Reds Trade Everybody, BRING ON BENGALS

[*ochocincos*]

(08-03-2022, 11:12 AM)Crazyjdawg Wrote: I disagree with the bolded. I don't really care that we traded Naquin or Drury. They were rentals that did not have a future with the team. Same goes for Solano.

I also don't mind that we traded Castillo and Mahle. Both are set for big raises after next season, and we aren't projected to realistically compete for the playoffs until about 2024, when Marte, Elly De La Cruz, Matt McLain, Spencer Steer, Christian Encarnacion-Strand, Levi Stoudt, Austin Hendrick and Connor Phillips are expected to start joining the team and Joey Votto and Mike Moustakas are coming off the payroll (opening up funds for some free agents to fill in the gaps).

So paying those two would not have been a good idea (Castillo will likely break the bank and Mahle will likely command 15 to 18 million per year), since we wouldn't be likely be competing for anything until they are already 2 to 3 years into whatever extension we signed with them. Trading them for incredible returns to bolster our farm system (We added our #1, 6, 7, 16, 17, 18 and 30th ranked prospects at the trade deadline, with our #5, 9 and 15th ranked prospects being added right before the season) was the right decision.

We have three intensely exciting rookies in our starting line up. 

Hunter Greene, widely considered a generational prospect (he even made the cover of several magazines) prior to the 2017 MLB draft, hits 100 mph with ease and has one of the most ridiculous wipe out sliders I've seen since Aroldis Chapman.

Nick Lodolo doesn't have nearly the stuff that Greene has, but he has that location and pitch selection awareness that I haven't seen since Bronson Arroyo.

And Graham Ashcroft also can touch 100 mph with his fast ball but it isn't a four seamer, it's a cutter. In fact, the reason he wasn't a top prospect until right before this season is because he couldn't throw his fastball straight to the point that people didn't even want to play warm up catch with him in spring training! But our coaches decided, rather than training him to throw the ball straight, why not teach him how to harness the curve of his fastball and turned it into a cutter and sinker (breaking in opposite directions)


https://www.cincinnati.com/story/sports/mlb/reds/2022/06/12/cincinnati-reds-pitcher-graham-ashcraft-diamond-rough/7582478001/

Not many players in the majors have a 100 mph cutter or sinker, making Ashcraft one of the most unique rookie pitchers in the majors.


Add to that, we have the reigning NL Rookie of the year in Johnathan India who is coming back from an injury and is starting to play like he did last season (hit .290/.365/.527/.892 in July) and we're about to call up a bunch of high upside rookies like Jose Barrero (who has been considered the shortstop of the future for this team since 2020 until the most recent trades that brought in Marte, Arroyo and Acosta to compete with him, along with McLain and Elly De La Cruz), Brandon Williamson (who we got in the trade for Winker and Suarez) and a very, very small chance of seeing Noelve Marte (the main return for Luis Castillo) and Matt McLain, our 2021 first round pick, come up in September (they are moving fast, but the majors this season may be a year too fast).

We also have Tyler Stephenson, a 2nd year player who was hitting .319/.372/.482/.854 in 50 games played this season although, regrettably, he did get injured due to a foul tipped ball breaking his clavicle (We probably should move him to 1B to prevent these kinds of freak injuries from occurring again. He's also had some other injury concerns related to his playing catcher).

I think there's still a ton of stuff to be interested in about this Reds season.

Just, you know, not the actual wins and losses haha.

While all this is true, many (most?) fans don't care about watching players develop in a losing season.
They just want wins, and they'll tune out until the team actually turns around.