[Sarasota]

Sarasota won their division in the first half!

That's right, the Reds won the division.  That's what we're all here for, right?  The Sarasota Reds?  Obviously Jay Bruce led the way on offense.  Catcher Craig Tatum is 2nd in offensive impressiveness batting .320 with 10 HRs in 58 games (why is he still in single A with those numbers at age 24?  I suppose because we're stacked full of catching talent up here.  Six pitchers on Sarasota's roster have ERAs under 2 (with a decent # of innings pitched), unfortunately the average age of those single A studs is 25.5.

(disclaimer:  sabrmetrics #s are lacking above and below.  sorry for the lameness.)

[Chattanooga]

The Lookouts have dubbed their new arrival Bruce Almighty .  As a forever optimist, I have to approve.  The Lookouts are currently atop their division at 8-2, with Bruce batting .435 and 3 HRs in 5 games.  The 2nd most offensively impressive hitter (with real AA time logged) is catcher Ryan Hanigan, hitting .299 w/ 3 HR in 69 games.  Meh.

Johnny Cueto was impressive in his first start at AA, and Richie Gardner is 2-1 with 1.82 ERA in 6 starts since being moved up mid-season.  The forever pessimist that always has a backdoor into a Reds fan's ear points out that he's already 26 years old.  The optimist counters, 'maybe we get a good year or two out of him up here'.

[Bats]

Louisville hitters Joey Votto, Jeff Keppinger, and pitcher Phil Dumatrait have made the International League All-Star team .

Aside from Homer, the only other real honorable pitching mention there is closer Ricky Stone (4-4, 1.79 ERA in 40IP, 0.82 WHIP).   Of course somebody with those kind of numbers in our farm system is contractually obligated to be >= 32 years of age.

 The Bats are one game over .500, and a relatively impressive 7.5 games out of first.  Everything is relative, no?  

[The Show]
For my 2 cents, I have to agree with those who say a fire sale is a hasty decision.  In spite of the famine, I believe there is a solid crew of young'ins that could meld in the right place at the right time.  This assuming of course that we don't trade all of them off for flaky relievers.

Until another time,
m@