The Official 2022 Cincinnati Reds Thread

Hunter Strickland was Krall's big off-season move to improve the bullpen. Solid choice.
Ironically, Strickland has been pretty good as of late, other than the two solo shots in Sunday's game. Over his last 8 outings, he's 7 2/3, 6 hits, 3 runs, 1 walk. He may be our "best of the worst" senario.
 
In the first game of today's DH with the Pirates, the Reds are using their 52nd different player for the season. The team's season record is 57.

We can moan and groan about the season, but if you don't acknowledge that injuries are a big part of the lack of success in '22, then you just don't get it.
 
In the first game of today's DH with the Pirates, the Reds are using their 52nd different player for the season. The team's season record is 57.

We can moan and groan about the season, but if you don't acknowledge that injuries are a big part of the lack of success in '22, then you just don't get it.
I believe I read that the Pirates had used their 54th player during the Yankee series.
 
In the first game of today's DH with the Pirates, the Reds are using their 52nd different player for the season. The team's season record is 57.

We can moan and groan about the season, but if you don't acknowledge that injuries are a big part of the lack of success in '22, then you just don't get it.
Sure, injuries have contributed. But even at full health, this is easily a bad sub-.500 roster.

It’s true, it’s true. Trust me …
 
I would love to know whether Tyler Mahle is actually injured in any way or if they’re just stowing him away on the IL so he doesn’t have to pitch much anymore before being traded.

I continue to believe Krall needs to get going on making trades ASAP before guys get injured and leave the Reds up a creek. There is no need to wait until the deadline to make trades, and they’ve got several guys who need to be moved, so better to start making deals now. For example, it was on this day (July 7) 14 years ago that C.C. Sabathia was moved to the Brewers, so big trades can (and should!) happen early.

It’s true, it’s true. Trust me …
 
14red is the optimist of all optimists. Have to give him credit he sees a glass 3/4 full. However this club is bad with or without the injuries which as all know are part of every teams equation.
I saw that Vladimir G was sent to the 60 day DL. What is the extent of his injury?
 
14red is the optimist of all optimists. Have to give him credit he sees a glass 3/4 full. However this club is bad with or without the injuries which as all know are part of every teams equation.
I saw that Vladimir G was sent to the 60 day DL. What is the extent of his injury?
Supposedly it was a first-degree UCL strain. I don’t know what the setback is, but anytime a pitcher has any kind of UCL tear, it’s probably just a matter of time until TJ surgery.

It’s true, it’s true. Trust me …
 
I would love to know whether Tyler Mahle is actually injured in any way or if they’re just stowing him away on the IL so he doesn’t have to pitch much anymore before being traded.

I continue to believe Krall needs to get going on making trades ASAP before guys get injured and leave the Reds up a creek. There is no need to wait until the deadline to make trades, and they’ve got several guys who need to be moved, so better to start making deals now. For example, it was on this day (July 7) 14 years ago that C.C. Sabathia was moved to the Brewers, so big trades can (and should!) happen early.

It’s true, it’s true. Trust me …
Not sure getting on the IL helps your trade value.

They have to have someone willing to trade with them. And a lot of times that only happens when there’s a season ending injury. And now that nearly half the league makes the playoffs, there isn’t as my urgency.
 
Ironically, Strickland has been pretty good as of late, other than the two solo shots in Sunday's game. Over his last 8 outings, he's 7 2/3, 6 hits, 3 runs, 1 walk. He may be our "best of the worst" senario.
5.34 ERA, 1.67 WHIP, 2 straight blown saves. Someone needs a better standard for "pretty good".
 
In the first game of today's DH with the Pirates, the Reds are using their 52nd different player for the season. The team's season record is 57.

We can moan and groan about the season, but if you don't acknowledge that injuries are a big part of the lack of success in '22, then you just don't get it.
Absolutely the injuries have been brutal. When you only have a handful of good players, losing them hurts. India, Stephenson, Castillo and Votto all missed significant time. And no other quality players ready to fill in. 100% blame on the front office for constructing a garbage roster for $120M.
 
