The Official 2024 Reds season thread

[14Red]

Can't believe people actually watch this team but I'll be tuning in tonight and tomorrow more because I hate Cleveland so much vs any care what the Reds are doing.

I'll do you one better, wasn't home for the game so I recorded it and watched it later. All I have to stay is Listless. There are so many times this season we just look listless. Bibee is a good pitcher, but we make some pitchers look like Cy Young candidates, and we make few adjustments. Love Elly, but that dude needs to cut down the strikeouts to ever become all he can be. He has 212 strikeouts, nearly 20 more than Kyle Schwarber, who's 2nd. And little to no visible adjustments. He swings sometimes like he's trying to win a long drive contest. Just put the bat on the ball kid.

And if Carson Spires pitches any significant innings next season, things will have gone very wrong in 2025. He's a home run waiting to happen. Wached the first inning in particular, when he's down in the count, his go to pitch is a 92-93 MPH fast ball up in the strike zone? I realize that today's pitching strategy is to pitch up in the zone, but If you're in the low 90's, that's an awful choice. You've elevated a slower fastball so all the hitter has to do is get the barrel to it and it's gone.

 

[14Red]

Hey, you Cincinnati Red Legs, if you haven’t heard Tom Hamilton before, and you are enjoying the game now, you may want to tune in or stream in to WTAM 1100 for the Reds/Indians game. He hasn’t been traveling with the team all the time, and he hasn’t seemed quite himself. I kind of wonder if there’s a retirement in his near future. He just hasn’t been quite the same.

Big fan of Tom Hamilton, just don't like the team he announces for.

 

[14Red]

You know, Pete was always my favorite player, growing up in Cleveland. Buddy Beill was right up there too. I followed him to Cincinnati, and Hamilton‘s talking about what you guys just did to his kid. You probably don’t wanna listen.

I can’t imagine being hateful over baseball, unless you just got screwed by a bad call

I listened to both the Reds/ and Guardians broadcasts and Tom Hamilton was very complimentary of the Reds and they young core they have. Said it would be a very attractive job for whoever the next manager is.
I was shocked there was only 19,000 there last night. Clinching night, playoff team? It just seems like after the 90's great teams, the fans never came back, then the name change just finished it off for alot of people.

 

[cabezadecaballo]

Big fan of Tom Hamilton, just don't like the team he announces for.

Then "root for Ohio" in the playoffs. Go TRIBE!!!

 

[wolves82]

I listened to both the Reds/ and Guardians broadcasts and Tom Hamilton was very complimentary of the Reds and they young core they have. Said it would be a very attractive job for whoever the next manager is.
I was shocked there was only 19,000 there last night. Clinching night, playoff team? It just seems like after the 90's great teams, the fans never came back, then the name change just finished it off for alot of people.

Or - it was a Tuesday night in September (school and work night), with rain and storms in the forecast, and they had already clinched the Central. Last night was just sewing up the 2 seed.

 

[cabezadecaballo]

I listened to both the Reds/ and Guardians broadcasts and Tom Hamilton was very complimentary of the Reds and they young core they have. Said it would be a very attractive job for whoever the next manager is.
I was shocked there was only 19,000 there last night. Clinching night, playoff team? It just seems like after the 90's great teams, the fans never came back, then the name change just finished it off for alot of people.

We've already sprayed champagne this month. We already did the Wahoo Yahoo once for "in the playoffs" and once for the Central. The incremental celebrations get a bit silly. Systemic disappointment is tough.

I'm sure Friday is sold out. Hopefully, the Cheatin' Astros will start a lefty. My two youngest are going to be sitting in the right field homer zone, waiting to sing "Jos-zaaay.... Jose', Jose', Jose'...!"

 

[boothmark77]

All my homies hate Bob and Phil.

I did not think it was possible, but I dislike those two more than Mike Brown.

 

[14Red]

De La Cruz just has no plate discipline and doesn’t hit nearly enough homers to offset how many times he strikes out.

