That day will suck.

or maybe a seal like they did in the past? That woudl be a bit weird even for Bronson

Janish would make a fine 7/8 hitter. And given the offensive strength of the rest of the infield (if Rolen can stay healthy) and the outfield (if we bring back Gomes and don’t play Taveras), we can live with a weak-hitting SS. The problems come when Dusty puts that weak-hitting guy near the top of the lineup and everyone ends up focusing on his weakness (and let’s be honest—his offense isn’t as bad as Taveras’s), not his incredibly strong defense.

Because he performed well, is a good clubhouse guy and probably earned arbitration from the Reds.

Problem is, does he fit in?

CF is Stubbs to lose, and at worst is a Stubbs/Dickerson platoon (Righty/lefty).
LF could be played by Dickerson, and he fits the 2-hole in the lineup better than Jonny because of his speed. Dick also has a decent OBP. Once Dick got more comfortable in LF, we all know his defense and speed is far better than Gomes. There is also the possibility of Francisco taking over in LF at some point. If he tears up winter ball, adjusts to LF well, and tears up spring training…….we may see him head north with the team in April. At that point, you have a serious logjam of potential starters for the OF with Bruce, Stubbs, Dickerson, Gomes (if given arb), and Francisco. There’s also Heisey in triple A. And maybe eventually Dorn. If $$$ were not a factor, I think they would do it……..but right now $$$ is a huge factor in next year’s team.

I seem to remember Jonny expressing strong interest in staying with this Red’s team. although I think for him to stay he’ll have to have some assurance that if he plays well that he has the LF job. My guess is that the biggest obstacle in keeping Gomes is Dusty;s eratic and completely illogical (most of the time) line ups and batting orders.

If Gomes Plays
If Then Gomes Stays
If Gomes Sits
Then Gomes Splits

Remember this is the guy who appeared overmatched in ST…boy was I wrong. How Dusty could have chosen Kermit McFuckFrog over Jonny, in retrospect reveals the ‘favorite player’ that Dusty nurtures, Plus it show why I, Mads, may not be quite ready to take the Red’s Helm in an emergency.

If not him, then a combination of Dickerson and Stubbs at the top of the order, if they’re both playing. They don’t like Hanigan evidently, but he gets on base well enough so that at least Votto would have someone to drive in every now and then.

Dusty isn’t reluctant to have two black holes in the lineup. This is the guy who started Taveras, Hernandez, and Rosales at the same time. Dusty just isn’t able to see that those guys are black holes, while Janish and Hanigan are not.

what do you mean about Hanigan’s .300 OBP? He’s been incredibly consistent, OBP-wise, ever since he started with the Reds. His OBP was .364 in 2007 (11 PAs), .367 in 2008 (98 PAs), and .361 in 2009 (293 PAs). The problem this year was that his power numbers took a hit, but a lot of that is driven by that horrible stretch when he played while clearly injured (in August, he started 17 games and hit .143/.226/.196).

I guess Dusty already forgot that in the first half of the season, Hanigan hit .338/.428/.408 (168 PAs) and played great defense, too. He just didn’t get to start much then (only 39 starts).

Amazing. I would order that on pay-per-view.

It’s just not fair.

This was his second go around, he was with the Reds in September of 2007.

Winning a Gold Glove kind of cemented that decision. At least now we have a 2B that can do just as good a job (better?) at short than Phillips, but Frazier or Sutton at 2B might be a way to inject a little more offense. You’re right that it won’t happen though.

I’m sure we’ll get it to it when we begin our discussion of “The Machine,” but there’s some great stories in there about how much Sparky Anderson agonized over the decision to move Pete Rose to third, as well as Rose’s and Bob Howsam’s reactions.

no

Shit, do I hate that adjective!

and I don’t see how he gets anything close to $4 million in arbitration. Then again, I suspect that the Reds would balk at a figure far lower than that.

Again, I’m no expert on salaries or expected raises, but I’d think they could have him for $2 million. At the very least, $4 million seems very high, and I don’t think would be asked for.

so i can see his arb raise taking him somewhere around $2.5-3 mil. if he signs for any more than that then i think the Reds messed up.

Gomes could be a real power threat…Dusty ALWAYS bats the 2B guy at clean up…

You’re a socioeconomic cohort of Jr’s? How much did you win on Jeopardy?

think it’s a fluke, or a sign he could hit 30 doubles?

I hate getting up for really early flights. Partly becase I might just be lazy, but partly because it encourages forgetting stuff

Alonso is a bona-fide top 30 prospect. a number of teams, especially those looking for a 1B of the future (like the Mets) would be very interested in getting him.

there are indications that the Mets may not want to re-sign Reyes when his contract is up after this season. while these rumors are unfounded and do not preclude an interest in trading him, there is a little more than no chance.

but yeah, Omar wouldnt do that deal. he may not laugh at it, but he still wouldnt do it.

…..Reds fans may put more value on Yonder than other teams, but he will play in the majors and be a solid player, probably in the mold of Joey Votto. But the Reds have Votto locked at 1B, and Yonder has no other real position, so at this point, he would be good trade bait.

Frankly I’d be more willing to trade Harang than Arroyo. Arroyo showed me something in the second half, and Harang has been tailing off the past 2 years. Plus Arroyo is an innings eater.

If you think about it, other than Rolen and Phillips, the Reds have pretty much young CHEAP studs at every position but SS.

1B Votto
2B Phillips – still young but due to make nearly $7M next season and $11.2M in ’11
SS ????
3B Rolen – $11M in ’10 and his contract ends
OF – Bruce (young and cheap), Stubbs (young and cheap), Dickerson (young and cheap), Balentien (young and cheap), Gomes (probably $2M in arbitration), Heisey (young and cheap)
C – Hanigan (young and cheap)

Unless we have better players in the minors than the ones already penciled in at the major league level, it might be time to deal for a SS.

So in principle, I agree with the proposed trade above, but not sure Omar would do it unless you packaged your top minor leaguers together. I don’t trade Francisco, Frazier or Wood. Those are my untouchables.

If you trade Harang, the rotation without Volquez would be

Arroyo
Bailey
Cueto
Maloney
Lehr
or possibly Travis Wood