First Spring Training Game Interview

Click the link below to hear my interview about the first spring training game.

http://www.box.net/shared/610dm494p9

Winning or losing season?

There are so many people out there are wondering what is going to happen this year. Will the younger players step up and be the backbone for the team? will they fall and not produce and be even wrose then last year? There are so many different things to consider when talking about a winning or losing season. With the few new additions that we have made taking author rhodes for one. Hes getting old and he will add veteran leadership to this team along with weathers. To be honest i think we have one of the best pitching staffs in baseball. Not comparapabe to the yankees who have a pitching staff that should never loss a game. It certina players can step up just a little bit and votto and volquez have aroudn the same year they did last year i think the reds will be a +500 team. The big question is who is going to fulfill the role in left feild. I honestly think harriston has wraped that position up. With the amout of experience that he has had in the majors i think he has proved to us that he can produce runs. He did a excellant job batting leadoff but think about him around 7 in the linup. He would be able to drive in the middle of the linup. He didnt ahve many rbis last year because of his injury and batting leadoff but he could be a big positive to this team. But then again dickerson showed big potentioal to be a big star in the outfield. With all of this being said i would say we end the season with just a little bit better then a .500 record. Which would still be a improvement from the past 10 years.

First Spring Training game

I got a chance to watch the first spring trainging game for the reds. Of course my man joey votto was the first person to get a hit. Duhh because hes the best. Phillips and bruce then continuted with singles. One of the interesting things that hit me was when Jerry harriston hit a grand slam. I was very supried because he does not have that much power. He is proving himself that he has the potential to start in the left field position. Volquez started and looked very strong. He only allwed 2 hits and a walk in 3 innings. Cueto followed volquez with 3 more scorless innings. These are two pitches that i think are going to run this team this year. Of course Homer Bailey looked good even though i hate him. He always seems to do good when it doesnt count. He tears it up i nthe minors but when he gets into the pros shit hits the fan and he gives up 10 runs a game. I dont know how many chances they are going to give him but i would have allready canned his ass 2 years ago. The next game for the reds will be against the twins. Im going to try to tune in.

Trades/Free Agents

I think by the end of this spring training we will have a True power right handed hitting left fielder. One way or another Baker will realize that the offense is not going to produce as many runs as last year without the big batts inthe linup. It just donesnt make sense to me why you would havea linup without barley any power in a HOMERUN ball park. I can see this being the case possible in boston but why would you want non homerun hitters in a frekin homerun ballpark it just doesnt make any sense. I thought Jockety was all into homerun hitters. He was with the cardinals why not stay the same. I just think its going to be another bullshit season and wer going to trade all out good pitchers away for hitters. When you have such a good pitching staff such as the one we have now, i dont see why you couldnt go over the budget a little bit and please what everyone has been wanting not for about 10 years. a WINNING team. you would be able to increase revenue because even though the reds suck they still have a great amount of fans that still comet o the games. Even some games sell out. Yes this is true they sell out. Think about the revenue they would bring in if we actually had a winning team. More people would join the "bandwagon". I just Jockety is taking the wrong rout. It might me a slow process in his mind but look at the Rays. They went from the worst team to oneof the leagus best. The reds should clearly make trades before the start of the season or i will guarantee you we are going to see a repaeat of the 2008 season. SUCKY

Phillips Batting 4th?

Dusty Baker said that Brandon Phillips will hit fourth at least at the start of the year.“The way the lineup is right now, yeah,” Baker said. Phillips' numbers were down last year from 2007. He hit .288 with 30 home runs and 94 RBI in '07. Last year, he hit .261 with 21 homers and 78.“in my opinion Brandon will have a good year," Baker said. In baseball sometimes You struggle, sometimes a little bit in third or fourth year. Brandon will readjust. Sometimes they wouldn’t throw Brandon a lot of strikes. Sometimes when you’re in the middle of it, you can’t see it. I think brandon will take some time away and you step back and see things.This ticks me off. Phillips hitting cleanup vs LHP. Fine. Against RHP? Absolutely not. This offense is already going to have some problems scoring runs and it doesn't help matters that our manager can't fill out a decent lineup. Phillips need to either hit second where he'll maybe stop swinging for the fences, or sixth. Brandon Phillips is not a cleanup hitter and it's a shame Dusty Baker doesn't realize this. I see Edwin taking on the clean up role shortly after the season starts. I dont Baker doesnt want to pressure him or put him back in the swing for the fences mindset. But I can see him settling there soon enough. I belive it Would be great to move Brandon down to 2 hole. Still use his speed on the bases for Votto and Bruce.

