Reds Hire New Hitting Coach

[Circleville Guy]

Alan Zinter is the guys name. He was last a hitting coach for the Padres. He was their Hitting Coach for 3 years before getting fired. He was in the front office with the Giants the last couple of years. He is friends with Bell, this has to be a Bell hire. I’m not too excited about this hire. I’m not sure what kind of new stuff he will teach but maybe undoing what the last coach was teaching will go a long way. Anyways, time will tell!

[*bengalfan74*]

Let's hope he can work some kind of magic with Votto. Somebody has to get him to swing the damn bat if this team is to have any chance.

[Circleville Guy]

He played 18 years in to minors and hit .258 with 250 Hr’s. It sounds like he really loves the game, that’s a long time riding buses. He had 2 small cups of tea in the Bigs where he hit .170 with 3 Hr’s. I hope it works out and the guy can stick!

[*psychdoctor*]

Here is a tweet about this...

The #Reds today announced the hiring of Alan Zinter as Hitting Coach for the Major League team and the promotion of Donnie Ecker to Assistant Hitting Coach and Director of Hitting. pic.twitter.com/cCFz8r96Sc

— Cincinnati Reds (@Reds) October 24, 2019

[UKWhoDey]

Lets hope he does better than Turner did this season

[Circleville Guy]

(10-24-2019, 03:12 PM)UKWhoDey Wrote: Lets hope he does better than Turner did this season

There’s nowhere to go but up!! Think positive!

[UKWhoDey]

(10-24-2019, 05:21 PM)Circleville Guy Wrote: There’s nowhere to go but up!!   Think positive!

Agreed.  And I believe we will.  Hard to say we will make the playoffs next year right now until we see what moves we make as well as the rest of the Central.   You can bet your butt the Dirty Birds wont stand pat after their playoff sweep.  But our FO walked the walk this past offseason and so far their talk this offseason says they're going to be aggressive.   I really hope so.  We are just a few key pieces away in certain areas.


I personally would like us to put Senzel at 2nd.  The Peraza, Dietrich, Galvis, etc rotation..enough.  We have a potential HoFer at that positon if theyd just use him there.

That leaves OF.  Why not put Lorenzen out there.  We need bullpen help anyway.  Go sign some bullpen guys.  We also need at least one new power bat in the OF.  Youre looking at adding someone in both areas regardless.


And then, and this is a pipe dream, why not move Suarez to SS? Thats where he played in Detroit, beat out by Iglesias.  This would of course assume hes improved his fielding enough to warrant it.  I have no idea.  But if so, then go add Rendon in FA.  An IF of Votto, Senzel, Suarez and Rendon? Giddyup boys! 

And of course catcher.  Yasmani Grandal should be a priority add.  I love Tucker but his bat is a bit of a liability.



All of those are just random thoughts.  We clearly need to add an OF power bat.  You need to lock down at least 1 player who is of a higher caliber than our commitee at 2nd and SS.  I loved Iglesias clutch hitting and his fielding but hes 30...if the price is right OK but if not we need to do something there.  Id prefer Senzel move to 2nd.

And then of course go get bullpen arms.  Aces.  Give Amir some help.  

[Circleville Guy]

(10-24-2019, 10:34 PM)UKWhoDey Wrote: Agreed.  And I believe we will.  Hard to say we will make the playoffs next year right now until we see what moves we make as well as the rest of the Central.   You can bet your butt the Dirty Birds wont stand pat after their playoff sweep.  But our FO walked the walk this past offseason and so far their talk this offseason says they're going to be aggressive.   I really hope so.  We are just a few key pieces away in certain areas.


I personally would like us to put Senzel at 2nd.  The Peraza, Dietrich, Galvis, etc rotation..enough.  We have a potential HoFer at that positon if theyd just use him there.

That leaves OF.  Why not put Lorenzen out there.  We need bullpen help anyway.  Go sign some bullpen guys.  We also need at least one new power bat in the OF.  Youre looking at adding someone in both areas regardless.


