10-11-2015, 02:35 AM
(10-09-2015, 08:35 AM)nevergonnachange Wrote: To be fair, some of this is 20/20 hindsight. Choo looked to be exactly what the team was missing and if everything went according to plan, we'd be discussing the World Series championship we had in 2013 and how it was worth the down years we're having now. Grandal and Alonso were surplus to requirements since they had Mesoroco and Votto.
I give the team credit, they went all in; they failed but they tried. If they would have stood pat, kept all their prospects and had the same results, people would be complaining that they were too passive.
I kinda feel the same way. You can't say that ownership didn't want it. They did, and badly. It just didn't work out. Pretty much everyone that follows this team understood that once the Votto deal was inked and Phillips was extended (Bailey, too), that reinforcements would be tough to come by in free agency.
The problem that this team is facing has less to do with anyone on the big leagues than it does with poor player development in the minors. It's tough for a team to be good year in and year out, and the only way to do that is through player development.
It may hurt to admit, but almost nobody other that St Louis really gets it done year in and year out. They can let go of franchise icons like Pujols, because they always seem to have major league ready players just waiting for the call. They may not be future HOF players, but they're usually fundamentally sound and smart ballplayers that contribute.
The Reds upper level minor league system is a wasteland in terms of everyday 8 development. There are no major league ready guys in AAA right now that are going to make them any better. They've been treading water with journeyman LFs since Adam Dunn was shipped out. If they're going to be a competitive team, something needs to be fixed in the farm system.
