*

*
Reds Insider
From news of the day to news of the weird, John Fay provides a glimpse of what it’s like to cover the Cincinnati Reds

John Fay
John Fay has been the Reds beat writer for the Enquirer since 2001. Prior to that, he served in a variety of roles for the Enquirer: backup Reds writer, UC beat writer, backup Bengals writer and as a general assignment reporter. He is a Cincinnati native and a graduate of Elder High School and the University of Dayton.

Powered by Blogger

Saturday, June 2, 2007

It could be Homer

With Bobby Livingston being optioned to Louisville Saturday, he won't be eligible to come back in time to pitch next Saturday. That's when the Reds need a fifth starter.

If not Livingston, who? There's a very good chance it will be Homer Bailey. The other choices are Phil Dumatrait or Victor Santos.

"It's going to come down to Dumatrait, Santos or Homer," Jerry Narron said.

Bailey went into tonight's start 5-1 with a 1.89 ERA. Dumatrait is 5-4 with 3.79 ERA and struggled in his last start.

Santos will be in the bullpen leading up to Saturday, so an outing or two could eliminate him from consideration.

"(Bailey's) got a chance," Narron said. "He's pitched well. I'd like to see him come here and pitch well and contribute. I think it's going to be hard for him to pitch as well as the fans expect."

The Reds play Cleveland at home Saturday, by the way.


17 Comments:

at 5:38 PM Blogger bengals8904 said...

Please be Bailey.....what else does he have to prove? Plus if the team's still rolling this could be another shot in the arm as they go through a tough interleague stretch.

 
at 5:44 PM Anonymous Anonymous said...

As excited as I am for Homer to make his debut, I'm also a pragmatist. The club won't come out and admit to being concerned about starting the clock on Homer's big-league service time, but I will. I think I read that he has to come up with less than 81 days remaining to prevent this year from counting towards arbitration. I'm all for that.

When you're a small market team, you need to work the system to your advantage any way you can. Bring him up later in the season when he can get his work in without pumping up his service time. It's not harsh, it's just business.

(Salary Cap! Salary Cap! Salary Cap!)

 
at 5:46 PM Anonymous Anonymous said...

If he pitches Saturday, I will definately be there.

 
at 5:47 PM Anonymous Anonymous said...

John,

Why in the heck was Livingston sent down to Louisville? He pitches a great game and they send him down?

 
at 5:51 PM Blogger John Fay said...

He wasn't going to pitch for eight days. They needed another bullpen arm -- remember what happened after he left.

 
at 7:03 PM Blogger Dan H said...

Here's your Homer & Hamilton update: Just checked gameday and Homer needed 35 pitches to get thru the 1st allowing 3 runs (2 run HR & wild pitch) although he struckout 2. Let's see if he settles down the rest of the nite. Hamilton a 2 run HR in 1st his 4th in a week. I say bring him up for Sunday!

 
at 7:05 PM Anonymous Anonymous said...

In response to John Fay's comment that Livingston wasn't going to pitch for 8 days. Do you think they would do the same to Homer? That is bring him up and then ship him down for the same reason. I've been under the impression that part of Management's plan has been that once Homer is ready he'd be in the Bigs. To me that doesn't mean jockying him between Cincy and Louisville.

 
at 7:08 PM Blogger bengals8904 said...

Here's a good poll for the Enquirer...If Bailey pitches Saturday, will you go to the game? I'm already starting to look at the available tickets.

 
at 7:10 PM Blogger John Fay said...

They probably wouldn't. But Bailey and Livingston are two different prospects. The Reds got Livingston on a waiver claim. Bailey is considered one of the best pitching prospects in all of baseball.

 
at 10:03 PM Anonymous Anonymous said...

1. I was at the Bailey vs. Cleveland during spring training any I wouldn't pay to see it again (Although the home run derby was entertaining). If you want to see that just bring Coffey back up an have him start.

2. A question for Jerry Narron, Why do you keep running Stanton out there every chance you get?
a. Is it too show that that Krivsky has as much do to with the struggles as you?
b. Is it because you love the veterans and believe that they can't do any wrong?
c. Know very little about pitchers/managing a bullpen?
d. All of the above.

