April 8, 201016 yr It's certainly not the whole problem, but certainly a big part of it IMO. You obviously have to have the talent to be able to compete with your competition, and I think the Reds have enough of that to win the NL Central, but your manager has to put you in the best position to succeed, and Dusty doesn't do that. The Reds have no where close to enough talent to win any division, let alone the NL Central.
April 8, 201016 yr Author The Reds have no where close to enough talent to win any division, let alone the NL Central. Sure they do. The NL Central certainly doesn't have any dominant teams.
April 8, 201016 yr Sure they do. The NL Central certainly doesn't have any dominant teams. The Cardinals are heads and shoulders above the Reds in talent. So are the Cubs. The Brewers and Astros are every bit as talented, probably more so. Let's look at the Reds by position: C - Average (that's being nice) 1B - The only true stud on the team 2B - Above-Average SS - Average 3B - Average LF - Garbage CF - Below-Average RF - Average (Again, I'm being nice) Bullpen - Below-Average Starting Pitching - Average (Again, being nice) Where is all this talent you speak of? :idunno:
April 8, 201016 yr I don't see the panic? You lost to probably the 2nd best team in the NL. Got beat by the best player in baseball and faced two of the best pitchers in the game. It's two games... I just don't see the panic. Good points Ets, I think its just more of "needing" a good start psychologically. The bullpen has been the scary part thus far for me. It's pretty simple with the Reds if the guys don't hit who were expected to and our better pitchers struggle, were a 10 game below .500 team. Bronson will be a a nice test today but I agree with you it's very early.
April 8, 201016 yr Author The Cardinals are heads and shoulders above the Reds in talent. So are the Cubs. The Brewers and Astros are every bit as talented, probably more so. Let's look at the Reds by position: C - Average (that's being nice) 1B - The only true stud on the team 2B - Above-Average SS - Average 3B - Average LF - Garbage CF - Below-Average RF - Average (Again, I'm being nice) Bullpen - Below-Average Starting Pitching - Average (Again, being nice) Where is all this talent you speak of? :idunno: You saying the Reds bullpen is below average is enough evidence to show your lack of knowledge about the Reds, but I'll play your game. The Cardinals obviously win the position battle at catcher, and 1st base. I give the Reds the edge at all of the other infield positions. In the outfield Stubbs doesn't have enough ML AB's for you to rate him below average, but I believe he has the talent to put up as good as, or even better stats than Rasmus. The Reds LF is a joke, and as I mentioned earlier Dusty should be playing Francisco to see what the promising young star can do. Johnny Bench has been quoted as saying he has more potential than Prince Fielder. Jay Bruce has all of the tools, but has yet shown he can consistently produce. Pitching. -The Cards 1-2 combination of Carpenter and Wainwright is among the best in the majors. After those two there are huge question marks. Their bullpen also is questionable. T The Reds have some very promising young arms in Cueto, Bailey and Leake, with Wood and Chapman waiting in Louisville. Arroyo won 15 games last year. Harang has been awful the past two years, but I actually expect drastic improvment from him this year despite his Opening Day start. To say the Cards are heads and shoulders above the Reds simply isn't true.
April 8, 201016 yr You guys really think the manager is the problem for this team? Really, that's the problem? He's some of it but not all of it. However, if we start 2/10 or something like that Castellini and CO. will probably submit to the fans and use him as a scapegoat.
April 8, 201016 yr You saying the Reds bullpen is below average is enough evidence to show your lack of knowledge about the Reds, but I'll play your game. The Cardinals obviously win the position battle at catcher, and 1st base. I give the Reds the edge at all of the other infield positions. In the outfield Stubbs doesn't have enough ML AB's for you to rate him below average, but I believe he has the talent to put up as good as, or even better stats than Rasmus. The Reds LF is a joke, and as I mentioned earlier Dusty should be playing Francisco to see what the promising young star can do. Johnny Bench has been quoted as saying he has more potential than Prince Fielder. Jay Bruce has all of the tools, but has yet shown he can consistently produce. Pitching. -The Cards 1-2 combination of Carpenter and Wainwright is among the best in the majors. After those two there are huge question marks. Their bullpen also is questionable. T The Reds have some very promising young arms in Cueto, Bailey and Leake, with Wood and Chapman waiting in Louisville. Arroyo won 15 games last year. Harang has been awful the past two years, but I actually expect drastic improvment from him this year despite his Opening Day start. To say the Cards are heads and shoulders above the Reds simply isn't true. I don't know how you figure that unless your talking about the future but the Cards have a good farm system as well.
April 8, 201016 yr The Cardinals are heads and shoulders above the Reds in talent. So are the Cubs. The Brewers and Astros are every bit as talented, probably more so. Let's look at the Reds by position: C - Average (that's being nice) 1B - The only true stud on the team 2B - Above-Average SS - Average 3B - Average LF - Garbage CF - Below-Average RF - Average (Again, I'm being nice) Bullpen - Below-Average Starting Pitching - Average (Again, being nice) Where is all this talent you speak of? :idunno: Reds pitching was 7th in ERA last year in the NL. Hardly average or below average. Gomes/Nix combined for 35 HRs and 90+ rbi's last year. How many LFers put up better numbers? SS - not sure about the defensive prowess of the new SS but offensively his numbers are above average for a SS. My guess is Rolen will be above average overall. Defensively, he's easily in the discussion for top overall.
April 8, 201016 yr Author I don't know how you figure that unless your talking about the future but the Cards have a good farm system as well. Did you not read my post?
April 8, 201016 yr That isn't all of it. However, he's the one that set up the pitching rotation and insists on playing Nix and Dickerson instead of Stubbs and Francisco. He's the one that hits Phillips in the cleanup spot. They aren't a great team but his decisions certainly don't help. He did that 1 game so far.
April 8, 201016 yr So far it shows that our bullpen needs work. I'm not going to put too much complaint and thought into these first two games offensively. Wainwright and Carpenter are arguably 2 of the top 5 pitchers in the NL. Let's win this next game, try not to get swept and go into our series with the Cubbies with a little momentum. Penny isn't a 'gimme' game by any means either. Arroyo needs to put up gem this afternoon.
April 8, 201016 yr Author How many games do you believe each team will win? How many do I think they will win, or how many do I think they are capable of winning?
April 8, 201016 yr Author So far it shows that our bullpen needs work. I'm not going to put too much complaint and thought into these first two games offensively. Wainwright and Carpenter are arguably 2 of the top 5 pitchers in the NL. Let's win this next game, try not to get swept and go into our series with the Cubbies with a little momentum. Penny isn't a 'gimme' game by any means either. Arroyo needs to put up gem this afternoon. Penny has a great arm, but has been terrible inconsistent. If Duncan works his magic on him then the Cards could have a huge pick up for this year.
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