2017 Reds Season Day by Day Fan Feedback

[CJD]

(09-05-2017, 09:49 PM)grampahol Wrote: Reds just may have a pitching staff next season with Homer, Mahel, Castillo, RobSteve , Romano and possibly Garett.. 
Yeah, I know everyone wants to knock Homer, but he really did begin putting it back together toward the end of this season. Stevenson seems to finally be getting big league ready and I think Castillo and Mahel are both the real deal..
Now watch the bullpen crumble..  

Among rookie pitchers across the majors (minimum 60 IP, approximately 10 starts) Luis Castillo was 1st in ERA, 1st in WHIP, 3rd in WAR (the two players above him started 10 more games, giving them more time to accumulate WAR, which is a quantitative stat rather than qualitative), 3rd in K/9, 5th in K/BB, 1st in groundball/flyball ratio, 1st in component ERA (expected ERA based on hits and walks rather than runs scored), 1st in defense-independent ERA, 1st in BABIP (Batted average on balls in play), 2nd in BAA, 1st in OBP allowed, 2nd in SLG allowed, 1st in OPS allowed.

 
http://www.espn.com/mlb/stats/pitching/_/position/rookie/sort/WHIP/order/false/minip/60
 
I think it’s safe to say we got a star on our hands .



As for Stephenson, I read an article talking about what's changed since he came back up this past month. Apparently, it's his slider. It's an interesting read and please let him never throw that curve ball ever again:

https://www.redreporter.com/2017/9/6/16262294/robert-stephensons-new-slider-has-made-him-unhittable



I really like the idea of Mahle, Castillo and Stephenson being part of our rotation next year. It's a little early to be calling Stephenson a new player, but it definitely looks promising. They each seem to have done some good work at the end of this season.

Of course, the end of the season can be deceptive. Hopefully, it translates into next year.

The other 2 spots I think will be more open. Finnegan and Desclafani, if they can stay healthy, can compete for those spots, as can Bailey and Garrett. Garrett was a bit of a train wreck the last few months, but he could rebound. Cody Reed, also, is not out of the picture. If he can get his pitches under control he's got some great stuff as well.

And then Romano has shown to be talented as well.



I kind of like our starters going into next season. I hope they find a good veteran, even if it costs a lot of money, because these guys are very young still. Any of them are prone to regress (or get injured). I don't mean a Scott Feldman type. Maybe not quite Yu Darvish or Jake Arrieta level free agent, but somewhere between Feldman and Yarvish should be a nice free agent pick up for our rotation.

Then our offense looks good overall. Just gotta get the pitching staff in line and we may be a dark horse for next year.

Bullpens are easily remedied, as they change on a yearly basis. We can throw the guys that didn't become starters into the bullpen if necessary and be just fine :).