I believe I read that the Pirates had used their 54th player during the Yankee series.
I'm almost sure the Reds have has the most player games lost this season at well over 1,000. Not that it's an excuse, but certainly contributes.
 
I’m happy for Eugenio Suarez. He seems to be somewhat bouncing back this year from his calamitous 2020-21 Reds seasons. His strikeouts are trending toward a career high, but he’s also trending toward a career high in games played (he’s appeared in 83 of Seattle’s 84 games).

He’s gotten the batting average up to a respectable .240 now, and while the HR total is understandably trending down moving from GABP to Seattle, he has 14 HR, 41 RBI and a 124 OPS+, to go along with 2.1 WAR so far, per Baseball Reference.

Obviously the Reds found a diamond in the rough with Drury, but still happy to see Suarez back to some semblance of normalcy after his career looked to be teetering on the brink. Moreover, Seattle has surged to 42-42, so he will be playing meaningful baseball again in the second half of the season.

It’s true, it’s true. Trust me …
 
Sure, injuries have contributed. But even at full health, this is easily a bad sub-.500 roster.

It’s true, it’s true. Trust me …
Not disagreeing with that. We have mostly a bunch of average baseball players. And adding to that as I watch our defense, in having so many "utility" type players, we are just not great defensively. I know that the "new" baseball calls for guys who can play multiple positions, but when you have 5,6,7 players in the field who don't have a primary position, it shows.
And how about the Pirates in the 7th last night? Was that a comedy of errors? The Reds/ Pirates, this season are pretty evenly matched.
 
I would love to know whether Tyler Mahle is actually injured in any way or if they’re just stowing him away on the IL so he doesn’t have to pitch much anymore before being traded.

I continue to believe Krall needs to get going on making trades ASAP before guys get injured and leave the Reds up a creek. There is no need to wait until the deadline to make trades, and they’ve got several guys who need to be moved, so better to start making deals now. For example, it was on this day (July 7) 14 years ago that C.C. Sabathia was moved to the Brewers, so big trades can (and should!) happen early.

It’s true, it’s true. Trust me …
While that is true, it always takes two to tango. Now that the world knows the Reds are looking to deal Mahle and or Castillo, the asking price is dropping. We'll see if they actually get traded, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

And how baseball is it that you scratch Mahle, use game 2 as a "bullpen" game with our bullpen, they give up 1 run??? As soon as you figure this crazy game out, let me know.
 
Even with a few young prospects trickling into the majors — Ke’Bryan Hayes, Oneil Cruz, Roansy Contreras — the Pirates are still an absolute laughingstock of a franchise. Scoring one run against the Reds in what was essentially a bullpen and call-up game is embarrassing for any major league team. MLB should force owners like Bob Nutting to sell.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the diamond, I couldn’t help but notice last night’s paid attendance was 9,575 — likely with 6K to 7K actually in GABP. So the Castellini regime has found a way to drop attendance below 10K on a summer evening with no threat of rain, when the Reds aren’t bolstered by an opponent who brings any fans of its own.

It’s true, it’s true. Trust me …
 
14red is the optimist of all optimists. Have to give him credit he sees a glass 3/4 full. However this club is bad with or without the injuries which as all know are part of every teams equation.
I saw that Vladimir G was sent to the 60 day DL. What is the extent of his injury?
I certainly am overall optimistic. But I also look around the rest of baseball. We are certainly not alone. I'll have more of a midseason review soon, but we can do a quick summary of this season like this. The starting pitching has been ok, the bullpen awful and the offense awful. Starting pitching and offense aside, we've missed the following in the bullpen this season - TJ Antone, Alexis Diaz, Tony Santillan and Justin Wilson. Now we knew Antone was out for the season before it began. Luis Cessa has been a major disappointment. Other than Jeff Hoffman, most of the bullpen has not been effective at all.
But that said, we can have a great bullpen, but when we score as few runs as we do, it's going to be diffcult. I've stopped paying attention to our starters records because they are irrelevant. I mean for most of those guys, they can only hope that it's tied when they leave the game because we are rarely ahead. Having India and Stephenson out of the lineup for significant stretches this season has been a killer. Expectations were that India and Stephenson would pick up where they left off last season, Votto would continue his resurgence, Farmer would be solid, Senzel would find a way to become what we thought. Needless to say none of these things have happened other than Farmer being solid. Brandon Drury has been quite a find, but other than that, we've been largely disappointing offensively.
 
