Reds Insider: Dr. Soto in the house

Friday, May 2, 2008

Dr. Soto in the house

Mario Soto is here in Atlanta to work with Johnny Cueto. At least, I saw him in the hotel lobby. If he's not here to work with Cueto, that would be a bizarre coincidence, eh? Good move by the Reds.

I hear a lot of talk that the Reds need to youth movement.

Other than inserting Jay Bruce in center field, there's not a lot they can do. Is Bruce ready? Maybe. But 25 strikeouts in 101 at-bats and .324 on-base percentage tell me another month in Triple-A won't hurt.

I'd have Homer Bailey up here -- maybe in relief -- some time soon. But other than those two I don't see anyone who can make any kind of impact.

Other than Junior Griffey the Reds don't play anyone very old. Average age of the infield is 26.

48 Comments:

at 1:23 PM

doomgoblin said...

the two-headed left-handed elephant in the room right now is the griffey-dunn combo. they're stars, and i'd never advocate dumping them, or benching them, or anything else crazy like that.

but it seems like people keep scratching their heads and wondering 'what's going on with this offense?' They pour over arcane stats, looking for something off in some bench player's BABIP, or our situational hitting in the 4th with one out and men on the corners.

To me it's staring us in the face. Dunn is slugging .400, Griffey is slugging .416. They should both be over .500, easily over .500. That's where run production comes from. That's Dusty's whole thing about base-clogging, though i think it's terrible terminology. OBP is only half of the equation, someone has to slug to get them in, and that someone usually hits in the middle of the lineup.

The manager/GM can't swing the sticks for them. I don't think we need a youth movement anymore than we already have, though bruce and bailey could help at some point. What we need is for Dunn and Griff to hit.

Think about it, what would happen to the cubs if D Lee (.667) and A Ramirez (.538) decided to slug like M Fontinot (.409) and C Zambrano (.421). Well, they'd be like the reds. and god it's sad that our corner outfielders are both getting out-slugged by a pitcher.

at 1:26 PM

Unknown said...

Can we get Dr. Griffey Senior to come fix Junior's passion for the game?

Dunn is hopeless!

at 1:30 PM

Red Faced said...

John, I don't know if it's so much of a youth movement that's needed as much as it is an "out with the old and in with the new". Some of these guys who have been on this team for 5 years or more and have been a big part of losing teams appear to be the same ones who are holding this team down now with their lack of production and lack of leadership skills.

I realize it's easy to say Griffey and Dunn both need to be moved but then who do we put in their place? Bruce would be a likely candidate for one of them but that's likely all we have in the farm system ready to contribute. It's difficult to bring up Bruce with both Dunn and Griffey still with the Reds. For one he'd be forced to play Center which is not where the team would like to have him. Secondly Bruce is another left-handed bat so he makes our already left-hand heavy lineup even more so (which is one reason I hated the Patterson pickup from the start - even before I heard how much the Reds were paying him). So the only solution I see is this: Try to trade Griffey, it's not impossible he just has to approve the trade. We don't really need much in return just try to move his salary and buyout for next year and open up a spot for Bruce. Keep Dunn and hope he starts to hit the ball again. The team can evaluate Dunn by the trade deadline, see what's being offered for him if anything and decide then whether to keep him or not. Even if the team keeps him this year we don't have to resign him in the off season and can spend the money we've saved on a run producing right-handed outfielder.

Freel and Hopper should see more PT in CF but they are only short-term options and the team NEEDS to desparately find a true leadoff hitter who can play outfield and NO Patterson is not it. Never was and Never will be.

at 1:32 PM

NVreds said...

"But 25 strikeouts in 101 at-bats and .324 on-base percentage tell me another month in Triple-A won't hurt."

Yes john, come over to the dark side.

keep bruce in AAA!!!! lose the super 2 status meaning more likely to keep bruce at a discount for an extra year. he wont turn around this lineup, how's longoria doing?? anyone else close to him doing any better in the majors, Oh wait I got one....joey votto. He was brought along slowly. the fans and castillini rushed bailey how'd that turn out? (by the way, anyone who thinks a 21/22yr old fireballer has NO chance for success, is not very smart).

Have some patience reds fans, its for the best. "valuable expierience"??? screw that argument, whatever he can learn on a winning AAA team cant be any worse than a basement-bottom feeding mlb team. he will be here soon, and you will look back at this day and laugh.

Put april behind us with a win today, this team needs to just relax and play some hard ball.

at 1:34 PM

r m largent said...