That's not a revelation, and it's not just an Elly thing. I marvel at the thought of guys who hit only 20-25 homers in 500 at bats who strikeout alot. But the mindset needs to change in baseball. Guys who hit .300 who don't necessarily hit alot of homers need to be rewarded. Guys who have high on base percentages need to be rewarded.

Or - it was a Tuesday night in September (school and work night), with rain and storms in the forecast, and they had already clinched the Central. Last night was just sewing up the 2 seed.

Heck, the White Sox had 17,000 and had rain delays, and the Angels in town without MIke Trout??? So your point? The game was at 6:30??

 

[Orin Swift]

Heck, the White Sox had 17,000 and had rain delays, and the Angels in town without MIke Trout??? So your point? The game was at 6:30??

The Chicago metro area has roughly 10m people vs. Cleveland’s roughly 2m. That probably has nothing to do with it though.

 

[wolves82]

Heck, the White Sox had 17,000 and had rain delays, and the Angels in town without MIke Trout??? So your point? The game was at 6:30??

They were there to see history - wanted to be in the building for historic loss #121. As usual, the Wsox disappointed the fans.

The fans even booed when the Sox came back and won.

 

[Orin Swift]

They were there to see history - wanted to be in the building for historic loss #121. As usual, the Wsox disappointed the fans.

The fans even booed when the Sox came back and won.

lol that’s incredible. Fans are awesome.

 

[AEW Champion]

lol that’s incredible. Fans are awesome.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1838767585757659359

https://twitter.com/x/status/1838766918699827487

 

[14Red]

The Chicago metro area has roughly 10m people vs. Cleveland’s roughly 2m. That probably has nothing to do with it though.

and the White Sox may be having one of the worst seasons in baseball history, but that's not a reason....

 

[Orin Swift]

and the White Sox may be having one of the worst seasons in baseball history, but that's not a reason....

A historically bad season that people clearly showed up to see them seal it. That point has already been made to you. I thought I’ve asked you twice this week already to stop being stupid for 7 second. Why do you continually refuse?

 

[14Red]

 

[14Red]

Reds lineup for day 2 in Cle

 

[AEW Champion]

It’s going to be interesting to see how this glut of infielders shakes out heading into 2025.

You have:

Elly
McLain
Marte
CES
France
Candelario
India
Espinal

And if the team were built better, Steer would be in that group because he’s a 1B/DH miscast as a left fielder.

In all likelihood, only 6 of the 8 above can make the Opening Day roster. The only ones who seem absolutely guaranteed of their spots are De La Cruz and McLain.

France likely will be non-tendered but could be a free agent consideration. There’s a decent chance he’s one of the guys out of a spot.

Marte could easily start in AAA. Espinal could start in AAA. One of those two probably has to make the roster for positional flexibility.

India could be a trade candidate, especially since bench players who only play one position have limited value.

CES could start in AAA if needed. Could they find a trade for Candelario?

My guess is France doesn’t come back and Marte starts in Louisville, barring an extreme change from him next spring.

 

[Spartacus1987]

We've discussed this. You do not watch enough or understand baseball stats enough to judge. Go to statcast. His swing and miss numbers are substantially lower than 2023. His walk rate is much higher than 2023. Many of his strikeouts are called strike 3 because he is working hard on being more selective. He leads the MLB in called strike 3 when the ball is outside the strike zone.

He is batting .260 with OPS .814 (.800 is good). 25 HR and 65 SB - historic season. He is 22 years old. Most MLB rookies are 24-25 years old with 3-4 years of top college baseball, some Cape Cod ball mixed in, plus a couple years in the minors. Elly has none of that, 2.5 years in the minors.

Elly De La Cruz is raw and inexperienced. But if he improves half as much next year as he did this year, he will be elite at age 23. For reference, your golden boy Oneil Cruz is 26 in a week and the jury is still out on him - also a very raw player.

You make an awful lot of excuses for this guy. Adam Dunn his entire career never had as many strikeouts as this guy does this season so a pretty low bar to be saying his swing and miss numbers are “down” this season.

