GM For a Day

Small moves? Ha. Take your pick.

Apologize to the fans.
Fire Don Gullett.
Valentine goes to AAA now.
Ortiz rehabs in AAA till he can give a quality start.
Claussen either pitches a quality start or goes to AAA.
Bring up at least two youngsters now.
Let Wagner throw two innings. 7 and 8.
Griffey to 4th every day.
Lopez starts and is placed for speed.
Freel leads off every day.
Randa to the lower half of the order.
Platoon Willy Mo and Kearns until there is a clear offensive superiority with one or the other.
OR trade one of them for a quality pitcher and prospects.

Small moves.

Four things must be addressed before all others.

1st --- begin "hitting to contact" approach.  Every game I watch seems to be a 10+ K performance by the Reds hitters, which is unacceptable unless the hitters are mashing HR's at a high level.  I can handle Dunn striking out, based on his SLG and OBP.  There are many others avoiding mainstream detection, however. It is probably worrisome that Wily Mo has only the 5th highest K percentage on the ballclub. Here is the current strikeout percentage (K/AB)

43 --- LaRue
35 --- Kearns
32 --- Dunn
31 --- Valentin
29 --- Pena
26 --- Jimenez
       Cruz
25 --- Griffey
       Lopez
23 --- Freel
17 --- Randa
15 --- Aurilia
13 --- Casey

2nd --- the arms.  Ouch.  The staff would be helped greatly with the return of Hudson and Hancock, but that doesnt seem to be likely to happen in the near future. I'd move a couple of the usual suspects down to AAA and bring up Stone/Booker.  Either that, or begin searching for Danny Serafini's phone number.....  

3rd --- play the youngsters in the near future -  Lopez, Pena, Kearns, Sardinha, Encarnacion, etc. The season is not a wash, but teams that have the Reds 2005 winning percentage on May 1st make the playoffs 2% of the time.  Wait 'til next year.

4th --- Draft a COLLEGE PITCHER in the first round of the amateur draft. I'm still more than optimistic on Bailey, but after Gruler/Howington it is wise to select pitchers who are further advanced along the injury nexus.    

Plus, sign Dunn to a long term contract asap.  3 years, minimum. I would wager by end of season it would be time to lock in Wily Mo, also, but I've always been a little high on the guy.  

Just my few cents, nothing more.    

Line-up:

1 - Ryan Freel 2B
2 - Felipe Lopez SS
3 - Adam Dunn LF/Adam Dunn 1B
4 - Austin Kearns RF
5 - Sean Casey 1B/ Ken Griffey Jr. CF
6 - Wily Mo Pena CF/Wily Mo Pena CF
7 - Joe Randa 3B
8 - Jason LaRue C

Rather than platooning the young players that can perform for the team, I would platoon Griffey and Casey in the 5 hole, whoever can get it together gets the nod.  I know it seems rather unrealistic to have one of the higher paid players on the bench, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

Bench:

C - Valentin (Unfortunately)
IF - D'Angelo Jiminez
IF - Luis Lopez
OF - Jacob Cruz
Sean Casey/Ken Griffey Jr.

As you might notice, Aurilia is not on the bench, I think that measures need to be taken.  Aurilia is not going to all of a sudden start hitting.  I know that O'Brian isn't gonna cut Aurilia, so if I was Miley I would have Aurilia as the other back-up infielder.

Pitching Staff:

SP - Paul Wilson
SP - Eric Milton
SP - Aaron Harang
SP - Ramon Ortiz
SP - Luke Hudson

LR - Josh Hancock
MR - Ricky Stone
MR - Randy Kiesler
MR - David Weathers
MR - Kent Mercker
SU - Ryan Wagner
CL - Danny Graves

Until Hudson or Hancock is healthy Claussen will continue to start.  When either is ready, Claussen will move to LR, when both are healthy, Claussen will be designated for assignment (at this point I can't imagine a team wanting him).  While neither Hudson or Hancock are healthy, the final bullpen spot will be filled by Joe Valentine (the lesser of two evils in which the other is Matt Belisle).  And Weber gets cut.

First, I would put Griffey on the bench as our left handed pinch hitter.  Griffey needs to learn how to play first base.  I know we pay him too much money for this, but we have better and younger players riding the bench who need to be playing.  I then have an outfield rotation of Dunn, Kearns, Pena, and Freel.  Freel would also rotate into Jimenz's and Randa's spots.  I would definitely release Weber.  Valetine would go back to AAA.  I might bring up Alan Simpson so that we have big time power arm in the pen.  We need to get more variety of pitching in our staff.  Last year we had twelve guys that all basically threw the same speed, with basically the same stuff.  Pitching is timing!  I would then set back and wait for Hudson and Hancock and see what they are going to do.  I would draft college pitchers in the June draft.  I would look to see if there are any takers for Ortiz or Milton by trade deadline.

That's exactly what I would do with the starting lineup.  Griffey must play first to stay on this team.

The only thing I wouldn't do is release Aurillia.  I don't like him, but I'm not calling up Luis Lopez to sit.  He needs to play everyday.  Not that he's a great prospect, but he needs to play.  Aurillia is serviceable as a pinch hitter, platoon guy.  

He's a great prospect?!?!? Maybe like 20 years ago when he broke into the bigs.  I think you mean Felipe Lopez?

I need to check my stats.  I don't know what I was thinking.  

When Hancock and Hudson come back, I put Ortiz and Claussen in the BP, and then go with a four man rotation. Hudson, Wilson, Harang, and Milton will start and work 5-6 inning, and then bring in relievers. Doesn't cost any extra money, disrupts the clubhouse so that they know the status quo isn't going to cut it, and it might just work. I mean, its not like it could get that much worse.