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Post by Rodneck on Jun 5, 2017 13:45:10 GMT -5
There is a black hole in the center of every galaxy and eventually it eats away at everything around it. We have that black hole in the center of our baseball universe in our starting pitching and it is swallowing everything good around the team and putting us on the fast track to irrelevance. 5 games under .500 and at the cellar of the Central, I don't see any way out of more misery. Kids these days don't have the wherewithal when given a golden opportunity. At least in our farm system. There is a winning lottery ticket for any young starter who steps up and meets the challenge. Nobody wants it. Looking at a million ballplayer stats every summer, when I first saw Amir Garrett's stats I wasn't impressed. I bought into the adjectives "Competitor", "Guile", "It Factor". It's all bullshit. Smoke and mirrors can work in the minor leagues. This guy has been figured out. 3 HR's yesterday. He's toast. It takes stuff and brains, not one or the other. This is the worst starting pitching in Reds history. Right now only 2 teams have an ERA over 5.00. Ours is over 6.00. That is an embarrassing accomplishment. Well congratulations to the Reds management. They had another date circled on their calendar and they are getting their wish to tank to high heaven. Enjoy.  Meanwhile the offense while in injury limbo and disheartened by the disaster they see daily from the starters has hit near the Mendoza line for a 2nd straight series.  Bronson Arroyo was the lone pitching highlight of the series. Spinning 6 innings of 2 run ball. Bullpen was solid but overworked. Blake Wood has picked up 2 losses inside a week.  I've been lost in the labor of my yard projects. Might be the ideal place to stay. Perhaps it is just fatigue talking but I see nothing but pain and misery coming from our Reds. We stay on this trajectory we will be an afterthought by the end of June... |
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Post by redsfan4life on Jun 5, 2017 15:22:38 GMT -5
Rod, I checked out last weekend. A whole week without watching. I do check box scores can't help myself I am a lifer. At some point we have to lay blame on the scouting and the coaching in the minors. Price needs to go pronto. He is some suposed pitching guru. I call B.S. on that.
I was impressed with Garrett early on. I think I just saw a few good starts and caught fools gold fever on him.
I don't know what the answer is but I guess we have to cross fingers that Finnegan,Disco and Bailey make it back and stay back. If Homer is even half as good as he used to be than right away he is beter than anything we run ot there. I say that and I have never thought Homer was that good. But let's face it, It wouldn't take much to be a improvment over this current mess.
4.50 e.r.a from the starters thats all we would need and we are in first place right now.
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Post by claycc on Jun 5, 2017 15:46:27 GMT -5
We knew before last season ended that the pitching was horrible. The bullpen had to be addressed, since there was no logical reason for it to be as bad as it was last year. It was. But it can't pitch 5+ innings a day, every day.
The starting pitching had to improve. Some of these kids have to grow up and show that they belong. Getting pissed about being sent down in an attempt to avoid Super 2 status means absolutely nothing when you don't perform when given the chance again. That just proves that you're not ready. Come back with a goddamn chip on your shoulder and prove that you belong, for fuck's sake!
I don't expect Bailey, Desclafani, and Finnegan to be lights out when they get back. I expect them to show some stability. I expect them to show the babies how to actually earn their paychecks. If we can get that, then we should be able to go on a nice run the rest of the season, provided the bullpen isn't used up by that point.
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Post by vb1123 on Jun 5, 2017 16:35:03 GMT -5
I never really thought that this yrs. team had a shot at contention, just hoping to get around .500 and let the kids mature. That's the vibe I got from the FO and most news I consumed about our reds through spring. Now, the entire NLC has stumbled like hell. Like Brian just posted, having only a decent group of SP'ers and the reds could be running away w/ this thing. Cardinals, btw, have the best SP'er ERA in the majors, 1.5 games ahead of the reds as of now. Offense is good if streaky, just need a little pitching.
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Post by Rodneck on Jun 5, 2017 17:01:47 GMT -5
Man some great responses. I don't know where to begin. This is tough. I knew we were a better team than nearly everybody was giving us credit for. I also echo the thought that if we have a mediocre rotation we are 10 games over .500. This is an absolute travesty. There is so much good baseball happening with this team that is going to get lost within these months because the rotation is such an historical atrocity. In my mind I blame the front office. Their complete lack of urgency and apparently piss poor judge of pitching talent is absolutely killing this team. And they have this lax attitude about it that completely pisses me off. As if there is all the time in the world and good days are right around the corner. Good days are right in front of us and they are not interested. Date on the calendar is already circled and it's 2018-19-20. Everything will be fine. Eat another hot dog and get shit faced on $10 beers, good days are coming.....
And there is no quick fix with this. None. Absolutely none of these prospects are even close to contributing at the major league level. And this CAN go on for fucking years and years. It's time to buy starting pitching or wait for 2-3 years. How fun does that sound? Much like the Bengals I think they have no vision. Too early of a call about Williams but if they think they can turn this on or off they are dead wrong.
