Things I found interesting from yesterday's MLB.com fan chat with Wayne Krivsky:
swattotrot:
11:49am homer bailey continues to hyped up by the media, with our weakness in the rotation is it a possiblity for him to see some time in the major leagues this septcinguest:
11:51am Krivsky: It would not be out of the question. However, I am not one who likes to rush young pitching to the major leagues. Realistically, he will start the season most likely in Sarasota. His performance will dictate whether we move him up during the season. The important thing for Homer to continue to develop and build arm strength and stamina.
That's surprising to me, but I'm glad to hear it. There's no need to rush the guy. The most important thing with Bailey is health, and quickly advancing him isn't the way to go about keeping him sound.
Ron_Diersing:
11:37am Mr Krivsky, thanks for taking the time for this chat. My question would be what is your draft philosophy? Do you the Reds taking more college pitchers that have gotten a bit more past the injury nexus?cinguest:
11:38am Krivsky: My draft philosophy is to take the best available player, regardless of high school, college, position player or pitcher. i will leave the final decision to chris buckley and his staff. I certainly plan to sit in on all of our meetings and ask plenty of questions and do a lot of listening....cinguest:
11:39am Krivsky: Chris is very experienced and comes from a strong scouting background with the blue jays. I'm very pleased to have him on board and I'm confident we will have productive drafts in the near future.
It's always tough to tell how much comments like this are just lip service, but I certainly hope Krivsky will take an active interest in the draft. I'd also prefer a coherent philosophy to "best player available". You're not comparing apples with apples when it comes to amateur players because you're comparing 22 year olds to 18 year olds.
As long as we can avoid a high school arm in the first round I'll be happy. Obviously Krivsky isn't going to come out and say something that blatant, but I hope he's thinking it.
walter_wiseman:
11:55am I am curious about the signing of so many over 35 veteran players. Is this part of your philosophy or just the best available players this year?cinguest:
11:56am Krivsky: My philosophy is one where there is always room for quality veteran type leadership. I know Jerry shares the same idea, particularly as it pertains to his bench. Younger players have a difficult transition coming off the bench when they are used to playing everyday in the minors. In many cases, it is better for that younger player to play every day in AAA to get his neccesary work and development time.
I actually agree with this when it comes to position players, but I can't say the same for pitchers. I'd like to see more youngsters in the bullpen.
And that was about it when it comes to interesting nuggets of info. The rest was a lot of fluff, which tends to be par for the course with these online chats. Nice to see Krivsky make himself accessible though.