Reds August Game Thread 2024

[*TheLeonardLeap*]

Realized we were still posting in the July thread. Here's an August one.

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Watching the Reds get no-hit by Blake Snell and fall back into last place, I had a thought...

Remember way back in 2023 when the Reds were in 1st place at the trade deadline and they said "we aren't going to be buyers, this is just a freebie season, we'll just win next year with our young talent getting better!" and then went 23-31 to finish the season?

Sure glad we didn't try to win when we could, and instead held onto valuable prospects like Noelvi Marte or Connor Phillips.

[The D.O.Z.]

Absolutely pathetic, it amazes me how David Bell and this coaching staff can hold on to their jobs. Football season can't get here fast enough!

[*bengalfan74*]

So the Reds get No-Noed, not surprising. It's really a wonder as anemic as this offense is it's more surprising it hasn't happened before now. Most decent LH pitchers just dominate us.

This season is over. My only hope now is Bell and Co. are shown the door at seasons end.

[Timanky12]

Time to stick a fork in the Reds, they are done. Thank God for start of football season

Doesn’t look like the Reds can even finish at .500, what a Disappointing season. Batting average 3rd worst in MLB is the reason, feast or famine when batting, and can’t win the close games. EDLC striking out 35% of the time and Benson striking out 45% of the time. With all the left handed hitters on this team, they can’t hit left handed pitchers. Team has never figured out how to run the bases, way too many players out on the base paths. With this pitching staff, they should have finished in middle of the pack. But with this poor offense, they have no chance.

[*TheLeonardLeap*]

Tell me if you've heard this classic hit from the Reds before... Matt McLain had a setback in his rehab.

They just need to accept that he needs to fully recover and trying to bring him back in 2024 from shoulder surgery (still a potentially career altering/ending place to get surgery) to play on a bad team is the very definition of being nearsighted.

[cinci4life]

Well won't be no-no or shutout tonight.

[cinci4life]

Bats are alive and well tonight so far!

[*TheLeonardLeap*]

EDLC having a rough night and last 7 games. Made 5 outs in 3 AB today.

[Nicomo Cosca]

Greene>>>Lodolo

[*TheLeonardLeap*]

(08-03-2024, 11:06 PM)Nicomo Cosca Wrote: Greene>>>Lodolo

Yup, sure seems that way. Glad that Greene is finally breaking through this year.

Don't look now but he is pitching himself into a top-5 Cy Young vote finish.  Not sure he stands a chance of winning unless Skenes, R Lopez, and Sale just fall apart, but potentially finishing 4th? There is NOTHING wrong with that at all.

[Nicomo Cosca]

(08-03-2024, 11:22 PM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: Yup, sure seems that way. Glad that Greene is finally breaking through this year.

Don't look now but he is pitching himself into a top-5 Cy Young vote finish.  Not sure he stands a chance of winning unless Skenes, R Lopez, and Sale just fall apart, but potentially finishing 4th? There is NOTHING wrong with that at all.

For sure.

Owe you some rep. Board is still wonky for me on mobile. :gah:

[The D.O.Z.]

Nice win tonight. Baseball is weird sometimes. I think I heard the guys commentating on the FOX broadcast how the Giants pitcher had only given up something like 10HR total on the season up until tonight. We touched him up for 4 of them. Greene has been absolutely nasty of late, had some nice movement on a nice mixture of pitches tonight. He's made me eat crow this year and has been one of the few bright spots. Loving this current Stephenson surge, that second HR he hit...man, his bat speed through the zone on that 3-0 pitch was FAST.

And the token typical 9th for Diaz. I woulda been mad af had they blown that save with the game Greene pitched and the HR heroics to back him for a change!

[cinci4life]

Love to know what happened to Cruz. Just can't get the job done as of late.

[*TheLeonardLeap*]

(08-04-2024, 03:49 PM)cinci4life Wrote: Love to know what happened to Cruz. Just can't get the job done as of late.

Remove "as of late" from that statement. He had a very good April 2024, but since the start of May he has a 5.73 ERA. He had a 4.91 ERA in 2023. That's just continuing to be bad.

Meanwhile David Bell keeps putting him into games with his expert management because at least he throws the baseball with his right hand!

[Timanky12]

Sooner or later, you have to ask yourself, is it all the players that have come through Cincinnati, or is the coaches and management?

Just like when the Bengals couldn’t do anything, or win a playoff game, 31 years.

All the players can’t be bad, and they have had success when traded to other teams. You can’t fire all the players, but you can change the mindset with new front office personnel and coaches. 29 years without advancing in the playoffs.

It’s time for some changes

[*bengalfan74*]

Our entire lineup is consistently inconsistent at the plate. They all do it!! Good for a game or two, once or twice a season for a week. Then fall into a 1-25 slump. We just can't sustain any offense.

Please let this coaching staff get embarrassed and quit.

[*ochocincos*]

(08-04-2024, 04:50 PM)Timanky12 Wrote: Sooner or later, you have to ask yourself, is it all the players that have come through Cincinnati, or is the coaches and management?

Just like when the Bengals couldn’t do anything, or win a playoff game, 31 years.

All the players can’t be bad, and they have had success when traded to other teams. You can’t fire all the players, but you can change the mindset with new front office personnel and coaches. 29 years without advancing in the playoffs.

