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Friday Notes

- The Enquirer says that Womack will be sharing the utility role with Ryan Freel.  If Rich Aurilia signs then Aurilia will get the bulk of the play at second.  If he doesn't then Freel and Womack will split time at second.  Since Ryan Freel is a thousand times better than Tony Womack, this left me scratching my head.  And if I was Ryan Freel this would really piss me off:

"He adds a very important ingredient that's missing from our ball club: Speed," O'Brien said. "We have the power component. We needed to add speed."

Ryan Freel has stolen 73 bases over the past two season.  And his OBP has been consistently in the .370s over that span as well.  So we can pretty much consider the Tony Womack trade a big FU from Dan O'Brien to Ryan Freel.

- Dave Williams is happy to be a Red:

"We always said whenever we played Cincinnati that if they could get some quality arms there, they could do some things," Williams said, in a phone interview from his home in Georgia. "All of those guys are going to hit their home runs. It's nice to be part of something like that."

I also love this:

Williams knew about the Reds' pitching problems, and went on the Internet to get more information about their staff after he was traded.

I would love to know what he thought after looking up some of those stats.

- More Tony Womack hilarity:

"We feel he's the prototypical National League player," O'Brien said.
 I couldn't make this crap up if I tried.

- Junior is now going to be number 3.

I guess the Reds will sell a few new jerseys this year.

- Even more Tony Womack fun:

"I see (Womack) playing a great deal," Reds manager Jerry Narron.

Just .... wow.

- My thoughts, which will be much briefer than they were with the Casey deal:

This is exactly how I felt in 2002 with the Bengals.  I wanted to hit bottom, because I felt it was the only way things would ever change.  The Reds need to hit bottom now.  For those of you who'll say that I shouldn't ever root against my favorite team, all I can say is that Dan O'Brien has the capability to destroy this team for years to come.  Any GM who'd give up two warm bodies for Tony Womack will certainly make a mess of something as important as trading an Austin Kearns or a Wily Mo Pena or God forbid an Adam Dunn.  Some of you will almost certainly think I'm overreacting to a trade for a potential bench warmer, but it's just the most glaring thing that has gone wrong in the Dan O'Brien era.  There are plenty of other things that have gone horribly wrong in the past two years, but this is probably the stupidest.

I liked the Casey trade, but I didn't really think DanO deserved a lot of credit for it.  He proved that yesterday with Tony Womack.

I'm now praying to God that the Reds sign Rich Aurilia.  Which goes to show that if nothing else, I've hit bottom as a Reds fan.

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Prototypical
Two things are possible. Either Dan doesn't know what the league batting average was last year, or he doesn't know what prototypical means.

by orangeandbrown on Dec 9, 2005 4:14 PM EST reply actions   0 recs

Speed
----------------
"He adds a very important ingredient that's missing from our ball club: Speed," O'Brien said. "We have the power component. We needed to add speed."
----------------
Contrary to what DanO said, speed becomes less important as your team gets more powerful...  It is not as necessary to be able to run fast on home run heavy teams.  In fact, even stolen bases become less valuable on the margain because the outs caused by being caught are more harmful and the steals are less beneficial.  All else equal I'll take speed, but Womack is not an all-else-equal scenario.

by TheDude on Dec 9, 2005 4:31 PM EST reply actions   0 recs

agreement
agreeing with your post, what the hell does speed matter if you can't get on base?

by bobestes on Dec 9, 2005 4:34 PM EST up reply actions   0 recs

Speed
For Womack, his speed is important when his teammates and coaches are yelling, "Run it out, run it out!" from the dugout as he grounds it to shortstop again.  Or maybe when the catcher drops strike three while he's at the plate.  See, speed has value. :)
"No matter what happens, someone will take it too seriously."- Dave Barry
Reds (and Blues)

by Slyde on Dec 9, 2005 4:40 PM EST up reply actions   0 recs

absolutely.
This reminds me of the classic reds signing of Vince Coleman, another formerly great base stealer with no power and a weak OBP.  

On a side note:
Womack 3 year OPS vs Righties - 640
Freel  3 year OPS vs Righties - 729

So even given Tony's platoon advantage, it still doesnt make sense to platoon them!

by TheDude on Dec 9, 2005 4:43 PM EST up reply actions   0 recs

Goooooooooodamnit
I just lost my buzz. Mutherf**king Tony Wombat. That's just dandy...he would've been released before the season began...what could Obie be thinking. This proves beyond the shadow of any doubt, that he is a fool and cannot evaluate talent. Or, even look at the overwhelming statistical evidence on the sheet in front of him.
Goodbye Uncle Carl, I never loved you.

by Pinetarfly on Dec 9, 2005 5:14 PM EST reply actions   0 recs

Womack
What's interesting is that the Yankees, in all likelihood, would have released Womack anyway, at some point in time. So why they traded two prospects, I'm not sure.