Sounds like a youth movement to me if you make a full commitment by adding Homer and Bruce to your 25 man roster and hang with Cueto for the time-being. Might as well go all-in. I think that's what 'fans' mean by a youth movement. People are tired of Dunn and some of the other retreads, and respect Griff for a HOF career, but it's time to move on into another era here. Change up the culture of the clubhouse, to use a cliche.

at 1:36 PM

Anonymous said...

I agree, John. This team is already pretty young, but maybe trading Junior to Seattle (once he's passed 600) and bringing up Bruce would be a good idea. Also, we need some younger catchers. Makes you wish they'd drafted a college catcher last year, instead of an 18 year old.

at 1:37 PM

Unknown said...

Glad to see Mario come to town, hopefully he can get Johnny on the right track.
I agree 100% with you on Bruce, however, i will bet money someone on here will say... at least he's still hitting .307 with 21 RBI.. "get him up here"... it makes no sense, especially financially. my opinion, we'll see him soon enough.
I don't think bring bailey up as a reliever would be good, if anything, see how belisle does tomorrow ... if he's back to the belisle of old, send him to the BP and put Bailey in his spot... but we'll see how it unfolds.

at 1:58 PM

NVreds said...

I heard texas was looking for pitching.

John, do you think the rangers would consider a deal of cueto for hamilton? I know he's injury prone (90 games his rookie yr, and only 29 this yr) but I think his bat could help us in our vacant CF spot and instantly win us 50 games. any thoughts?

at 1:59 PM

J-Joh said...

The reds need to fire Dick Pole and hire Mario Soto to be the full time pitching coach... Comments???

at 2:01 PM

Unknown said...

lose dunn and griffey. bring up bruce to play right. put keppinger in left. bring up janish to play shortstop until gonzo comes back, then platoon them. get rid of patterson and platoon freel/hopper in cf/leadoff.

at 2:08 PM

Mr. Doom and Gloom said...

i say keep bruce and bailey in AAA at least through memorial day so i get a chance to see them in the series in columbus vs. the clippers.

obp + slugging is where's it's at...the truest metric for predicting runs scored. anyone know where the reds rank in team ops? my guess is it's near the bottom of the nl.

let's try this one dusty...

kepp
dunn
ee
votto
BP
Jr
CF
C
P

high OBP on top, sluggers behind them, the runs would flow like water i say !!!

...but can you imagine the tantrum griffey would throw if dropped to 6th in the order?

at 2:08 PM

Rob said...

Any word on a permanent position in the States with Soto? Or is he too valuable in the DR to vacate his post there? Seems like he works well with the pitchers- especially Cueto and Volquez.

at 2:11 PM

Jaybee said...

It's a question you can't answer because you're damned if you do and damned if you don't. Someone else hit the nail on the head - the hitters aren't hitting. Period. If Griffey, Phillips, and Dunn were hitting when there are runners on the bases you would have had no need to even bring this up. It's not so much a matter of moving players, it's a matter of getting players to start doing the jobs they are getting paid to do.

at 2:17 PM

redfuture said...

They may not have anyone else to move up just yet but they do have some guys who need to move up one classification at least. Chris Valaika has been on fire all year at Sarasota .388 6HRs 27RBI 1.014OPS. He's a shortstop but that kind of production might make a good right-handed outfielder. He needs to move to Chattanooga and if he keeps 80% of those numbers after a month, move him to Louisville. Stubbs and Turner are nearly as hot without the power, but Stubbs has 13 SBs. Move them up as well. Daryl Tompson, 0.57ERA and 36/4 K/BB ratio needs to move up to Louisville also. Bruce must spend at least the last half of the year with the Reds to get him ready to carry the load next year with Grif & Dunn both gone.

at 2:18 PM

JackBlueAsh said...

who does it matter that we put in place rather than Griffey and Dunn..How are we doing with them? How have we done with them?

Team needs to be blown up

at 2:20 PM

Unknown said...

If I were the Reds I'd keep Bruce as far away from Dunn and Jr as possible... especially with the lack of PT Freel is getting and the proverbial shaft Hopper has gotten. Bruce needs to be here no earlier than July regardless of how well he's doing just because the clubhouse in Cincy is probably the last place JB needs to be right now. No amount of karaoke nights are gonna help this team gel right now...

