with Rhodes being a LOOGY. It’s not a bad bullpen, but I’d rather see Roenicke than Weathers. Gawd I hope they don’t sign Weathers to a 2-year deal.

i bet you rhodes is used for more than one out and bray continues on in that role to some extent

I wish the organization would have learned it’s lesson after Cormier, Stanton, etc…

The bottom could fall out for Rhodes next year, and the Reds would still be on the hook for his remaining salary. I don’t know why Fay seems to think 4 million for Rhodes is better than $8M for Affeldt. With Affeldt we had a guy who had great stuff, and could get both lefties and righties out. He was okay as the 7th inning guy, or the setup man when Burton wasn’t available. He was also a good guy to use in close games when the Reds needed to hold a deficit to keep it close. Plus he only received a $1million pay raise over what he made in Cincinnati last year.

he’s worth a year plus an option at best. And I don’t see how you get that he’s worth $4 million a year as a LOOGY.

Is what resulted in the subprime loan crisis.

though I will say that Arthur Rhodes and Jeremy Affeldt are not worth the same amount of money.

My real problem is with 2 guaranteed years. The purpose of pointing out 35 innings over the last 2 seasons is that the Reds are basing a 2-year contract off of a very small sample. Guaranteeing 2 years to a guy that age is the kind of mistake the Reds have been making for too long now. Look at his ERA for the last 5 seasons in the Majors (he didn’t pitch at all in 2007) – 2.04, 5.32, 2.08, 5.12, 4.17. Granted, some of that is the natural volatility of ERA, but the guy hasn’t shown enough consistency to justify guaranteeing that second year. If he comes out and posts another 5+ ERA, are you going to be satisfied that he’s under contract for 2010 as well?

It’s not a major deal – and by no means is Arthur Rhodes the signal for the end of times – but it’s little mistakes like this that keep the Reds from making any major push forward.

Coco-Average to above average closer, gets the job down enough to be effective.

Burton-Miss almost 2 months with a shoulder injury last year, and after he came back he put up an ERA of 7.84 with a WHIP of 1.68, 8 K’s and 8 BB’s in 10.3 innings. I won’t call him a sure bet for next year until May, if he puts together a solid April.

Mike Lincoln- The guy has undergone multiple arm surgeries since 2004. He has a glass arm that could blow out at any time. In the month of July he did not allow an earned run, but in August his ERA was 10.97 with 7 K’s and 4 BB’s in 10.6 innings and a WHIP of 1.97. I am curious as to what his BABIP was for that month, because he gave up 17 hits, so maybe he was just a little unlucky. I also don’t know if somebody who is a member of fan graph is privileged to see a month by month break down of a pitchers velocity, which could also tell us a story. It should be noted that he had an ERA of 3.52 in September, a WHIP of 1.17, while striking out 5, but walking 6 (which is higher than it should be) in 7.6 innings. Plus he only allowed runs in one of his 10 appearances in September, I am also curious to his BABIP for that month because it seems that he might have been really lucky.

Weathers- The guy is a ticking time bomb who is just a small drop off in stuff away from being a crafty ground ball artist, to being the equivalent to a batting practice pitcher. Despite only one trip to the D.L. in his time with the Reds and making 70 appearances a year, Weathers has had some minor durability issues. In 2006 he hurt his shoulder, should have been DL’ed instead was hid away in the bullpen for a week, and was shelled for a while after that. He hurt his elbow last year, and any pitcher with his kinda mileage health is a concern. Plus he has suffered some nagging muscular injuries, which is shocking given his great physique.

Bray-Had a very high WHIP, but struck out a lot of hitters. Slyde suggests above that Bray’s WHIP is somewhat attributed to the defense behind him.

Rhodes- I feel like he is in the same boat as Weathers.

Beyond that the Reds do have some depth behind those 6 guys, so if they need to DFA or D.L. Rhodes, Lincoln, Corrdero, and/or Weathers, or demote Bray due to ineffectiveness they have guys they can turn to. Roenicke, Herra, Viola, Fisher, etc the guys who do not make the rotation out of Bailey, Thompson, Ramirez, and Owings, perhaps even Maloney (who’s future I see in the bullpen given his mediocre stuff). That is all the more reason the Rhodes move leaves me puzzled. It is not as if this team is a LOGGY away from a division title. With all of these young pitchers, with a few of them having “impact arms” why not give them the chance, instead of creating a logjam. When it comes to the bullpen I tend to believe that cheap youth with good stuff is better than expensive veterans. Relief pitchers are about the hardest commodity in baseball to predict year in and year out. It seems like just about every staff will have a Mike Lincoln (a guy who was a non-roster invitee who surprises everyone; makes the team and is solid) but expensive “proven commodities” will also fall through almost as frequently.

Cash or what?

I can like Patton even less, now. And it probably nets the Reds $100,000 or so.

“Now I want you to remember that no bastard ever won a game by sacrificing to advance a baserunner. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard sacrifice for his baserunner.”

Is it hard to get a job as a groundskeeper? How much does it pay?

maybe he could solve the mystery of Why ‘Nukkah Can’t Stand Up Just Right Now.

with those two acquisitions though, however unexciting and despite budgetary market inefficiencies?

and props to Slyde for staying open-minded, even when initially perturbed by a move.

That’s large.

but commenters there seem a bit Fay-blogish.

If players can freely swap out or add teams to their partial no-trade clause, why do such clauses exist?

Of course, maybe Beltre doesn’t want to play on turf. Or doesn’t want any part of the Minnesota small ball.

Christ on a fuccking Hubcap..we could use Adrian at 3B big time. EdE can go play left field or something.
While we’re at has Jocko signed Dye yet?

the question is how often he gets to update that list. Seems like if he can update it on the fly, then he really has a full no trade clause, not just 8 teams.

Are they gonna use him as a starter? Or is that the going rate for mediocre closers…

oh wait, sorry, CoCo just texted me. Nevermind.

saving the Reds a fortune in his medical costs.

Walt doesn’t have a history of over paying for veterans or anything like that…

but if for some strange reason, the Reds sign Burrell and already have Ramon, I can hear sMarty railing already. Part of me is hoping that Burrell doesn’t happen so that little fucker has to focus all of his bile at EdE.

Beyond The Boxscore’s Two Monkeys spreadsheet puts his 3yr deal worth $9.1 – which also seems low. I’d probably say something more like $20M if it’s a 3yr deal.

if Ibanez gets 3/30, then we could definitely sign a FA LF for 10 mil a year, right? we dont have to trade for Dye, right? right?

It sounds like they want to stick with Gonzalez, although who knows if he can play or how well. Furcal does have a bit of a dicky back, but I certainly would be happy to sign him.

with incentives, options, and another doctor on staff who knows how to actually diagnose injuries rather than just chop them up.

a small market team can’t afford to throw resources at a guy who may or may not pitch 100 innings next year. Besides the habitual trips to the D.L. I feel like it is only a matter of time before he blows out his shoulder or something, and will lose the description of “we’ll he’s really good when he’s on the mound,” because he won’t have the stuff.