(03-31-2025, 02:10 PM)Forever Spinning Vinyl Wrote: Hays will be back shortly. Not concerned yet . . . and I still think Francona will force a move or possibly two well before the trade deadline, if needed.


I agree, and not only Arroyo, but some of the other Spring Training shortstops were playing well and hitting the ball hard.
Pitelli 4 for 13 and 2 HRs was at AA last year.
Stafura 3 for 6 with a homer. At single A last year.
Looking up their stats, I found this small Mark Sheldon article about them from last June including a bit on Blake Dunn.
https://www.mlb.com/news/dominic-pitelli-sammy-stafura-impressing-in-reds-minor-league-system
Former Reds SS prospect Jose Barrero hit .188 for the Texas Rangers AAA team last year and is now playing for the Cardinals AAA squad. There was a time where Barrero, Stephenson, Ervin and Senzel were going to save us.

My preferred field players when Steer is healthy
1B Encarnacion-Strand - this guy just oozes a quiet confidence that most young players don't possess
2B Lux/Espinal
3B Steer - it's where he came up as a rookie and he never looked overmatched
SS McLain
LF Hays
CF Friedl
RF De La Cruz

De La Cruz would be great in Centerfield, but, until they get a true gun in the outfield, his outstanding arm is needed for RF. If Hays has a strong arm, then move Elly to CF and Friedl to LF. TJ's arm is WAAAY too weak for RF.

I don't disagree with your lineup.

As for Arroyo, he's a high-end glove-first prospect.  They'd almost minimize his value playing him anywhere else.  Elly has a lot of upside at short.  His range into the outfield is crazy.  He just tends to get a bit wild with his throws.  

More like Matt McBash. He is really seeing the ball.

EDLC joining in now.

ELLY BOMB!!!!!

(03-31-2025, 08:17 PM)cinci4life Wrote: ELLY BOMB!!!!!

I'm loving his shortened swing. I'm guessing that this is the Francona/Valaika effect because he had very little growth under Bell. This small adjustment will explode his numbers. He was a rising star before . . . he's about to blow up the league.

(03-31-2025, 02:10 PM)Forever Spinning Vinyl Wrote: Hays will be back shortly. Not concerned yet . . . and I still think Francona will force a move or possibly two well before the trade deadline, if needed.


I agree, and not only Arroyo, but some of the other Spring Training shortstops were playing well and hitting the ball hard.
Pitelli 4 for 13 and 2 HRs was at AA last year.
Stafura 3 for 6 with a homer. At single A last year.
Looking up their stats, I found this small Mark Sheldon article about them from last June including a bit on Blake Dunn.
https://www.mlb.com/news/dominic-pitelli-sammy-stafura-impressing-in-reds-minor-league-system
Former Reds SS prospect Jose Barrero hit .188 for the Texas Rangers AAA team last year and is now playing for the Cardinals AAA squad. There was a time where Barrero, Stephenson, Ervin and Senzel were going to save us.

My preferred field players when Steer is healthy
1B Encarnacion-Strand - this guy just oozes a quiet confidence that most young players don't possess
2B Lux/Espinal
3B Steer - it's where he came up as a rookie and he never looked overmatched
SS McLain
LF Hays
CF Friedl
RF De La Cruz

De La Cruz would be great in Centerfield, but, until they get a true gun in the outfield, his outstanding arm is needed for RF. If Hays has a strong arm, then move Elly to CF and Friedl to LF. TJ's arm is WAAAY too weak for RF.

I've been pounding the table to put Elly into RF or CF for a year now. It just makes perfect sense. Speed and range to track down fly balls, cannon arm to get ball back in the infield quick. I don't know but I'm assuming Elly is wanting to stay at SS. I figured Francona would move him first thing. All the errors

Perhaps Francona just wants to slowly adapt him out there so as not to upset the applecart so fast?

EDLC 4 runs, 4 hits, 7 RBI's 2 HR, no strike outs woot

McClain 4 runs, 2 hits, 3 RBI's, HR

Steer got his first hit and 2 RBI's Perhaps they're gonna get going now

Stuart Fairchild is now a Brave. Traded for cash considerations.

(04-01-2025, 02:46 PM)Goalpost Wrote: Stuart Fairchild is now a Brave.  Traded for cash considerations.

Probably not a lot but at least they got something for him. He was DFA'd 4 days prior to the trade. Atlanta must have not wanted to wait to pick him up off of the street for free. They obviously felt that someone would have picked him up before them.

Tiny sample size obviously, but India for the Royals so far has played 3B and LF and is 6-16 (.375) with 0 XBH, 2 BB, 0 K for a .849 OPS.