 

[Spartacus1987]

I'll do you one better, wasn't home for the game so I recorded it and watched it later. All I have to stay is Listless. There are so many times this season we just look listless. Bibee is a good pitcher, but we make some pitchers look like Cy Young candidates, and we make few adjustments. Love Elly, but that dude needs to cut down the strikeouts to ever become all he can be. He has 212 strikeouts, nearly 20 more than Kyle Schwarber, who's 2nd. And little to no visible adjustments. He swings sometimes like he's trying to win a long drive contest. Just put the bat on the ball kid.

And if Carson Spires pitches any significant innings next season, things will have gone very wrong in 2025. He's a home run waiting to happen. Wached the first inning in particular, when he's down in the count, his go to pitch is a 92-93 MPH fast ball up in the strike zone? I realize that today's pitching strategy is to pitch up in the zone, but If you're in the low 90's, that's an awful choice. You've elevated a slower fastball so all the hitter has to do is get the barrel to it and it's gone.

Couldn’t agree more, EDLC is hyper overrated and I just don’t see it. He doesn’t have the mind for baseball. Just watching the team today and they are currently being no hit heading into the 7th inning. I mean this is an effing rivalry and the players have either checked out or are a lot worse team than I even predicted before the season.

I’m getting too old to to invest at all much less pay attention even a slither to a franchise that not only needs to be sold but MOVED to another city. They will never win in Cincinnati so maybe a change of scenery could do something. Also, don’t think for one moment the franchise couldn’t be moved. If the Browns can move then the Reds can move.

 

[Thavoice]

I'll double down. You give me a choice of Milwaukee, Cleveland or Cincy's rosters now and ask me who I want to ride it out with the next 5 years, I'll take the Reds. Now Cleveland has THE BEST player of the 3 teams in Jose Ramirez. If there would be anyway the Reds could get him, I'd give up a two of our better pitching prospects (Lodolo, Abbott, Ashcraft, possibly even Burns) for him. He's that good. You put him in the middle of our lineup - add McLain next season and we're ready to rock and roll.

You not only drank the KoolAid...you get it through IV.

Until there are more like me out there.....ownership will keep crapping on the fan base

 

[Spartacus1987]

Reds just let that big fat stupid clown Ramirez win the series for Cleveland and complete the sweep. What a garbage organization. I don’t care about much with these clowns anymore but for the sake of God just beat Cleveland and they can’t even do that.

 

[Spartacus1987]

Only thing I’ll be watching in the MLB playoffs is hopefully Cleveland losing. F**k that franchise. Anybody but them. I was the biggest Cubs fan in 2016.

 

[cjb5656]

Reds just let that big fat stupid clown Ramirez win the series for Cleveland and complete the sweep. What a garbage organization. I don’t care about much with these clowns anymore but for the sake of God just beat Cleveland and they can’t even do that.

Jose is awesome. He took a massive discount to sign with CLE because he’s comfortable with the organization and area. Who does that anymore? That alone is enough reason to admire the guy. He could have chased the money from NY and LA, and made many millions more, but he took less to remain in small market CLE. We love the guy.

 

[AEW Champion]

We all know 14Red’s common refrain that ownership doesn’t matter. Here’s another perfect example of bad ownership mattering: An entire crowd showing up to root for the opponent and antagonize the owner. Will this ever happen in Cincinnati? I doubt it because Reds fans are too placid/not as avid as big-market fans. But never say never.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1839123654354841818

 

[wolves82]

I’m getting too old to to invest at all much less pay attention even a slither to a franchise that not only needs to be sold but MOVED to another city. They will never win in Cincinnati so maybe a change of scenery could do something. Also, don’t think for one moment the franchise couldn’t be moved. If the Browns can move then the Reds can move.

Ignoring all the other foolish comments you posted in anger last night, I'm curious to hear your logic as to why the physical location of the team (in Cincy) prevents them from winning. The teams in other similar sized markets win pretty consistently (Cleveland, Milwaukee, St Louis). So what is it about this particular location? A change in ownership and hiring a competent front office are absolutely needed in order to win. Tell us how the geography matters please. We could use the laugh.

