aquino

[Mitri]

I bet none of you guys saw how awesome Mark Payton was last month at Praco though. Dude killed it.

[Kc61]

You're comparing apples and oranges. JVM benefited from the lack of 1B/2B/3B depth and Moustakas' Corona scare/subsequent injury.

Aquino had Winker, Castellanos and Shogo in front of him. Then there was Ervin, who destroyed LHP pitching last year (1.038 OPS), more than 150 points higher than Aquino. For that reason, combined with Aquino's preseason performance, it's not surprising he got the nod to start the season.

Which explains why Reds never win. They structured their team with a role for Van Meter but no room for Aquino. Reds so smart, really nailed it.

And as for Ervin’s 2019 excellence against LHP - based on 95 PAs - how’s that working out these days?

One great decision after another. (And check your numbers on Aquino v lefties last year at Cincy and Louisville. Not too shabby.)

[Mitri]

The thing about Aquino is that there are obvious parts of his game that are just so clearly above average. He can hit a baseball harder than most humans can. He can throw a baseball from the outfield harder than most humans can. He can do both of these things better than each and every other outfielder within the Reds organization. It's fairly hard to dispute either of those two comments. And it's not like his other tools are lacking so far behind to drag down the power those two tools hold. On top of all this he has charisma, seems like a really good kid. Other teammates seem to like him.

But something he's doing at Prasco is holding all of this back, for the likes of Phil Ervin and Mark Payton?

[RedTeamGo!]

The thing about Aquino is that there are obvious parts of his game that are just so clearly above average. He can hit a baseball harder than most humans can. He can throw a baseball from the outfield harder than most humans can. He can do both of these things better than each and every other outfielder within the Reds organization. It's fairly hard to dispute either of those two comments. And it's not like his other tools are lacking so far behind to drag down the power those two tools hold. On top of all this he has charisma, seems like a really good kid. Other teammates seem to like him.

But something he's doing at Prasco is holding all of this back, for the likes of Phil Ervin and Mark Payton?

It just reeks of Dick Williams, Nick Krall, and David Bell trying way too hard to be the smartest guys in the room. I feel like any other team would be playing him every day this season. This is a perfect season to roll the dice on a player like Aquino. He had 60 games to prove himself and the reds used this opportunity to play the likes of Mark Payton, Travis Jankowski, JVM, and Phil Ervin.

It’s astounding.

[Wonderful Monds]

It just reeks of Dick Williams, Nick Krall, and David Bell trying way too hard to be the smartest guys in the room. I feel like any other team would be playing him every day this season. This is a perfect season to roll the dice on a player like Aquino. He had 60 games to prove himself and the reds used this opportunity to play the likes of Mark Payton, Travis Jankowski, JVM, and Phil Ervin.

It’s astounding.

It’s been annoying that he hasn’t been up here most of the season, but when Senzel was still in the lineup and everything I kind of understood. When they’re starting Mark Payton in the outfield a handful of times this week, we’re at the point where it’s indefensibly stupid. Especially when Aquino had a hand in sparking them to a nice comeback win last night. It’s brain meltingly dumb.

[RedTeamGo!]

It’s been annoying that he hasn’t been up here most of the season, but when Senzel was still in the lineup and everything I kind of understood. When they’re starting Mark Payton in the outfield a handful of times this week, we’re at the point where it’s indefensibly stupid. Especially when Aquino had a hand in sparking them to a nice comeback win last night. It’s brain meltingly dumb.

How many games had Senzel even played this year? I honestly don’t know....7?

[RedTeamGo!]

14....Senzel has played in 14 games.

[Patrick Bateman]

Lol to the notion that there hasn't been a need for him for most if not all of this season. But regardless, if they are willing to hurt his development by calling him up twice now, it's clear this isn't about his development.

Let’s put it this way, the Reds overestimated that they could get similar production out of Ervin, Shogo, Van Meter, Davidson, and now Payton.

Obviously in hindsight, anyone (including my deceased grandma) would have outproduced these guys collectively, let alone Aquino.

Let’s assume for a second the Reds felt Aquino had a very exploitable hole in his swing created by a mechanical flaw, it wasn’t a stretch going into the year that analytically this group could have kept up, and even out produced Aquino. It did not work out, and actually laughably so. Remember it’s been like 30 games, and sometimes this happens with roster filler. It could have happened to Aquino too, but it has indeed been hard to watch with a more exciting guy sitting out while we watched the filth.

But we are trying to understand why the decision was made. We know he struggled down the stretch last year, was horrendous in off season ball, and was immediately assigned off roster for preseason.

I don’t think they hate this guy. I think they are looking at this long term and trying to develop/fix him a bit before throwing him to the wolves in MLB, and potentially taking a step backwards. Aquino has really favourable things to say about the plan going in, and didn’t create a lot of noise about the decision, which is unusual for the success he had last year. It felt to me that the plan had been explained to him, and to some degree he was onside with it.

It’s not mental gymnastics. I’m following the clues. The plan the Reds employed obviously failed quite badly at the major league level, and time will tell whether the work they put in with Aquino will pay off short or long term.

