Cincinnati Reds links - Dayton Dragons season ends, what to do with Scooter Gennett

The Dayton Dragons saw their season come to an end on Monday night, as a 3-0 loss to the Fort Wayne TinCaps booted them from the Midwest League playoffs. Dayton pitching was tagged with all three runs in the first two innings before settling in admirably, but the offense simply couldn’t scrape their way back into the game, and the Dragons fell in the Eastern Division Championship Series.

Jose Siri singled for one of the three Dayton hits on the night, because Jose Siri is a base hit machine. Taylor Trammell coaxed a walk, because Taylor Trammell coaxes walks with the best of them. It’s those characteristics that landed both toolsy OFs on Baseball America’s Class A All Star Team, as was announced earlier today. Considering Siri’s record hit streak and 20/40 season, he was a lock to make the squad, but it was nice to see the solid all-around year from Trammell get rewarded, too.

BA released their All Star teams for each MiLB level over the last two days, and only one other Cincinnati farmhand made the list: Tyler Mahle, who cracked the AA list for his excellent work with the Pensacola Blue Wahoos. You’d think that Nick Senzel would’ve made the list for either A+ or AA given that he made the 1st team of BA’s overall MiLB All Star squad, but for some reason (read: dap must be given to any and all Boston Red Sox prospects), that apparently wasn’t the case.

In related news, The Enquirer’s C. Trent Rosecrans compiled an Reds-centric prospect All Star team in this morning’s BAR, and it’s tough to argue with any of his selections.

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Finally, a pair of articles published today look at Cincinnati 2B Scooter Gennett and the breakout season that he’s enjoyed in 2017.

The Enquirer’s Zach Buchanan spoke with Scooter about the evolution he’s seen in his game this particular year, specifically whether there were concrete changes made to reach this new level of production or whether it’s just a break-out product of years of tough work. To his credit, Scooter thinks it’s more of the latter, with finally a healthy year of being in his prime letting everything come together as a better, more experienced player than he was in his time with the Milwaukee Brewers. More important to this particular dichotomous exercise, though, is that the tone of Buchanan’s article seems to cast Scooter as not just Cincinnati’s 2B for now, but Cincinnati’s 2B going forward.

That’s a different tone than the one taken by friend of the blog Chad Dotson in his look at Scooter for Cincinnati Magazine. Citing the burgeoning depth of infield prospects the Reds’ system currently boasts as well as the versatility that comes with those guys, Dotson advocates shopping Scooter on the trade market this winter - ideally with an eye towards augmenting the club’s starting pitching. It’s an idea rooted in firm logic, of course: buy low, sell high. It’s also one that’s hard to really disagree with, provided that the potential return is up to snuff.

To opine a bit, the Scooter scenario isn’t terribly different than one the Reds were faced with a decade ago. I’m not trying to compare Scooter one-for-one with Josh Hamilton, to be sure - rather, I’m simply trying to compare the scenarios in which they were acquired. Hamilton, of course, was a former #1 overall draft pick and physical phenomenon whose drug habits booted him from baseball altogether, and the Reds were fortunate enough to end up with him through some Rule 5 Draft rigmarole, and while he flashed brilliance in his 2007, the Reds cashed in on their newfound asset to land Edinson Volquez.

In other words, they turned ‘found money’ into what they needed most at the time: a frontline starting pitching talent. And they did so because their OF depth included Adam Dunn, Jay Bruce, and Ken Griffey, Jr. at the time.

With Scooter, it’s a similar situation. They landed him for nothing more than a waiver claim, and they’ve benefited mightily from his surge this season. However, they’ve got a pile of infield depth and a need for big-time starting pitching talent, and if the chance to trade him from their depth to land a talent akin to what Volquez represented a decade ago presents itself, I think that’s absolutely an avenue worth exploring.

(Of course, you could make a parallel claim about Adam Duvall at the moment, too, though that’s an idea we’ll get to after the season winds down.)