As far as Mr Bailey? I don't see where it hurts a thing that he is in LOU, how many more RH rookie pitchers can you run out there every other game? Every SP on the team is RH and Bailey, Cueto, and Volq are all similar pitchers to go with Harang - all fireballers who are gonna get lambasted because there is no LH starters nor any other SP (besides Sideshow Arroyo) who represents a different approach. Think about it... HB, JC, and EV are gonna get hit hard when NL hitters start catching up to those fastballs. When they do, then you're looking at 3 rookie pitchers who are gonna try to adjust and likely develop control issues.

The best place for Bailey if you're gonna have him on the team right now is out of the BP, but who do you drop? Again, we're looking at anywhere from mid-June/July before we start seeing some of these youngsters. The best course of action is to let Belisle/Fogg have a go at it and hope that they do well enough that other teams will take notice and start asking... lots of teams will be needing some pitching help and you want to be able to clear up some of the roster space by trades and get some possible return before out-right reassignment.

at 2:28 PM

docproc said...

I would hate to see Homer put in the bullpen up here. He's been groomed as a starter--let's keep him that way. Let him come up when the powers that be finally acknowledge that Fogg and Belisle are not the answer for the #5 slot.

I hope that's soon.

at 2:30 PM

omnired said...

Connecting to a comment from the earlier thread of comments, I saw Bruce play in Indianapolis last week, too, and I didn't see him have any issues fielding the ball in CF.

at 2:32 PM

Another losing season said...

Also glad to see Mario helping Cueto. Hopefully he packed his psychology skills. Cueto really is hard on himself.

Reds are ranked 24th on ESPN's MLB Roster Analysis page with respect to age. The difference between first(Florida) and last(Houston) is 3.4 years.

Why wait until Griffey hits 600. Does that have any impact on the team? Doesn't look like fans are streaming into the ballpark anyway. Start talking to other teams now.

I am confused as to why many feel it is a foregone conclusion that Bruce is going to fail if brought up now? I'd make a stronger argument that their intentions would be to not infect him by keeping him away from the old regime. That sort of thinking I can get behind.

at 2:38 PM

Johnnie Flea said...

at 2:50 PM

LongTimeRedsFan said...

Why should we wait till Griffey hits #600 to trade him? Does anyone really care? The only way it helps ticket sales is if he drags it out till the last game of a couple more home series, and how many more games do we lose before then? Why should the fans care? It's not like he does. When asked about it, he never says "I want to hit it in Cincy for the fans". He simply says things like, "it'll come when it comes". So I agree. Trade him back to Seattle now. Take whatever we can get and move forward. Maybe not having his "I'm bigger than this team" attitude around will get things going. Dunn is still young enough that whatever Griffey has rubbed off on him might still be changed. But, again, I agree. If he can't start producing, move him somewhere, too. But regardless of all this, I still think Dusty is not the right manager for this team. I might have missed it, but did WK have any post-firing comments about the choice of Dusty in his interviews? Maybe someone should go back and ask just who's choice Dusty was.

at 2:51 PM

Unknown said...

Is Griffey's ego really that big where he can't bat anywhere but 3rd? If he goes to an American League team next year does he really think he will be batting third?

at 2:52 PM

Bob Loblaw said...

Griffey and Dunn have been terrible so far this year. They're not hitting right now. That's why we're not winning.
As far as the last 7 years go, Griffey and Dunn were the only bright spots on an otherwise poor team. Our starting pitching and bullpen have been horrible for years. Therefore, the logic of we haven't won because they're on the team this year and have been on the team the last 7 years doesn't make any sense at all.

at 2:52 PM

Anonymous said...

i see a few things the reds should consider doing.

1st is trading away adam dunn to the padres. the reds could ask for clay meredith to bolster the pen even more. kevin kouzmanouff and move him or ee to left field as he brings us another power bat from the right side and another prospect or 2.

2. trade griffey back to seattle and see if they would give up balentine for him.

3. call up jay bruce and homer bailey.

4. release josh fogg and corey patterson.

5. promote drew stubbs , daryll thompson and valiaka to aaa to see what they can do there in hopes for a september call up.

6. see what it would take to get bengi molina in a reds uniform

lineup as follows

1. keppinger ss
2. votto 1b
3. phillips 2b
4. bruce rf
5. ee lf
6. kouzmanouff 3b
7. balentin cf
8. molina c
9. pitcher

rotation

1. harang
2. volquez
3. arroyo
4. cueto
5. bailey

pen

1. coco
2. affeldt
3. burton
4. bray
5. lincoln
6. weathers
7. merker or release merker because we have 2 lefties already and no need for a 3rd and bring up roenicke or either thompson and put him in the pen to start with

at 2:57 PM

Bob Loblaw said...

