Leake. Earlier people said he should be rookie of the year. Now people want to run him out of town.

With that said, I like the DL option for 2-3 weeks and then see if he can pitch in the majors late in August.

Ok so you say you are completely against what everyone has been saying about Leake, and then proceed to agree with everyone? Nobody is running him out of town, he is just not pitching well lately.

[ThornWithin81]

Leake is just overworked at this point. He needs time off.