by bobestes on Dec 9, 2005 6:37 PM EST reply actions   0 recs

Woemack?
OK, hear me out. I'm not saying the Womack trade is going to put the Reds over the top, but is it really the unmitigated disaster that everybody seems to think it is? True, he had a horrible season for the Yankees last year. I live in New York. I can safely say that the guy never had a chance. Cashman didn't want him, Torre didn't want him, only the Yankees' Tampa contingent wanted him. When he slumped early, as many players adjusting to a new league do, he was summarily pushed aside and never heard from again.
And I'm not saying he's a great player, but look back just one more year to his 2004 stats with the Cards: .307 BA, .734 OBPS, 26 steals in 31 attempts, only 60 Ks in 553 ABs. The Cards were happy with his production. The Reds would have been too. Yes he's no spring chicken, but I'm not ready to concede that he's through after one ill-fated year in the Bronx.
And he may well have been released before the season, but as for who we gave up, no source that I have seen considers them legitimate prospects (despite a good AFL season). BA certainly doesn't have either one listed in the upper echelon.
As for Freel, I like him as a utility guy. Sorry, I do. Over and over we see the value of a guy like him to a team. Somebody has to do that job. Not everybody can. Maybe he could be the everyday 2B. But nobody could replace his role. And if we sign Aurilia, so be it. But I'd rather have a guy who potentially has a couple of decent years left and something to prove than a malcontent.
And as for the argument that we don't need any more speed because we have Freel, since when is one base-stealing threat the standard?
Again, I'm not saying that DanO is a genius. But with a hole at the 2B/backup-SS/utility role, and with the Yanks kicking in $900,000 of the salary, is Womack really the sign of the apocalypse that everybody is screaming?  

by ctnyc on Dec 9, 2005 8:24 PM EST reply actions   0 recs

Shocking
I'm simply shocked to find more negativity from JD.  You sound like a broken record.  You hate Dan and everything he does.  I GET IT ALREADY.
"Players have two things to do. Play and keep their mouths shut." -Sparky Anderson

by boohiss on Dec 9, 2005 8:51 PM EST reply actions   0 recs

Rock bottom
JD, I don't think you're overreacting one bit.  You're not just looking at one trade or two trades.  You're looking at the impact that Dan O'Brien has on this team.  You understand that not only is he precventing the team from getting better, but he's forcing the team to take steps back which will take years to correct.  And we don't live forever.  

I felt this exact same way with Bob Boone.  It sounded like heresy to a lot of people at the time, but I wanted the Reds to lose.  I wanted Boone to play Womack . . I mean Wilton Guerrero, five days a week instead of Dunn, Casey, or Larkin.  And of course, he did, and they lost again and again.  People said the manager didn't have that much of an impact on the win/loss column, but I knew the team had no way of getting better with him in there.  Finally, the day came when Bob was let go, and I knew from then on things would get better.  Unfortunately, Dan O'Brien was hired and, well, here we are again.  

by Brian B on Dec 9, 2005 8:59 PM EST reply actions   0 recs

Look on the birght side
Things are not that bad.  Remember this poll?

Which one of the following, if you had to watch him fritter away 300-400 PA this coming season, would cause you the least amount of pain:

A)  Tony Womack
B)  Jason ("I have pictures of DanO dressed as Little Bo Peep") Romano
C)  Luis ("I'm not Felipe") Lopez
D)  Slick-Fielding Juan Castro
E)  Eric ("If I'm in the lineup, I'm not pitching") Milton

Don't mind me...just pitching to contact, that's all...

by Paul Householder on Dec 9, 2005 9:16 PM EST reply actions   0 recs

Ouch
This is brutal.  I think I would rather watch Jason Romano out of these choices.  

by Brian B on Dec 9, 2005 11:01 PM EST up reply actions   0 recs

Danny Bo Peep
B)  Jason ("I have pictures of DanO dressed as Little Bo Peep") Romano

Danny Bo Peep

"No matter what happens, someone will take it too seriously."- Dave Barry
Reds (and Blues)

by Slyde on Dec 9, 2005 11:54 PM EST up reply actions   0 recs

LOL
Excellent!

I think I'd pick Jason Romano too, because he is paid a lot less than Womack.

Don't mind me...just pitching to contact, that's all...

by Paul Householder on Dec 10, 2005 7:28 PM EST up reply actions   0 recs

Move on ...
The only problem here is that the Reds haven't produced enough meat for the grinder - a questionable deal to bring an average pitcher in for a loyal and productive first baseman - a mini-deal that brought in some cash and a possible legitimate second baseman. Still need pitching ... I hope Dano is working on it because his work ain't done. What I've seen so far ain't good - he is scary as the man at the helm.

by Billingsfan on Dec 11, 2005 9:24 AM EST reply actions   0 recs

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