All the young pitchers are right handed, and throw hard, but that doesn't mean they're the same pitcher.
Volquez has an unbelievable changeup, which is his out pitch. Harang has that hard biting curve/slider that is his out pitch. Cueto's out pitch is yet to be determined. Point is, just because they're right handed and throw hard doesn't mean hitters can sit on certain pitches anymore than others.

at 3:03 PM

Ron said...

Griffey and Dunn don't clog the basepaths, they clog the batting order. They each hold a position in the batting order that is best filled by someone else. Phillips is better suited to batting 3rd then Griffey is now. It allows a move to place Hopper or Freel in the lead off spot with one responsibility, get on base and start running. Keppinger and Phillips follow with the ability to move the runner and drive in the run without hitting it out of the park. Encarnacion moves into the 4 slot and a left handed starter has got a lot to worry about at the top of the order. Votto moves to 5th. Hairston bats 6th, Bruce bats 7th, and the catcher 8th. The team has an entirely new make-up - 7 of 8 starters can run; the team can manufacture runs rather than waiting for the big inning. The outfield is upgraded defensively and pitchers can be more aggressive. Opposing pitchers have to be more concerned with any runner that occupies a base. That's not a youth movement, that's a movement to change the way the game is played. It changes the leadership for the team.

at 3:13 PM

Unknown said...

The entire makeup and personality of this lineup is in need of a drastic change. This is essentially the same lineup that hasn't produced a winning season in 7 years. Let's dump Griffey and Dunn, once Bruce is ready. Griffey still needs to hit 600 and Dunn's contract states we need to wait until after June 15th, then let the barn doors open and be rid of everyone except Phillips, Votto and Keppinger and maybe Encarnacion. I would like to see a Laird, Saltalamacchia or Jeff Clement behind the plate. Let's keep Bako and rid ourselves of Ross. Valentin can still be our pinch hitter. Votto and Encarnacion need to be hitting third and fourth respectively. Their slugging percentages dictate that.

at 3:17 PM

Anonymous said...

Hopefully Griffey does get traded because I'm tired of seeing him be used as the scapegoat season after season by some of you guys. It's funny how some of you keep bringing up his injuries from 5 years ago. This organization will continue to fail without quality pitching, we have Harang and Volquez pitching well and that's it. The only player that needs to go is Dunn, his offense and defense is not good.

Sorry to sound negative but the truth is this team will not succeed when it keeps making the same moves every year which is signing mediocre players and expecting them to perform great here or developing players out of the farm system then once they get good letting them go because we don't want to pay them what they deserve. The Reds small market baseball strategy will continue to fail.

at 3:20 PM

Brick said...

J-Joh 1:59: Not a bad idea to bring Soto in full time. He's obviously a good influence on the young pitchers.

at 3:22 PM

Cheviot Sports Authority said...

Dunn, Griffey, Freel, Hatteberg, Ross, Valentin, Patterson, Hairston, Gonzalez all out of here. Probably take all season, but what else can you do? As I said before, there is nothing at AAA that will help us, with the possible exception of Jay Bruce. Might as well get his feet wet now. You won't get much for the above mentioned overpaid non producers but with the $35 mil or so that you unload you should be able to sign a player or two who actually can produce and has a winning attitude.

Still another pathetic losing season for the Reds. Disgust with this team is about to turn to complete apathy and that is going to be even harder to fix.
ST CSA

at 3:26 PM

Unknown said...

Josh Hamilton is not going to instantly win the Reds 50 games. Cueto for Hamilton would be crazy. The Reds would not do that deal. First off, the Reds traded Hamilton to Texas. There were a few reasons for that. 1) Reds brass aren't sure he can stay healthy 2) He was a distraction in the clubhouse.

Sure the guy is hitting like crazy right now, but the Reds need a righty outfielder. Not a lefty.

Also, the Rangers have a worse record than the Reds. So Hamilton isn't winning them many games.

at 3:33 PM

JackBlueAsh said...

A large problem I see is that Griffey Jr. is no longer a #3 lineup hitter. Based on this year so far, I would bat Patterson/Hairston #1, Keppinger #2, Phillips #3, Votto #4, Encarnacion #5, Junior #6, Bako #7, Dunn #8, and Pitcher #9. I'm not sure if it's vanity or pride, but Junior isn't productive enough, either via SLG% or OBP% to justify the 3 hole.

this lineup has been changed, revised, changed and revised ten dozen times in the past three years..It does not work with Griffey ,Dunn, Hairston, Patterson

Jr needs to be a DH .. Personally, I think Dunn is almost finished in the majors

at 4:12 PM

Gunner said...

