The Official 2022 Cincinnati Reds Thread

I see some info came out on all star voting today...so who's going to be the Reds representative? I can't imagine they'll have two. Some candidates...

Brandon Drury - leads the team in home runs, hits, home runs, slugging and OPS.
Tyler Stephenson - being a catcher may help, not sure what other NL catchers are having great seasons. Stephenson his hitting over .300, 2nd in RBI, leads the team in slugging and OBP.
Kyle Farmer - unlikely, but he's had a pretty good season.
Alexis Diaz - up until his last outing, he was having a GREAT season. However, only 25 innings.

At this point I'd have to say Brandon Drury would be my pick.
 
I see some info came out on all star voting today...so who's going to be the Reds representative? I can't imagine they'll have two. Some candidates...

Brandon Drury - leads the team in home runs, hits, home runs, slugging and OPS.
Tyler Stephenson - being a catcher may help, not sure what other NL catchers are having great seasons. Stephenson his hitting over .300, 2nd in RBI, leads the team in slugging and OBP.
Kyle Farmer - unlikely, but he's had a pretty good season.
Alexis Diaz - up until his last outing, he was having a GREAT season. However, only 25 innings.

At this point I'd have to say Brandon Drury would be my pick.
It’s definitely going to be Stephenson. He and Willson Contreras are clearly the top two NL catchers.

Drury has no shot being slotted in at 3B on the ballot, meaning he’s behind Machado, Arenado and Riley.

Farmer is unlikely, since Trea Turner and Francisco Lindor would pretty clearly be ahead of him. And I think Dansby Swanson would get the nod over Farmer if they take a 3rd shortstop … to the champs go the spoils.

Alexis Diaz would probably only get a nod if Stephenson gets hurt. The Reds definitely feel like a one-All-Star team due to their poor record and injuries to guys who maybe could have been candidates (India in particular).

It’s true, it’s true. Trust me …
 
It’s definitely going to be Stephenson. He and Willson Contreras are clearly the top two NL catchers.

Drury has no shot being slotted in at 3B on the ballot, meaning he’s behind Machado, Arenado and Riley.

Farmer is unlikely, since Trea Turner and Francisco Lindor would pretty clearly be ahead of him. And I think Dansby Swanson would get the nod over Farmer if they take a 3rd shortstop … to the champs go the spoils.

Alexis Diaz would probably only get a nod if Stephenson gets hurt. The Reds definitely feel like a one-All-Star team due to their poor record and injuries to guys who maybe could have been candidates (India in particular).

It’s true, it’s true. Trust me …
I would agree it is most likely Stephenson, and good for him.

Don't disregard the sentimental choice also. In the last 3 weeks since Votto came back (57 ABs), he is hitting .298 with .420 OBP, 5 HR, and OPS near 1.200 (which is 3rd in the entire MLB). If he keeps that up in June, he may get tagged as a reserve by the coaching staff for one last hurrah at the AS game...
 
It’s definitely going to be Stephenson. He and Willson Contreras are clearly the top two NL catchers.

Drury has no shot being slotted in at 3B on the ballot, meaning he’s behind Machado, Arenado and Riley.

Farmer is unlikely, since Trea Turner and Francisco Lindor would pretty clearly be ahead of him. And I think Dansby Swanson would get the nod over Farmer if they take a 3rd shortstop … to the champs go the spoils.

Alexis Diaz would probably only get a nod if Stephenson gets hurt. The Reds definitely feel like a one-All-Star team due to their poor record and injuries to guys who maybe could have been candidates (India in particular).

It’s true, it’s true. Trust me …
I'd bet a pile of money that the Reds only get one all star.
 
I've not said much this season about David Bell's lineups, until last night. I'm sure sitting Tyler Stephenson was planned, but when Senzel and Drury were scratched I would had put Stephenson in, at least as a DH. Our lineup last night had in the 8, 9 and 1 spots Aquino, Garcia and Fridel. Not quite automatic outs, but close. Now Fridel is making me look silly, but I really don't understand how he's up again and then you put him in the leadoff spot?? Now today he's 2/2 with a run scored, but he's not much of an offensive weapon. We bemoaned the fact that Billy Hamilton led off all those years and Brian Price got ripped for it, and Bell does the same.

