Keep him and see how we start out the season next year.
Keep him and see how we start out the season next year.
So what I get from these two posts is that Bell pretends to agree with and implement the front office vision to get and keep his job while Winker pretends to agree with and implement Bell's vision to get and keep his job. Is it no wonder that this offense is a mess?
So I thought Bell was mostly fine or at least a non factor at worst in 2020 outside of the Reds stumbling out of the gate. And he was doing okay and I’d say even managing the bullpen quite well for the first week.
But man he’s been pretty awful the last handful of days.
Granted he was just one of the factors that led to them nearly blowing Saturday’s game by leaving Gray in to hit with RISP and then yanking him 5 pitches later the next inning when a runner got on.
Then yesterday’s decision to leave Romano in for a second inning when they were in striking distance still, a guy with peripherals that all indicate he’s a 6+ ERA guy with K rate under 5 per 9 and giving up a home run every outing, he eats a ton of the share for that loss.
Meanwhile he’s turning our former number 2 overall pick with a whopping career 140 major league games under his belt into a short side platoon player in favor of a 30 year old journeyman outfielder who hit a handful of home runs the first week or so and has mostly turned back into a pumpkin since.
I know they’re still generally looking like they’re playing okay and not having the constant look of surrender the way they have often times over the last couple years, but it still feels like they’re winning in spite of Bell at this point at least to me. At the bare minimum he had two basically objectively terrible decisions this weekend, and they were lucky to overcome one of them.
REDREAD (04-23-2021),RedTeamGo! (04-19-2021)
Naquin’s a pumpkin already? Tough crowd. A 3 game cold spell and that’s it? He still leads the Reds in barrels and EV. Also hit one deep over the CF fence against the best pitcher in baseball yesterday.
I think Bell has managed the OF situation well. That’s no easy task for a manager. Winker and Cast should play just about every day, I think we can mostly agree on that. So that leaves CF starter, spots starts in the corners, ph appearances and late inning replacements for Senzel and Naquin to share. Honestly he’s played it just right so far, the Reds lead MLB in OF f WAR.
Chip R (04-19-2021),HokieRed (04-19-2021),Ron Madden (04-19-2021),Tony Cloninger (04-19-2021)
Wonderful Monds (04-19-2021)
As a person that lives in Cleveland and watches a lot of Indians games: Naquin has been a pumpkin for years. He is infamous for having a week or two where he tears the cover off the ball and then for 5 months he’s bad. It’s not like 2021 is the only sample size we have of this guy.
What would you say.....ya do here?
I can begrudgingly see him getting him starting maybe 1 game a series until he’s fully back to what he usually is, and before yesterday’s home run he spent a week or so cooling off to the point he was basically there.
Starting him 2 out of 3 games in a series is completely absurd. You don’t turn a guy like Senzel into a platoon player after 500 MLB plate appearances. If they’re gonna have sustained success the next handful of seasons, it’s gonna be heavily predicated on their ability to turn Senzel into a lineup cornerstone, and not giving him the chance to play everyday so you can start a 30 year old career backup is not the way to achieve that.
I’ll also add he pinch hit both Schrock and Payton before ever using Senzel on Saturday, and once again pinch hit Payton yesterday before using him, which is genuinely moronic.
REDREAD (04-23-2021)
As noted in another thread, McKenzie and Bieber are very tough on RHH, sitting a slumping Senzel those two days was appropriate.
Bell is not a manager for all fans. Some fans aren’t concerned with LH/RH percentages. Those are a major focus of Bell’s managing.
The lineups are more stable than when Bell first began.
Like all managers, sometimes I disagree. I thought using Romano in the middle innings last night was unwise. But Bell’s ok.
Last edited by Kc61; 04-19-2021 at 12:46 PM.
Tony Cloninger (04-19-2021)
Those seem "reasonable people can differ" decisions to me and not worth getting worked up over.
More broadly, while I haven't been a big Bell fan so far, it's pretty plain to me that this group is motivated, playing hard, supporting one another, having fun, and showing some tenacity. Which is a culture thing and culture comes, in large part, from management. And culture hasn't been a strong point recently.
Which is to say, for right now, "David Bell needs to...stay."
*BaseClogger* (04-19-2021),Ron Madden (04-19-2021)
bell being the manager this year is fine i guess. i just hope the team doesn't sign him to some long-term contract. he's average-at-best as a manager and i'm being kind.
Tony Cloninger (04-19-2021)
Senzel has started 10/15 games thus far. I'd probably call it 10/14 since he was injured opening day and didn't start game 2. Before Saturday, Senzel hadn't been on base in his previous 16 PA's and Naquin has been a hot bat (although likely cooling off), no issues starting the lefty against Bieber over the righty who has been struggling a bit. Perhaps Bell was just giving Senzel some time off to clear his head with the off day Monday.
Shrock and Payton pinch hit against RHP's, Shrock entered with 2 outs and nobody on in the 6th, if Senzel is really such a great hitter it was wise to not burn your best bench bat in that situation. Later, Shrock and then Payton faced Clase (RHP) who is filthy, nothing wrong with playing the matchups. I fail to see how that absolutely moronic.
Not to mention, Senzel hasn't exactly been the embodiment of staying healthy, not a big deal to me to give him some routine rest.
"Today was the byproduct of us thinking we can come back from anything." - Joey Votto after blowing a 10-1 lead and holding on for the 12-11 win on 8/25/2010.
*BaseClogger* (04-19-2021)
So what makes Senzel a must start at this point? Is it his 78 career OPS+? I like Senzel, but if we're judging fairly, he already is a pumpkin. He's going to play a lot and needs to lay claim to the job with his play. So far, he hasn't really done that and being matched up is perfectly fair.
All my posts are my opinion - just like yours are. If I forget to state it and you're too dense to see the obvious, look here!
Mitri (04-19-2021),Tony Cloninger (04-19-2021)
I'd say Nick Senzel is just a younger version of Tyler Naquin. Both attract injury like crazy. Both have split issues. Look Naquin is going to get hurt this year, and so is Senzel, because they always do.
But you can have a very successful season with 4 quality OF's. Now trying to have 6 is a problem. Aquino and Shogo is going to be a problem. Someone is getting traded, probably soon.
Dubito Ergo Cogito Ergo Sum.
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