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A week after trading 14 game winner Straily the Reds signed Scott Feldman of 183 starts in 12 years with Reds his 6th team. Reds and Feldman are thinking of him as a starter, but he has bullpen experience if that's what it comes down to. The Reds feel on Storen and Feldman they haven't spent much money on either. They are also considering bringing Arroyo back. The Reds have said all along they needed to add veteran starting pitching. Now Arroyo has had arm injuries the last 3 years and just went under elbow surgery in November. At that time his hope was to maybe sign with a team by late February. He is now 39 years old with a more injured arm than Reds fans remember, Still, both Reds and Arroyo are talking. The idea is a minor league contract to bring him into Spring Training and see if Dude still has anything left in the tank. Again, the Reds aren't spending much money looking into veterans.
That's about it on Reds moves going into February. Nothing to get excited over the last place Reds. The Pete Rose Statue Day will probably be the highlight of Reds season.
1968 Bengal Fan
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They still have quite a few young arms in the pipeline which is always a good thing.
I'm not feeling really confident heading into the season, but on the other hand the season hasn't begun so it's premature to say it's over and done with .
The good thing about baseball and sports in general is that you can't always accurately predict what will happen.
Occasionally what happens is that guys nobody expects to do well have great seasons and of course the opposite happens where guys everyone expects to play great turnout to be monumental flops and that part is always unpredictable.
I'm not expecting the Reds to have a great season, but if they do I'm certainly not going to be disappointed.
I'm probably close to being alone in that I'm glad we still have Phillips and Peraza both. Most people want Phillips traded away, but suppose Peraza gets injured or Phillips is.. Great depth is never a bad thing.
Pitching is another issue entirely.
I'm not exactly excited about the prospect of dragging Arroyo back out there, but if they do and he has one last great season again I won't be disappointed. I don't expect that to happen, but stranger things have happened in the past.
In the immortal words of my old man, "Wait'll you get to be my age!"
Chicago sounds rough to the maker of verse, but the one comfort we have is Cincinnati sounds worse. ~Oliver Wendal Holmes Sr.
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Well the Reds did sign Arroyo to a minor league deal to bring him to spring training for a look see. 39 years old and has been injured most of the last 3 years. Of course in his favor is he was always a junk pitcher. His big pitch was that leg kick and bowling ball curve. Like a bowler and it starts for the gutter but has that big hook spin into the pins. That huge giant curve was Arroyo's pitch. That and other junk pitches. Now when his junk was on, he was tough. Of course if he had to throw the fastball or he threw a hanging curve, he got hit hard. His junk was on often enough for 15 wins a year. That was before.
If nothing else, it won't be bad to have Arroyo in training camp. Maybe a young pitcher might learn that curve ball off him. I wouldn't rule out the bullpen, since our bullpen stunk also last year. Since my hopes are so low for the Reds, maybe why not one last season of Arroyo with Reds and Bronson Arroyo Day. Heck, he might surprise like old Luis Tiant who had injuries but was real old throwing those junk pitches for wins. Gary Nolan of injuries switched to junk pitches as did Tommy John. Arroyo never had a fastball anyway, so throwing the junk is nothing new to him. ....That said, Reds aren't going out on a limb on this minor league contract on a 39 year old pitcher with arm problems.
The fact remains Reds did NOT bring in a sold good veteran pitcher as they wanted. Maybe Phillips rejecting a trade stopped one, who knows.
1968 Bengal Fan