3/8/08 Reds vs. Braves--Bruce DH'ing

[Matt700wlw]

He has the same number of AB's a Hatteberg. (16)

It's early though.

To be fair to Marty and Thom, which everybody knows isn't my strong suit, they just said that it was assumed that Votto would be the 1st baseman but that he had to hit this spring to secure the position and so far he hadn't.

Thanks...that's all I wondered.

[Chip R]

Lehr pitching for the Reds now. Gives up a base hit to the 1st batter.

[OnBaseMachine]

Joey Votto should be a lock for the first base job, even if he hits .100 this spring.

[Kc61]

Marty busy trying to hand Mr. Hatte the job because he's hitting so far this spring and Votto isn't. Lovely.

And Votto was inducted in the Hall of Fame when, exactly? Votto is a good prospect but it is quite possible he will never approach Hatteberg's achievement in the major leagues.

If Hatteberg was lousy, I would agree, let's get the young guy in there. But Hatt had an .868 OPS last season in 362 at bats. So maybe this year Votto and Hatt split time at first. Or maybe Hatt starts out with the job and Votto takes over gradually.

There's no urgent rush to replace Hatteberg. He is good.

Of course, maybe playing Hatt and talking him up helps trade him for good value. That's a good alternative as well.

[pedro]

Joey Votto should be a lock for the first base job, even if he hits .100 this spring.

I'm not a fan of handing jobs to rookies if they struggle in spring training.

No reason he can't spend April in AAA and then come up after he gets hot.

TMBS, I'm confident Votto will come around before spring training is over. 16 ab's just isn't a lot.

[Chip R]

Nothing doing, besides that base hit, for the Braves in their half of the 6th.

[Chip R]

Reds have runners on the corners no outs.

[OnBaseMachine]

I'm not a fan of handing jobs to rookies if they struggle in spring training.

No reason he can't spend April in AAA and then come up after he gets hot.

TMBS, I'm confident Votto will come around before spring training is over. 16 ab's just isn't a lot.

He tore it up in September, which IMO is a better indicator than spring training.

[Chip R]

BP with a SF to score Janish. 10-6 Reds.

[pedro]

He tore it up in September, which IMO is a better indicator than spring training.

Then he should be able to do it this spring against weaker competition eh?

[Matt700wlw]

Good day for Phillips

[pedro]

Hatteberg went 3 for 3 too.

[Matt700wlw]

Good day for Hatte, too...

[Chip R]

Votto with a smash of the glove of the 1B to drive in 2. 12-6 Reds. Scored an error.

[Matt700wlw]

You know it's spring training when Paul Bako gets a triple