Dang. Reds lose 3-0, wrap up losing season.

Oh, and the quality content.

is on starting pitching.

He says he thinks the Reds will make a trade to get a SP.

"You want quality, not quantity," Dusty Baker said.

"I think there’s definitely a need for us to be better at the top of the rotation," pitching coach Bryan Price said. "We’ve got plenty of candidates to pitch four and five. But I think we’ve really got to make an effort to identify somebody to be No. 2 quality or to fill that role. It’s not easily done. It’s not inexpensive. It’s a challenge. Those guys aren’t sitting all over the place."

Starting pitching was the main failure of this year’s team.

Reds’ starters went a combined 50-54 with a 4.47 ERA. Last year, Reds’ starters went a combined 57-44 with 4.05 ERA. The failure came at the top of the rotation. The Opening Day starter (Edinson Volquez) and the Game 2 starter (Travis Wood) spent much of the year in the minor leagues. The No. 3 start (Bronson Arroyo) finished 9-12 with a 5.07 ERA after going 17-10 with a 3.88 ERA last year.

here. Marty mentioned how Griffey tried to do a similar thing in ‘76, but Bill Madlock had a bunch of hits in his final game to take the title. I’m definitely rooting for Braun tonight.

this is a walk in the park.

1 run game

But I got to admit that my brother may be right about Votto looking a bit like Bill Murray in “Stripes”

I cannot believe this game

I guess getting away from the NL Central pitching and going to the mushy AL East helped him. Or he’s streaky. Or both. Or whatever. I miss him though.

Is everyone enjoying this feast of exciting meaningful Game # 162’s (and for that matter, this last week)?

Because remember, if the structure that’s being suggested for the playoffs were instituted, none of these games would matter because Boston would play TB and Atlanata would play the WLB’s regardless.

Because it makes it even more obvious that we shouldn’t have given up so fast

AGAIN WITH 2 STRIKES

Orioles

I gotta crash

This has been a beautiful night! Even the little Cardinals situation can’t sully it.

Actually, I think he might be channeling Slyde’s brain. :-)

Teams like Reds must play the odds

The article also says Coco should not be re-signed unless he’s willing to accept $4-6 million a year. It suggest Volquez as a possible closer.

It also suggests trading Chapman, because the Reds are not going to get their $30 million worth from him over the 3 years they have left.

Perhaps the most interesting part it at the end, about the Rays.

Anybody who thinks the Reds can’t compete with an $85 million payroll should check with the $43 million-payroll Tampa Bay Rays, who won the American League wild card early Thursday morning.

…Despite a payroll much less than the Yankees and Red Sox, the Rays have now knocked the Yankees or Red Sox out of playoffs three times in four years.

Don’t let anybody tell you a team can’t compete with an $85 million payroll.

But what teams without deep pockets must do – and those who have sustained runs of success like the Rays actually do — is not be afraid of making hard decisions.

The Rays let Carl Crawford (the biggest star in franchise history) walk, traded a playoff hero (Matt Garza) and rebuilt an entire bullpen.

If you don’t have a big budget, you have to do that every year – and hope that you are making the right calls, get some luck, and trust the process.

I’ve been thinking that if the Reds want to win, they have to make some tough and likely unpopular decisions. Trade Chapman? Let BP walk? Trade Votto?

I’m not sure Walt has the stomach for that kind of thing. And I’m not sure it makes economic sense. The Rays have terrible attendance – only Oakland is lower – despite fielding a competitive team. They average 18,000 per game, compared to 27,000 for the Reds. Lots of good seats still available during last night’s game. They had trouble selling all their postseason tickets that year they made the World Series.

Not sure why, but I wonder if part of it is that when you make those tough decisions and trade your stars, the fans don’t bond with the team. And you might end up fielding a winner…but still not selling a lot of tickets.

Except for Cueto, of course. I sadly anticipated this late last year when noticing how many of those starters were pitching over their heads. And at what point are we going to finally concede that Homer Bailey is not a good starting pitcher?