Cincinnati Reds links - News from around the league

It was a pretty good night of baseball last night, if you’re not a fan of the St. Louis Cardinals or New York Yankees (which, obviously, you should not be and if you are, you should feel bad anyway).

In the first game of the night, Gerrit Cole struggled just about as much as one could reasonably expect Gerrit Cole to struggle at this point. All he did was allow no runs through seven innings, but he did walk five. So you know, “wild”. Here’s the Crawfish Boxes take on things. And, if you’re interested, Pinstripe Alley had thoughts.

In the night cap, the St. Louis Cardinals continued to get their whole ass handed to them, which, you just hate to see it. The Nationals went on a hit parade in the bottom of the first and before the Cardinals got a second chance, the Nationals owned a seven to nothing lead.

The Cardinals would threaten but after it was all said and done, St. Louis was swept all the way out of the League Championship Series.

It’s a shame.

For the first time in team history, the Nationals are headed to the World Series. As you might expect, our friends at Federal Baseball are digging it.

For your schadenfreude pleasure...

Not a lot going on for our Cincinnati Reds right now as everyone sits around and watches the postseason (and waits for the offseason to officially begin). Yahoo Sports has a little recap of the Reds season, which isn’t particularly insightful if you read this here website regularly. Still, it’s interesting to see what people who don’t watch the Reds everyday have to say.

On Monday, Sonny Gray was announced as a finalist for the National League Comeback Player of the Year award. Gray will have to beat out Hyun-Jin Ryu and Josh Donaldson to win the honor for 2019, and all three are pretty solid choices. Gray and Ryu will almost certainly garner Cy Young votes, while Josh Donaldson bounced back from an injury plagued 2018 to help guide the Atlanta Braves to an NL East title.

Jorge Soler, Hunter Pence, and Lucas Giolito will vie for the award in the American League.

Late last week, the Phillies fired manager Gabe Kapler. Today, former Reds manager Dusty Baker will interview for the opening. Baker, you might remember, coached the Reds for six seasons and three playoff appearances, ending with a one-game Wild Card round loss to the Pirates in 2013. His latest job came with the Washington Nationals, where he managed that team for two seasons, both of which ended in NDLS losses. Baker, 70, has been out of the managerial seat every since.

For Philadelphia, it’s somewhat of an interesting move. Along with Baker, the Phillies are bringing in Joe Girardi and Buck Showalter for interviews. While all three have enjoyed great success in their long careers, all harken back to a more “conventional” choice for the team after trying two seasons with Kapler, regarded as an “analytical” manager.

There’s probably a little too much to be made of all that, and managers are certainly allowed to evolve overtime. Still, it seems obvious that the Phillies are looking for a certain “type” of manager with this search, just two years after trying something outside the box with their hiring of Kapler.

For Baker, if he’s hired, he’ll be reunited with Bryce Harper, which is kinda neat.