The biggest news in Cincinnati Reds land is that there is no news in Cincinnati Reds land, but with a tight-lipped GM who has no cash to work with that's pretty much what you'd expect for the status quo. The closest we've heard about anything substantial came from an interview with Walt Jocketty on MLB Network's Hot Stove yesterday in which he said "we'll never say 'never'" when it comes to trying to re-sign Shin-Soo Choo before he hits free agency. I'm kidding, but not really. Jocketty actually dropped the Peter Pan quote in regards to ace pitcher Johnny Cueto, but as we grind slowly closer to the dawn of the 2015 season, the lack of an extension for Cueto and the quotes from ownership and the front office sound more and more akin to those regarding Choo's similar situation two years ago. The fact is that the club knows Cueto is an amazing pitcher who they've seen develop over nearly a decade and who they'd love to see stick around Cincinnati until the day he retires, but emotions and bottom lines go together in life about as well as toothpaste and orange juice. Watch Johnny and smile in 2015, Reds fans. Then try hard to move on.
This Reposter is becoming all about Choo! Also from Mark Sheldon of Reds.com comes a look-see at prospect Alex Blandino, the player drafted with the compensation pick the Reds received when Choo declined his qualifying offer in search of the uber-rich free agent pastures. I sincerely hope Blandino pans out since the farm is so devoid of middle infield depth, but there's something very, very Valaika-y about him.
And, because I simply can't overlook this: Glenn Braggs Swing And Miss Broken Bat!
There's this great quote from San Francisco Giants beat writer Hank Schulman. Maybe it's time you finally got a scout in Japan after all, Walt.
Reds' 2015 ZiPS projections are set to be released by Dan Szymborski & Carson Cistulli quite soon, and Dan's been dropping some early tidbits over on twitter this afternoon. Not surprisingly, the team's lack of depth gets noticed, as does the continued agreement that the Reds swiped a gem in Eugenio Suarez in their trade with the Detroit Tigers involving Alfredo Simon. We'll let you know when Cistulli quits eating cheetos and decides to actually post them.
Over at The Enquirer, C. Trent Rosecrans summarized some of MLB Network's position rankings, noting that Brandon Phillips didn't crack the Top 10 2Bs in the game. That's probably accurate at this point, but what blows my little brain away is that the yapping yay-hoos have Aroldis Chapman ranked as just the 6th best reliever in baseball, which is something so blatantly ill-informed it makes me wonder why I even watch MLB Network in the first place. Actually, now that I think about it, I don't even have MLB Network on my cable package and haven't watched a minute of their programming on my television in three years. I feel marginally better now.
I mean, really, they think there are five better relievers in baseball right now than Chapman? ZiPS farts in MLB Network's general direction!
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>I like Aroldis Chapman's projection. ZiPS apparently said "@#%# regression toward the mean."</p>— Dan Szymborski (@DSzymborski) <a href="https://twitter.com/DSzymborski/status/563788232497045506">February 6, 2015</a></blockquote>
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