AEW Champion’s Midseason Report Card

Offense: D-

Brandon Drury has been found money. Tyler Stephenson has been good when healthy. Kyle Farmer has mostly been better than expected.

Other than that, this is mostly a dormant offense. Joey Votto started out in an abysmal fashion, has a brief spurt where he looked like the guy on last summer’s heater, and has been back to looking like a near-retirement player since. Nick Senzel hasn’t put it together. Jonathan India has been bad around his injury stints. At least both are showing signs of possibly getting it together.

After those guys, the lineup is routinely filled by unremarkable vets (Pham, Naquin), the atrocious Mike Moustakas, and a bunch of AAA players and journeymen (Reynolds, Garcia, Aquino, Almora, Fraley, etc.).

The Reds are actually 18th in runs scored, but only 23rd in HR (76) despite playing in GABP and rank a mere 26th in team OPS. Of course, this type of performance was to be expected when you remove far and away the two best hitters from last year’s team (Castellanos and Winker).

Starting pitching: C+

After missing at least a month to start the year, Luis Castillo has mostly been very good. Tyler Mahle still is inconsistent and throws too many pitches, but sometimes looks very good.

Nick Lodolo has missed a ton of time but looks promising. Graham Ashcraft has done well. Hunter Greene gives up way too many home runs and needs a lot of development, but he has had his share of good performances. Connor Overton was a nice surprise in limited action.

Reiver Sanmartin and Vladimir Gutierrez were dreadful as starters early in the year. Mike Minor has predictably been a bad $10M acquisition. Justin Dunn hasn’t seen any major league action this season.

It’s a very mixed bag here, but I’ll lean positive since the important pieces are mostly doing well.

Relief pitching: F-

Everyone of value has missed time. Lucas Sims is out for the year. Justin Wilson and Tejay Antone were known to be out for the year. Alexis Diaz has been the sole bright spot and is expected to return from the IL today. Guys like Kuhnel, Solomon, Strickland, etc. have been abject failures. Alarmingly, so has Luis Cessa, and now he’s hurt, too. This bullpen somehow is even more incompetent than 2021’s woeful pen.

Ownership/Front Office: F

What other grade could possibly be given? The team divested after 2020 and more dramatically after 2021 despite fielding teams that seemed a couple of pieces away from being a real threat. Phil Castellini insulted fans on home opening day and challenged them to find somewhere else to go if they weren’t happy with the direction of the team. The front office panic-bought random vets in response to local media’s fire-sale revolt. Nick Krall claimed this ragtag roster could compete for a playoff spot.

They took an 83-79 team, extended a bad manager in the midst of a stunning 2021 collapse, made no effort to engage with its best free agent, waived a trade-piece starting pitcher for no reason, and made other questionable moves that may or may not pay off years down the road. Despite payroll being only $8M less than last year, they are nearly certain to follow up an 83-79 season with 100+ losses. Attendance has been embarrassing and Reds fans have been overrun and outvoiced in GABP by fanbases of the Dodgers, Braves and Mets so far.

Overall grade: F

This team and perhaps the franchise itself is a giant waste of time and energy for anyone not directly drawing a paycheck from it. It’s also insulting for the few long-term vets like Votto, Castillo and Mahle who are having a year of their career totally wasted on this sinking ship of a franchise. But where else you gonna go?

Broccoli Bob and Pineapple Phil have turned a once-proud franchise into a black eye for the city.

It’s true, it’s true. Trust me …
 
I’m happy for Eugenio Suarez. He seems to be somewhat bouncing back this year from his calamitous 2020-21 Reds seasons. His strikeouts are trending toward a career high, but he’s also trending toward a career high in games played (he’s appeared in 83 of Seattle’s 84 games).

He’s gotten the batting average up to a respectable .240 now, and while the HR total is understandably trending down moving from GABP to Seattle, he has 14 HR, 41 RBI and a 124 OPS+, to go along with 2.1 WAR so far, per Baseball Reference.

