How ' bout Jose Garcia?

[Patrick Bateman]

I like the guy too, just got stuck in a weird year where he can’t develop normally and Reds having issues with the SS position at the major league level. I’m not reading much into this because he shouldn’t be here, and has a raw feel to his game. He’s too young and talented to judge him off of what we are seeing.


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[BillDoran]

I like the guy too, just got stuck in a weird year where he can’t develop normally and Reds having issues with the SS position at the major league level. I’m not reading much into this because he shouldn’t be here, and has a raw feel to his game. He’s too young and talented to judge him off of what we are seeing.


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Agreed. But he's hurting the Reds right now. He's in a time-share (the heavy-portion), but he's not much of a threat with the bat right now. For all the money invested in this team, strange to lean this heavily on somebody with zero experience (especially when you have a serviceable SS in Galvis).

[UKFlounder]

Does what Garciais experiencing apply to Tyler Stephenson at all? Should people wanting Stephenson to play consider this or are two separate players just totally different?

[Patrick Bateman]

Does what Garciais experiencing apply to Tyler Stephenson at all? Should people wanting Stephenson to play consider this or are two separate players just totally different?

I think Ty is much more polished with the bat. I think the larger concern is pitchers adjusting to a new catcher down the stretch. I expect Ty to be a bigger factor in 2021 than Garcia will.


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[BillDoran]

Does what Garciais experiencing apply to Tyler Stephenson at all? Should people wanting Stephenson to play consider this or are two separate players just totally different?

I think Ty is much more polished with the bat. I think the larger concern is pitchers adjusting to a new catcher down the stretch. I expect Ty to be a bigger factor in 2021 than Garcia will.


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It's put up or shut up time for the Reds right now. I'd want solidity, and I want to know what I'm getting. I'm less interested in trying to find out if we have lightening in a bottle at SS or C. It's not as much fun, but I prefer veterans right now. Given the nature of this organization, we'll have plenty of playing time to hand out in the near future when we're winning 70-games a year for the next five years.

[dougdirt]

They aren't pitching to him and he's swinging anyway. He needs to take more pitches and make them pitch to him. He has hit some balls hard when he gets one over the plate. He had some hard hit outs early on and got a little over-anxious and started swinging at everything. If he can fix that...


"Pick a good one and sock it. "

He needs to swing more. Sort of.

Garcia swings about as often as Nick Castellanos does (51.2% and 49.3%). The difference is that Castellanos swings at pitches in the zone 74% of the time, while Garcia's only been doing so 61.5% of the time. It certainly could be some pitch identification issues, which would also explain the very high chase rate (38.7% - highest on the team, with Castellanos right there behind him at 37.6%) - but he needs to swing a lot more at pitches in the zone than he is, which is the among the lowest on the entire team (VanMeter, Goodwin, and Jankowski swung/swing less in the zone).

[MikeS21]

I love Jose Garcia ... but he shouldn’t be on the roster. Period. Granted, development for minor league players is virtually nonexistent this year, but starting the service time clock on a kid who should be in AA, learning to read pitches, was one of the dumbest decisions of team this summer.

They certainly have not done Garcia any favors by rushing him.

[BillDoran]

I love Jose Garcia ... but he shouldn’t be on the roster. Period. Granted, development for minor league players is virtually nonexistent this year, but starting the service time clock on a kid who should be in AA, learning to read pitches, was one of the dumbest decisions of team this summer.

They certainly have not done Garcia any favors by rushing him.

I'm reading to much into this, but rushing Garcia is an indictment against Krall and Williams. Given the move, there was an assumption that Garcia must have really shown something in Prasco, and that he was ready. Instead, he's looked just like a guy that skipped AA and AAA. That's either bad internal scouting or rash roster management.

It's especially odd given a replacement-level Galvis handling the spot. It's not like they were forced into running VanMeter out there six nights a week.

Strange all around, but still optimistic about Garcia's future.

[Benihana]

He brings some newness, some youthful enthusiasm to the team. He provides hope in what's been a slog of a season for the Reds.

But he ain't ready. This is what happens when people succumb to hype. A good front office acknowledges they have real prized prospect and then give the public a reasonable timeline. Rushing him up served nobody well. No idea what motivated it. He apparently impressed in spring training, and for all we know he ripped the cover off the ball at Prasco, but exhibition games are no replacement for the real thing. And for the handful of superstars that skipped AA and AAA, Garcia isn't that caliber of player.