Oh and a surprise to no one, Nick Senzel is hurt again. Back issue.
 
I'm not even mad. I mean Tony Santillan isn't a closer. We try and try to just fit guys into the closers role. The Dbacks are terrible, and they have Ian Kennedy as their closer. All I heard from Reds fans when we had Chapman and Iglesias is why spend money on a closer when you aren't good. Because, you HAVE to win the games when you are leading at the end!!!! Absolute gut punch today. The difference between a 2-2 series, some momentum going to St. Louis. Now you have an awful loss. Stephenson is injured and who knows how badly.
 
Stephenson out at least 4-6 weeks with a fractured thumb on his throwing hand. If you’re looking at him being a piece of the offense in the future they need to find him a new position. The problem is there’s a huge drop off in production behind him at the Catcher position
 
Stephenson out at least 4-6 weeks with a fractured thumb on his throwing hand. If you’re looking at him being a piece of the offense in the future they need to find him a new position. The problem is there’s a huge drop off in production behind him at the Catcher position
Absolutely. I’ve been beating the drum for Stephenson to move to 1B and DH to platoon those spots with Votto. Stephenson is a long-term center-of-the-lineup guy, and Krall and Bell are getting his hind end beat up behind the plate in a lost season. I don’t care that Stephenson likes to catch or that a good offensive catcher is a leg up at that position. Keep a prime asset healthy for the future so he can continue to develop into an elite hitter!

The Reds can find any veteran catcher off the scrap heap to platoon at catcher with Garcia for the rest of 2022. It should’ve been done already. Now it definitely needs to be done. I don’t care if the catcher can’t hit the broad side of a Moustakas.

Going 3-5 on the homestand vs two of the worst teams in the NL is yet more evidence that this team is atrocious and the results for the rest of the season don’t matter in the slightest. Only the development of a few particular guys and the tradeability of a few certain guys matter at this point.

It’s true, it’s true. Trust me …
 
I'm not even mad. I mean Tony Santillan isn't a closer. We try and try to just fit guys into the closers role. The Dbacks are terrible, and they have Ian Kennedy as their closer. All I heard from Reds fans when we had Chapman and Iglesias is why spend money on a closer when you aren't good. Because, you HAVE to win the games when you are leading at the end!!!! Absolute gut punch today. The difference between a 2-2 series, some momentum going to St. Louis. Now you have an awful loss. Stephenson is injured and who knows how badly.
I have explained this before.

The facts:
- The Reds have limited resources for player salaries, need to spend wisely
- The Reds projected to be .500 at very best this year, and probably 10 games under
- High-end closers like Chapman and Iglesias cost over $10M per year
- High-end closers like Chapman and Iglesias save about 93% of their opportunities (50 save chances yield 46 saves)
- Average closers save about 84% of their opportunities (50 save chances yield 42 saves)

You want to spend $10M+ for a great closer to get 4 extra wins, when the team is projected to win maybe 75 games? I know it hurts your feelings when games get blown like that, but it just isn't worth it.

Even a dipsh__t like Krall can see this. So he spends the $10M on Minor instead. Genius.
 
I’m very interested to see how the shortstop position shakes out over the next 2 to 3 seasons. The Reds’ most ballyhooed position player prospects (Barrero, McLain, De La Cruz) all play SS. Time to start figuring out who’s actually going to be the shortstop of the future and who needs to be given reps at a different position.

I guess I wouldn’t be opposed to giving Barrero a full run at SS for the rest of this season to see how it goes.

I’ve seen on Twitter from a couple of people that the Reds should move Farmer to catcher in the wake of Tyler’s injury. Although I’d be shocked if they did that, I’ve heard worse ideas before.