3. If you want to see when guys are "ready" for the big leagues please loow at www.thebaseballcube.com and look at Oswalt's AAA numbers at age 24. ERA means very little in predicting future success. (The Astros also brought Oswalt up in middle relief to get his feet wet before "throwing" him in the fire). The Reds should take note because look at what the Astros have produced "pitching" through there farm system.

 
at 10:09 PM Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wasn't Todd Van Poppel a "can't miss" prospect that was one of the best pitching prospects in baseball ever? I don't want to be a pessimist but you have got to be careful when you rush 21 year olds to the big leagues. Look at the stats and ages per level for Van Poppel:
http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/V/Todd-Van-Poppel.shtml

 
at 10:27 PM Anonymous Anonymous said...

Can somebody, anybody explain to me why, with a runner on second with 2 outs in a 2 run ballgame, the .145 3 RBI Juan Castro is called upon to pinch-hit? In what parallel universe is this guy a pinch hitter? If this is the best this crew can trot out...... If I were a manager I would rather drink bleach than have the nerve and/or option of pointing a finger to Juan Castro and asking him to grab a bat in the 7th inning of a 2 run game. If I were a player, sitting on the bench, and I saw Castro walk past me and over to the rack to pick through the lumber for his version of "Wonderboy" (wouldn't you love to see what that looks like up close?), I'd have to think to myself, "Is skip asking him to step into one? Must wanna see the tying run on first" Then, of course, to my disappointment.....

Vin Scully put it best, "a delightful fellow (Castro), but he doesn’t hit much better than you."

My question: Is there such a thing as a AAAA ball club?

 
at 11:10 PM Blogger John Fay said...

I don't know if Bailey will be the next Roy Oswalt or the next Todd Van Poppel. But I don't think he's been rushed. He's pitched almost a half season at AAA. He doesn't have a lot to prove down there. And why do the Reds have to lose?

 
at 11:52 PM Anonymous Anonymous said...

Not only is Bailey not being rushed, it is coming close to him either being coddled, not trusted, or saved for some illusory season -- just around the corner -- where the Reds are already winning or in contention, which will somehow justify his tremendous ability and arbitration clock start. I say bring him up now. He has proven himself at every level. The Reds need another good starter (forget needing a no. 5 starter -- they need another good starter if they expect to compete). Moreover, this kid needs to take his lumps during a throw-away season like this if he is going to take lumps. I expect him to stumble early. Let him do so where there isn't much on the line.

 
at 2:00 AM Anonymous Anonymous said...

All of this talk about pitching makes me wonder what the Reds got for the 4-0 Justin Germano. I can't remember...

 
at 2:51 AM Blogger John Fay said...

Germano went to Philly in the Cormier deal. The Phillies left him unprotected, I believe, and the Padres picked him up on waivers. If memory serves, he came to the Reds from the Padres in the Joe Randa deal.

 
at 7:39 AM Anonymous Anonymous said...

Your memory serves you well. He came to the Reds with Travis Chick for Joe Randa.

The way Arroyo and some of the others have been pitching inconsistently, I wish they all had the extra day's rest.

 
Post a Comment*

* Our online blogs currently are hosted and operated by a third party, namely, Blogger.com. You are now leaving the Cincinnati.Com website and will be linked to Blogger.com's registration page. The Blogger.com site and its associated services are not controlled by Cincinnati.Com and different terms of use and privacy policy will apply to your use of the Blogger.com site and services.

By proceeding and/or registering with Blogger.com you agree and understand that Cincinnati.Com is not responsible for the Blogger.com site you are about to access or for any service you may use while on the Blogger.com site. << Home


Blogs


Jim Borgman
Today at the Forum
Paul Daugherty
Politics Extra
N. Ky. Politics
Pop culture review
Cincytainment
Who's News
Television
Roller Derby Diva
Art
CinStages Buzz....
The Foodie Report
cincyMOMS
Classical music
John Fay's Reds Insider
Bengals
High school sports
NCAA
UC Sports
CiN Weekly staff
Soundcheck

Advertisement