Obviously the Reds found a diamond in the rough with Drury, but still happy to see Suarez back to some semblance of normalcy after his career looked to be teetering on the brink. Moreover, Seattle has surged to 42-42, so he will be playing meaningful baseball again in the second half of the season.

It’s true, it’s true. Trust me …
Agreed. Saw on ESPN he had another walk-off HR last night, #15 and 44 RBIs. I told people on here last year he would bounce back - good players don't just forget how to hit. Good for him. Plus it keeps Zeeyore quiet.
 
Walk off Balk win? seems appropriate for this season. Castillo was great again - his value will not get much higher. Extend him now, or trade him now. I vote "Extend".
 
Midseason Report:

Coming off a sweep of the contending Rays and riding a 4 game win streak is great, but we still are what we are. This is a team in a rebuild, giving on the job training to most of the starting rotation. Now I think the one thing that people have to keep in mind is the Reds have the most games lost due to injury for any major league team, it's over 1,000 games now. Basically we've had a lot of guys who shouldn't be major leaguers thrust into roles at the major league level. Like it or not that has to be a factor in the 2022 season. Also, the grades reflect THIS years team, not the guys traded before the season. Castellenos, Suarez and Winker are all gone and have no impact on this team this season. We can debate until the cows come home weather that was a good move or not. I think many just assume those guys were all all star caliber players and they are not. Castellenos was great last year, but that's kind of proven to be an anomaly looking at his entire career.

Offense - D
Again, injuries included, I really felt this team would be able to score runs. India has had little impact in 2022 and Stephenson has been good, but has missed quite a bit of time. Senzel is finally, finally showing some signs, but as an overall #2 pick in his 4th ML season, expectations were much, much higher for him. Moustakas and Votto have not been good. The Moustakas deal will go down as one of the worst in franchise history. He's just not done anything that's been expected. I cannot and will not ever dis Votto. He's been an ambassdor for this franchise his entire career, yes we knew he'd slow down and he's just not been able to sustain any kind of success. Still feel he has some value. As I continue to say he'll go down as one of the best players in franchise history. But he's been disappointing this season.
Now the good, and what's keeping us from an F, where would this team be without Brandon Drury and Kyle Farmer? Drury was a minor league invite, on his "last chances" as a major leaguer and he's been far and away our best offensive player. The Reds have some options with him as he's very cheap and if there is a way to sign him it may be worthwhile. And what do you say about Kyle Farmer? He's always the guy that's on his way out. It was projected by some that Jose Barrero would be our opening day shortstop, but he was injured and Farmer was again handed the position and he's done nothing to disappoint. He plays a good shortstop and has just exceeded any expectations that anyone has ever had on him. Great story. A guy I've really liked also is Mark Reynolds. He's done a nice job as a utility guy and has been very solid. Tommy Pham got off to a slow start, but has been pretty much what we needed in left field. He's above average defensively and has been put in the #3 hole in the lineup most of the season. Tyler Naquin has been about as expected. He's a solid major leaguer. I liked the addition of Albert Almora Jr. - he's an excellent defensive outfielder and he hits enough to keep a job.
Overall this team just struggled mightly to score runs. I'm not sure I'll ever get used to the baseball "analytics". I don't think we have a home run hitting team, but management is dead set that we are not going to play any kind of small ball. For a team that struggles scoring, hitting into double plays are killers. I know we aren't really a base stealing team, but starting the runners and doing more hit and runs makes alot of sense to me.

Starting Pitching - B-
Again, my grade is based on this years expectations - NO ONE picked this team to finish above 3rd place and most picked us lower than that. Castillo is and all star - and deservedly so. My biggest issue with Castillo, and I'm sure the Reds will never say this, is why he was held out of April? I honestly believe they held him out because he does not pitch well in colder temps. But when on the mound this season, he's been very good. Tyler Mahle is Tyler Mahle. We've seen him now for several seasons and he just is going to be a high pitch count guy, and will have some stinkers. He's a solid #3/ #4 starter and he's done a decent job. The fact that Hunter Greene, Nick Lodolo and a little unexpected, but Graham Ashcraft have all been pretty good overall. The stats may not show it, but for these guys that we hope are our foundation of the rotation for years to come, they've all passed with flying colors. I've mentioned on here I'm kind of concerned about Lodolo's health as he seems to be very injury prone. Taller guy, lean, lots of arm action, he may be susceptible to injury so we'll have to watch that.

