(04-06-2023, 03:23 AM)kevin Wrote: Yes, a lot of tornado's running across USA now into East Coast area.  Really bad weather last few weeks, per all the tornado damage across USA.  

So no big deal if a ball game is moved from Thursday to Friday.  Probably better to just have a regular Friday, Saturday, Sunday series anyway. 

Also, after Votto hit a home run in his rehab start in Louisville, he could be back and playing any day now per Reds.  Could see him against Phillies this weekend. 

UPDATE : Wrong on Votto  Bell says Votto needs more rehab reps. plus they are happy with Vosler for now.  Votto stays in Minor Leagues this weekend and maybe longer. We;;, Votto had an awful season last year, plus major surgery.  Now Votto said if he couldn't get it together in 2023 that he would not wait until seasons end to retire.  So if he just stinks, he is going to retire fast and save Reds some money.  We will see.   If he comes back and hits, fine.  If he can't come back and hit and retires early saving Reds money, fine.  If he can't come back but Reds have to pay all his 2023 salary, not so fine, but not much Reds can do about it. .....Vosler, not Votto is play first and hitting the ball well.

It's 40° in South Carolina today. In other news Antarctica is on fire! 

(04-09-2023, 11:05 AM)grampahol Wrote: It's 40° in South Carolina today. In other news Antarctica is on fire! 

Well, another walkoff loss by the Reds tonight. We just can't close out games. That's 2 this week. Not that I expect too much.

I swear this bullpen. Reds take a 4-3 lead in the top of 10. Law comes in for the bottom of 10 and first pitch is launched for a walk off homer.

You guys are missing the big picture here. They're just pretending to have a shitty bullpen to make the rest of the league feel over confident. 

(04-11-2023, 06:47 AM)grampahol Wrote: You guys are missing the big picture here. They're just pretending to have a shitty bullpen to make the rest of the league feel over confident. 

We try that move almost every year lol

I don't labor under any delusion that this is a good team.

With that out of the way, how shitty would it be to look back at the 2023 Reds and see that they lost 20-30 games due to blown leads when the bullpen takes over?

I get that this team is broke and Bob Castellini lives in a Covington homeless camp, but relievers aren't exactly expensive. Would it have killed them to spend an extra 15 mil or so on some legit late-inning guys?

Positive note: Lodolo and Ashcraft look like the real deal. Greene needs to catch up, but 2 out of 3 is decent when it comes to young pitching prospects.

Wil Myers is straight trash. Get Senzel back and this team is better. THAT'S how bad Myers is playing. You know you suck when Nick Senzel is a massive upgrade.

Barerro is another player that's playing his way off of this team. Nice homer but he hurts the team more than he helps it.

(04-12-2023, 12:31 AM)Forever Spinning Vinyl Wrote: Wil Myers is straight trash. Get Senzel back and this team is better. THAT'S how bad Myers is playing. You know you suck when Nick Senzel is a massive upgrade.

Barerro is another player that's playing his way off of this team. Nice homer but he hurts the team more than he helps it.

Yep

Way before the announcers mentioned it I was like why the hell is he standing so far back in the box? Like they said he'd have trouble hitting a pitch in the center of the plate and there's zero chance he's hitting anything even slightly out over the plate. 

And I've all put lost hope Barrero is ever going to be able to hit ML pitching.

(04-11-2023, 05:06 PM)samhain Wrote: I don't labor under any delusion that this is a good team. 

With that out of the way, how shitty would it be to look back at the 2023 Reds and see that they lost 20-30 games due to blown leads when the bullpen takes over?  

I get that this team is broke and Bob Castellini lives in a Covington homeless camp, but relievers aren't exactly expensive.  Would it have killed them to spend an extra 15 mil or so on some legit late-inning guys?  

Positive note: Lodolo and Ashcraft look like the real deal.  Greene needs to catch up, but 2 out of 3 is decent when it comes to young pitching prospects.

Exactly

But I'd like to see them at least be competitive, damn. Greene has to step it up for this team to have any chance to even do that!! His ERA is 5.63 and opponents are batting .294 against him. He's only pitched 8 innings in two games or it would likely be worse.

I'm hoping Overton can turn it around but he's getting rocked right now. Ashcraft and Lodolo are the only two starters worth a dang.

And yes, please get some help for the bullpen. 

That bullpen is, again, made up of has-beens, never-weres, and bed shitters. I feel like this offense is gonna score some runs this year, and had the front office actually went out and improved our yearly weakest link, we COULD contend.

Reds crawl back home after a horrible road trip, which many National League East road trips are.

Reds need to get Home Cookin' started to have a much better April than last years awful April.

If Reds owners say they want to improve on worst fan attendance since early 1980's awful years, and keep franchise in Cincinnati. Then WINS must happen for fans to come back, just like 1980's. People won't go to see them lose 100 games again.

So Reds return home to play Phillies and red hot Tampa Rays out of tough AL East. No easy task. At least they are back home.

Reds started with a series win at home over Pirates and a series split with Cubs. Maybe Great American Ball Park could help the Reds get some wins.

If Reds Owners want Fans to come back to games in 2023, I suggest they WIN more home games, starting tonight and this weekend.