 

[wolves82]

You make an awful lot of excuses for this guy. Adam Dunn his entire career never had as many strikeouts as this guy does this season so a pretty low bar to be saying his swing and miss numbers are “down” this season.

Facts and statistics are not excuses. His improvement with plate discipline from 2023 to 2024 is off the charts. He has a ways to go, but at his age, he will keep improving. And all of his other tools are elite. 25/60 guys do not grow on trees. in fact, there have only been 4 others, ever. Let go of the hate...

 

[wolves82]

Jose is awesome. He took a massive discount to sign with CLE because he’s comfortable with the organization and area. Who does that anymore? That alone is enough reason to admire the guy. He could have chased the money from NY and LA, and made many millions more, but he took less to remain in small market CLE. We love the guy.

100%. This Reds fan admires him. Great guy and great all around player. top 5 in all of baseball. Spartacus just has anger issues.

 

[Mr. Slippery]

I listened to both the Reds/ and Guardians broadcasts and Tom Hamilton was very complimentary of the Reds and they young core they have. Said it would be a very attractive job for whoever the next manager is.
I was shocked there was only 19,000 there last night. Clinching night, playoff team? It just seems like after the 90's great teams, the fans never came back, then the name change just finished it off for alot of people.

'90s were a perfect storm: New ballpark, much smaller ballpark (42,000 vs. 78,000), numerous prospects who panned out, an owner who was willing to spend, and no Browns from '96-'98 to take their share of peoples' entertainment budget. End result was 455 consecutive home sellouts.

What was the most significant change from the late '90s? Ownership. Dick Jacobs sold the team to Larry Dolan in late '99. Dolan gradually cut payroll to bargain basement levels. The final straw for many fans might well have been Dolan's failure to re-sign Manny Ramirez after the '00 season, or maybe it's only coincidence that the franchise's record sellout streak ended with the 2nd home game of the '01 season.

 

[14Red]

It’s going to be interesting to see how this glut of infielders shakes out heading into 2025.

You have:

Elly
McLain
Marte
CES
France
Candelario
India
Espinal

And if the team were built better, Steer would be in that group because he’s a 1B/DH miscast as a left fielder.

In all likelihood, only 6 of the 8 above can make the Opening Day roster. The only ones who seem absolutely guaranteed of their spots are De La Cruz and McLain.

France likely will be non-tendered but could be a free agent consideration. There’s a decent chance he’s one of the guys out of a spot.

Marte could easily start in AAA. Espinal could start in AAA. One of those two probably has to make the roster for positional flexibility.

India could be a trade candidate, especially since bench players who only play one position have limited value.

CES could start in AAA if needed. Could they find a trade for Candelario?

My guess is France doesn’t come back and Marte starts in Louisville, barring an extreme change from him next spring.

Unless you move Elly to the outfield, which I feel is not wise, here's what I go with...
3B Marte
SS Elly
2B - McLain
1B - Candelario/ CES
India is either traded or a part time 2nd baseman/ DH. I'd love to keep Espinal as a utility infielder. Steer is in the outfield full time. France is gone. One because he's not under contract, two you're already committed to Candelario. There is enough room on the major league roster for these guys. Our emphasis in the offseason is an outfield bat or two.

 

[14Red]

If you want to summarize the Reds season in one game, it was last night. Get behind early 2-0. Scramble your way back, tie it at 2 in the top of the 8th. Two out, nobody on. There is one guy in the Guardian lineup that you don't want to face with the game on the line, Jose Ramirez. Single, single from Kwan and Manzardo and up comes Ramirez. Down 1-0 on the count Pagan give up a 3 run homer to put Cleveland up 5-2.

Game's over right? Well Cleveland's amazing closer Emanual Clase has a rough start to the outing, giving up walk, single, walk (he'd only walked 8 guys all season). Steer rips a line drive to the shortstop, France struck out and Fraley grounded out game over.

You talk about a recurring theme for this team all season long. It was reported that this was the 50th time this season (only 3 games left) that the Reds scored 3 or less runs! Think about that for a minute. That's nearly 1/3rd of the games this season you're asking your pitching staff to hold teams under 3 runs.