Red Reposter - 4/3/09

by Charlie Scrabbles on Apr 3, 2009 11:22 AM EDT in News

Juan Carlos Sulbaran
via cache.daylife.com

Quick tip o' the cap to Snake the Jake for this little Reds preview from FanGraphs. In summary, they like the Reds young talent, but it's probably not enough.
Also from FanGraphs, a look at the RF platoon the Rays will be using this year. It's a pretty good breakdown of how platoons should be used to maximize effectiveness. You think Dusty reads FanGraphs?
Here is a great write-up and interview with Juan Carlos Sulbaran, Reds pitching prospect and member of the Dutch WBC team. Here are a few excerpts:

MLB: Of what accomplishment, on or off the field, in your life are you the proudest?

Juan Carlos Sulbaran: Finishing high school. In Curacao, everyone leaves school when they're 15 and never finishes high school. Now that I've graduated, I'm really glad that my dad made that decision for me.

MLB: Complete this sentence: It would surprise people to know that I...

JCS: Don't like pitching that much. I was a first baseman and third baseman. And for me, baseball was always more about how to get on base, steal a base, slide, get dirty and make diving catches. But I'm learning more about pitching now.

In case you didn't know, yesterday was the last game for the Reds at Tired Old Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota. It wasn't a joyful occasion, as fans booed loudly and shouted at Sarasota's mayor. She shouted back, saying, "I'm glad so many of you are angry with us, I really am," she said, "because I'm angry with us, too."
Here is a nice piece on Opening Day from the DDN. Just 3 more days!
Also, remember today the Reds will travel to Zebulon, NC to take on a collection of top prospects, christening the new home of our AA affilitate Carolina Mudcats. The game starts at 6:05. Tomorrow they head to Dayton to play another one. Then the next game they play will be for realsies!

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Well, the Mudcats have been there for years...

but it is the new AA affiliate of the Reds.

I’m just wondering who’s actually pitching. Any ideas?

We want to build long period of time. I didn’t come here for the shot run.

by Gray on Apr 3, 2009 11:39 AM EDT reply actions

Local paper article on the game...

here, with some random information:

Though the Mudcats’ roster hasn’t been finalized, Reynolds confirmed that it was likely that shortstop Todd Frazier and third baseman Juan Francisco would start the season in Zebulon. They are considered to be among the Reds’ top 10 prospects.

“There’s a good chance that will happen,” Reynolds said.

First baseman Yonder Alonso, considered the organization’s top prospect, probably will start the season in Single-A Sarasota but could earn a promotion to Double-A this season, Reynolds said.

Oh, and:

On Wednesday, the Reds made a change to the Mudcats’ coaching staff.

Pitching coach Tom Browning, who was arrested in Florida and charged with not paying child support, will be replaced by Rigo Beltran, who was scheduled to be Dayton’s pitching coach.

Beltran was in the minors for 14 seasons and spent parts of five seasons in the major leagues, pitching in 78 games with the St. Louis Cardinals, New York Mets, Colorado Rockies and Montreal Expos.

We want to build long period of time. I didn’t come here for the shot run.

by Gray on Apr 3, 2009 11:52 AM EDT up reply actions

Damn, I assumed Alonso was going to be playing tonight

Will you stop it with the vegetables

by Man Mountain on Apr 3, 2009 11:58 AM EDT up reply actions

I bet he will...

The article also mentions that the prospects team is drawn from prospects at all three levels.

They posted the rosters, though they’re not incredibly informative. The infielders on the prospects team are Alonso, Cozart, Francisco, Frazier, Soto, and Valaika.

We want to build long period of time. I didn’t come here for the shot run.

by Gray on Apr 3, 2009 12:04 PM EDT up reply actions

Dallas Buck is starting tonight, the rest of the lineups haven't been announced yet

"I can eat mayonnaise with a spoon." - Jeff Brantley

by BK on Apr 3, 2009 12:13 PM EDT up reply actions

you guys be sure to take some pictures before you get too shitfaced, alright?

I’d love to see a recap.

"It seems like we're not hitting because we're not getting hits." - Dusty being Dusty

by Slyde on Apr 3, 2009 12:14 PM EDT up reply actions

well

I guess his child support is our business now.

So who’s going to be Dayton’s pitching coach?

All Things Bubba: Because how can you not love a baseball player named Bubba?

by BubbaFan on Apr 3, 2009 12:23 PM EDT up reply actions

That's what I was wondering.

We want to build long period of time. I didn’t come here for the shot run.

by Gray on Apr 3, 2009 12:35 PM EDT up reply actions

yeah that's what i meant

youre going to the game, right?