It’s time for some changes

Whether it's coaches or the players themselves, the Reds were banking on continued growth in their hitters, but quite a few of them have been down compared to last year:
McLain has been out all year. Batted .290 avg and .864 OPS last year. Having India doing well this year helps alleviate the blow, but it's still a regression nonetheless.
CES batted .270 avg and .905 OPS last year. Reds ain't gettin that level from their 1B guys this year.
Marte batted .316 avg and .822 OPS last year. 3B nowhere close to that this year. I know he was suspended half the year, but still.
Steer went from .271 avg and .820 OPS last year to .231-.733 this year.
Friedl's been hurt at times this year but he also has gone from .279-.819 last year to .213-.667 this year.
Fraley's BA is higher than last year but OPS is lower.\
New acquisition Candelario is having a worse year this year compared to last year (.251-.807 last year vs .227-.724 this year).

About the only two dudes doing better than last year are Stephenson and EDLC.

So while the pitching has been better overall (especially SP), the decline in hitting has caused this team to stay stagnant year-over-year.

At this point in the season, Reds 6.5 games out of WC with ~50 games left.
I don't have a Magic 8 Ball, but I'd have to imagine it would land on "Outlook not so good."

If they're gonna do anything, they need to get a couple proven bats and/or get new hitting coaches.

[*bengalfan74*]

(08-05-2024, 04:12 PM)ochocincos Wrote: Whether it's coaches or the players themselves, the Reds were banking on continued growth in their hitters, but quite a few of them have been down compared to last year:
McLain has been out all year. Batted .290 avg and .864 OPS last year. Having India doing well this year helps alleviate the blow, but it's still a regression nonetheless.
CES batted .270 avg and .905 OPS last year. Reds ain't gettin that level from their 1B guys this year.
Marte batted .316 avg and .822 OPS last year. 3B nowhere close to that this year. I know he was suspended half the year, but still.
Steer went from .271 avg and .820 OPS last year to .231-.733 this year.
Friedl's been hurt at times this year but he also has gone from .279-.819 last year to .213-.667 this year.
Fraley's BA is higher than last year but OPS is lower.\
New acquisition Candelario is having a worse year this year compared to last year (.251-.807 last year vs .227-.724 this year).

About the only two dudes doing better than last year are Stephenson and EDLC.

So while the pitching has been better overall (especially SP), the decline in hitting has caused this team to stay stagnant year-over-year.

At this point in the season, Reds 6.5 games out of WC with ~50 games left.
I don't have a Magic 8 Ball, but I'd have to imagine it would land on "Outlook not so good."

If they're gonna do anything, they need to get a couple proven bats and/or get new hitting coaches.

yup

I realize between Marte getting suspended, McClain going down, Friedl not being able to stay on the field, then CES stinking (when he was in) put a big damper on the season. But I didn't think we would stink this bad on offense. 

EDLC has done ok in one sense, but 143 K's ummm. Candelairo has been way to up and down and just not worth it. India has been up and down and just mediocre overall. Fraley has been decent on average but his power is gone. Benson needs sent down. 

At this point I'm jst not sure who's worth keeping and who they shold move on from??

It's been disheartening for me! I never would have guessed Steer would flop this bad.

[*TheLeonardLeap*]

(08-05-2024, 04:12 PM)ochocincos Wrote: McLain has been out all year. Batted .290 avg and .864 OPS last year. Having India doing well this year helps alleviate the blow, but it's still a regression nonetheless.
CES batted .270 avg and .905 OPS last year. Reds ain't gettin that level from their 1B guys this year.
Marte batted .316 avg and .822 OPS last year. 3B nowhere close to that this year. I know he was suspended half the year, but still.
Steer went from .271 avg and .820 OPS last year to .231-.733 this year.
Friedl's been hurt at times this year but he also has gone from .279-.819 last year to .213-.667 this year.
Fraley's BA is higher than last year but OPS is lower.\
New acquisition Candelario is having a worse year this year compared to last year (.251-.807 last year vs .227-.724 this year).

About the only two dudes doing better than last year are Stephenson and EDLC.

Steer, Benson, Friedl, Fraley were all guys who were never top-100 prospects that in their age 25 or older seasons had a single career year after being average or worse prior. That's about as big of a red flag for regression as it gets. I will admit I didn't expect all 4, but you shouldn't be too shocked if 2 or 3 of the 4 did.

Marte simply had to get off the PEDs. Dee Gordon went from a 116 OPS+ on PEDs, got suspended and had an 86 OPS+ over the next three years.

Candelario is pretty darn close to his career numbers. He is a career 102 OPS+ hitter, and this year he has a 97 OPS+, with the small drop easily explained by him being in his age 30 season now. Mike Moustakas 2.0.

McLain being hurt is a shame.
CES we can only hope his 241 PA in 2023 are the real him and not his 123 PA in 2024. Neither is a large sample size and they're very opposite in results.

Three dudes, you forgot India who was 99 OPS+ last year and 113 OPS+ this year.


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Also worth noting that batting is just down league-wide this year.

.248/.320/.414 (.734 OPS) in 2023
.243/.313/.400 (.712 OPS) in 2024

.022 OPS drop for all MLB

[cinci4life]

EDLC!!!!!!!!