It’s true, it’s true. Trust me …
 
I have explained this before.

The facts:
- The Reds have limited resources for player salaries, need to spend wisely
- The Reds projected to be .500 at very best this year, and probably 10 games under
- High-end closers like Chapman and Iglesias cost over $10M per year
- High-end closers like Chapman and Iglesias save about 93% of their opportunities (50 save chances yield 46 saves)
- Average closers save about 84% of their opportunities (50 save chances yield 42 saves)

You want to spend $10M+ for a great closer to get 4 extra wins, when the team is projected to win maybe 75 games? I know it hurts your feelings when games get blown like that, but it just isn't worth it.

Even a dipsh__t like Krall can see this. So he spends the $10M on Minor instead. Genius.
I don't really understand your math. To me, an high end closer is worth it. I want to win the games we are in control of late. We currently have one guy in our bullpen who's even close to being a closer, and that's Diaz. But Bell likes to use him in "high leverage" situations. Seems like to him this means starting the 7th inning. Not sure why that's high leverage unless you're in the middle or top of the opponents lineup.

Anyway, yes, it stings. I'd much rather spent $10 mill on a high end closer than Minor.
 
Good performance by Castillo tonight; dreadful performance by the offense and defense. I’m half joking, but I almost wonder if playing in front of a packed house of 45,000 fans after mostly playing in an empty stadium this year caused some early jitters with the two crucial errors.

It’s true, it’s true. Trust me …
 
I don't really understand your math. To me, an high end closer is worth it. I want to win the games we are in control of late. We currently have one guy in our bullpen who's even close to being a closer, and that's Diaz. But Bell likes to use him in "high leverage" situations. Seems like to him this means starting the 7th inning. Not sure why that's high leverage unless you're in the middle or top of the opponents lineup.

Anyway, yes, it stings. I'd much rather spent $10 mill on a high end closer than Minor.
The math simply says that a great closer will win you 4-5 more games each year than an average closer. To a team like the Reds, the $10M needs to be spent on a player that can make a bigger difference.
 
The math simply says that a great closer will win you 4-5 more games each year than an average closer. To a team like the Reds, the $10M needs to be spent on a player that can make a bigger difference.

Or not spent and saved for the next window when multiple prospects pan out in the same year.
 
Seven years later and ownerships refusal to trade players based on the team hosting the ASG still haunts the Reds front office decisions.
 
The math simply says that a great closer will win you 4-5 more games each year than an average closer. To a team like the Reds, the $10M needs to be spent on a player that can make a bigger difference.
So just in the last week, the high end closer probably wins us 2 games. How's that math working now?
 
Oh so close. The Reds go 1-2 in St. Louis, yet they were a whisker from taking 2/3 and if they could score at all, could have easily swept this series. I have little belief that the Cardinals are alot better than us, they just play better and more consistently. The "Cardinal" way as we've always seen.

And how in the heck do they always seem to bring guys up who contribute?? A few years ago it was Harrison Bader, then Tyler O'Neill, Tommy Edmund, last year Dylan Carlson. Now they bring up Nolan Gorman and Brendan Donovan. They just mass produce these fundamentally sound, solid baseball players. Not necessarily all stars, but just solid players. Then they go get a couple of stars like Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arrenado.
 
So just in the last week, the high end closer probably wins us 2 games. How's that math working now?
I get your point, share your pain, and yeah, the Reds bullpen is garbage. But spending $10M+ to be 23-37 instead of 21-39 isn't the answer.

The math is correct if we had an "MLB average" closer. With Sims the Reds might. When you have guys like Warren, Santillan and Kuhnel blowing saves, you are well below MLB average.
 
So just in the last week, the high end closer probably wins us 2 games. How's that math working now?
An “average closer” doesn’t blow 50% of his save opportunities like Art Warren does. As long as Bell is managing, no point in spending on a closer.
 
