(07-06-2021, 08:23 AM)Forever Spinning Vinyl Wrote: Good point about Senzel. I forgot about him . . . He gets a pass for now mainly due to the Reds hyping him so much that parting ways this early in his career would look a bit pre-mature.

As far as Naquin goes, they don't need another "barely on the team" reliever, they need a stud closer and a solid set up man. Losing Naquin would cost them nothing. All of the investment into his development was by another franchise so throwing him in with Aquino, Payton or Heineman and a minor league prospect would be worth filling one of those two holes. Akiyama and Senzel can hold down center field if that happens. I highly doubt that they'll pull of two trades for quality relievers. They got rid of their two best relievers for nothing so they could free up some money to sign a SS and it never happened so expecting them to actually do their jobs and get two quality arms at the deadline is a bit naive.

Indeed

I've said it before and I'll probably say it again. For this team to have any chance of staying competitive down the stretch this is a must.

Reds starting pitching is plenty good enough to contend. 11th in the majors in ERA (4.02)

Our bullpen is killing us. ERA of 5.29 is 29th out of 30 teams.

(07-07-2021, 12:00 PM)fredtoast Wrote: Reds starting pitching is plenty good enough to contend.  11th in the majors in ERA (4.02)

Our bullpen is killing us.  ERA of 5.29 is 29th out of 30 teams.

And the walks are killing us ! A couple weeks ago we were 2nd in MLB in walks allowed. I doubt that's changed much.

(07-07-2021, 12:00 PM)fredtoast Wrote: Reds starting pitching is plenty good enough to contend.  11th in the majors in ERA (4.02)

Our bullpen is killing us.  ERA of 5.29 is 29th out of 30 teams.

Imagine what their record would be if they had even a solid pen.  

I hope that Santillian and Lorenzen returning will help right away.  I'm not sure about Sims or Antone.  Antone injuring then re-injuring himself is troubling.  I'd bet that at least two of the guys returning from injury will be injured again before long.  

They need to get at least one guy from outside the organization, maybe even two.  The only other real option is to rush Greene or Lodolo to the majors early in relief roles.  To me this would be a massive mistake.  Those guys are basically the future of the franchise.  They have enough problems developing pitching and don't need these two key prospects getting off track.  

Bob needs to pony up and pay for some arms.  He had the excuse that fans weren't coming to GABP, but that's fading quick.  They had sellouts this past weekend and buzz is building around the team quickly.  They sold off players, allegedly to get a major-league shortstop (their words) for absolutely nothing this past offseason.  Time to take that money and put it to good use.  Half-assing it will be a rally bad look on top of an already bad one from the offseason.  

Glad Reds came back and won the series in Kansas City this afternoon.

Now it would be nice to do good in series before All-Star break this weekend. Don't have a bad series hanging over their heads for the days off.

Wait, I just saw something, and hold onto your hats. The REDS next 7 games are with The Brewers. 2nd Place REDS vs 1st Place BREWERS. 4 games before All-Star Game in Milwaukee. 3 games after All-Star Game in Cincinnati. Both have won 7 of last 10 games. There are no rain outs in Milwaukee, they have a roof. So The Reds playing Brewers 7 straight games is HUGE. Now a 4 game series could be a split, but this is really 7 games and one of these teams is going to win the 7 game series. Reds are behind, so this is there chance to move up. I hope Reds are ready to play for the Play-Offs, because that's what this will be.

Brewers split their DH meaning Reds are 6 back going into the series tomorrow. Obviously a sweep is ideal but i'd gladly take 3 of 4.

(07-07-2021, 11:25 PM)cinci4life Wrote: Brewers split their DH meaning Reds are 6 back going into the series tomorrow. Obviously a sweep is ideal but i'd gladly take 3 of 4.

Yes there's still a lot of baseball to go. But these 7 games vs. Brewers surrounding the All Star break are huge. If they can somehow go 5-2 against them they'd only be 2 games down in the loss column. If it goes the opposite they'll be 8 games down in the loss column.

They just have to at least go 4-3.

Brewers are not a great offensive team, and their bullpen is not dominate.  The entire key to them being a first place team is their top three starter

Brandon Woodruff.....  2.10 ERA
Freddt Peralta...........  2.23 ERA
Corbin Burns............  2.36 ERA

In the 4 game series before the break we are not scheduled to face Burns, and hopefully their bullpen is a little thin after using 6 different relievers in the double header yesterday.  In the last game of the series Woodruff will go head-to-head with Castillo who has been pitching lights out over the last month.  If Castillo is on then we have a good shot to win 3 of 4 and go into the break just 3 games out of first place.

Next 7 games will have a huge impact on the rest of the season.

Jonathan India leads the Reds in OBP at .392 which puts him 9th overall in the majors.

(07-08-2021, 12:35 PM)Goalpost Wrote: Jonathan India leads the Reds in OBP at .392 which puts him 9th overall in the majors.

A while back I read Moustakas had a setback with his rehab, but they were still hoping he would be able to get back on the field after the break at least for a rehab assignment in the minors.

Small market team like the Reds may have to commit to the young cheap guy (India) and maybe trade Moustakas for relief pitching help.

Sonny Gray back on 10 day IL with ribcage strain. With the all star break he might not miss a start anyway.

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2021/07/reds-sonny-gray-injured-list-ribcage.html#comments

Bases loaded with no outs and they couldn’t get one in. Horrible. Not going to beat good teams like the Brewers like that.

Mahle doing his best to give this one away early.

(07-08-2021, 09:28 PM)Nicomo Cosca Wrote: Bases loaded with no outs and they couldn’t get one in. Horrible. Not going to beat good teams like the Brewers like that.

Yup and now they're pulling out the Benny Hill theme music for Brewers first at bat. Zero hits, bases loaded, 1 out, 2 runs in.

(07-08-2021, 09:47 PM)bengalfan74 Wrote: Yup and now they're pulling out the Benny Hill theme music for Brewers first at bat. Zero hits, bases loaded, 1 out, 2 runs in.

That missed force out at home is a play most kids in little league can make…

(07-08-2021, 09:50 PM)Nicomo Cosca Wrote: That missed force out at home is a play most kids in little league can make…

I think Mahle panicked and forgot it was a force

Well this is frustrating to say the least.

And now they've had bases loaded twice with less than two outs and scored zero runs !

And Brach just lost us another game.