Reds - The way I see it

[Mustang]

My assessment - For what its worth.  I am well aware that I live in the past, but by living in the past, I know what excellence in professional baseball is, and it is nowhere close to what we have in the MLB product today.  Too many teams, too many players, and a vastly watered down product.  This king has no clothes.  The only thing saving it is tradition (people living in the towns with a MLB franchise are faithful to their teams, no matter how bad or irrelevant they are), and the fact that the game is played in the summer where fans can go for a social outing.  

Despite being the Number 36 (or thereabouts) media market in the US, Cincinnati feels that because we were the first MLB team, we are owed something.  That ship has sailed. 

It starts at the top.  Teams are reflections of their coaches, and it certainly applies here.  David Bell exudes no confidence at any time, and hopes that things will work out.  Seven and eight pitcher appearances in a game is ludicrous, yet we run out different inferior pitchers each inning once the starters are relieved.  The pitching coach looks like the Michelin Man and obviously has no command of the bullpen.  There are few Lou Piniellas or Davey Johnsons out there, but that is what this team needs, a kick-butt leader very badly.   Fire a few people mid-season!!!  Shake it up.  Send a message.

Who are our championship caliber Major League players???  Jonathan India  -  great player, but a loner and not a Cincinnati kind of guy.  Not popular in the clubhouse. Trade him. NOW.  Castellanos - No Doubt,  Winker, Barnhart - But 30 Years old.  Votto is 37 years old and over the hill.  Should be in no future-state discussions.  Akiyama, Maybe, but 33 years old - No future.  Lopez and Stephenson have futures but the jury is out on them.  Suarez - We all like him.  He is a Cincinnati kind of guy.  I hope he comes out of his "failing to hit" streak.  Everybody's rooting for him, BUT right now he is the program pet.  Jury is also out on Farmer, and Naquin I guess qualifies as MLB caliber, but not championship caliber - another finger in the dike.   Freeman - 33 years old - No Future!!!

Slugs - Moustakas and Aquino - Both are dead weight.  Nowhere close to championship quality. 

Pitchers  -  Castillo, slow starter and now being victimized by the bullpen.  Must want out of Cincinnati bad.  Miley - but he is 34 year old. Leading candidate to win next year's Homer Bailey award.  Mahle is OK.  Jury is out on Gray and Gutierrez.

Counterproductive - BAD:  Brad Brach is 35 years old.  What in the hell is he doing here???  Doolittle is 34 whose best days were left in Washington behind him. Hembree is 32 and certainly not championship caliber.  Garrett needs to "rock the baby" to another profession.  Osich and Perez need to sit side by side on the next bus out of town.  Santillian - too early to say, but does not look promising.    I like Lorenzen and hope he makes it back, but who knows. 

So, with the "rebuild" gone south, and our mediocre team plagued with aging non-productive or bad non-marketable players, where does this team turn???  The only logical answer is the minor leagues which have done us few favors over the past few years.  I keep hearing about Hunter Green, but he is a first-round draft choice from years ago who is bombing out in the minors.  Expect no help from him.

Pretty gloomy outlook, but it is what it is.

Your thoughts????   

[Jack of all Trades]

You have just described virtually every team in Major League Baseball that does not have money to spend like there is no tomorrow.  By your statement each player outside of a very few you would jettison and replace them with what exactly?  
 

[theguru]

10 hours ago, Mustang said:

My assessment - For what its worth.  I am well aware that I live in the past, but by living in the past, I know what excellence in professional baseball is, and it is nowhere close to what we have in the MLB product today.  Too many teams, too many players, and a vastly watered down product.  This king has no clothes.  The only thing saving it is tradition (people living in the towns with a MLB franchise are faithful to their teams, no matter how bad or irrelevant they are), and the fact that the game is played in the summer where fans can go for a social outing.  

Despite being the Number 36 (or thereabouts) media market in the US, Cincinnati feels that because we were the first MLB team, we are owed something.  That ship has sailed. 

