That would be beyond dumb IMO.

 

And when you say chatter, are you meaning Joe Schmo in the stands who thinks he knows everything about everything or actual Reds personnel?

 

Taking stress off the legs of one of your better HR guys and extending his career isn't dumb, IMO. Reds continue to talk about Barnhart being major league ready. If so, and Votto can't go, why not make the move? Everything I've heard and read is that the experts think Barnhart is/will be a better hitter than Pena.

Mesoraco is fine catching, he knows the pitching staff and should be the one catching them. If you want to move him to left next year then OK. But to move Meso anywhere but catcher is stupid. Now if he has to fill in at 1B for a few games then that's fine.

Taking stress off the legs of one of your better HR guys and extending his career isn't dumb, IMO. Reds continue to talk about Barnhart being major league ready. If so, and Votto can't go, why not make the move? Everything I've heard and read is that the experts think Barnhart is/will be a better hitter than Pena.

 

Barnhart is terrible. You'd be weakening the C spot, and you'd be weakening 1B defensively. You want to try and move Meso in the off-season, that's one thing. To try and do it in the middle of a pennant race is beyond ridiculous.

UKMF, defensively it may be an upgrade. I know he struggled the other night but he did win a minor league Gold Glove, and he has a cannon. Pitching and offense would struggle more though.

UKMF, defensively it may be an upgrade. I know he struggled the other night but he did win a minor league Gold Glove, and he has a cannon. Pitching and offense would struggle more though.

 

I was saying weakening 1st defensively. No clue about his defense, though I know Meso has been pretty darn good behind the plate.

Barnhart is terrible. You'd be weakening the C spot, and you'd be weakening 1B defensively. You want to try and move Meso in the off-season, that's one thing. To try and do it in the middle of a pennant race is beyond ridiculous.

 

Barnhart may not be Mesoraco, but he's not terrible. Clearly. I'm speculating here, but I'd guess Reds development staff didn't promote him to AAA and beyond because they just thought him to be a nice guy but a sub par catcher. The Reds have put a pretty good product together, so I think they know what they're doing.

 

Moving Meso to anywhere but first would need to be done in the off season. 1st, he could be moved to and fill in right away. However, I'd try other options before doing it. Meso knows his pitching staff, and he's a wall. Barnhart would be a step down from him behind the plate which is a more critical defensive spot than 1st.

I think part of the problem with the Reds healthcare team is they always "spin" injuries and surgeries as "successful and should be back throwing (hitting) (running) in 10 days" instead of saying "well it was surgery and it may be 15 days but it could very well be 30 days and even then Player A might not be 100%".

 

Or maybe they aren't getting them back when they should either.

 

I have no idea how good the medical staff is. I've heard glowing reviews on Kremcheck from a few people that have worked on him. All I know is besides Bruce all the guys that get hurt seem to either re-injure themselves (Votto, Cueto), or take far longer to come back than anyone predicted. Some never come back seemingly.

Just curious. All this talk of Meso at 1st sounds good and great but they have just a little bit of money tied into a certain 1st baseman who no one will take right now due to his injuries. Votto is the 1b for the foreseeable future and me so is the catcher. Period.

^ We are talking about in the event Votto is hurt (like now) and to keep Meso's bat in the lineup more but give him relief from catching from time to time.