I really think this is going to turn out to be a lost year. Jr is an aging vet that can no longer play in the OF at an efficient level. I love the guy, I really do and if the NL had the DH, I wouldnt mind him being on the team. Dunn, is just awful at the plate right now. I have never seen him look so unsure between pitches and it looks like he is pressing which is never good for a batter. A change of scenery could do him a world of good. I'd look around the AL for a RH bat with some Pop that excels in hitting Lefties and can play a decent OF to trade Adam to. I wish we had traded him to Texas vice Hamilton ... I wonder if they would have been interested? In '09 ... we can be rid of Dunn & Jr's salaries ... so its best to let Bruce work on shortning his swing and work the count better @ AAA ... another full year there for Bailey too wont hurt ... and give us a really great rotation next year.

at 4:33 PM

ST fan said...

I bet Baker never dreamed Dunn and Jr would be so hard to handle when he signed on with REDS. If those two don't start playing to win by June 1, Joketty needs to start looking for best deals for each. (maybe Jr is worth more now BEFORE he gets 600th? Who in Cincinnati gives a hoot about seeing him stand at home watching it go out?)

at 4:42 PM

Red Faced said...

It's very difficult to argue with some of the suggestions of moving Junior down in the lineup. This is at least one thing that Dusty should do for the "good of the team". Whether Jr likes it or not, he's not producing in the 3 hole and does not deserve to be there.

at 4:43 PM

Gunner said...

I agree Flea, Jr nor Dunn are producing like the lineup needs. The problem with that is outside of those two, we dont have a true #3 or 4 hitter. Kepp is perfect at #2. Phillips is not a good #3 or 4 hitter to me as he is too aggressive. He also tries to do too much when put in a power spot in the order and he really isnt a power hitter in the typical sense. He is much better off batting 6th. EE is a little more selective and would be an acceptable #4 hitter since he has tendancies to have clutch ABs. But he too isnt a true #4 hitter either. I think Bruce will eventually be a perfect #4 hitter. He will K a lot but also hit for average and power. I think Votto shold be our #3 hitter. He is patient, hits for average, power & can hit lefties pretty well. He & Bruce will make a great 3-4 hole combo. And by they way, Bruce is hitting lefties @ AAA at a .370 clip ... so he is no slouch against them either.

at 4:47 PM

J-Joh said...

What's more important. The Reds or our developemnt in the DR. Soto has been great for all our pitchers in Spring training every since he's been coming. John, has any Reds manager or front office ever offered the pitching coach job to Dr. Soto??????

at 5:09 PM

Anonymous said...

The problem is with Baker and his inability to put together a sensible line up. Philips should not be hitting clean up. If he's going to be perceived as the kind of player that Joe Morgan was (speed and power), he should either be leading off or hitting third, the way Morgan was. Keppinger or Votto would be the best bets for hitting second. I'd probably give Keppinger the edge because he's a slap hitter who can hit to all fields even if he has no power. Power is not a requirement for a #2 hitter.
This thing about breaking up the lefthanders is overrated. Dunn's average is low because he was getting pitched around at the beginning of the year when Encarnacion wasn't hitting. Dunn needs to be the clean up man with Griffey at number 5 to protect him. Griffey doesn't strike out at the same rate Dunn does. Pitchers would likely pitch to Dunn rather than walk him to get to Griffey.
However, I will say, if they do have Dunn Followed by Griffey, they need a hitting coach who will tell them how to hit out of the left-side shift.

And I've been saying since last year Dick Pole needs to be replaced as soon as possible. In 06 with Hume and Ruhle as pitching coaches, the Reds were 7th in the league with a 4.51 ERA. Last year with Pole, they were at 4.94 and tied for last. Shouldn't a stat like that speak for itself?

at 6:02 PM

JackBlueAsh said...

with a record of 72-90..I think the players last year should have been more concerned as to what transpired on the field rather than the attention J Hamilton was getting.. Josh Hamilton was the only bright spot last year

Baker has tried every lineup imaginable..as did his predecessors.. These players just aint that good..it does not matter where ya put em

at 6:58 PM

Cheviot Sports Authority said...

"These players just aint that good..it does not matter where ya put em"
Sums it up real good.

Question for the stat boys (I am one of the lazy fans, I ain't lookin it up). What are Griffey's numbers for Aug, Sept of 07 and April of 08. That would constitute a half of a season.
St CSA

at 7:53 PM

NVreds said...