Suarez has hit 4 HRs already in 4 games for Arizona.


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Also it looks like Baseball Reference for April Fools Day decided to put on every player's sheet, in the accolades section, a number of "Participation Awards" for every year they played.

(04-01-2025, 05:34 PM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: Tiny sample size obviously, but India for the Royals so far has played 3B and LF and is 6-16 (.375) with 0 XBH, 2 BB, 0 K for a .849 OPS.

Suarez has hit 4 HRs already in 4 games for Arizona.


- - - - - - - -

Also it looks like Baseball Reference for April Fools Day decided to put on every player's sheet, in the accolades section, a number of "Participation Awards" for every year they played.

The main reason that I'm glad that India is gone is because he would be in the way of players with more upside. I liked his drive, his effort, his commitment and his heart. He went to 2nd base after a life of playing 3B, struggled, yet made himself better. I'll always follow him, root for him and with MLB.tv, I'll watch(mostly listen in the background) a lot more Royals games because of him. The only other reason that I'm glad he's gone . . . Brady Singer.

The 2021-2022 off-season sure was meh.
For Suarez and Winker, Cincy received Justin Dunn, Jake Fraley and Brandon Williamson. It's sad about Williamson and his situation. That kid can flat out pitch. Dunn only threw 3.1 innings for the Reds farm system in 2023 after re-injuring his shoulder as a Red in 2022. He is now in the White Sox minor leagues. He had 8 innings this Spring and only gave up one run. Good luck to him because he had a MLB arm. Fraley is Fraley.

For Sonny Gray, they received Chase Petty . . . one of these days.

For Tucker Barnhart, they received Nick Quintana and he is out of baseball. After hitting .308 between Dayton and AA Chattanooga in 2022, he hit .176 in AA in 2023 and then retired.

They signed Tommy Pham and later traded him for Nicholas Northcut and cash. In AA as a 3B, he hit .216 in 2023 and then .192 last season. He's listed as a 1st baseman on MLB.com, but at 5 foot 10 . . . I'm kind of doubting that. No idea how much cash they got, but that seems to be the best part of the deal.

4-hit/0-walk shutout. Oof. One for the offense to forget and just try to get game 3 for the series win.

Plus another Elly error at SS. Vinyl mentioned him being a rising star, but what makes a star a star is when they are at the plate with 2 outs in the 9th inning, down by 1 with a runner on 2nd, they get the job done.

Bright note: Abbott went 5.2ip in his first rehab start.

Well then. I guess he's not a star.

Tip of the cap to Eovaldi and also to fill-in #5 starter Spiers. He looked pretty sharp.

(04-01-2025, 10:45 PM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: 4-hit/0-walk shutout. Oof. One for the offense to forget and just try to get game 3 for the series win.

Plus another Elly error at SS. Vinyl mentioned him being a rising star, but what makes a star a star is when they are at the plate with 2 outs in the 9th inning, down by 1 with a runner on 2nd, they get the job done.

Bright note: Abbott went 5.2ip in his first rehab start.

I'm so hoping Francona comes to his senses and moves Elly to RF or CF. Perhaps they're waiting on Speer to figure out if he's 100%

Too bad we couldn't save two runs from previous game to get Spiers a win.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/mlb/cincinnati-reds-manager-terry-francona-gives-injury-updates-on-alexis-diaz-and-andrew-abbott/ar-AA1C9YFW?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=ASTS&cvid=7c6940f5c6c5425eb79ce604fe8e2f5c&ei=8

Sounds like Diaz and Abbott both progressing well

1-0 losses are probably the most "feels bad" losses in baseball.

Heads up, because we're on the precipice of losing back to back 1-0 games.

Entering the bottom of the 9th down 1-0.

This will be quite the pathetic display if we get shut out in back to back games after putting up 14 in the first game of the series.

Interestingly, the due up order is Hurtubise - Friedl - McLain (with Elly 4th).

That is the exact order from yesterday's game.

(Yesterday, 03:47 PM)CJD Wrote: Heads up, because we're on the precipice of losing back to back 1-0 games.

Entering the bottom of the 9th down 1-0.

This will be quite the pathetic display if we get shut out in back to back games after putting up 14 in the first game of the series.

Interestingly, the due up order is Hurtubise - Friedl - McLain (with Elly 4th).

That is the exact order from yesterday's game.

Jesus Christ, that's pathetic.

A typical Red, 1st game 14 runs and no runs last 2 games.
2 great pitching performances wasted again.

Looks exactly like last year

This team is too inconsistent to win

Embarrassing - two shutouts in a row.