Bullpen - F
If there was any lower grade, they'd get it. Sadly this group has been affected most by the injuries. Honestly, at times we have guys who are double A or triple A pitchers in high leverage situations. Alexis Diaz and Jeff Hoffman appears to be a guy we can keep around moving forward. We can only hope that Tejay Antone can bounce back next season. We really missed Justin Wilson. Not having Tony Santillan has hurt in recent weeks. Raver SanMartin could work into a role. Luis Cessa has been a major disappointment. Just not much to say about this bullpen. Luckily, this is one are of a baseball team that can be fixed quickly.

Management - D
The Castellani thing is just beating a dead horse. This team was good last year, but that was coming off a rookie of the year in India, Castellenos appears to have had a career year and the resurgence of Votto. It's really easy to say this team could have added a few pieces and contended, but I just don't think that would have happened. We knew Hunter Greene and Nick Lodolo was on the way, you had a chance to move some high priced pieces in Suarez and Sonny Gray. To me Winker isn't a guy you wanted to put a big investment in and there is no way it the world you would bring back Wade Miley at his price tag. I generally applaud the players when they are successful, and I blame the players when they lose. They are the performers.

I'll keep following these guys, win or lose. Our young pitchers look good, and Justin Dunn is in Triple A now. We actually have a good stock of starting pitchers for the first time in a long, long time.
 
Midseason Report:

Coming off a sweep of the contending Rays and riding a 4 game win streak is great, but we still are what we are. This is a team in a rebuild, giving on the job training to most of the starting rotation. Now I think the one thing that people have to keep in mind is the Reds have the most games lost due to injury for any major league team, it's over 1,000 games now. Basically we've had a lot of guys who shouldn't be major leaguers thrust into roles at the major league level. Like it or not that has to be a factor in the 2022 season. Also, the grades reflect THIS years team, not the guys traded before the season. Castellenos, Suarez and Winker are all gone and have no impact on this team this season. We can debate until the cows come home weather that was a good move or not. I think many just assume those guys were all all star caliber players and they are not. Castellenos was great last year, but that's kind of proven to be an anomaly looking at his entire career.

Offense - D
Again, injuries included, I really felt this team would be able to score runs. India has had little impact in 2022 and Stephenson has been good, but has missed quite a bit of time. Senzel is finally, finally showing some signs, but as an overall #2 pick in his 4th ML season, expectations were much, much higher for him. Moustakas and Votto have not been good. The Moustakas deal will go down as one of the worst in franchise history. He's just not done anything that's been expected. I cannot and will not ever dis Votto. He's been an ambassdor for this franchise his entire career, yes we knew he'd slow down and he's just not been able to sustain any kind of success. Still feel he has some value. As I continue to say he'll go down as one of the best players in franchise history. But he's been disappointing this season.
Now the good, and what's keeping us from an F, where would this team be without Brandon Drury and Kyle Farmer? Drury was a minor league invite, on his "last chances" as a major leaguer and he's been far and away our best offensive player. The Reds have some options with him as he's very cheap and if there is a way to sign him it may be worthwhile. And what do you say about Kyle Farmer? He's always the guy that's on his way out. It was projected by some that Jose Barrero would be our opening day shortstop, but he was injured and Farmer was again handed the position and he's done nothing to disappoint. He plays a good shortstop and has just exceeded any expectations that anyone has ever had on him. Great story. A guy I've really liked also is Mark Reynolds. He's done a nice job as a utility guy and has been very solid. Tommy Pham got off to a slow start, but has been pretty much what we needed in left field. He's above average defensively and has been put in the #3 hole in the lineup most of the season. Tyler Naquin has been about as expected. He's a solid major leaguer. I liked the addition of Albert Almora Jr. - he's an excellent defensive outfielder and he hits enough to keep a job.
Overall this team just struggled mightly to score runs. I'm not sure I'll ever get used to the baseball "analytics". I don't think we have a home run hitting team, but management is dead set that we are not going to play any kind of small ball. For a team that struggles scoring, hitting into double plays are killers. I know we aren't really a base stealing team, but starting the runners and doing more hit and runs makes alot of sense to me.