It starts at the top.  Teams are reflections of their coaches, and it certainly applies here.  David Bell exudes no confidence at any time, and hopes that things will work out.  Seven and eight pitcher appearances in a game is ludicrous, yet we run out different inferior pitchers each inning once the starters are relieved.  The pitching coach looks like the Michelin Man and obviously has no command of the bullpen.  There are few Lou Piniellas or Davey Johnsons out there, but that is what this team needs, a kick-butt leader very badly.   Fire a few people mid-season!!!  Shake it up.  Send a message.

Who are our championship caliber Major League players???  Jonathan India  -  great player, but a loner and not a Cincinnati kind of guy.  Not popular in the clubhouse. Trade him. NOW.  Castellanos - No Doubt,  Winker, Barnhart - But 30 Years old.  Votto is 37 years old and over the hill.  Should be in no future-state discussions.  Akiyama, Maybe, but 33 years old - No future.  Lopez and Stephenson have futures but the jury is out on them.  Suarez - We all like him.  He is a Cincinnati kind of guy.  I hope he comes out of his "failing to hit" streak.  Everybody's rooting for him, BUT right now he is the program pet.  Jury is also out on Farmer, and Naquin I guess qualifies as MLB caliber, but not championship caliber - another finger in the dike.   Freeman - 33 years old - No Future!!!

Slugs - Moustakas and Aquino - Both are dead weight.  Nowhere close to championship quality. 

Pitchers  -  Castillo, slow starter and now being victimized by the bullpen.  Must want out of Cincinnati bad.  Miley - but he is 34 year old. Leading candidate to win next year's Homer Bailey award.  Mahle is OK.  Jury is out on Gray and Gutierrez.

Counterproductive - BAD:  Brad Brach is 35 years old.  What in the hell is he doing here???  Doolittle is 34 whose best days were left in Washington behind him. Hembree is 32 and certainly not championship caliber.  Garrett needs to "rock the baby" to another profession.  Osich and Perez need to sit side by side on the next bus out of town.  Santillian - too early to say, but does not look promising.    I like Lorenzen and hope he makes it back, but who knows. 

So, with the "rebuild" gone south, and our mediocre team plagued with aging non-productive or bad non-marketable players, where does this team turn???  The only logical answer is the minor leagues which have done us few favors over the past few years.  I keep hearing about Hunter Green, but he is a first-round draft choice from years ago who is bombing out in the minors.  Expect no help from him.

Pretty gloomy outlook, but it is what it is.

Your thoughts????   

Gosh Mustang, tell us what you really think. 🙂

As another older guy that often lives in the past I agree the overall quality of MLB is not what it was back in the day and it has been that way for awhile. 

[Jack of all Trades]

Prime example of how poor the Reds organization is run, take a look at today’s roster moves.

[4 Quarters]

21 hours ago, Mustang said:

My assessment - For what its worth.  I am well aware that I live in the past, but by living in the past, I know what excellence in professional baseball is, and it is nowhere close to what we have in the MLB product today.  Too many teams, too many players, and a vastly watered down product.  This king has no clothes.  The only thing saving it is tradition (people living in the towns with a MLB franchise are faithful to their teams, no matter how bad or irrelevant they are), and the fact that the game is played in the summer where fans can go for a social outing.  

Despite being the Number 36 (or thereabouts) media market in the US, Cincinnati feels that because we were the first MLB team, we are owed something.  That ship has sailed. 

It starts at the top.  Teams are reflections of their coaches, and it certainly applies here.  David Bell exudes no confidence at any time, and hopes that things will work out.  Seven and eight pitcher appearances in a game is ludicrous, yet we run out different inferior pitchers each inning once the starters are relieved.  The pitching coach looks like the Michelin Man and obviously has no command of the bullpen.  There are few Lou Piniellas or Davey Johnsons out there, but that is what this team needs, a kick-butt leader very badly.   Fire a few people mid-season!!!  Shake it up.  Send a message.

Who are our championship caliber Major League players???  Jonathan India  -  great player, but a loner and not a Cincinnati kind of guy.  Not popular in the clubhouse. Trade him. NOW.  Castellanos - No Doubt,  Winker, Barnhart - But 30 Years old.  Votto is 37 years old and over the hill.  Should be in no future-state discussions.  Akiyama, Maybe, but 33 years old - No future.  Lopez and Stephenson have futures but the jury is out on them.  Suarez - We all like him.  He is a Cincinnati kind of guy.  I hope he comes out of his "failing to hit" streak.  Everybody's rooting for him, BUT right now he is the program pet.  Jury is also out on Farmer, and Naquin I guess qualifies as MLB caliber, but not championship caliber - another finger in the dike.   Freeman - 33 years old - No Future!!!

