1/4 of the season is already over

[Circleville Guy]

(05-15-2019, 04:09 PM)kevin Wrote: I noticed this today May 15th looking at stats in Fantasy Players others have & Free Agents. Castillo in Top 10 in pitchers in MLB so far. Then it drop down but not that bad. In the TOP 50 are Disco, Mahle, Roark, Gray. I'm looking at strike outs, innings pitched, ERA's. The thing is Mahle and Gray don't have a win yet, and it has to be no hitting.

Woods is out until at least June now. I don't know where he would pitch now anyway. You watch, about the time Wood is ready to pitch, somebody will get injured or something and Reds will need him, it always happens, a long season.

So I'm hoping these hitters can get Mahle and Gray a win quick and fast because they are putting up good numbers to both be without wins. Don't look now, but Mahle is turning into a strike out pitcher. He is on pace to have over 200 K's this year, not bad, and he isn't walking very many. Really all 5 Reds pitchers are on pace to have a lot of K's and good ERA's. Now if the Reds could just start hitting.

The bullpen is pretty good. Iglesias has had his ups and downs, but is on pace to have 30 to 40 saves.

The hitting is awful. Sometimes a player gets hot like Dietrich last week, but Bell decides to bench them half the time. Problem is these hot streaks wear off, each and every year. If somebody gets hot on this team, they need to get him in there before the pot cools.

The worst is Votto. People will say I don't know what I'm talking about and he is a Super Star. Votto wasn't that hot but had the good 2017 season as if back to MVP Votto of years ago. Then in 2018 some injuries and not a very good season. Now an awful 2019 season so far. I have to start wondering about injuries that have plagued his career. He is batting around .200 and has warning track power instead of home run power. Reds put up with injuries taking away his homer power in past when he was batting .300, but no power and .200 stinks. Now everybody says he will pull out of it. I was afraid of this and avoided Votto in Fantasy Drafts as much as Eifert in NFL. I've been burned drafting them before.

So on the quarter of season gone thread, the pitching is great, the hitting stinks especially Votto & his pay check, too early to tell on Bell and new coaches, way too early. Sparky said that when Reds fired Tony Perez and his assistant Dave Bristol as Reds Manager early one year. Sparky said Reds didn't give Tony any time at all. So it is way too early to judge Bell still trying to figure out which players he can count on.

I would like to see Reds get out of Last Place where they have been all season as in seasons past, but the NL Central is a tough league in that there are no weak teams. I think the other 4 teams are playing .500 ball or better. Then again, it's a long season.

It's rough if your Trout or Mookie Betts isn't hitting on a team. So Votto not hitting really hurts at the quarter mark. If Votto starts hitting, in the past that has always helped the other bats in the line-up as Votto wears down those pitchers. If I had him in Fantasy Baseball though, I would be wondering how long I can wait before cutting him for a Free Agent playing better. My eyes are on some Reds pitchers in Fantasy IF the hitters ever add wins to the K's and good ERA's they are posting.

The good news is 3 quarters of season to get out of last place. If they don't, the last quarter will be all about Bengals preseason and start of season.

I agree with 90% of your post. The main thing that I disagree with is Bell. If he doesn’t do a 180, then he will continue to be terrible. Your complaint of benching a guy that’s on fire to let him get cold is a perfect example. Hitting is so hard and if you have a guy on a killer streak, let him ride it out, don’t put out the candle yourself. Wood was out because of his back at the end of last year and hasn’t been able to pitch for 9 months because of a back injury. I will guess that he is for sure done as a starter and maybe done all together. My thing is, how did he pass a physical for the trade to begin with? It’s sad if Votto is gonna continue to play like this or even slightly better and it will be crippling to this organization. Ownership seems to operate on emotions and has little foresight.