Season Recap: Louisville Bats

He’s DHed or played 1B most of the games I’ve seen him in, and it doesn’t take a lot of athleticism to play those positions.

And of course, the knock on Votto when I first came here was that his defense was bad, and he’s done okay…

i’d say he’s certainly more athletic than Duncan, even more so than Alonso. perhaps he’s just a butcher in LF. iirc, his TZ numbers in LF are close to average.

he first became rule 5 eligible last year. And last year was a really bad one for him. OPS below .800 for the first time in his career. It was also his first taste of AAA.

I think this year, there may well be some interest in him.

Is Ryan Hanigan trade bait? In nearly 200 career MLB games, he’s slashing .279/.379/.373 w/ 10 HR, 62 RBI, and more walks than K’s. His defense and arm have been stellar, and we all know how we pitchers’ ERA’s are with him.

He’s under team control for a few more years (3, I think?), and although he’s already 30, he’s clearly got plenty of solid years ahead of him.

Since Hernandez’s option didn’t vest, do we bring him back with Corky as a backup until Devin’s ready? I haven’t even gotten to the Yasmanian Devil yet, either…seems like Hanigan’s a pretty marketable/expendable asset for us at a position lots of teams need. I

he had an incredible season and im excited he’s in our system, but there is a distinct possibility that this is a fluke season. guys with more power than Francisco, better contact skills than Votto, and the discipline of Stubbs/Bruce are Hall of Famers, especially if they are catchers. the odds of Meso being that guy are slim to zip. that dont mean he wont be good though.

sounds like you need to work more, not less

I told my boss I wouldn’t be able to find my shoes tomorrow so I couldn’t work. He said ‘that happens’. Enjoy work tomorrow suckers!

Jonny Gomes has light pole beer power.

T.Ocho Show?

nice

“I think we saw that Paul Janish is a real defensive talent, and he got a lot of key hits for us this year. We’re going to focus our efforts on making Paul Janish an expert bunter and better overall offensive player each year, while letting him develop defensively, as well. And if Janish improves defensively from where he’s at now – and there’s no reason to think he won’t continue to improve, especially at his young age – then we’ll have a gold glove shortstop who’s also a solid offensive contributor whom you can call upon to do the little things.

We’re very grateful to the contribution Orlando Cabrera has given this championship team, especially in the clubhouse. You could certainly argue that he’s one of the most valuable player resources for a young team getting their feet wet in the playoffs for the first time. I love Orlando, he’s a hellova guy, and I’d love to have him on this team next year.

Unfortunately, as a franchise looking to sustain success and growth in the current economic model, we are forced to operate on restraints to our resources, be those players under the team’s control, or by cold, hard cash. With our young core approaching their arbitration and free agency years, our limited financial resources don’t allow for the luxury of having a tremendous teammate like Orlando sitting the bench while we continue to develop our young core at the major league level, putting our best team on the field each day. Orlando’s amazing talents – both as a player, and as a teammate – would be stifled and somewhat wasted in a role position on our ballclub when he could provide that leadership to another team who more desperately need him as their field general to ‘take that next step,’ and allowing Orlando to entertain other offers where his talents might be more fully realized is not only what’s best for the the Reds and Orlando, but it is also what’s best for baseball. There’s a reason that seven teams have leaned on Orlando as their starting shortstop, and there’s a reason why he’s been in the playoffs six of the last seven years. While we’d be a better team in 2011 with Orlando Cabrera in our clubhouse and being ready to step in any time that Janish isn’t ready to go, that’s not in Orlando’s best interests, and we’re going to respect that. He’s over-qualified for a support role, and frankly deserves to command a higher salary than what a support position on a young championship team should garner. I hope some day, when he’s got several more championships under his belt, that Orlando will find a fitting role within this organization either as a player or in another capacity, because he certainly deserves that, and we’d be a better organization for it. Wouldn’t that be great? I hope we can make that happen."

which showed Cabrera to be significantly better than Janish this year. Blech.

But I think Walt will look around. Still, I hope he spends most of his energy and money on LF.

Slyde, you didn’t chime in much in the discussion the last few days.. Do you agree or disagree that he’s more likely to find a significant and reasonably affordable upgrade at LF than SS?

LF or SS, just do something, guys.

I’m sure Orlando was on their radar all winter, but they didn’t pull the trigger until well after the Winter Meetings. Seems pretty risk if they weren’t prepared for at least the possibility of going with Janish.