Red Reposter - Is This Team More Like 1990 or 2006?

Red Reposter's Chocolate Frosty Numbers, sponsored exclusively with limited commercial interruption by the Dairy Queen Blizzard Mobile.  Dairy Queen's Blizzard Mobile:  it is exactly what you think it is, and it is every bit as incredible as you dreamed it would be.  - .661 -  Orlando Cabrera's OPS since moving to the lead-off spot.  The Reds are 16-9 in that stretch.  Brandon Phillips' OPS in that stretch is .856, Scott Rolen's is 1.012, Drew Stubbs' is .916, and Joey Votto's is 1.069.  So while it's true that the Reds are winning with Lando leading off, it's always important to remember that correlation does not necessarily mean causation.

• The bullpen was rejiggered on Monday
  but The Fay is still not confident. Arthur Rhodes, Bad Motherf*****, is the only one out there getting consistent outs. Fay suggests Aroldis Chapman could help, but I'd rather he pitch in the rotation in Louisville. He still has a thing or two to learn. I wouldn't mind if he were put in the 'pen in September, but not now. Edinson Volquez is another intriguing suggestion. He likely won't be ready until the end of July at the earliest, but I am all for him making his triumphant return as a high-leverage fireman. joshuar9476 thinks David Weathers is a possible solution.  I think he's an idiot :) 
  
  I think we should put our faith in the current crop for now, hoping that Masset can get his groove back, Coco can be better than so-so, and the back-end fellas can hold down the fort. This crop of bullpenners is far better than the guys we had in '06, so I don't think we need to panic. If by the end of the month it is still not working out, there will be a number of good bullpen arms on the trade market by then. Do you think Pedro Martinez would sign on as a set-up man?

• Mark "The Snail" Sheldon says this Reds team looks different than those of recent vintage
  He never really says why, but I totally believe him. "The biggest thing with this team is we make adjustments to adversity and the little stuff," said Reds starting pitcher Aaron Harang. "We're not dependent on one or two guys. We have a large group of guys -- young players and older players. Everybody kind of feeds off each other, talks back and forth. Every night, it's someone different chipping in." Harang has been around for quite a while (he is the longest tenured Red) so he's seen quite a bit of bad Cincy baseball. I'll take his word that this team is different. If anyone were in position to make that juxtaposition, I would trust Harang's volition.

• Slyde was on with Mo Egger (6/3/10 Hour 3)
  As of the last time I tried to listen, the media player wouldn't load, but I'm assuming he kicked some serious ass and talked the hell out of his new book, The Wire-to-Wire Reds, available at www.wiretowirereds.com.

• If you are wondering who the Reds plan on drafting come Monday
  Chris Buckley, director of amateur scouting, is enamored with this kid named "Best Available". Depending on who you ask, he's either a toolsy college hitter, a polished right-handed college pitcher, or a projectable high schooler. If you haven't been keeping up with Thundering Turtle's draft primer in the FanPosts section, your a dummy. Thinking about the Reds previous first-round picks, they have done a really great job recently, haven't they? Of their last 6 top picks, 4 are on the major league roster, one is a heartbeat away in AAA, and the other is currently raking in AA after a few average-ish years in the low minors. I think it's safe to say that Alonso will reach the majors sometime in the future, so the Reds will have 5 of their last 6 first round picks reach the majors. And that's spread out among 3 different GMs.

• The NL Central standings haven't really changed in the past 2 weeks
  which is great news for the Reds (and the Cardinals, but they can go climb a tree for all I care). As Jack Moore puts it,
  
  "this two week stretch may not look like it’s killed the rest of the division, but it has. When not one but two division foes build up a big lead, time is of the essence, and now instead of having 120 games to make up an early deficit, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Milwaukee, and Houston now only have 108 games. Given the talent present on these rosters, particularly those in Houston and Pittsburgh, this stretch may even have been the nail in the coffin, as expecting poor teams to make up 6+ game gaps in only four months is unrealistic at best. Nothing is definitively over, at least, but the playoff odds for these teams are sitting in the low single digits at this point, and potentially reaching into the decimals."

• The Reds come in at #7 on BP's power rankings
  In case you didn't know, they are good or something.
  
  
  
  Let's take a look around the NL Central blogs and see what life is like for all those looking up at us in the standings (that feels good to say):