07-26-2015, 12:34 PM
(07-25-2015, 10:38 PM)fredtoast Wrote: It would be crazy to trade both Votto and Bruce. Especially in order to keep a guy who just plays 60-70 innings a year.
Trade Chapman.
That is what closers do. They pitch 60 to 70 innings in the 9th inning to get the win or the save and win the game. Since Chapman has been in the last 3 All-Star Games, Chapman is doing his job......
If you are dumping guys not earning their fat paychecks, Votto and Bruce would have been traded yesterday if not sooner. The problem is probably no teams want them. They are so great, nobody wants them. No way Votto is living up to his contract and no way Bruce is in spite of his good arm in right field. Dumping both of them would free up a ton of payroll.
This isn't a factory where you base things on the hours worked. Chapman is earning his pay and Votto and Bruce are not. Mesoraco after his surgery may not be able to squat and catch again per the doctors. The left field experiment failed. That leaves 1st base or traded to AL to DH for Mesoraco. Mesoraco and Pena can both play 1st base and replace the not so MVP numbers of much injury riddled Votto. Someone can take over in right and maybe bat better than Bruce at around .250.......but you will not find another closer like Chapman. He is like Rivera or Sutter and one of the best closers in baseball ever. Plus he is still young.
This is not a factory where you say he only pitches 60 to 70 innings. That is what closers do, and Chapman is the best closer in baseball and is still young. Oh, he could be pitching more as a starter, but the Reds made the young starter into a closer because they had no closer. If they trade Chapman, they will be back to having no closer. ....You can find another 1st baseman or fight fielder, but Cincinnati will never have a closer like Chapman again, just as there will never be another Johnny Bench at catcher. ...Of the 3, I would want Chapman on the 2016 team, hands down, not even close. ....the problem is, probably no teams want Votto or Bruce, that's how GREAT they are. ....but we sure could dump a ton of payroll if we unloaded Votto and Bruce, and still win more games in 2016 than this awful 2015 season.
My 3 untouchables would be Frazier, Chapman and Hamilton.....I would want those 3 going into 2016......Frazier for his bat and glove, Hamilton for his youth and defense and Lou Brock like base stealing, and Chapman so if we can win a game in 2016, we bring in Chapman and game over, We Win. ....Unloading Votto and Bruce would free up money to bring in free agents to fill any needs. ....but I bet the ranch on it that Votto and Bruce are here in 2016, because no teams want them at their high priced contracts. So instead of saying we are stuck with them, I guess it's easier to try to say how great they are instead of saying Reds over paid them both. no way they are earning those paychecks. In real business, the highest paid not getting it done are the first to get fired and that opens up a ton of payroll to make improvements. In the real world, you would unload Votto and Bruce before you unload Cueto as the star pitcher, but teams want to trade for Cueto, and not Votto and Bruce. It's a catch 22, and Reds are behind the 8 ball on these 2 high priced contracts of players they can't unload.
Not only would it not be crazy to trade Votto and Bruce, it is the most logical money move to improve the team quick and fast.....since no teams want them, it won't happen.
1968 Bengal Fan
