Reds September Game Thread

[CJD]

This is our 5th 90+ loss season in the last 8 seasons.

I really hope next season sees a lot of stars graduating to the majors and making an immediate impact (hopefully, a Julio Rodriguez level impact).

Because if not, I feel like we're going to be facing another 80 to 90 loss season, even if Lodolo, Greene and Ashcraft making strides.

This offense is just...bereft of talent right now.

Barrero is playing incredibly poorly, as is Aquino (although he's playing better recently, so maybe there's hope that he can develop into a 4th fielder?).

Lopez is decent at getting on base but has very little pop in his bat.

Fraley had a hot streak coming off of the IL and he is having a career year, but I'm skeptical as to whether this is real or just a stat line propped up by a really good 2 month stretch.

Solano is not a long term piece of this team, Farmer likely isn't either.

We have a few young guys like Friedl, Fairchild and Steer who showed potential in some games, but they will need to continue to develop to be full time starters when this team competes again. And, not to be a pessimist, but I feel like Fridl and Fairchild's ceiling is an average starter for a few seasons, whereas their most likely result is a reliable 4th outfielder or a player that bounces between AAA and MLB based on injuries. I don't see either of them as viable every day above average starters (although I'm happy to be proven wrong). At least not on a good team.

Then I don't know what to make of Senzel. Is he a bust? Because he sure seems like he is at this point.

And then India is having a down year dealing with some injuries. Hopefully, he, Votto and Stephenson come back healthy and ready to improve this offense. Because it can be painful to watch.

Without Stephenson, we have a cavernous hole at catcher. I had no idea it was so difficult to find a catcher that could hit above the Mendoza line. I wish we had a gold glove level backup catcher who could hit in the mid .230s to .240s right about now. It's a shame, those players don't come around often...

Basically, if we get down more than 2 runs, I'm essentially considering that game over, because we just don't have the horses to score more than a few runs per game (we haven't scored more than 3 runs in a game since September 21st, and are averaging 3.07 runs per game since the beginning of September).

I'm trying to stay optimistic about this team's future, because we do have a lot of really exciting prospects, but it's hard. Prospects are just prospects until they actually prove something in the majors and we're going to have to basically rebuild this team from the ground up relying on the majority of these prospects to hit (and hit big).

Here's hoping for a more promising 2023.