An “average closer” doesn’t blow 50% of his save opportunities like Art Warren does. As long as Bell is managing, no point in spending on a closer.
I am not a David Bell fan, but I can't even dump on him with the Reds bullpen. He's literally shooting at moving targets with our bullpen guys. We'll have a guy have one or two good outings then blow up. Even Diaz has had his moments.
Mo Egger talked about the Reds bullpen on Sportstalk last night and the Reds, since 2009, has had no better than the 14th best bullpen in baseball, and most of the time it's been 25th on down. Currently, the Reds are spending about 7% of their payroll on the bullpen. And in today's baseball with the lack of emphasis on starters going more than 5-6 innings the bullpen is more critical than ever. Who spends the most on their bullpen? The Houston Astros at about 16%. No coincidentally, the Astros have been pretty good.
The Reds philosophy, other than Rasiel Iglesias who they paid some, is just find guys who throw hard or have been journeymen pitchers. The thought is that many starters can't go through the batting order multiple times, so they can be somewhat effective relievers. Well...that's really hasn't worked all that well.
 
Reds went late into the night last night, grabbing a 5-4 decision over the Arizona Diamondbacks. Some guy named Merrill Kelly, who absolutely locked us up a week ago, was cruising along until Brandon Drury tagged him for a 3 run homer in the 5th and put the Reds back into it.

Ironically, Mike Moustakas got the big hit last night, blooping a run scoring single in the sixth to break the tie. The much railed against Reds bullpen went 2 2/3 of 2 hit, 0 run baseball the rest of the way to finish the game. Mike Minor didn't pitch great, but good enough and Santillan, Sanmartin, Warren and Strickland closed out the deal.
Good news, Jonathan India is back and should be in the lineup.
 
I started seeing some chatter on Twitter from Reds fans thinking the Reds should hold onto Brandon Drury and re-sign him. I think that would be a mistake. They need to trade him soon and get whatever they can for him. He’s 29 years old and a free agent at season’s end. He’s probably already at the peak of what he’s going to be able to give the team. Plus he shouldn’t be taking away playing time from the future: India, Barrero, and McLain and De La Cruz in the future. Why pay a premium for a guy with a patchy history of results who likely projects to be a utility guy in his 30s by the time you’re ready to compete?

It’s true, it’s true. Trust me …
 
I started seeing some chatter on Twitter from Reds fans thinking the Reds should hold onto Brandon Drury and re-sign him. I think that would be a mistake. They need to trade him soon and get whatever they can for him. He’s 29 years old and a free agent at season’s end. He’s probably already at the peak of what he’s going to be able to give the team. Plus he shouldn’t be taking away playing time from the future: India, Barrero, and McLain and De La Cruz in the future. Why pay a premium for a guy with a patchy history of results who likely projects to be a utility guy in his 30s by the time you’re ready to compete?

It’s true, it’s true. Trust me …
I'll answer in the most certain of terms...it depends. Now I'm not signing Drury to a 5-6 year deal worth 80 million. In 2019 with Toronto, he made 1.9 mill, in 2020, $2 million. I don't think he's going to be looking for a gigantic deal. I'd offer him a one year deal at $3-4 mill with a club option for a second year. If he continues to perform, then you can make him that utility guy in his 30's when it's time to win.
The Reds did this several years ago with Adam Duvall, execept he never made more than $645,000 with the Reds. He mad his big money with the Braves.
 
A little rocky last night, but the Reds were able to scratch out a win in Arizona, going for the sweep today. Tyler Mahle may have had his finest start as a Red. 9 innings, 3 hits, 12 k and ZERO walks. Big BIG moment for him, 119 pitches over 9 innings. As we know Mahle is typically a guy who gets the hook after 5-6 innings due to high pitch counts. With that said, the offense was dud last night. 9 innings 0 runs. We did score 5 in extra innings with the fake runner at 2nd base to start the inning.
Hunter Greene got the NL player of the week last week, could Mahle get it this week with another good start? Not sure when the cut off is, but in Mahle's last two starts, 15 IP, 7 hits, 1 run, 2 walks and 22 K's.
 
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