The Official 2024 Reds season thread

Back in the old days of baseball, there was a beloved Chicago Cubs player named Ernie Banks. He was so grateful to play professional baseball, his signature line became something he was quoted as saying, "it's a beautiful day for baseball, let's play two!"

The Reds start a 4 game series with the division leading Brewers today, first game at 12:40PM with the second being tonight at 6:40PM.

Big news of the week was the quick and kind of unexpected promotion of 2023 first round draft pick Rhett Lowder. He'll go in tonight's nitecap.
 
Tell you what, Elly, Steer, TJ, India, play every single day. And I'm ok with that.

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14Red said:
But is it the manager? I mean Craig Counsell won with the Brewers too? You have to credit the players who do the work. The Brewers seem to find a way to replace players who either are traded or injured and the just keep winning.
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Dude I agree. Just saying Murphy would have been a good hire.
 
14Red said:
But is it the manager? I mean Craig Counsell won with the Brewers too? You have to credit the players who do the work. The Brewers seem to find a way to replace players who either are traded or injured and the just keep winning.
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Maybe give some credit to GM and owners who always build a good roster and organizational depth. The Reds sorely lack the latter.
 
14Red said:
Tell you what, Elly, Steer, TJ, India, play every single day. And I'm ok with that.

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Agreed, and they have to play every day. Everyone else on the roster is either a useless DFA from another team, or a AAA player.

I brought the wood. Somebody else bring the hammer and nails. We can build the coffin for the season this weekend series against the BrewCrew. Just in time for football season.
 
wolves82 said:
Agreed, and they have to play every day. Everyone else on the roster is either a useless DFA from another team, or a AAA player.

I brought the wood. Somebody else bring the hammer and nails. We can build the coffin for the season this weekend series against the BrewCrew. Just in time for football season.
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What are you going to do next year when the Reds are playing in October??? And anyway, football is only once a week, plenty of time to keep baseball in the forefront.
 
GCPRO said:
Dude I agree. Just saying Murphy would have been a good hire.
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At this point, I think about anyone would had been a good hire. You just wonder if the lifeless, quiet Bell is just not listened to anymore by the players. I'm not saying he's the total problem but as we know, this is a results business and you're not going to fire 25 players.
 
14Red said:
What are you going to do next year when the Reds are playing in October??? And anyway, football is only once a week, plenty of time to keep baseball in the forefront.
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I will definitely follow the Reds the entire way if they are contending. But let's be honest, 10 (or 11?) of the last 13 Septembers the Reds have not been relevant in the chase.
 
wolves82 said:
I will definitely follow the Reds the entire way if they are contending. But let's be honest, 10 (or 11?) of the last 13 Septembers the Reds have not been relevant in the chase.
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One of my standby's for September was admiring Joey Votto, who would grind out at bats in September when we were long out of it, just becasue he's a baseball player.
Supposedly Hunter Greene has begun throwing again, it will be interesting to see how quickly he's able to ramp up again. He last pitched on Aug. 13th but I believe it was a few days after that when they shut him down, he may have even threw a bullpen on Thursday or Friday and then they shut him down, which was only 2 weeks ago. Seems longer but he may be able to go pretty quickly.
 
14Red said:
One of my standby's for September was admiring Joey Votto, who would grind out at bats in September when we were long out of it, just becasue he's a baseball player.
Supposedly Hunter Greene has begun throwing again, it will be interesting to see how quickly he's able to ramp up again. He last pitched on Aug. 13th but I believe it was a few days after that when they shut him down, he may have even threw a bullpen on Thursday or Friday and then they shut him down, which was only 2 weeks ago. Seems longer but he may be able to go pretty quickly.
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Since I've gotten it right thus far. My guess would be that all of those pitchers will make a couple of starts in September just to keep the natives from being restless. If you believe they truly had some sort of ailment you haven't been paying attention.
 
14Red said:
What are you going to do next year when the Reds are playing in October??? And anyway, football is only once a week, plenty of time to keep baseball in the forefront.
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Football is literally on every night of the week except Tuesdays and Wednesdays once the NFL starts.
 
GCPRO said:
Since I've gotten it right thus far. My guess would be that all of those pitchers will make a couple of starts in September just to keep the natives from being restless. If you believe they truly had some sort of ailment you haven't been paying attention.
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Supposedly Lodolo is done for the year, because he’s made of glass.
 