Slugs - Moustakas and Aquino - Both are dead weight.  Nowhere close to championship quality. 

Pitchers  -  Castillo, slow starter and now being victimized by the bullpen.  Must want out of Cincinnati bad.  Miley - but he is 34 year old. Leading candidate to win next year's Homer Bailey award.  Mahle is OK.  Jury is out on Gray and Gutierrez.

Counterproductive - BAD:  Brad Brach is 35 years old.  What in the hell is he doing here???  Doolittle is 34 whose best days were left in Washington behind him. Hembree is 32 and certainly not championship caliber.  Garrett needs to "rock the baby" to another profession.  Osich and Perez need to sit side by side on the next bus out of town.  Santillian - too early to say, but does not look promising.    I like Lorenzen and hope he makes it back, but who knows. 

So, with the "rebuild" gone south, and our mediocre team plagued with aging non-productive or bad non-marketable players, where does this team turn???  The only logical answer is the minor leagues which have done us few favors over the past few years.  I keep hearing about Hunter Green, but he is a first-round draft choice from years ago who is bombing out in the minors.  Expect no help from him.

Pretty gloomy outlook, but it is what it is.

Your thoughts????   

I would say you are pretty accurate.

[16thBBall Fan]

Suarez is just pathetic!

[16thBBall Fan]

Suarez is just pathetic!

THE WORST bullpen in the history of baseball!!

[Mustang]

Another Four Hours and Forty-Eight minutes of futility.

It is absolutely agonizing to watch new pitchers each half inning.

Reds fail to take advantage of Mets closer Diaz walking the lead-off man in the ninth inning on four consecutive pitches   Another pathetic exhibition of Major League Baseball.  Neither team deserved to win tonight.

John Sadek should never ever use the words Spectacular and Fantastic in the same sentence when describing any of these present day players.  And No, it is NOT entertaining.  It's sad.

[Voice of Reason]

The Reds have used 25 pitchers this season.

[MJAlltheWay24]

5 hours ago, Voice of Reason said:

The Reds have used 25 pitchers this season.

Outta curiosity, any idea how that compares/ranks to other teams?

[MJAlltheWay24]

I can't imagine how deflating it must feel to see your bullpen constantly blow it.

[Jack of all Trades]

8 hours ago, Voice of Reason said:

The Reds have used 25 pitchers this season.

This is a big problem.  They had to call up two guys today so that they could eat innings.  Poor use of bullpen has caused injuries to Antone and Sims.  Now they are going to 6 man rotation to spread things out even more.  Last night was a typical David Bell showing of how he tends to overthink and overmanage.  There was no reason to bring Hendrix on in that situation and it cost them the game.

[Colonels_Wear_Blue]

16 hours ago, Jack of all Trades said:

Prime example of how poor the Reds organization is run, take a look at today’s roster moves.

I read this tweet last fall, and it's echoed in my head over and over again. I can't help but agree with Lance.
 

 

[OlDog75]

10 hours ago, Mustang said:

John Sadek should never ever use the words Spectacular and Fantastic in the same sentence when describing any of these present day players.  And No, it is NOT entertaining.  It's sad.

This guy's already worn out his welcome with me.  He's sooo over the top ("it's a long drive to deep center", when actually it's a routine fly well short of warning track) and constantly brown nosing Larkin.  He explains mistakes or bonehead plays away as if it would have been superhuman to not come up with hit or make a defensive play.  He's trying WAY too hard in my opinion.  It just adds to the viewing frustration of this team's bullpen staff at times.  You want to try and support your team mates but secretly I'd be pretty frustrated if I were a player watching that staff give up lead after lead.

[REALSPORT]

I  have not followed the team as closely this year.  Your comment about India surprises me.  What's the story there?  Is he really not liked in the clubhouse?