My millions are unconventional!

by Charlie Scrabbles on Apr 3, 2009 11:52 AM EDT up reply actions

Young Master Sulbaran

…better not say he doesn’t like pitching too loud, or J.P. Riccardi will refuse to make a deadline trade for him in 2015.

I don't want to hear any weak sh*t from Jason Grilli.

by cherub_daemon on Apr 3, 2009 11:57 AM EDT reply actions

Opening Day

It’s gonna be coooooooooooooooold. Damn it all.

I miss the old days of the internet when men were men, hot girls were middle aged men, and hot underage girls were FBI agents.....

by jch24 on Apr 3, 2009 11:59 AM EDT reply actions

not in buffalo wild wings!

Made from 100% recycled awesome,

by chandrathan on Apr 3, 2009 12:10 PM EDT up reply actions

i told you, Dumas

I was like: OD can be bitter cold and i dont think its worth the risk

and you were like: shut up bitch, it’s gonna be sunny and im gonna drink beer

and i was like: you just jinxed yourself

and you were like: Jinx this (grabbed crotch)

serves you right.

"I've actually never had a drink before, tonight I might try it out. We'll see."
—Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw, on turning 21

by obc2 on Apr 3, 2009 12:39 PM EDT up reply actions

And now jch's hand is pregnant

by Brendanukkah on Apr 3, 2009 12:48 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs

I'm guessing his hand gets pregnant several times a day

"It seems like we're not hitting because we're not getting hits." - Dusty being Dusty

by Slyde on Apr 3, 2009 12:50 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs

Zing!

"strikeouts are alot sexier than groundouts"

by smitty3 on Apr 3, 2009 12:58 PM EDT up reply actions

If you sit on your hand and make it fall asleep, then it feels like it's someone else and you don't have to cry afterward

I miss the old days of the internet when men were men, hot girls were middle aged men, and hot underage girls were FBI agents.....

by jch24 on Apr 3, 2009 1:55 PM EDT up reply actions

That's called "The Stranger"

by teb7 on Apr 3, 2009 2:39 PM EDT up reply actions

Fay posts a modest proposal

which, much like Jonathan Swift’s, makes me squirm a little bit. He suggests putting Bailey in the rotation and Owings and Long Man/Reserve Outfielder/Pinch Hitter (emphasis mine):

I don’t know if Owings can play left; the Reds aren’t sure Sheffield can either. But I know Owings can hit. Sheffield’s career average is .292. Owings is .319. They have similar pop. Sheffield’s hit a home run every 17.9 at-bats in his career; Owings has hit one every 23.2. I know the sample size are completely out of whack.

He just compared 26-year old Micah Owings’ 126 career plate appearances to 40-year old Gary Sheffield’s 10,635 career plate appearances and brushed the difference off with a “I know the sample size(s) are completely out of whack.” Ya think?

As for the idea, I think if you are going to keep Owings and Bailey on the big league roster it should solely be because they are the best pitching options. After that you can decide whether or not you want to use Owings for something more.

"It seems like we're not hitting because we're not getting hits." - Dusty being Dusty

by Slyde on Apr 3, 2009 1:00 PM EDT reply actions

He's nuts

Owings racked up those numbers as a pitcher. They only throw fastballs to pitchers. He’s probably hardly seen any breaking stuff.

If he really could hit like Sheff, screw pitching. They’d have him at 1B or in the outfield.

Josh Hamilton said that they gave him a choice when they drafted him. Pitching or outfield. He chose to be an outfielder because he wanted to play every day. I wonder what would have happened if he chose pitching instead. I have a feeling they’d have moved him to the outfield anyway.

All Things Bubba: Because how can you not love a baseball player named Bubba?

by BubbaFan on Apr 3, 2009 2:38 PM EDT up reply actions

Oh noes!

Baseball Reference went and got all modern and shit. I fear change.

"It seems like we're not hitting because we're not getting hits." - Dusty being Dusty

by Slyde on Apr 3, 2009 1:01 PM EDT reply actions

Hadn't you already been playing around in the sandbox?

We want to build long period of time. I didn’t come here for the shot run.

by Gray on Apr 3, 2009 1:04 PM EDT up reply actions

yeah

I actually like it, but I wanted to make sure everyone knew that it had changed. And I wanted to be dramatic about it.

"It seems like we're not hitting because we're not getting hits." - Dusty being Dusty

by Slyde on Apr 3, 2009 1:06 PM EDT up reply actions

You're such a drama queen.

We want to build long period of time. I didn’t come here for the shot run.

by Gray on Apr 3, 2009 1:12 PM EDT up reply actions

well......