"Josh Hamilton is not going to instantly win the Reds 50 games. Cueto for Hamilton would be crazy. The Reds would not do that deal."

I was joking, that would be a stupid trade. lol.

at 8:00 PM

NVreds said...

griffey needed to go last yr at the deadline, I said it then, and I say it now. He would be an alright LF for us, problem is for that to be worth it he would need to move to fifth at the highest in the order. He wouldnt do it.

Its pathetic the reds are that desperate for ticket sales to keep a player for a milestone HR that he probably wont hit at GABP anyway.

Does making another ID to agree with myself help convince people I'm right? no. we should all realize that.

at 9:08 PM

Unknown said...

Doom & Gloom and Gunner. You guys are dead on. To the rest of you, Phillips is not a 3rd or 4th hitter. The most feared hitter in the Reds lineup is Dunn, and Phillips can't get it going with Dunn behind him. On most days, a right hander faces the Reds, and Phillips struggles mightily against them and has no power against them. That makes him a #2 if he can stop swinging for the fences.

at 9:11 PM

Unknown said...

Anothing thing on Bruce. .307/.324 against minor league pitching doesn't exactly translate into a whole bunch in the majors. He's not ready.

at 9:30 PM

sabr_blogger said...

Why do so many of you assume that Dunn and Griffey are off to slow starts because of some character issue? I hear "they have a losing attitude" or "they don't want to do well", over and over here. Are you really that clueless about the randomness that is inherent in performance on the baseball field? A player can have a winning attitude, he can want very badly to do well, believe in truth justice and the American way (tm) and he can hit the ball really hard... and it can still go straight into the third baseman's glove. Throw in an extra six of those during the first 100 ABs, and suddenly the guy is hitting .210 instead of .270. If the ball goes two feet to the right, he's hitting his normal BA and you guys aren't commenting about his "losing attitude".

It would still make sense to move one of them (Dunn to SD for Michael Barrett and something makes sense to me), given Bruce's near readiness. But I'm really sick of the naivete here when it comes to baseball. It's a game of inches, and sometimes these players are just a few inches away here and there from being perfectly decent human beings (in your eyes). Learn something about normal statistical variation before you assume it's something in their personalities.

at 9:37 PM

sabr_blogger said...

And by the way, according to Baseball Prospectus, if Bruce had come up to start the season, his mean projection was that he would hit .270 with 30 dingers in 650 PAs. So basically he was ready to replace Griffey's bat.

You might want to knock down his projection a tad for his cold spring (info that didn't go into that PECOTA forecast), and certainly waiting a couple months to make sure he's not a super-two player will help the team down the line. So, it's not insane to keep him down there a bit longer. But he would hold his own now.

at 9:59 PM

Dave said...

Agree with consensus that Griffey/Dunn isn't/won't work BUT>> how do you unload them >> who really wants old, out-of-shape, slow, decent hitting "Super-Stars"?

Hopefully, someone in the American League.

at 12:08 AM

Scott Evans said...

People spend way to much time playing baseball on XBOX/PS2 and fantasy baseball. Trades are not that easy to complete, especially when based on the premise from the whining Reds fans a point of weakness. If Dunn & Griffey are the reasons why the Reds are losing, as stated here, and are such selfish players, again as stated here, why would any team want to trade for them?

I'm a Griffey fan and he has been overly critisized since he got here with jerk Reds so called fans booing on multiple occasions when he got injured. Its the same story today. That said, some critisisms are fair, such as him hitting in the 3 hole, and he is strugling at the plate right now (though earlier in the season was hitting well). Just remember 3 weeks ago the calls were to trade Edwin or send him down when he was strugling. Looking at the lineup I'd bench Patterson, and would move Dunn to 6th or 7th in the lineup.

Also remember the Rockies were nearly as bad as the Reds last year at this time and only made the playoffs due to an unbelievable run late in the season. There are still a lot of games left to play so while the current streak sucks its still early.

Also pricing is out of line for this market's current condition. Reds are breaking basic economic rules, demand is low, supply is high, prices are extremely high. Lowering of ticket prices in areas that are below 80% capacity need to be lowered and merchandise is unbelievably high. The Reds need to realize they are competing with Dicks, Value City, and Wal-Mart, and not base the market conditions only against the monopoly known as MLB. In other words, just because St. Louis can sell a hat for 40 bucks doesn't mean you can do so successfully in Cincinnati.

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Friday, May 2, 2008

Dr. Soto in the house

48 Comments: