How long will it take...

[kevin]

(09-08-2015, 02:19 PM)fredtoast Wrote: 2016

CF...Hamilton
3B...Suarez
1B...Votto*
LF...Frazier
RF...Bruce*
C.....Mesoraco
SS...Cozart
2B...Phillips


SP...Bailey
SP...Iglasias
SP...DeScalfani
SP...Cingrani*
SP...Lamb

RP...Chapman*
RP...Parra*
RP...Finnegan*
RP...Hoover
RP...Lorenzen
RP...Diaz
RP...LeCure

I would bet money this is not the 2016 roster.....Changes are a comin'.........and yes, doctors say Mesoraco may not be able to be a catcher anymore, unable to squat all game, game after game of a 162 game season, due to the injury and surgery. ....If he can't catch, either a trade to AL as DH or first base because Reds decided trying him in left didn't work.  Most catchers can play first. ....Oh, we have Votto, and we have his extra huge salary. It would be great to get out from under that salary.....I like Phillips, but he may not be considered the future in a rebuilding mode....Bruce had a rough year, and he gets a big pay check....I see this has All-Star third baseman Frazier in left so we can get Cozart and Suarez both in the line-up, and that makes little sense to me in the long range plans. I would leave the All-Star at third and one of these shortstops would be gone, unless one S.S. can be a Super Sub at many positions for a low price tag. .....and the manager has not done much to deserve being back.....

If this is the team in 2016, the Reds will be in last place again in 2016......Changes are needed to avoid another last place finish and start this team in the right direction.  Just as we had to get rid of Griffey Jr and Larkin retire and get rid of Casey and Dunn and EE and other Fan Favorites to get out of last place and have money to rebuild into a play-off team.  The Reds can't stand pat...after the World Series and before New Years Eve, the Reds need to swing some moves. Votto is batting around .300  ( without the 40 homer power of MVP year ), and some team may be interested in his .300 BA......if so, trade him. ....We had to get rid of fan favorites to get back in the play-offs, and it's time to dump payroll again and rebuild to get back in the play-offs in the future, whenever that is.

I would like to say play-offs in 2016, but going from last to first is tough....and they won't go from last to first rolling out the same team that experts were correct in predicting last place in 2015. ....and you can bet the owner and GM want to make some moves, unless the owner dumps the GM also as one of his moves.....but I think changes are coming. Cueto and Leake was just the start of the purge and player moves. 

I will say, the longer this small market team stays with some of these high priced players in last place, the longer this team will delay the rebuilding back to play-offs. So when do the Reds get back to the play-offs, that begins with the owner, and I like the owner. He does a lot of things right and I look for him to trade and free agent and draft pick his way back to the top in as short of years as it takes.....Remember the old baseball saying : If we can finish in last place with you, we can finish no worse than last place without you. ......As a Reds Fan, I don't want the 2015 Reds back in 2016, these guys are awful. Some players are young and have a future, but these veterans need to go, taking their last place play elsewhere so Reds can free up payroll and rebuild. In spite of Homer Bailey 2 no hitters, his career has been up and down, a lot of down. ....Reds need to trade and player move because experts predicted last place for Reds before the injuries, and sad to say the experts were right. We can not bring pretty much the same last place players all back, and expect anything but last place and delaying rebuilding one more year.

For manager, I would make Reds third base coach that use to manage Washington the manager...or give Barry Larkin or Eric Davis a chance...but I would not bring Price back, who has finished around last in his 2 years as manager. Poor Tony Perez only got a few weeks as a manager before getting fired. Price has had his chance here. The team can't bunt, can't run the bases, can't hit the cut off man, and that's poor managing....Sparky Anderson managed 4 pennant winners in 4 years in the minors before he was hired as Reds manager, so is there anybody that has won a lot in the minors lately ???? Somebody to eliminate all the bonehead plays. You lay down the bunts and hit the cut off man, and it's amazing how you cut down on giving away ball games.