Reds Spring Training thread

[Forever Spinning Vinyl]

Start off with a 5-1 loss.

They only had four hits, half of which were from Votto who knocked in their only run.

It was on WLW but today's game against the A's is on WSAI. I'm not sure I've ever heard them broadcast a game.

Those with MLB.TV will be able to see the game on Tuesday as the Angels appear to be broadcasting every game.

[fredtoast]

One month until opening day.

Last year we were coming off a very aggressive off-season by the Reds. This year it seems we have gone backwards.

[guyofthetiger]

I'm interested in the starting pitching and how that goes this Spring. Lets hope no injuries.

[Goalpost]

Hunter Greene has great velocity. He ranged from 99 to 103 in his brief appearance last night. Not great control or location with his breaking ball though. It was his debut, made an error, so maybe a bit nervous or anxious, which every new player has to experience.

[grampahol]

I'm thinking by this time next year we could have one hell of a starting rotation with Castillo, Gray, Greene and Lodolo and who knows? That's gonna be tough on opposing teams..

[*TheLeonardLeap*]

I know it was his first start back from TJ surgery and all, but at some point throwing hard just isn't going to be enough. It's a bit concerning. He's a 21-year-old who hasn't played above low-A, and has a minor league career 4.95 ERA/1.349 WHIP.

If you don't have movement and control, velocity is useless. Clayton Kershaw's career average FB velocity is 92.9mph and he's never had a year where it was above 94.0mph.

Still think it was a mistake that they were so quick to shut him down as a SS. A lot of teams were viewing him as a 1st round pick SS rather than SP.

[*bengalfan74*]

I turned on the Reds game yesterday it was like the 4th inning Reds were losing 4-1. The pitcher walked a batter then he stole 2nd ( the announcer said that was the 4th SB of the game by them) so Votto was playing off 1st a good bit.

Then next batter then hits a medium hard grounder directly at Votto, easy out right ? Nope Votto twists over to the right out of the way of the ball and attempts to glove it off to his side. You know the kind of mistake you get chewed out for playing pee wee ball in the 3rd grade. The ball goes off his glove and on to right field where Castellanos adds insult to injury by booting it himself.

5-1

It's not that Votto had an error, it's how he had the error ! 14 year vets or whatever he is don't get out of the way of a ground ball to field it off on the side.

[Forever Spinning Vinyl]

I'm getting a lot of 2016-2019 vibes with this team.

[*bengalfan74*]

(03-08-2021, 05:48 PM)Forever Spinning Vinyl Wrote: I'm getting a lot of 2016-2019 vibes with this team.

It sure seems so.

On paper it looks like they could have a competitive team. On the field it seems its the same old same ole. I'm figuring on another 12-30 start and out of the race by mid May.

[TecmoBengals]

Doolittle looks horrible. I'm not sure he should even make the squad.

[kevin]

Reds huge weakness 1st half of Spring Training is Shortstop. Awful batting averages. Farmer hitting .222 and he isn't really a shortstop but a bench guy who plays many positions. Look, if I'm not getting hitting, I'm going Sparky and playing the good young defense like Davey in 1970, and that is Garcia. So far in Spring, none of the Reds shortstops can hit. GO WITH THE BEST YOUNG DEFENSE as Sparky did.

Moose and Castellanos have awful batting averages so far. Reds have had too many awful batting averages last couple years. Not a good thing to have line-ups where everybody hitting under .250 as Reds have last couple years. It's early, but there are guys hitting better than Moose and Castellanos. If some players come on strong as Sabo did one Spring, play them and try to get Reds batting averages up in 2021. Too many outs in Reds line-ups. I don't think much of home run hitters batting under .250

Again, so far no Reds shortstops are hitting, so go with Garcia who at least plays great defense, which you want at short anyway, and bat him last. If they put Moose at 2nd and Farmer at short, that isn't very good Defense Up The Middle.

Stephenson is hitting better than Barnhart, and it's just time to get the 24 year old who was a Reds 1st Round pick in there as the regular starter. Not Barnhart or Farmer, but Stephenson who should become an All-Star Catcher.

[Goalpost]

Suarez starts at short tonight. He came in 15 lbs lighter this spring. Moose starts at 3rd. India starts at 2nd. I'm in favor of this. With the way defenses shift nowadays players just don't play penciled in to a certain area. India has started out this spring with a .333 average.

[Forever Spinning Vinyl]

(03-16-2021, 07:33 AM)Goalpost Wrote: Suarez starts at short tonight.  He came in 15 lbs lighter this spring.  Moose starts at 3rd.  India starts at 2nd.  I'm in favor of this.  With the way defenses shift nowadays players just don't play penciled in to a certain area. India has started out this spring with a .333 average.

Totally agree. He started out as a Shortstop in Detroit then put on weight playing third because we were set at SS because of Cozart. When I heard that he lost weight this last off-season, the first thing I thought of was move him to SS. He's a natural SS, Moose and India are natural 3B and converted to 2B because they weren't going to replace Suarez. I'd actually like to keep Moose at 2B because he has more experience there and India would be at his natural position.

