(04-10-2016, 01:02 AM)rfaulk34 Wrote: P.S. Just so happens that the reds are tied for the most wins in baseball right now.

Just so also happens that the team i root for (Reds) are in a division WITH TWO OTHER TEAMS THAT ARE TIED FOR THE MOST WINS IN BASEBALL SO FAR THIS YEAR. TWO OTHER 4 WIN TEAMS IN THE CENTRAL...!!!

**** me right in the ***** ass!! Why the hell do all my favorite teams have to be right next to other perennially good teams?!

**** nuts.

And then there are the Cardinals too.

More good pitching, another walk off win. Jay Bruce looking good.

WOW !!!......The Pirates laid it on the Cardinals and the Reds laid it on the Pirates.....Reds win series over Phillies and Pirates in the first week......and again the surprise star is the entire Reds pitching staff.  Considered maybe the worst staff after all the trades, they have risen from last to near first early on in Fantasy League ratings.  Another week of this type pitching and Fantasy owners may be rushing to swap for the Reds pitchers. ......Cubs and Cardinals are up next, and if Reds pitching takes series from Pirates, Cubs and Cardinals, then Reds are for real. These wins in April count as much as wins in September. .......I was hoping Reds would be better, but I was accepting experts saying last place while team rebuilds. If this pitching continues this hot against Cubs and Cardinals, the Reds Are For Real right now. .....GO PITCHING, GO REDS........Lou did say he liked the young Reds pitchers. Lou, who was known for saying Reds didn't have enough pitching, even in 1990, he normally doesn't say he likes the pitching.  So far the pitching is 100 % better than most everybody but Lou thought it would be.........Reds pitching is probably the biggest surprise in all baseball after this first week. 

Of my 3 free Fantasy Teams, I couldn't attain any Reds hitters in the drafts, but somebody just dropped Phillips and I grabbed him right away. ...and If Reds pitchers  have another week like this, I may make them my back-up pitching staffs on all my teams before everybody else grabs them. I would have to drop some good pitching staffs, but ...When your hot, your hot. ....GO REDS....Then once added, Reds could be my starting staff if they are the hottest. ......Great first week for Reds and the Reds pitching.  I thought they could hit, I didn't know they could pitch.

Oh, I see I need to add one other big surprise this week.  Replacing All-Star Game Home Run Derby Winner Todd Frazier is Eugenio Suarez.  All he did this week is bat .435 and club 4 home runs, 9 runs, 9 rbi's, 10 hits, 3 bb's, and 1 stolen base....OK, just one week, but a pretty good week filling a huge missing part of the roster.......Gee, he's on pace to hit 96 home runs and be the first hitter since 1930's to bat over .400 ,with also 186 runs, 186 RBI's, 24 stolen bases, 72 walks ......May not happen, but a great first week. 
  

(04-10-2016, 08:06 PM)kevin Wrote: WOW !!!......The Pirates laid it on the Cardinals and the Reds laid it on the Pirates.....Reds win series over Phillies and Pirates in the first week......and again the surprise star is the entire Reds pitching staff.  Considered maybe the worst staff after all the trades, they have risen from last to near first early on in Fantasy League ratings.  Another week of this type pitching and Fantasy owners may be rushing to swap for the Reds pitchers. ......Cubs and Cardinals are up next, and if Reds pitching takes series from Pirates, Cubs and Cardinals, then Reds are for real. These wins in April count as much as wins in September. .......I was hoping Reds would be better, but I was accepting experts saying last place while team rebuilds. If this pitching continues this hot against Cubs and Cardinals, the Reds Are For Real right now. .....GO PITCHING, GO REDS........Lou did say he liked the young Reds pitchers. Lou, who was known for saying Reds didn't have enough pitching, even in 1990, he normally doesn't say he likes the pitching.  So far the pitching is 100 % better than most but Lou thought it would be.........Reds pitching is probably the biggest surprise in all baseball after this first week. 

Of my 3 free Fantasy Teams, I couldn't attain any Reds hitters in the drafts, but somebody just dropped Phillips and I grabbed him right away. ...and If Reds pitchers  have another week like this, I may make them my back-up pitching staffs on all my teams before everybody else grabs them. I would have to drop some good pitching staffs, but ...When your hot, your hot. ....GO REDS....Then once added, Reds could be my starting staff if they are the hottest. ......Great first week for Reds and the Reds pitching.  I thought they could hit, I didn't know they could pitch.

Gotta keep the expectations tempered. While the hot start is great, the bullpen isn't proven and the starting staff is REALLY young and inexperienced. Theres gonna be some hiccups with the starting staff. Still the team looks like they want to play for each other, hopefully they can keep it up against Cubbies. 

(04-10-2016, 08:39 PM)pdub2005 Wrote: Gotta keep the expectations tempered. While the hot start is great, the bullpen isn't proven and the starting staff is REALLY young and inexperienced. Theres gonna be some hiccups with the starting staff. Still the team looks like they want to play for each other, hopefully they can keep it up against Cubbies. 

I agree, but if they beat the Cubs and Cardinals, then come next Sunday night we have to start thinking they are not only in 1st with those wins, but also for real. .....Some complain that the Reds have the bad luck of being in a division with other good teams.  Well, they just beat the Pirates and play these other teams this week. .......As for me, I didn't believe the experts last year when they said Reds would finish last, and I was wrong.  So this year I did believe the experts picking Reds for last, and I hope I'm wrong again.  GO REDS !