Starting Pitching - B-
Again, my grade is based on this years expectations - NO ONE picked this team to finish above 3rd place and most picked us lower than that. Castillo is and all star - and deservedly so. My biggest issue with Castillo, and I'm sure the Reds will never say this, is why he was held out of April? I honestly believe they held him out because he does not pitch well in colder temps. But when on the mound this season, he's been very good. Tyler Mahle is Tyler Mahle. We've seen him now for several seasons and he just is going to be a high pitch count guy, and will have some stinkers. He's a solid #3/ #4 starter and he's done a decent job. The fact that Hunter Greene, Nick Lodolo and a little unexpected, but Graham Ashcraft have all been pretty good overall. The stats may not show it, but for these guys that we hope are our foundation of the rotation for years to come, they've all passed with flying colors. I've mentioned on here I'm kind of concerned about Lodolo's health as he seems to be very injury prone. Taller guy, lean, lots of arm action, he may be susceptible to injury so we'll have to watch that.

Bullpen - F
If there was any lower grade, they'd get it. Sadly this group has been affected most by the injuries. Honestly, at times we have guys who are double A or triple A pitchers in high leverage situations. Alexis Diaz and Jeff Hoffman appears to be a guy we can keep around moving forward. We can only hope that Tejay Antone can bounce back next season. We really missed Justin Wilson. Not having Tony Santillan has hurt in recent weeks. Raver SanMartin could work into a role. Luis Cessa has been a major disappointment. Just not much to say about this bullpen. Luckily, this is one are of a baseball team that can be fixed quickly.

Management - D
The Castellani thing is just beating a dead horse. This team was good last year, but that was coming off a rookie of the year in India, Castellenos appears to have had a career year and the resurgence of Votto. It's really easy to say this team could have added a few pieces and contended, but I just don't think that would have happened. We knew Hunter Greene and Nick Lodolo was on the way, you had a chance to move some high priced pieces in Suarez and Sonny Gray. To me Winker isn't a guy you wanted to put a big investment in and there is no way it the world you would bring back Wade Miley at his price tag. I generally applaud the players when they are successful, and I blame the players when they lose. They are the performers.

I'll keep following these guys, win or lose. Our young pitchers look good, and Justin Dunn is in Triple A now. We actually have a good stock of starting pitchers for the first time in a long, long time.
This isn't a rebuild....

It's a $120M dumpster fire.
 
Midseason Report:

Coming off a sweep of the contending Rays and riding a 4 game win streak is great, but we still are what we are. This is a team in a rebuild, giving on the job training to most of the starting rotation. Now I think the one thing that people have to keep in mind is the Reds have the most games lost due to injury for any major league team, it's over 1,000 games now. Basically we've had a lot of guys who shouldn't be major leaguers thrust into roles at the major league level. Like it or not that has to be a factor in the 2022 season. Also, the grades reflect THIS years team, not the guys traded before the season. Castellenos, Suarez and Winker are all gone and have no impact on this team this season. We can debate until the cows come home weather that was a good move or not. I think many just assume those guys were all all star caliber players and they are not. Castellenos was great last year, but that's kind of proven to be an anomaly looking at his entire career.