Spring Training

With so many people blogging now I figured it would be a good idea to start a thread just for Spring Training updates. Mid 70s with a nice breeze, you couldn't ask for a more pleasant day to start Spring Training on Saturday. The 29 pitchers and seven of the eight catchers hit the field after morning physicals on the report day. It was basic stuff, pitchers doing PFP drills (fielding practice), bunting drills and bullpen sessions. Aaron Harang, Edinson Volquez, Johnny Cueto and Homer Bailey were among those that threw in the pen. Some of the observations from day one:Cueto looked in better shape than last year. He looked to be throwing pretty well too. His catcher, Ramon Hernandez was praising the Volquez after several of the throws. As for Arroyo: I feel like He will throw 200 innings and hopefully win 15 games. The Pitchers threw of a mound for 10 minutes Saturday and after Homer Bailey’s first eight minutes catcher Ramon Hernandez turned to a catcher next to him and said, “Does this guy every throw balls out of the strike zone. So far every pitch has been a strike.” Even though many people talk so highly of Homer Baily I dont like him as a player. He has had several opportunites to prove that he is a professional pitcher and he has not proven anything to me. With so many young pitchers out there i think he should be the least of our worries.

micah ownings?

Micah Might he be the best option for LF (from an offensive standpoint) if he wasn't competing for the 5th spot in the rotation?Where should he bat in the lineup on the days he pitches? I realize the Reds will bat him 9th and I'm Ok with that.What I am not Ok with is the likely answer to:Will Dusty ask him to bunt when runners are on base? Owings is by far the most interesting player this year. Can he pitch well enough to be a starter? Just how good of a hitter could he be?Owings is a better hitter as a pitcher than he would be as an every day player. If he plays every day, his bat will disappoint a lot of people. Bank on Owings batting 9th. Dusty won't want to bruise any feelings of his regulars so he wouldn't dare bat a position player 9th.Will Dusty ask him to bunt with runners on? Depends on the situation. Less than 2 outs, I would think he's laying down a bunt. Some ppl think He is waaaaaay more valuable to this organization as a pitcher, especially given what he's done in the minors. Left fielders are a dime a dozen so long as you got the money and there's plenty of other options coming down the pipe. Pitchers are hard to find.

pitching

I know pitching & defense are linked but I want to limit this discussion to the Reds pitching. I think it will be a lot better in 2009.Volquez: Most seem to think he will slip. Why I am not sure. I am going to pencil him in for a repeat of 2008. If he does 2/3 of what he did last year it will be a productive year for him. One year stronger & wiser.He may not increase his IP due to his pitching in the WBC this spring. Bullpen: I am going to pencil in a slight improvement. Cordero is healthier. Burton is healthy. Bray is a year older. Lincoln is one more year out from his last surgery. I'll say 5 ER less.Overall estimate: 118 less earned runs!As always with pitching: the sky's the limit. You can never have too much and there's no end to how good it can make a squad. think Cueto will improve a bit and Arroyo to be much as he's been in the past.Harang is a big ? to me right now because of his health. Lets assume the 5th starter can put up an ERA of 4.50 .(I think this is possible with the quality of 5th starter candidates we have).With the above math that means 50 less runs given up by the Reds in 2009.This number is big because in 2008 our 5th starters were just awful.

The Trio

In Joey Votto, Brandon Phillips and Jay Bruce, the average age of the middle portion of Cincinnati's lineup is just 24 years old. With thirty-somethings Ken Griffey Jr. and Adam Dunn gone, the keys to the Reds offense is in the trio's hands. Cincinnati will need all the help scoring runs it can muster. Last season, the club ranked 12th in the National League in runs scored. Cincinnati's .240 team average with runners in scoring position ranked at the league's bottom.Reds fans grew used to a steady diet of veteran hitters and stars like Barry Larkin, Sean Casey, Dunn and Griffey over the past several years. Starting with the short-lived regimes of former general managers Dan O'Brien and Wayne Krivsky, the organization revamped its farm system and focused on bringing the Reds towards a more promising future to stem years of losing.