AEW Champion said:
Supposedly Lodolo is done for the year, because he’s made of glass.
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Exactly! This will be his 4th stint on the DL this season.
  • March 27-April 13: Left calf tenosynovitis
  • May 12-27: left groin strain
  • June 24-July 9: blister on finger
  • Aug 27-end of season: sprained finger
 
I will certainly keep an eye on the Reds the next month, but pretty much done watching unless Lowder gets another start. Season summary from my perspective:

The good news:
- EDLC is a bona fide star at age 22. Improved plate discipline, improved defense, great baseball instincts.
- Hunter Greene is a bona fide ace. Stay healthy next year.
- Stephenson has stayed away from concussions and matured into a very good MLB catcher and hitter.
- Steer had a bit of a sophomore slump but remains a very productive MLB hitter. Top 50-60 in the MLB productivity wise. Likely goes up a notch next year.
- Abbott is a dependable #3 or #4 starter
- India remains a dependable MLB player. Greatly improved defensively. Please do not trade him.

The bad - pretty much everything else. Most importantly:
- Bell is terrible
- Diaz has peaked last year, it seems, heading down
- Marte does not seem to be the player we thought. Maybe he has a good winter and bounces back?
- Candelario super disappointing year. Wasted money?
- And of course the injuries (McLain, CES, Friedl, Lodolo, Ashcraft, Gibault, Antone, etc.)
- most notably, ownership and management still sukks big time. When you need to snag 3 terrible DFA guys, you have a real problem with depth in the organization.

So, all in all, except for the players in the "good" list, a sad summer.
 
wolves82 said:
I will certainly keep an eye on the Reds the next month, but pretty much done watching unless Lowder gets another start. Season summary from my perspective:

The good news:
- EDLC is a bona fide star at age 22. Improved plate discipline, improved defense, great baseball instincts.
- Hunter Greene is a bona fide ace. Stay healthy next year.
- Stephenson has stayed away from concussions and matured into a very good MLB catcher and hitter.
- Steer had a bit of a sophomore slump but remains a very productive MLB hitter. Top 50-60 in the MLB productivity wise. Likely goes up a notch next year.
- Abbott is a dependable #3 or #4 starter
- India remains a dependable MLB player. Greatly improved defensively. Please do not trade him.

The bad - pretty much everything else. Most importantly:
- Bell is terrible
- Diaz has peaked last year, it seems, heading down
- Marte does not seem to be the player we thought. Maybe he has a good winter and bounces back?
- Candelario super disappointing year. Wasted money?
- And of course the injuries (McLain, CES, Friedl, Lodolo, Ashcraft, Gibault, Antone, etc.)
- most notably, ownership and management still sukks big time. When you need to snag 3 terrible DFA guys, you have a real problem with depth in the organization.

So, all in all, except for the players in the "good" list, a sad summer.
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Agree with this. I think Krall is the bigger issue in going forward.
Lodolo is a huge factor in this. When healthy he's right behind Greene however that's a huge IF.
 
Great game yesterday! Red's are not out of this yet, but they need to make a big move. Problem is Chicago has made it difficult by going 9-1 in the last 10. They also do not have David . Still to steal one from the Brewers is a real accomplishment. As the saying goes, you can't win a playoff spot until September so here we go! The next 15 games will determine if they will get back in it, or if we flip the page to next year, again. It will take something like 19-7 from here on out in September, very tough but not impossible.
 
D4fan said:
Great game yesterday! Red's are not out of this yet, but they need to make a big move. Problem is Chicago has made it difficult by going 9-1 in the last 10. They also do not have David . Still to steal one from the Brewers is a real accomplishment. As the saying goes, you can't win a playoff spot until September so here we go! The next 15 games will determine if they will get back in it, or if we flip the page to next year, again. It will take something like 19-7 from here on out in September, very tough but not impossible.
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I assume this is satire / sarcasm.

If you are trying to be optimistic, I commend you, but here is the reality. The Reds only have 24 games left. They would need to go 19-5 to get the 84 wins you seem to target. If they can do that (spoiler alert, they won't get anywhere near that), they would need the Braves to go 10-15, and the Mets to go 11-14, and the Cubs/Cards/Giants to also be .500 or below.

Let's get em next year.
 
wolves82 said:
I assume this is satire / sarcasm.

If you are trying to be optimistic, I commend you, but here is the reality. The Reds only have 24 games left. They would need to go 19-5 to get the 84 wins you seem to target. If they can do that (spoiler alert, they won't get anywhere near that), they would need the Braves to go 10-15, and the Mets to go 11-14, and the Cubs/Cards/Giants to also be .500 or below.

