Red Reposter - Injuries, bullpens, and Donald Lutz

Injury update
Johnny Cueto will be reevaluated today. His strained lat seems fine, but the sore oblique is what done kept him out of his rehab assignment. While the team has been on the road trip, Cueto has been in Cincy getting regular treatment. Dusty describes the injury as "soreness, not pain," so I'm going to go ahead and take that as a good sign. I guess. Hopefully we'll know more this afternoon.

The Redlegs rolled the Cubs over the weekend, sweeping the series at Wrigley
The big news to follow though is the aftermath of the collision between Brandon Phillips and Shin-Soo Choo (check out the video in the link). Choo took the ball in the gob, but it was BP who later came out of the game because he couldn't see. I've watched the video a few times, but I cannot understand how Phillips could have hurt his head. Maybe he was sick or had low blood sugar or something and his exit was unrelated to the collision. Anyway, it really doesn't sound like a big deal, as BP says we shouldn't worry about him and he'll be playing this evening. This is weird, though.

Jon Paul Morosi has a fantastic profile of Herr Lutz
It is well-worth the read, so I strongly encourage you to click through. Most interesting to me is that Lutz originally played hockey. Jesus Christ, the big fella would make a frightening defenseman.

Also, congratulations to Lutz for his first big-league hit and RBI. Zum wohl!

David Schoenfield gets all boilerplate about Dusty and the bullpen
Schoenfield urges Dusty to be less rigid in his usage of Aroldis Chapman. It was promising to see Dusty go to J.J. Hoover for two saves this weekend, but it probably does not signal a trend.

"I know I pick on Baker a lot, and he's really only one of 30 managers who uses his pen this way. But he's a high-profile manager on a team with World Series aspirations with a unique weapon at his disposal in Chapman. The lefty flamethrower is on pace to pitch 78 innings, many of which will be wasted with three-run leads, and few of which will come to escape tough jams."

I certainly don't disagree here, but at this point in Dusty's career, he is who he is. And even more to the point, so is every other manager in the whole dang league. We of the internet have made this argument countless times, but the joke's on us. They don't even read the internet.

Here's a curious piece from Yahoo!'s FanPosts
Robb Hoff of the Yahoo! contributor network thinks the Reds are a good fit for Giancarlo Stanton. I mean, no duh. Stanton would fit well anywhere. But Hoff makes the case that the Reds have the need and the prospects to make this deal happen.

Here's the problem though: Hoff writes this entire thing without once mentioning the name Billy Hamilton. If the Marlins are to listen to the Reds on a potential deal (at this point, they don't seem to be listening to anyone, including reason), then I would imagine the conversation would begin with them saying "Quicks or GTFO."

I think if Stanton is to be traded, the prospect haul will probably look quite a bit like the one the Reds gave up for Latos. That means two top-50 prospects and then some. If you want the Reds to get Stanton, be prepared to give up Hamilton and Robert Stephenson, plus more. Of course, this is all contingent on the Marlins shopping Stanton. It makes sense for them to deal him, but the Marlins stopped making sense long ago. HT/RLN

MLB Trade Rumors is reporting that the Reds have traded for Mat Latos
Here's a solid overview of the big trade and how it has all turning out. Latos has obviously been fantastic for the Reds. Yonder Alonso has played a passable first base for the Padres and Yasmani Grandal has hit well, but he is currently serving a suspension.