Offense - D
Again, injuries included, I really felt this team would be able to score runs. India has had little impact in 2022 and Stephenson has been good, but has missed quite a bit of time. Senzel is finally, finally showing some signs, but as an overall #2 pick in his 4th ML season, expectations were much, much higher for him. Moustakas and Votto have not been good. The Moustakas deal will go down as one of the worst in franchise history. He's just not done anything that's been expected. I cannot and will not ever dis Votto. He's been an ambassdor for this franchise his entire career, yes we knew he'd slow down and he's just not been able to sustain any kind of success. Still feel he has some value. As I continue to say he'll go down as one of the best players in franchise history. But he's been disappointing this season.
Now the good, and what's keeping us from an F, where would this team be without Brandon Drury and Kyle Farmer? Drury was a minor league invite, on his "last chances" as a major leaguer and he's been far and away our best offensive player. The Reds have some options with him as he's very cheap and if there is a way to sign him it may be worthwhile. And what do you say about Kyle Farmer? He's always the guy that's on his way out. It was projected by some that Jose Barrero would be our opening day shortstop, but he was injured and Farmer was again handed the position and he's done nothing to disappoint. He plays a good shortstop and has just exceeded any expectations that anyone has ever had on him. Great story. A guy I've really liked also is Mark Reynolds. He's done a nice job as a utility guy and has been very solid. Tommy Pham got off to a slow start, but has been pretty much what we needed in left field. He's above average defensively and has been put in the #3 hole in the lineup most of the season. Tyler Naquin has been about as expected. He's a solid major leaguer. I liked the addition of Albert Almora Jr. - he's an excellent defensive outfielder and he hits enough to keep a job.
Overall this team just struggled mightly to score runs. I'm not sure I'll ever get used to the baseball "analytics". I don't think we have a home run hitting team, but management is dead set that we are not going to play any kind of small ball. For a team that struggles scoring, hitting into double plays are killers. I know we aren't really a base stealing team, but starting the runners and doing more hit and runs makes alot of sense to me.

Starting Pitching - B-
Again, my grade is based on this years expectations - NO ONE picked this team to finish above 3rd place and most picked us lower than that. Castillo is and all star - and deservedly so. My biggest issue with Castillo, and I'm sure the Reds will never say this, is why he was held out of April? I honestly believe they held him out because he does not pitch well in colder temps. But when on the mound this season, he's been very good. Tyler Mahle is Tyler Mahle. We've seen him now for several seasons and he just is going to be a high pitch count guy, and will have some stinkers. He's a solid #3/ #4 starter and he's done a decent job. The fact that Hunter Greene, Nick Lodolo and a little unexpected, but Graham Ashcraft have all been pretty good overall. The stats may not show it, but for these guys that we hope are our foundation of the rotation for years to come, they've all passed with flying colors. I've mentioned on here I'm kind of concerned about Lodolo's health as he seems to be very injury prone. Taller guy, lean, lots of arm action, he may be susceptible to injury so we'll have to watch that.

Bullpen - F
If there was any lower grade, they'd get it. Sadly this group has been affected most by the injuries. Honestly, at times we have guys who are double A or triple A pitchers in high leverage situations. Alexis Diaz and Jeff Hoffman appears to be a guy we can keep around moving forward. We can only hope that Tejay Antone can bounce back next season. We really missed Justin Wilson. Not having Tony Santillan has hurt in recent weeks. Raver SanMartin could work into a role. Luis Cessa has been a major disappointment. Just not much to say about this bullpen. Luckily, this is one are of a baseball team that can be fixed quickly.

Management - D
The Castellani thing is just beating a dead horse. This team was good last year, but that was coming off a rookie of the year in India, Castellenos appears to have had a career year and the resurgence of Votto. It's really easy to say this team could have added a few pieces and contended, but I just don't think that would have happened. We knew Hunter Greene and Nick Lodolo was on the way, you had a chance to move some high priced pieces in Suarez and Sonny Gray. To me Winker isn't a guy you wanted to put a big investment in and there is no way it the world you would bring back Wade Miley at his price tag. I generally applaud the players when they are successful, and I blame the players when they lose. They are the performers.

I'll keep following these guys, win or lose. Our young pitchers look good, and Justin Dunn is in Triple A now. We actually have a good stock of starting pitchers for the first time in a long, long time.

Votto - F
 
Reds keep winning with no Votto. Trend continues with the REDS well over .500 without the overpaid piece of weight in the lineup.

Are you believers yet?

#VottoMustGo
No, not a believer. Votto is definitely not playing well this season, but the Reds are not winning because he is out, probably has more to do with pitching lately and level of competition from the American league East.

They will come back to earth once the schedule moves on from the AL East teams, Votto or no Votto.
 
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