BCB actually put up a thread about that two weeks ago.

Slyde’s no Al : )

"I've actually never had a drink before, tonight I might try it out. We'll see."
—Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw, on turning 21

by obc2 on Apr 3, 2009 5:41 PM EDT up reply actions

just go be a Cubs fan already

and leave the rest of alone.

"It seems like we're not hitting because we're not getting hits." - Dusty being Dusty

by Slyde on Apr 3, 2009 5:44 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs

Damn, twice in one day

It’s like I have a crush on you today or something. :)

I miss the old days of the internet when men were men, hot girls were middle aged men, and hot underage girls were FBI agents.....

by jch24 on Apr 3, 2009 5:47 PM EDT up reply actions

You two will have some messed up babies

Made from 100% recycled awesome,

by chandrathan on Apr 3, 2009 9:31 PM EDT up reply actions

ashnarronlovechild

"There are only two seasons -- winter and Baseball." - Bill Veeck

by PeteyHendrix on Apr 5, 2009 2:33 AM EDT up reply actions

I just noticed that we can track HAVOC through BBRef!

On the team pages we can see who makes the most outs on the bases (Brandon Phillips in 2008 for the Reds), who takes the most extra bases, who goes first to third the best, who goes 1st to home on a double the most, etc.

As a reference, the Reds were last in the NL in taking extra bases on hits last year. They made the 2nd most outs in NL on the bases last year, one behind the Giants. They were a terrible base running team last year. No wonder they couldn’t score any runs.

"It seems like we're not hitting because we're not getting hits." - Dusty being Dusty

by Slyde on Apr 4, 2009 8:57 AM EDT up reply actions

Dude, this should really be a FanShot.

(With a graph.)

"What wrath, Daddy?"

by Fat Vegas Alan on Apr 4, 2009 9:04 AM EDT up reply actions

Al's right again.

"There are only two seasons -- winter and Baseball." - Bill Veeck

by PeteyHendrix on Apr 5, 2009 2:34 AM EDT up reply actions

Erardi thinks the 2009 Reds might be able to recreate 1961

He has a series of articles on the Enquirer’s website that some schmuck “sabermetricians” helped out on.
Here, here, and here.

"It seems like we're not hitting because we're not getting hits." - Dusty being Dusty

by Slyde on Apr 3, 2009 1:04 PM EDT reply actions

Methinks Eradi makes a big stretch...

1961 Reds were a pretty strong offensive club. Not strong enough to compete with the Yankees…but -

Gene Freese hit 26 HRs w/ 87 RBIs
Gordy Coleman hit 26HRs w/87 RBIs
Wally Post hit 20 dingers
Jerry Lynch (Pinch hitter extraordiare) hit 13 HRs most of them the PH variety
Vada Pinson scored 101 runs, w/16 HRs and 87 RBIs
Frank robinson hit 39HRs and 146RBIs

Darrell johnson did have 6 RBIs in the 20 games he appeared in

Joey Jay went 21 – 10 with 14 complete games
Jim O’Toole 19 – 9 with 11 complete games
Bob Purkey 15 -12 w/ 13 CG
Jim Bronson won 10 games and saved 16
Bill Henry 16 saves

I followed this team very closely because not only was it the REDs playing but a classmate of mine Bob Blasingame’s uncle Don Blasingame was the red’s starting 2B that year.
Don Blasingame, however sucked.
and his nephew was insufferable that season…

my favorite player that year was Jerry Lynch. What a Pinch Hitter…Gene Freese was fun to watch too he wasn’t the greatest 3B but he could hit. It was always a trat to watch vada and Robby at the bat or in the field. Frank Robinson could dominate an entire game…he had so much ’tude….

Yes the pitching was pretty good and defense too but these guys could hit and they had a real MANAGER.

Hutch was tough and smart and played to win. He knew how to get the best out of his player.

are there parallels between the ‘61 Reds and the 2009 Reds ? Probably although it remains to be seen. there is no Frank Robinson – Vada Pinson Vet. leadership on the 2009 team…no VP like Lynch, Gus Bell, Ed Bailey or Wally Post…
I think that 2009 Pitching could be better than the 1961 team’s.
A large and glaring difference is in the two teams are the managers. Hutch was driven and creative. Dusty is a competitor but too formulaic and mentally lazy to be able to get the best out of his players.

I don’t see the Reds being able to pull it all together this season, not unless frank Robinson comes out of retirement to play LF.

Its probably going to happen - bend over

by Madville on Apr 3, 2009 2:38 PM EDT reply actions