FO needs to realize that we need offense, not pitching

[will5979]

JMO but I believe the pitching is there for us, we seriously need to improve the offense. All these rumors of us going after Cliff Lee I pray are false because the money needs to be spent on a big bat and a leadoff man.

Problems with the offense...

1. No leadoff hitter
2. No consistent power in LF or 3B, Gomes is streaky and Rolen is old
3. BP needs to be batting in the 2 hole, his offense is too similar to Barry Larkin's.
4. Our offense sure looked great in the postseason (sarcasm), yeah lets go ahead and field the same damn team next year and get swept again, we'll be lucky to repeat the NLC with the same bunch on offense that we have right now.

These are the problems that need to be addressed.

Problems with the pitching

1. Closer, which can be easily solved.

[arkimadee]

I think the front office knows this but the big problem is that we don't have the money to spend on one. With the average MLB salary now 3 million dollars and most free agents with the talents we are needing making more than that, the Reds can't afford it. As far as trading for one, I think a move will be made. If you look at the past, most of the good Reds trades have come after the first of the year. Examples being the Griffey trade and the Arroyo trade. I will not be furious if this isn't addressed by the Reds but I think it is really important to get that leadoff guy. We'll see what happens.

[UPRedsFan]

I'm tempted to agree with you, however the Reds did score more runs than everybody else last year.

Will they repeat that with an aging Rolen and inconsistent Gomes? Not likely (although Jay Bruce and Stubbs will get even better).

Will Cueto or Volquez or Bailey or Wood become an ACE that we can all feel confident matching up with Halladay in the playoffs? Maybe. But again not likely. Would you rather have Greinke to start in game 1? Absolutely.

I think it's a tougher call than we might. It'll come down to the best deal available to improve the team.

[Kingspoint]

We don't need Offense.

We need Pitching.

We need Defense at Shortstop.

We need the same thing this year at this time that we needed last year at this time.