Reds July 2023 thread

[CJD]

(07-17-2023, 11:25 AM)samhain Wrote: I'm 100% with you, but there's a silver lining if we follow the Baltimore trajectory.

This team is trying to decide whether or not to trade assets for pitching that will be needed for the pennant stretch.  

In a year or two, we may look back at this team hitting a wall in 2023 as the best thing that happened if it encourages to stick to the plan of building through the farm system.  Let the talent develop without rushing or selling off, eventually they all end up in Cincinnati.

In reality, the current staff is not a reflection of what the team will have at full strength.  There are a couple of guys like Greene, Lodolo, and About that have real top of rotation potential.  Connor Phillips could also make his way here very soon, and he's made a huge jump this season.  Rhett Lowder, the 1st round pick, is also expected to get through the system very quickly.  Like possibly 2024 quickly.  Unless the Reds are no-doubt contenders, forking over young talent is jumping the shark in many ways.

This could very soon be the rotation:

Greene
Abbott
Lodolo
Ashcraft
Phillips/Lowder

All cheap, all with big upside, and all here for a long time.

I am fully on board with the "do not buy" train.

If they could get a rental like Giolito for a relatively minor cost, say like...Lyon Richardson or Levi Stoudt and Ricardo Cabrera, I would be able to stomach that.

But CES, Marte, Arroyo, Collier, Petty, Phillips, Duno and Lowder should all be off the table.

It's hard to make deadline deals when your top 10 prospects (which, at the moment, still include EDLC and Abbott) are all unavailable, but that's the position I see us in right now.