And then, and this is a pipe dream, why not move Suarez to SS? Thats where he played in Detroit, beat out by Iglesias.  This would of course assume hes improved his fielding enough to warrant it.  I have no idea.  But if so, then go add Rendon in FA.  An IF of Votto, Senzel, Suarez and Rendon? Giddyup boys! 

And of course catcher.  Yasmani Grandal should be a priority add.  I love Tucker but his bat is a bit of a liability.



All of those are just random thoughts.  We clearly need to add an OF power bat.  You need to lock down at least 1 player who is of a higher caliber than our commitee at 2nd and SS.  I loved Iglesias clutch hitting and his fielding but hes 30...if the price is right OK but if not we need to do something there.  Id prefer Senzel move to 2nd.

And then of course go get bullpen arms.  Aces.  Give Amir some help.  

Do you have an extra Bengals Bag that I can wear for Sunday? Haha.. So, I agree with some of what you say and disagree with others. Not knowing for sure is what makes it fun. I do agree with moving Senzel to second though I’d be shocked if he ever gets mentioned for the HOF. I also agree with adding another power bat in the OF, hopefully a LH hitter. I’d leave Suarez at 3B, he’s found his comfort zone. I’d also try to bring Iglesias back to SS on a 2 year deal. Our current Catcher tandem has been middle of the league, I just don’t see Grandal putting up enough numbers to justify that big money difference. I’d rather sign an actual closer or a LH starting pitcher with that money.... or trade for it. Obviously, they need a couple more relievers. Another thing that bothers me is that the Reds still don’t have a real leadoff hitter.... I really wish that they could find 2 outfields and give up on Winker. He doesn’t hit for power, doesn’t field that well and isn’t fast. If he’s not gonna put up huge OBP numbers then he’s a waste. The team needs several key adds to compete. I’m also not big on Bauer. I don’t think he’ll be worth the 15-18 Mil that he will make. All just opinions but they have a lot of work to do.

[guyofthetiger]

The first task for the hitting coach is teaching players how to bunt. I can't tell you how many times that the Reds couldn't sacrifice bunt or even bunt for a hit. I am a believer when the defense shift gives you a bunt down third base, you should take it.

[UKWhoDey]

(10-25-2019, 01:30 AM)Circleville Guy Wrote: Do you have an extra Bengals Bag that I can wear for Sunday? Haha.. So, I agree with some of what you say and disagree with others. Not knowing for sure is what makes it fun. I do agree with moving Senzel to second though I’d be shocked if he ever gets mentioned for the HOF. I also agree with adding another power bat in the OF, hopefully a LH hitter. I’d leave Suarez at 3B, he’s found his comfort zone. I’d also try to bring Iglesias back to SS on a 2 year deal. Our current Catcher tandem has been middle of the league, I just don’t see Grandal putting up enough numbers to justify that big money difference. I’d rather sign an actual closer or a LH starting pitcher with that money.... or trade for it. Obviously, they need a couple more relievers. Another thing that bothers me is that the Reds still don’t have a real leadoff hitter.... I really wish that they could find 2 outfields and give up on Winker. He doesn’t hit for power, doesn’t field that well and isn’t fast. If he’s not gonna put up huge OBP numbers then he’s a waste. The team needs several key adds to compete. I’m also not big on Bauer. I don’t think he’ll be worth the 15-18 Mil that he will make. All just opinions but they have a lot of work to do.

Oh, the Suarez move/add Rendon was absolutely a total wild card pipe dream.  Mostly just getting greedy and salivating at the thought of the bats we'd have in the IF.  I know there's no way that one happens.

I agree about Iglesias.  His glove was really nice, and he was clutch at many instances.  If you can sign him to a shorter deal at his age for the right money, Id say do it.  Like you said,  keeping some money and investing it more heavily in others areas of dire need.  Im not sold on Bauer yet either. Very mercurial on the mound. 

[Yojimbo]

I just don’t get hiring a guy that’s had zero success at this job. The Padres were one of the worst hitting teams during his tenure there.