"I’d actually prefer to watch the Reds lose 9-7 than to watch them lose 3-1."

We’re losing 9 -1, not 9-7 , not 3-1, but 9 to freaking one.

Thats 63-7 in football terms.

Is it time to blow this team up ??

as has been voiced this week, i miss joshie. with dunn and jr. slumping, this is far and away the worst outfield we’ve had in years, and it’s led by the putrid center fielders. I want my jay bruce, damn it. Dunn will bounce back, as I would think Jr. will, but fropperson will never give us shit. i dont even want to see those guys play. they’re annoying little shits.

From 1996-2007 we went through a series of managers who all either had no previous major league managing experience or had some experience but had had never managed a playoff team.

So at the end of the season, at least I could say, “Ok, we lost so many games this year maybe now the Reds will get serious and hire a real manager.”

But now we have a proven winner at manager and a decent payroll and we still stink on ice.

comes down to roster construction. This is the most poorly put together team I’ve ever seen, even by Reds standards. Some examples (going across the diamond):

1. First base: Votto is the guy. He’s proven that he can contribute, he can play everyday, he can cut it on defense. Why have Hatteberg on the team? He’s also left-handed, and all he’s doing is taking ABs from Joey.

2. Shortstop: This was recently addressed with Castro getting cut, but there’s no definitive answer as to what happens at this position when Gonzo gets back, and that scares the hell out of me. Either he’s going to sit the bench (not likely), or take ABs away from Keppinger, or worse, EdE.

3. Center field: Oh boy. Patterson, Hairston, Freel, Hopper, etc. WIth how much money they have tied up in these guys, they don’t have anyone there that can play everyday and get on base to contribute to the offense. Hairston is fine as a utility guy, especially while he’s got the hot bat, and Hopper is a serviceable 5th OF, but none of these guys should be starting for a major league team. Throw into that the money we owe Freel, who is a decent player for an effort guy, but certainly not someone Dusty favors, so he’s not gonna play as much as he’s getting paid to. Why these three exist on this roster together is bewildering. Which leads us to…

4. Corey Patterson: This guy gets his own category. I put this one on Dusty, because it was obviously his idea to bring him in here, but to give him 3 million is preposterous, so this is partly Wayne’s fault too. And, what’s worse is that Dusty keeps playing him and batting him leadoff to justify his mistake. The fact that he’s the starting CF for my favorite baseball team infuriates me, especially when you take into account that he’s going to see more ABs than anyone else on the team if he’s playing everyday. He shouldn’t be batting leadoff, which leads me to my next point…

5. A “leadoff hitter”: There isn’t a true “leadoff” type hitter on the roster, and I find that to be a glaring weakness that should be addressed. Sure, there are guys who can fill the role and do okay, but there isn’t a high OBP guy who can steal bases with consistency. The base stealing thing wouldn’t be a big deal, normally, but with Dusty managing this team, the leadoff hitter NEEDS to be fast, because we all know Dusty will try to “manufacture runs” with whoever they put there. The best we can do right now, is Freel in the CF slot, unless someone can come up with a better idea. Speaking of the outfield:

6. Jay Bruce: He isn’t here. That’s fine, but management has to be aware that sometime this season, he will be here, and when he gets here, where is he going to play? Center field? Not with Corey P. Centerfield still on the team. He needs to play everyday, and with Dusty’s track record with speedy no-hit centerfielders, it’s going to have to be in a corner outfield spot, of which none are currently available. There’s clearly an odd man out here, and nobody knows who it is, management included. And furthermore, plugging Jay into center would be a serviceable solution, yes, but it adds another problem to the mix…

7. Too many left handed bats: Dunn, Griffey, Votto, Bruce. That’s four LH power bats that should be playing in this lineup everyday. How do you bat them? How does this team hit lefties? Granted, this isn’t as big of a problem as some of the others, but still, poor roster construction.

8. Catchers: Why are there three catchers on this team? Especially when all of them are mediocre at best! None of these three guys can hit over .250, and none of them are exceptional defensively. The best we have out of the lot at this point is Bako, because he calls a good game and is hitting, but him and Ross are the same player. Not a lot of depth if you ask me. And as far as having a change of pace guy in Javy, he’s not living up to that this season. He isn’t hitting a lick. Time for one of these guys to go.