I will return to the last time Lodolo pitched. Bell tried to get 2 innings out of Diaz, he was great for 1 inning and out of gas the second inning. You can't get 2 innings out of Diaz, but you can get 1 good inning. If Bell doesn't learn that, he is not Dave Bell, he is Dumb Bell. Tonight Lodolo takes the mound again. Hold Diaz back for a possible one inning Save. Baseball is not rocket science, don't make it harder than it has to be. It is what it is, Diaz is a good One Inning Save Closer, he is not a 2 innings or more long reliever. Find others for Set Up and Long Relief roles. When and If Greene, Lodolo, Ashcraft have Reds in a position to win, they need Diaz available to lock it down in the 9th inning. The rest of bullpen will just have to man up to get the hold the lead in between.

Meanwhile Votto is struggling in Minor Leagues and his stay in Minors will be longer than people hoped. They are getting him out with ease in The Minors at age 39 and trying to come back from 2022 injuries. Word from Reds is Votto will spend most of April in Minors. So any Reds WINS in April will have to come without Votto pushing 40 years old in Louisville Bats uniform.

Kevin once again I admire your enthusiasm. But this is in essence a tripleA team with a few "decent players" They have no chance to contend this season, none.

Their bullpen is more like doubleA, maybe single? Cessa and Overton are both 30 and if they were going to make it as starters they already would have, most likely.

Will Myers wouldn't make it even as a bench player for the entire rest of the league and he's starting here.

They're going to have to pull the plug on Barrero before long, he just can't hit.

We'll be knocking on 100 losses door again.

Reds WIN. Lodolo and then Diaz finished it in the 9th.

So Reds are 4 Wins and 2 Losses at Home. At home they have won a series and split a series. Reds have not lost a series at home yet.

This may end up not being a good road team, but if they could win at home, for the home fans, and Reds Owners could make some money for The Future. So GO REDS and win this Phillies series at home in Cincinnati.

Finally the relief pitching was good. Keep it up.

(04-14-2023, 12:42 AM)guyofthetiger Wrote: Finally the relief pitching was good. Keep it up.

Yes and hopefully Overton can shake off the yips or whatever tonight? He showed some promise last season, we'll see.

So Overton has gotten rocked.....again

Just when you get your hopes up for the Reds, BAM another loss.

Ashcraft on the mound Saturday. I think they put him between the #4 and #5 starters to try to give the bullpen a day of rest in between.

So more of a chance to win Saturday, and Reds still have a winning record at home. They have not lost a series at home yet in this early season.

I understand those saying this is a Minor League line-Up, don't get your hopes up. However my only hopes are that the Reds win a few more games than last years 100 loss season and that the Reds make some money so they don't have to move out of Cincinnati. For if they ever become The North Carolina Reds or The Oklahoma City Reds, I'm done with them, just like The Sacramento Kings are not the Cincinnati Royals.

It's one of the reasons I hope Joey Votto is a man of his word. He said if he can not make a good comeback, he will just retire fast. So if he starts hitting in Louisville and comes back for rest of year, fine. But if he can't, just retire Joey and save the Reds a ton of money ASAP.

Now to some of you who don't live in the area, it would make no difference. But if Reds or Bengals ever move out of the area, I'm done with them. Plus, just like the Cincinnati Royals, they are not your team anymore. In order for Reds to stay in Cincinnati, they need many more Fans at games than in 2022 poor attendance. That means they need to win some more Home Games.

So Minor League line-up or not, I hope Reds who have not lost a series at home yet can avoid a series loss at home this weekend. It's not about the World Series, it's about not having the Reds relocate as so many other pro sports teams have done. The best way to get better attendance is to win more Home Games, so Go Ashcraft on Saturday.

Reds who say they need Money to stay in Cincy, I could save them money fast. One look at their Front Office on Red.com shows they spend way too much on Front Office people. First on the chopping block would be the endless list of computer geek stat analysts. The shift is gone, a 30 second pitch clock, these computer geeks are not as needed. Keep a couple, Fire the rest. That's money in the bank right there. With MLB getting the game back to around 2 hours a game, the game is back to the plays on the field, and these computer geek chess moves of 4 or 5 hour games are gone. So hand out some pink slips to the endless list of computer geeks on Reds payroll. I understand The Reds Owners lost huge money in 2020 and in 2022. They dumped players payroll, but they need to dump some Front Office payroll, starting with the modern day computer geek squad no longer as needed. Make some money, save some money, keep Reds in Cincy and try to put some better players on the field without making any more Votto or Moose type contracts. Tampa never makes huge contracts, and yet Tampa wins a lot of games. The Rays are the blueprint for the direction Reds should go in the future on payroll contracts.

It all comes back to Wins At Home Now to bring Fans and Money to GABP. So go Ashcraft on Saturday. A win Saturday and Reds can not lose this series and remain without a series loss at home in 2023.

(04-12-2023, 12:31 AM)Forever Spinning Vinyl Wrote: Wil Myers is straight trash. Get Senzel back and this team is better. THAT'S how bad Myers is playing. You know you suck when Nick Senzel is a massive upgrade.

Barerro is another player that's playing his way off of this team. Nice homer but he hurts the team more than he helps it.

Cutting payroll just to give Myers $6m never made sense to me. Even if you're not cutting payroll giving Myers $6m didn't make sense to me. Up there with giving Tommy Pham $6m last year.

BANG....Reds needed that....Looked like Reds were going to leave 2 ducks on the pond, but Myers hits a 3 run, 2 out Homer, his second Homer of the game. Reds lead 4 to 0 giving the ball back to Ashcraft top of the 4th. GO REDS and WIN this one. A nice weather Saturday In Cincy on Jackie Robinson Day, Give the paying Fans in Stands a Win.