I'd like to add that Blandino has shown confidence that I haven't seen him exude before. He hasn't faced a lot of MLB pitching this Spring but he has come out swinging instead of taking pitches right down the middle.

I'm liking a bench of Farmer, Blandino and Heinemann. Aquino is still a question mark.

[fredtoast]

(03-14-2021, 01:36 AM)kevin Wrote: Moose and Castellanos have awful batting averages so far.  Reds have had too many awful batting averages last couple years.  Not a good thing to have line-ups where everybody hitting under .250 as Reds have last couple years. It's early, but there are guys hitting better than Moose and Castellanos. If some players come on strong as Sabo did one Spring, play them and try to get Reds batting averages up in 2021.  Too many outs in Reds line-ups. I don't think much of home run hitters batting under .250

Castellanos is a career .274 hitter in over 3500 at bats.  He hit .294 in over 1200 at bats the two prior seasons.  He just turned 29 this month.  No way you bench him for one down season.

Moose hit .256 with 101 HR over the 3 prior seasons.  He is 32 so he could be on the decline, but I still trust his bat over any young infielders we have.  I don't know of any of them that have shown a lot of hitting in the minors.

[grampahol]

I just don't think this team is going anywhere this season if ST pitching stats are any indicator.. We're next to the bottom of the league in stats We lead the lague with 34 HRs given up and have issued 82 BB (tied with Rockies) 2nd only to the Cards in that category with 84. If this holds through the regular season we're toast.. 
On the other hand we're 8th in the league in BA with I believe 15 players hitting over .300.. I know..still very early.
That said ST stats are often highly misleading and things can turn around quickly.. 

[Forever Spinning Vinyl]

(03-20-2021, 12:25 AM)grampahol Wrote: I just don't think this team is going anywhere this season if ST pitching stats are any indicator.. We're next to the bottom of the league in stats We lead the lague with 34 HRs given up and have issued 82 BB (tied with Rockies) 2nd only to the Cards in that category with 84. If this holds through the regular season we're toast.. 
On the other hand we're 8th in the league in BA with I believe 15 players hitting over .300.. I know..still very early.
That said ST stats are often highly misleading and things can turn around quickly.. 

Lots of pitchers with little chance of making the club. Our actual starters don't look so bad(Santillan is still a possibility).
Castillo 0.00 ERA in 5 innings
Mahle 0.00 ERA I don't like how there are only 9 ST games left and he has one appearance for only 2 innings
Santillan 0.00 ERA with 2 unearned runs on a home run
Antone 1.17 ERA 1 run in 7.2 innings
Gray 4.50 ERA 1 start for 2 innings Kind of concerned about his health
Lodolo 6.00 ERA 2 runs in 3 innings but he may see some time this year

I am really liking Cionel Perez in the bullpen. This guy has star written all over him. 7.2 innings with a 1.17 ERA. Biddle looks good (1.29 ERA in 7 innings) and so does Vladimer Guitierrez (0.00 ERA in 5 innings with one start)

Lorenzen looks lost as does Doolittle.

My Starting Lineup
Senzel - CF
Castellanos - RF
Winker - LF
Suarez - SS
Moustakis - 3B
India - 2B
Votto - 1B
Barnhardt - C He may be a poor hitter but he's still a Gold Glove Catcher

Batting lineup we'll probably see

Winker
Castellanos
Votto
Suarez
Moustakis
India
Senzel
Barnhardt

Bench Players
Farmer
Akiyama - really came into his own as the leadoff hitter late in last seasons truncated schedule.
Payton
Strange-Gordon
Stephenson - this dude still needs to learn how to catch. I have visions of Mesoraco behind the plate. Still way too clumsy.

Blandino and Aquino can hit the minors for another year. Naquin and Freeman are cuts while Schrock and Heineman are worth keeping around. Jose Garcia . . . 0 for 14. Ouch.

[grampahol]

Quite true that some teams will be terrible, but win in ST while great teams often stink in ST, but I'm never confident about these things with the Reds when they have a lousy ST record.. It just feels like the ST results carry over into the rest of the season for the team.. I guess I'm biased that way..

[fredtoast]

Wow.

I have never heard of half of our bullpen.

This is going to be a long season. Looking for "bounce-back" seasons from some guys who are proven hitters but had down years last season (Castellano, Moose, Senzil, Suarez) so we should score some runs, but Votto has been in decline for a couple of years and I don't see him improving a lot over last season. It is hard on a team to get no offense from the 1B position.

[grampahol]

Minus well over half the team having career best seasons I don't see anything close to contention ..I see a very high draft once again of guys who may or may never see the big leagues outside of an invite to ST or just buying a ticket to a game...maybe watching a game on TV.. I wouldn't be too shocked if the Castilinni bunch sold the team to a vulture capitalist firm to turn it into a low A team in the heart of Cincinnati..