FWIW, I’d be surprised if he were trace bait. They haven’t exactly shined him up in a marketable way. They have basically told everyone that is willing to listen that he’s broken and needs to be repaired. You aren’t getting value for that as anything more than a throw in.

I expect him to get his chance in the majors soon based on him doing whatever it is that they wanted him to do.


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[OGB]

Hindsight is 20/20. Given everything we know now, Aquino should be on this roster and getting an opportunity. I frankly can't wrap my head around it at this point.
Part of me thinks back to the fact the organization let him go after the 2018 season, part of me thinks of the general ineptitude of the player development side of this franchise.

[Larry Schuler]

My uneducated guess is it’s a cultural thing. The evaluators on the Reds may value certain personality types and temperaments and Aquino might not check those boxes. He may not be a great self-advocate in the clubhouse. In my personal experience, I’ve seen groups ice out productive and capable workers, teammates, and/or performers just because they don’t quite fit in with the greater culture of an institution (and, conversely, I’ve seen mediocre people succeed at an institution because they are great at fitting in with the culture).

[adkindo]

My uneducated guess is it’s a cultural thing. The evaluators on the Reds may value certain personality types and temperaments and Aquino might not check those boxes. He may not be a great self-advocate in the clubhouse. In my personal experience, I’ve seen groups ice out productive and capable workers, teammates, and/or performers just because they don’t quite fit in with the greater culture of an institution (and, conversely, I’ve seen mediocre people succeed at an institution because they are great at fitting in with the culture).

I hope you are wrong....I truly do. If it is true....is anyone evaluating the "evaluators" success in recent years? Aquino should be the starter in LF when Winker is DH'ing...and vice versa.

[AlaskaReds]

Hindsight is 20/20. Given everything we know now, Aquino should be on this roster and getting an opportunity. I frankly can't wrap my head around it at this point.
Part of me thinks back to the fact the organization let him go after the 2018 season, part of me thinks of the general ineptitude of the player development side of this franchise.

Hindsight is 20/20, but 90% of the posters here could see that Aquino would produce and help more than Ervin/Van Meter/Payton/etc. The sad thing is that the front office that is paid millions of dollars to identify the best roster can't see it. Unfathomable.

[mth123]

The thing is, it isn't hindsight. It's current events. The Reds tried Ervin, Jankowski, VanMeter, Colon. They are still giving the nod to Payton and Davidson over Aquino. Davidson has hit a couple of timely HR, but he's still hitting .211 with an OBP of .278 (even Billy Hamilton can do better than that) while adding very little defensive value. Yet Aquino is still not on the roster. Are they concerned he might only be a guy who will hit an occasional HR while having a low BA and OBP? Seems like that's exactly what they have with Davidson. Of course, Aquino would be one of their better defensive OF and has well above average speed.

I said it earlier. This is because of options, handedness and position. It isn't because those other guys are better players. I'm not even a huge Aquino fan, but I think he'd provide more than those other guys and the Reds need more than what they've been getting.

[Old school 1983]

My uneducated guess is it’s a cultural thing. The evaluators on the Reds may value certain personality types and temperaments and Aquino might not check those boxes. He may not be a great self-advocate in the clubhouse. In my personal experience, I’ve seen groups ice out productive and capable workers, teammates, and/or performers just because they don’t quite fit in with the greater culture of an institution (and, conversely, I’ve seen mediocre people succeed at an institution because they are great at fitting in with the culture).

I have totally seen that too. Idk if that’s the case though. At least in the public view, the entire team gets hyped every time he does something.

[Old school 1983]

The thing is, it isn't hindsight. It's current events. The Reds tried Ervin, Jankowski, VanMeter, Colon. They are still giving the nod to Payton and Davidson over Aquino. Davidson has hit a couple of timely HR, but he's still hitting .211 with an OBP of .278 (even Billy Hamilton can do better than that) while adding very little defensive value. Yet Aquino is still not on the roster. Are they concerned he might only be a guy who will hit an occasional HR while having a low BA and OBP? Seems like that's exactly what they have with Davidson. Of course, Aquino would be one of their better defensive OF and has well above average speed.

I said it earlier. This is because of options, handedness and position. It isn't because those other guys are better players. I'm not even a huge Aquino fan, but I think he'd provide more than those other guys and the Reds need more than what they've been getting.

Bingo all day long on that last sentence. It’s like they won’t put the best team on the field. Right now that team has Aquino in left. Just by watching Shogos approach, I think he’s better than his numbers have shown, but he really should be a platoon guy and spot starter when Senzel comes back. It’s crazy how Aquino isn’t out there. He doesn’t have to be august 2019 Aquino to be productive, let alone better than what’s out there.

Don’t even get me started on Stephenson either. Barnhart swings a wet noodle and Casali is the prototypical personal catcher that won’t kill you at the plate.

Garcia, Aquino, and Stephenson need to play everyday until they show they can’t or someone else knocks down the door and wins their job. It’s mind numbing how the Reds won’t put the best team they have on the field.