Garcia still may become a regular All Star at SS, but the Reds were better off leaving Galvis there and looking for help elsewhere. Right now, Garcia is just another give-away AB, right there with Barnhart at the bottom of the lineup. Of all the seasons and of all the rosters, this isn't the one to roll with the half-baked rookie at SS. The Reds need productive at bats now. They need wins now.

I don’t necessarily disagree that he’s likely not ready. But sometimes it’s fair to take a shot, especially with a hitter, who’s glove is clearly major league ready. You never know, you may get an Albert Pujols or a Juan Soto situation where the guy surprises and sticks. Andrelton Simmons played 44 games above A ball before his big league promotion. Garcia is a better hitter than Simmons, and tore it up in ST. He was a high pedigree/big signing. There was reason to have optimism, reason to take a shot in a bizarre year where you’re looking to give your team a boost, and it’s not like he’s missing out on valuable AA at-bats (like you said exhibition games are no substitute for the real thing).

Maybe it didn’t work, I doubt his confidence will be ruined forever. There are things to get really mad at the Reds about. IMO this isn’t one of them.

[Kc61]

I don’t necessarily disagree that he’s likely not ready. But sometimes it’s fair to take a shot, especially with a hitter, who’s glove is clearly major league ready. You never know, you may get an Albert Pujols or a Juan Soto situation where the guy surprises and sticks. Andrelton Simmons played 44 games above A ball before his big league promotion. Garcia is a better hitter than Simmons, and tore it up in ST. He was a high pedigree/big signing. There was reason to have optimism, reason to take a shot in a bizarre year where you’re looking to give your team a boost, and it’s not like he’s missing out on valuable AA at-bats (like you said exhibition games are no substitute for the real thing).

Maybe it didn’t work, I doubt his confidence will be ruined forever. There are things to get really mad at the Reds about. IMO this isn’t one of them.

How about the need to bring up Garcia in the first place?

Being so thin at shortstop they had no other feasible option when they soured on Galvis as starter.

These might be things to be unhappy about.

[Benihana]

Fine but I’m fine with them taking a shot.

This is not like when they ruined Brian Reith or Homer Bailey by calling them up prematurely. That doesn’t/shouldn’t really happen with hitters, and there wasn’t much of an opportunity cost considering there isn’t a minor league season.

As far as roster construction goes, I was in the camp that thought it was pathetic they couldn’t get DiDi. I’m a proud, card carrying member of the Fire Dickie club.

[sdm24]

Not that Reds management needs beat up on more lately but why did they let Jose Iglesias walk. He had a great year last year, played good defense and then signed with the Orioles for $2.5 million. Galvis cost $5.5 million this year. I personally would rather have had Iglesias for half the money that Galvis cost. Maybe there was a problem in the clubhouse with Iglesias but he always had a smile on his face and his teammates seemed to like him. Who knows.

[dougdirt]

Not that Reds management needs beat up on more lately but why did they let Jose Iglesias walk. He had a great year last year, played good defense and then signed with the Orioles for $2.5 million. Galvis cost $5.5 million this year. I personally would rather have had Iglesias for half the money that Galvis cost. Maybe there was a problem in the clubhouse with Iglesias but he always had a smile on his face and his teammates seemed to like him. Who knows.

If any team on the planet thought Iglesias was going to be good this year he would have gotten a better contract than 1 year and $2.5M. But no one thought he would be good this year, so he got the contract of a guy who could be a solid back up shortstop for a team that was among the worst in baseball last year.

The problem is that no one in baseball thought he was going to be much this year. Is that on the Reds? Sure, I guess so. But it's also on 29 other teams, too - because really, no one thought much of him for 2020.

[757690]

If any team on the planet thought Iglesias was going to be good this year he would have gotten a better contract than 1 year and $2.5M. But no one thought he would be good this year, so he got the contract of a guy who could be a solid back up shortstop for a team that was among the worst in baseball last year.

The problem is that no one in baseball thought he was going to be much this year. Is that on the Reds? Sure, I guess so. But it's also on 29 other teams, too - because really, no one thought much of him for 2020.

The Reds saw him play all of last year. They are the one team that should know what he can do.

I agree no team expect him to hit as well as he has been hitting so far this year, but last year with the Reds he provided almost identical fWar as Galvis. The Reds saw both players last year and chose Galvis at twice the salary over Iglasias. That's a swing and a miss in terms of talent evaluation in my book.

[Tom Servo]

I know Iglesias is beloved around here but he ended up with just an okay year offensively last year (which doubles as a career year for him) and hitting 13 doubles in less than 100 ABs this year screams fluke. Obviously I'd rather have him over Galvis right now but that's less a talent evaluation issue and more of a **** happens one.