This Was a Teardown

[Falls City Beer]

I've no interest whatsoever in fantasy baseball, which is what I'd call believing last year's mediocrity could have been turned into a contender this year--when last year's "success" was based on a completely outlying year by a 34 year old lefthander, who has--as I predicted in the offseason--done next to nothing this year for the Cubs and a truly wonderful year by a 37 year old--and again it would have been utter fantasy to believe he was going to approach that again as a 38 year old. The rest of what I wrote that you bolded was a response to comments by some older posters on here who have--understandably--indicated they may never see another Reds contender. Just wanted you not to be mystified.

Isn’t the point of front office competence to identify areas unlikely to repeat outlier performances and either replace those players or compensate for them elsewhere? Won’t there be times in this current build up of talent where they’ll need to do the very thing they should have done in this past offseason? Isn’t pivoting to new talent the hallmark of a good front office?

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Krall couldn’t even address this team’s bullpen. Do you really like the odds of him building this thing from the ground up?

[TRF]

The bolded is truly mystifying to me. But it is a window into a certain kind of fantasy baseball fandom.

Sometimes you need an infusion. No one is saying they won't miss Castillo and Mahle. But the Reds may have acquired their SS, 3B, 1B, and CF of 2024 all last week. I say "may" becauseyouneverknow, but I am certain they were going to have to field those positions with someone.

I'd rather see high upside rookies than another Tommy Pham type.

[REDREAD]

Personally, I'm already looking forward to the next teardown.

The Reds won't disappoint you

[REDREAD]

Isn’t the point of front office competence to identify areas unlikely to repeat outlier performances and either replace those players or compensate for them elsewhere? Won’t there be times in this current build up of talent where they’ll need to do the very thing they should have done in this past offseason? Isn’t pivoting to new talent the hallmark of a good front office?

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Krall couldn’t even address this team’s bullpen. Do you really like the odds of him building this thing from the ground up?

Yep, let's give the Reds the benefit of the doubt and say they knew Miley would be hurt all season and that's why they let him go.
The problem is, Miley's replacement was Mike Minor (or you can say Sonny Gray's replacement was Minor, it doesn't really matter)
IT's great if the Reds identified Miley as an injury risk and cut ties. But the other part of the equation is replacing that talent, which the Reds failed miserably at.
Sonny Gray is having a great season. Yes, he's only pitched 79 innings, but Castillo has only pitched 91 innings, and no one is saying that Castillo's injury derailed his season.
Obviously, you agree with me.. projections had nothing to do with the Miley decision, it was all about payroll slashing. If Miley's salary was only 3 million, he would have been retained.

[Old school 1983]

Isn’t the point of front office competence to identify areas unlikely to repeat outlier performances and either replace those players or compensate for them elsewhere? Won’t there be times in this current build up of talent where they’ll need to do the very thing they should have done in this past offseason? Isn’t pivoting to new talent the hallmark of a good front office?

- - - Updated - - -

Krall couldn’t even address this team’s bullpen. Do you really like the odds of him building this thing from the ground up?

Ahh we’ve shifted from Krall can’t acquire talent to look at the BP! The goalposts are going to shift until the Reds have a winner, then it’ll be just luck.

[Old school 1983]

I've no interest whatsoever in fantasy baseball, which is what I'd call believing last year's mediocrity could have been turned into a contender this year--when last year's "success" was based on a completely outlying year by a 34 year old lefthander, who has--as I predicted in the offseason--done next to nothing this year for the Cubs and a truly wonderful year by a 37 year old--and again it would have been utter fantasy to believe he was going to approach that again as a 38 year old. The rest of what I wrote that you bolded was a response to comments by some older posters on here who have--understandably--indicated they may never see another Reds contender. Just wanted you not to be mystified.

Also career years for Winker and Cast

So far career years for Mahle and India

It wasn’t “malpractice” or whatever to rebuild.

[Falls City Beer]

Ahh we’ve shifted from Krall can’t acquire talent to look at the BP! The goalposts are going to shift until the Reds have a winner, then it’ll be just luck.

How is that goalpost shifting? I’m simply pointing out that Krall couldn’t even address one area of the team. But we expect him to build the thing from the ground up.

[757690]

How is that goalpost shifting? I’m simply pointing out that Krall couldn’t even address one area of the team. But we expect him to build the thing from the ground up.

Krall has proven to be able to address many areas of need. There was one, the pen, that he failed at. That doesn’t prove that he can’t build a team.

Plus, he’s not being asked to build a team from the ground up. He has already built one of the best young cores in the game. Name another team right now that has 6 potential All-Stars that are all in their first or second year of team control.

[REDREAD]

Ahh we’ve shifted from Krall can’t acquire talent to look at the BP! The goalposts are going to shift until the Reds have a winner, then it’ll be just luck.

