How long will it take...

[kevin]

(09-11-2015, 12:41 PM)fredtoast Wrote: It would be insane to trade Votto.  He is the ONLY elite offensive plauyer we havce and we have no one waiting to replace him.

Votto is currently 2nd in the majors in on base percentage, 7th in slugging percentage, and second in OPS (slugging + on-base).  If you want to win you need to hold on tight when you get one of the very best players in the league on your team.

So before, we couldn't get out from under his big salary because he was injured or not hitting....and now that he is hitting, he is to great to trade....Catch 22......If he's not hitting we can't trade him, and if he is hitting we can't trade him......This team has been around last place 2 straight years and if it brings back pretty much the same players in 2016, it will be 3 straight years around last place. ....The Reds are a small market team in last place and Votto is the highest paid player. ....To rebuild this team and get out of last place, fan favorites will have to be dumped/ unloaded/ traded/ released....just as when it was time to get rid of Griffey Jr and Dunn, both who the Reds held on to way too long as they floundered in last place. 

You have the deep pocket Yankees....then you have the other big market teams....then you have small market teams such as Cincinnati. .....A small market team must have good managers and a good farm system and grow their own talent. The focus must be on pitching and defense because that wins a lot of games. You can get lower paid players to play solid fundamentals on defense. The 1970's Reds will never happen again in Cincinnati due to free agency. A big salary in the Big Red Machine era was one hundred thousand and only a few major league players made that much. Then it became one million. Now it is millions on millions. This hurts the small market teams and helps a New York City....Still, with good managers and coaches and a good farm system, teams can develop their own talent and make the play-offs with pitching and defense. The problem is if a player becomes an MVP or CY Young and wants the millions on millions, the small market team is better off letting them go to a team like the Yankees and stick with coaching, farm system, pitching and defense. ....In the end, it is a business. We can't expect Castallini to lose money on this thing. The team is in last place. It was around last place last year. It will be around last place next year without some player moves. ...Being a small market city like Cincinnati, the owner may have to dump payroll to have money to invest into the future of this franchise....Which is why I like NFL more than MLB, because at least NFL has more profit sharing and baseball is The Yankees of big money and everybody else then down the line with the Reds more near the bottom in money than the top. So the Reds are going to be forced to trade or let go of players once they want the big bucks, because the Reds will win more if they divide up their money to have the best 25 man roster they can, and not a couple high priced guys and the rest of the team full of last place players.

The Reds have some very good coaches and managers in the farm system such as Tom Browning. From Dayton on up, they have coaches and managers due for being moved up the ladder. The Reds have good talent in the minors and are adding to it always. One coach for the Reds is that ex catcher Corky Miller. Some of the best managers have been catchers and that makes sense because of the pitching and defense. Corky may just rise out of the minors as a good major league manager or coach. ...So for the small market Reds, the real future is in keeping the farm system solid, and for the major league Reds to have solid defense and solid pitching and try to avoid the very high priced players so they can have a better 25 man roster. ( not putting their eggs all in one basket, or one player ).....and, a small market team like the Reds better be able to lay down a bunt when the manager calls for a bunt. The failure to do things like bunt is what is keeping the Reds in last place.....Small market has to be more about sacrifice and team play, and less about high priced super stars. This isn't the 1970's and that era is over for Cincy. Joe Madden showed what stressing fundamentals could win at Tampa and now with Cubs. Small market teams that sit back and wait for home runs will finish in last for sure.

Now Castallini may have no plans to unload Votto, but I would understand it if he can and does. I do look for some players to not be here in April. If they can finish in last with them, they can finish no worse than last without them. Maybe freeing up some money will benefit the franchise in the long run.

I am a Reds fan, but a fan of them in the play-off hunt.....I thought the Ken Griffey Jr home run numbers on the smokestacks with Reds in last place was very boring.....no individual stat is better than being in the play-off picture......If Mesoraco can't catch after this surgery as doctors have predicted, he would need to play other than catcher. Before we trade him to the AL to DH, he is young enough and lower paid than Votto and first base would be the logical position for him. This may not happen, but the Reds in last place need to make some moves, even if trading fan favorites.