Red Reposter – Yet another frozen railroad spike driven directly into Wick’s heart

Robert Nightengale the Elder reports that the Padres and Rays have consummated a deal exchanging outfielders Tommy Pham and Hunter Renfroe (and some other players). Pham has been a Red Reporter favorite since his breakout with the Whiny Little Bitching Cardinals back in 2017, mostly due to his well-rounded skills and consistent output (that particular brand of sexiness plays well at the RRHQ offices). He woulda done quite a bit to goose the Reds’ lineup in 2020 had such things come to pass, but alack a duck and fuck my luck.

Donnie Ecker is moving on. He has been with the Reds for just two years, serving the last as the organizational director of hitting. He’ll now work as the big-league hitting coach for the San Francisco Giants under new manager Gabe Kapler. Considering how the Reds hit last season under the guidance of him and erstwhile hitting coach Turner Ward, maybe I’m okay with it? That’s probably incredibly reductive and obtuse of me to say, but I have to get this imminently important Reposter in under a tight deadline and I have to have something to say about Ecker here. I mean, what would a blog be without reductive and obtuse opinions?

Anyway, best of luck to Mr Ecker. The Giants were the worst hitting team in North America last year so dude has his work cut out for him.

The Reds showed a bit of interest in Howie Kendrick a while ago, but that was before they signed Mike Moustakas. Kendrick is heading back to the Nationals anyway, according to all the smart brains on twitter. Yesterday the Nationals said they just didn’t have the money to pay both Stephen Strasburg and Anthony Rendon, which is some of the most industrial strength not-from-concentrate animal shit I’ve heard in a long time. The organization has increased its value by something like $1.5 billion in the last few decades and that goes for pretty much every other Major League Baseball organization as well, including your favorite Reds.

I guess we can take heart in what Dick Williams said yesterday at the official press conference announcing the Mike Moustakas deal: “This deal, we can do (more) deals this big if we find the right fit that we’ve gotta have.”

Speaking of the generally sleaziness of MLB and the owners, Bill Shaikin at the LA Times spoke with Bernie Sanders regarding the proposal from MLB to contract dozens of minor league affiliates. I highly recommend clicking through and reading the whole thing for yourself.