I'm still not convinced that Krall can acquire talent.
Getting good prospects for guys like Mahle and/or Castillo is not that challenging.
Any competent GM can do it. It will take years for us to figure out if those prospects become talent or not.. but most of the board is giving Krall the benefit of the doubt on it. (which is fair)

Other than Drury, all his acquisions before the season started were failures. That's the harder part.
Can Krall acquire an impact player from another team without giving up the farm?
Can Krall sign free agents that are better than a one year stopgap?
Can Krall add talent without pitching aces to trade?
That's the real test.
IMO, so far his trade for Winker/Suarez does not look good.
Brandon Williamson (combined AA and AAA) has a WHIP of over 1.5 . 7HR allowed in 89 innings. 3.93 ERA. Although he is averaging a little more than one K an inning.
But he's 24 and not exactly dominating the minors.
Frarely has been bad. I am guessing Dunn has been hurt all year.
Hopefully they will rebound, but so far, it's looking bad.
Note: I am not rooting for these guys to fail, just pointing out , they have not had good years so far.

[Old school 1983]

I'm still not convinced that Krall can acquire talent.
Getting good prospects for guys like Mahle and/or Castillo is not that challenging.
Any competent GM can do it. It will take years for us to figure out if those prospects become talent or not.. but most of the board is giving Krall the benefit of the doubt on it. (which is fair)

Other than Drury, all his acquisions before the season started were failures. That's the harder part.
Can Krall acquire an impact player from another team without giving up the farm?
Can Krall sign free agents that are better than a one year stopgap?
Can Krall add talent without pitching aces to trade?
That's the real test.
IMO, so far his trade for Winker/Suarez does not look good.
Brandon Williamson (combined AA and AAA) has a WHIP of over 1.5 . 7HR allowed in 89 innings. 3.93 ERA. Although he is averaging a little more than one K an inning.
But he's 24 and not exactly dominating the minors.
Frarely has been bad. I am guessing Dunn has been hurt all year.
Hopefully they will rebound, but so far, it's looking bad.
Note: I am not rooting for these guys to fail, just pointing out , they have not had good years so far.

If any competent GM could do that, it’s a point for Krall…as a lot of people assumed was not competent. I said at the time of the Winker Suarez deal, I’ll reserve my judgement until the mid season deals. He’s earned some more rope for those IMO. Let’s see if he has the ability to add some impactful MLB talent in the off-season

[TRF]

I'm still not convinced that Krall can acquire talent.
Getting good prospects for guys like Mahle and/or Castillo is not that challenging.
Any competent GM can do it. It will take years for us to figure out if those prospects become talent or not.. but most of the board is giving Krall the benefit of the doubt on it.

Other than Drury, all his acquisions before the season started were failures. That's the harder part.
Can Krall acquire an impact player from another team without giving up the farm?
Can Krall sign free agents that are better than a one year stopgap?
Can Krall add talent without pitching aces to trade?
That's the real test.
IMO, so far his trade for Winker/Suarez does not look good.
Brandon Williamson (combined AA and AAA) has a WHIP of over 1.5 . 7HR allowed in 89 innings. 3.93 ERA. Although he is averaging a little more than one K an inning.
But he's 24 and not exactly dominating the minors.
Frarely has been bad. I am guessing Dunn has been hurt all year.
Hopefully they will rebound, but so far, it's looking bad.
Note: I am not rooting for these guys to fail, just pointing out , they have not had good years so far.

I don't agree with this. I don't think we can call the first deal with SEA a failure 9 months later. I like Connor Phillips the best of that bunch, but he's for sure scuffled at AA. Williamson and Dunn look like bullpen pieces, and I'm ok with that. Fraley to me, looks like he could man LF for the next 3-4 years at least.

Winker... Look, Winker can hit. he'll remember how to hit sooner or later, and it seems like the memory is returning. But he's a god-awful fielder, and at the dish, honestly, he should be a platoon bat.

Also, they should set fire to his glove.

I won't argue that they should have kept Suarez. I said that when the trade happened.

I think he did add pitching talent. Acuna has already pitched a fantastic game for Daytona. Also the Reds just had a terrific draft. It's almost like each piece; draft, international signing period, trade deadline, had a purpose in a larger whole. The next pieces are free agency, possible rule 5 acquisitions and who takes a big step next march. My guess is it is one of the mashers from the Twins.

[REDREAD]

I don't agree with this. I don't think we can call the first deal with SEA a failure 9 months later. I like Connor Phillips the best of that bunch, but he's for sure scuffled at AA. Williamson and Dunn look like bullpen pieces, and I'm ok with that. Fraley to me, looks like he could man LF for the next 3-4 years at least.

Winker... Look, Winker can hit. he'll remember how to hit sooner or later, and it seems like the memory is returning. But he's a god-awful fielder, and at the dish, honestly, he should be a platoon bat.

Also, they should set fire to his glove.

I won't argue that they should have kept Suarez. I said that when the trade happened.

I think he did add pitching talent. Acuna has already pitched a fantastic game for Daytona. Also the Reds just had a terrific draft. It's almost like each piece; draft, international signing period, trade deadline, had a purpose in a larger whole. The next pieces are free agency, possible rule 5 acquisitions and who takes a big step next march. My guess is it is one of the mashers from the Twins.

I agree we can't call the trades for prospects failures today.
I didn't post clear enough.. I should have said "All his offseason moves for non-prospects, other than Drury, were failures".. ie Pham, Minor, etc
As far as the prospects go, I hope they all work out, but so far, the ones we got for Winker are not exactly lighting it up, and they were supposed to be either MLB ready or close to it.
So I think it's fair to judge their recent numbers, while still saying it's too soon to call it a failure for sure.
I agree, the kid we got for Gray, too soon to call.