Let's get em next year.
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So you're sayin "there's a chance".......
 
wolves82 said:
I will certainly keep an eye on the Reds the next month, but pretty much done watching unless Lowder gets another start. Season summary from my perspective:

The good news:

- India remains a dependable MLB player. Greatly improved defensively. Please do not trade him.

The bad - pretty much everything else. Most importantly:

- Marte does not seem to be the player we thought. Maybe he has a good winter and bounces back?
- Candelario super disappointing year. Wasted money?
-

So, all in all, except for the players in the "good" list, a sad summer.
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I'd say I agree with about 85% of your post. Except for the following...
- while I agree that India's a nice player, here's the dilemma for the Reds, and him. Unless you're going to move McLain to another position, where is India going to play? Also, now in the picture is Santiago Espinal. Man for man, who would you rather have as a utility infielder, India or Espinal? And if you don't pick Espinal, then you're not paying attention.
-Marte's grade is incomplete. He may have wrecked his own career with the PED suspension, but he's still a highly touted prospect that you need to give every chance to.
- Candelario, actually, if you look at his numbers, he's near career highs. Worth the money? If we start comparing that for every player we'd make ourselves nuts.
- Nice pickup in Ty France. Do you consider bringing him back next year if you're moving on from Candelario? CES has to get first chance at the first base job, but nice to have a guy like France and Espinal in the backup/ platoon slots.
 
D4fan said:
Great game yesterday! Red's are not out of this yet, but they need to make a big move. Problem is Chicago has made it difficult by going 9-1 in the last 10. They also do not have David . Still to steal one from the Brewers is a real accomplishment. As the saying goes, you can't win a playoff spot until September so here we go! The next 15 games will determine if they will get back in it, or if we flip the page to next year, again. It will take something like 19-7 from here on out in September, very tough but not impossible.
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I'm as optimistic as they come, and it's over. We don't have enough pitching to get through a series, let alone the next 20+ games.
 
GCPRO said:
Agree with this. I think Krall is the bigger issue in going forward.
Lodolo is a huge factor in this. When healthy he's right behind Greene however that's a huge IF.
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Ok, let's let the air out of the Lodolo balloon. You've got Rhett Lowder now and possibly Chase Burns next season, Connor Phillips, Carson Spires, so I'm comfortable with our staff, even if it doesn't include Lodolo. I have no idea what you can get for damaged good, but if a team asks for him during the offseason, I'd listen hard, especially if we could get a proven outfield bat for him.
 
14Red said:
Ok, let's let the air out of the Lodolo balloon. You've got Rhett Lowder now and possibly Chase Burns next season, Connor Phillips, Carson Spires, so I'm comfortable with our staff, even if it doesn't include Lodolo. I have no idea what you can get for damaged good, but if a team asks for him during the offseason, I'd listen hard, especially if we could get a proven outfield bat for him.
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I just do not see how you can include CES, McClain, Phillips and any of the above mentioned pitchers as reliable in any way. Depend on players that have yet to play an entire MLB season in addition to arms that haven't even tasted that large of a stage??????
Marte, for as bad as he's been at the plate he's been worse defensively.
 
GCPRO said:
I just do not see how you can include CES, McClain, Phillips and any of the above mentioned pitchers as reliable in any way. Depend on players that have yet to play an entire MLB season in addition to arms that haven't even tasted that large of a stage??????
Marte, for as bad as he's been at the plate he's been worse defensively.
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Considering all those guys together have less than a year of major league time, don't you have to give them a chance to prove themselves? I'm not calling them reliable, I'm just saying you don't know what you have yet. Remember McLain came up first last year and really started the upswing.
 
14Red said:
Ok, let's let the air out of the Lodolo balloon. You've got Rhett Lowder now and possibly Chase Burns next season, Connor Phillips, Carson Spires, so I'm comfortable with our staff, even if it doesn't include Lodolo. I have no idea what you can get for damaged good, but if a team asks for him during the offseason, I'd listen hard, especially if we could get a proven outfield bat for him.
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I'm sure teams will be lining up to offer the Reds a "proven Outfield bat" in exchange for what you call "damaged goods". You do understand how trades work, right? The other side has to agree...

If the Reds trade Lodolo in the off-season, they would get either a very low prospect or a draft pick. He is inexpensive. The Reds need to keep him and hope his health holds up. We have seen the upside, in short spurts.
 
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