And that’s just the position players!

What my point is, is that Jocketty has a pretty daunting task on his hands, because Krivsky left this roster in complete shambles. There’s no real direction that this team is building around, and that’s why Krivsky was fired. You have BP signed to a long-term deal, great. He’s your guy. Harang and Arroyo are locked up, and you trade for Volquez and have Cueto and Bailey cheap. That’s your rotation, great job. THEN GET RID OF JOSH FOGG. And as far as position players go, you have BP, and you have Votto, EE, and Bruce. That’s a pretty solid foundation of guys to build around. This is the first time I’ve ever said this, but maybe it’s time to part ways with Junior or Dunn. One of those guys is gone, and Jocketty starts rebuilding the roster smartly, and this team can contend. But until then, we’ve got this team to watch and root for and bitch about, every day, for the entire summer of ‘08.

let me count the ways…

BK got it just about right. this roster is a historic mess. i get the feeling that we are like the smelly kid in class. all the other teams snicker about us when we arent around because we are such a mess. Hatteberg is great, but he should have been traded last summer when he was probably the “best available” 1B (or should have been available). we could have sold him at peak value. Fropper and Hairston are all the same. I personally dont mind having two guys like Freel and Hairston on the bench, since they both can do just about everything defensively, as long as somebody else can hit for some power. but Hopper clearly should be at AAA or on some other team right now. i can imagine he could have been traded this winter for a bit of something. anything. Valentin is still on this team? i said it before and i’ll say it again, i think his place on this roster is pretty safe. his reputation is as a great PH, which is clearly dubious, will carry him for a while. but OMG COREY PATTERSON!! im okay having Bruce and Bailey down on the farm for the first month. see if this team gets out to a hot start and maybe we can contend. but we didnt. so lets go total youth movement.

the Jr/Dunn sitch worries me. i want to keep Dunn around because he has been the best bat on this team since Jose Guillen had that one great year. but will he take a 4 year deal? will we even offer that? Jr should be dealt, and im confident that something will happen this summer if we are still playing like this.

we obviously need another strong RH bat. EE is not a premiere level hitter, and he shouldnt have to be. what he does is good enough. BP needs to move the fuck off the cleanup spot. Jesus Christ…i think this is a close second to the Patterson situation on my list of 95 Theses. he is not a cleanup hitter. he should not hit any higher than 5. ever. so if we want another RH bat, and the outfield is the obvious place, who can get this winter? just glancing at the 2009 FA list over at traderumors (i’ll put the link at the end of my post if you want to gander yourself), i cant see too many decent options. Pat Burrell, Jason Michaels, Bobby Abreu, Casey Blake, Milton Bradley. Burrell would never play in Cincy, and he’s really just a RH Adam Dunn, so people would hate him. he cant handle RF anyway. Michaels, Blake, and Bradley are nothing but stop-gaps. Abreu? i would be alright with him, but we would have to grossly overpay for the waning years of his career, so no way. the one name that i can really see being any kind of reasonable answer on the FA market is Juan Rivera. he’ll be 30 and he has been buried his entire career, save 2006 when he got into 124 games and put up a 126 OPS+. im not enamored with that solution, so perhaps we could find one in trade. i dont know. maybe Kepp can play RF.

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2007/12/2009-mlb-free-a.html

Get rid of that, and I’m happy.

(“that’s racist”)

Corey Patterson- The guy is not a Major League caliber outfielder… Or hitter…

Joey Votto needs to be a bit more patient… so that we can afford to go ahead and get rid of Hatteberg…

Phillips needs to make sure he’s not trying to homer every at-bat…

Arroyo needs some run support

The bullpen needs to be virtually perfect…

We’re not winning because Griffey and Dunn aren’t hitting. That’s it. Phillips is trying to do too much and Patterson sucks, but the guys we count on aren’t doing jack. They should be at least threatening to opposing pitchers, but they aren’t.

louisville loses to richmond 5-4 in 11.

Do you all still feel like we shouldn’t have moved at least dunn at the deadline last year?