I'm happy for the Redlegs, but I'm still leary that the wheels may fall off before it's all said and done, but I'm going to try to remain optimistic. After all, every now and then a team not expected to perform tears up the league.
These guys didn't make it to the major leagues by not being able to play ball. They're all capable and it really is a matter of playing as a team and keeping it together.
If they can make it to the AS break in first place or close then we'll have us a ball club and most are young under contract for awhile.

Not getting too carried away with the early success. We started 4-0 last year.

But these games count just as much as September games. No reason not to be excited about wins at any point in the season.

I think it's important to note that 3 of their 5 wins so far have been in their final at-bat, including 2 walk off victories.

And two of those wins have involved very large innings that you can't necessarily rely on to win games consistently.

The starting pitching has been decent, but we haven't had a starting pitcher reach the 7th inning yet, which can be taxing on your bullpen. I have high hopes for Finnegan and Iglesias. We'll see how Finnegan pitches in Chicago, but I think he'll end up being our best starting pitcher overall. Iglesias hasn't been bit too badly yet, but he gives up too many hits for my tastes.

Stephenson was average and he won't be a dominant pitcher this year (and if he comes back up, you know he's going to get knocked around quite a bit.)

And Melville...needed almost 100 pitches to get out 4 innings. I don't have high hopes for him.

What has truly impressed me is the bullpen. I have no idea who Straily, Cotham and Wood are, but they are really holding it together and eating up innings so far this year. Diaz has been impressive as well and Cingrani seems to have found his place as a middle reliever. I'm not thrilled with Hoover as the closer, especially after that grand slam he gave up. But that's been his only hit allowed in 3 appearances, so that isn't terrible.

Just keep Sampson off the field haha. He was a bad starter last year and he's going to be a pretty bad reliever this year. I hope he is their "emergency" player, rather than a pitcher that sees regular play.

If Hamilton can utilize that inside out swing a bit more, I think he can climb back to the #1 spot in the order and be dangerous. And once Votto hits his stride, our offense will really start to click. Bruce has been a wonderful surprise too, but we all know that he is prone to peaks and valleys. I'm sure in a month or two, he'll be 2-36 and we'll be wondering what the **** is wrong with him.

*knocks on wood*

The season is looking much better after a week than I expected it too. Let's all hope this momentum keeps them going.

All i'm really going to say is that so far, so good. Last year, was last year and doesn't mean that we will tank after a 4-0 start again. Im pleased with what ive seen so far. Getting some good pitching out of our young arms. Our bats have come out hot. Suarez looks like the real deal.

The bullpen is my only concern. Hoover is fragile, he'll follow up a strong outing with one that makes him look like he has no part in the majors. If hes the best we can do as a closer then im a little scared.

I fully expect this season to end up the way we thought it would, but I'll enjoy it while I can.

5-1 is great, but it's early - waaay early.

Many questions on this team. Can Bruce finally hit his stride and contribute regularly ? Is is he just a game or two away from a month of next to nothing hitting .173 ?

Can Votto do anything before the All-Star break or is this gonna be a mirror of last year ? Is Suarez for real or is this just a flash in the pan ?

Can Mesoraco get back to where he was a couple seasons ago ? Will Hamilton get to where he can hit at the Major League level ? Or is it time to move on ?

And the main thing. Is this pitching staff going to be able to keep us in the hunt ? The early feeling is this is going to be a fun team to watch and they can stay competitive. Let's hope they can turn it around and keep it up.

(04-11-2016, 10:58 AM)michaelsean Wrote: I fully expect this season to end up the way we thought it would, but I'll enjoy it while I can.

This.

(04-11-2016, 10:58 AM)michaelsean Wrote: I fully expect this season to end up the way we thought it would, but I'll enjoy it while I can.

Yeah. I'm taking my new Bengals approach (from the last 2 seasons) and applying to the Reds. Enjoy the moment (game by game) and if/when they fall off too much, drop it like a bad habit and move on to something else until/if they pick it back up again. 

They could very easily be 7-0. But bullpen.

Last night was a major bummer...

Cingrani obviously didn't have it last night, but we left him in long enough to lose. Both losses shouldn't have happened, and they were both caused by indecision on Price's part sticking with guys until they dig a hole they can't get out of. I don't blame Diaz or Hoover, he waited too long to make a decision.

(04-12-2016, 11:00 AM)Bengalsrob Wrote: Cingrani obviously didn't have it last night, but we left him in long enough to lose. Both losses shouldn't have happened, and they were both caused by indecision on Price's part sticking with guys until they dig a hole they can't get out of. I don't blame Diaz or Hoover, he waited too long to make a decision.

This is silly.  You can't pull every reliever after facing just one batter.

And I guess you would have pulled Diaz BEFORE he faced a single batter because the only base runner he allowed was the HR to the first guy he faced.

(04-12-2016, 11:21 AM)fredtoast Wrote: This is silly.  You can't pull every reliever after facing just one batter.

And I guess you would have pulled Diaz BEFORE he faced a single batter because the only base runner he allowed was the HR to the first guy he faced.

Yup. Price has left a couple guys in when i was yelling "pull him!!" but you have to let them get the experience pitching through trouble. 

The massive backlash against the Reds for not being perfect is beyond insane. For months everyone was saying 100 losses. They win some games, then lose a few and fans want to jump off a cliff. It's insane.

(04-12-2016, 06:51 PM)Storer50 Wrote: The massive backlash against the Reds for not being perfect is beyond insane.  For months everyone was saying 100 losses. They win some games, then lose a few and fans want to jump off a cliff. It's insane.

That is why "fan" is short for fanatical.