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Post by Rodneck on Jun 5, 2017 17:06:58 GMT -5
We knew before last season ended that the pitching was horrible. The bullpen had to be addressed, since there was no logical reason for it to be as bad as it was last year. It was. But it can't pitch 5+ innings a day, every day. The starting pitching had to improve. Some of these kids have to grow up and show that they belong. Getting pissed about being sent down in an attempt to avoid Super 2 status means absolutely nothing when you don't perform when given the chance again. That just proves that you're not ready. Come back with a goddamn chip on your shoulder and prove that you belong, for fuck's sake! I don't expect Bailey, Desclafani, and Finnegan to be lights out when they get back. I expect them to show some stability. I expect them to show the babies how to actually earn their paychecks. If we can get that, then we should be able to go on a nice run the rest of the season, provided the bullpen isn't used up by that point. Always love hearing someone else use the F word! It is a sign of passion. In our cases anyway! LOL!  |
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Post by vb1123 on Jun 5, 2017 17:40:29 GMT -5
A Strailly here, another journeyman Feldman there and this thing would be something. Probably less than 10MM$ spent on 3-4 league avg. guys and the reds are waaay ahead in 1st place. FO definitely shit the bed on their predictions for the season. And they DO seem to be more than willing, almost insisting on tanking. Shitty.
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Post by Rodneck on Jun 5, 2017 18:20:24 GMT -5
A Strailly here, another journeyman Feldman there and this thing would be something. Probably less than 10MM$ spent on 3-4 league avg. guys and the reds are waaay ahead in 1st place. FO definitely shit the bed on their predictions for the season. And they DO seem to be more than willing, almost insisting on tanking. Shitty. They absolutely love the luxury of the injury excuse. They hide behind it and think it is a safe space, but what it really points out is the lack of talent on this team in the pitching department. And nobody talks about it. I think the writers that cover this team are sheep. |
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Post by Rodneck on Jun 5, 2017 18:25:15 GMT -5
Rod, I checked out last weekend. A whole week without watching. I do check box scores can't help myself I am a lifer. At some point we have to lay blame on the scouting and the coaching in the minors. Price needs to go pronto. He is some suposed pitching guru. I call B.S. on that. I was impressed with Garrett early on. I think I just saw a few good starts and caught fools gold fever on him. I don't know what the answer is but I guess we have to cross fingers that Finnegan,Disco and Bailey make it back and stay back. If Homer is even half as good as he used to be than right away he is beter than anything we run ot there. I say that and I have never thought Homer was that good. But let's face it, It wouldn't take much to be a improvment over this current mess. 4.50 e.r.a from the starters thats all we would need and we are in first place right now. I get busy and don't watch but I haven't "Checked out". |
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Post by redsfan4life on Jun 6, 2017 16:10:42 GMT -5
Rod, I checked out last weekend. A whole week without watching. I do check box scores can't help myself I am a lifer. At some point we have to lay blame on the scouting and the coaching in the minors. Price needs to go pronto. He is some suposed pitching guru. I call B.S. on that. I was impressed with Garrett early on. I think I just saw a few good starts and caught fools gold fever on him. I don't know what the answer is but I guess we have to cross fingers that Finnegan,Disco and Bailey make it back and stay back. If Homer is even half as good as he used to be than right away he is beter than anything we run ot there. I say that and I have never thought Homer was that good. But let's face it, It wouldn't take much to be a improvment over this current mess. 4.50 e.r.a from the starters thats all we would need and we are in first place right now. I get busy and don't watch but I haven't "Checked out". I just took a break from the Reds. Just hard to watch a offence that is the best we have had since 10 just go to waste with a all time worse starting staff. Just think how tough it is for the lineup knowing most games they have to score 6 or more to win. |
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Post by Rodneck on Jun 7, 2017 11:58:34 GMT -5
I get busy and don't watch but I haven't "Checked out". I just took a break from the Reds. Just hard to watch a offence that is the best we have had since 10 just go to waste with a all time worse starting staff. Just think how tough it is for the lineup knowing most games they have to score 6 or more to win. We all have to take a break when it gets overwhelming for us. For me, with this team, the thing I don't want to happen is that if I don't watch enough, I really don't know what is going on with the team, then that leads to a false perception of the team. I needed my break about last June from the team for a few weeks but watched nearly every game from post ASB on. Going into this season I felt I had a good sense of what the team was capable of. That largely proved true. What I didn't expect was every starting pitcher and starting prospect in the system to all fail. Nobody has stepped up for any lengthy period. Or be injured. |
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Post by Rodneck on Jun 7, 2017 11:59:32 GMT -5
But on another note the team has bounced back again. Posting up 2 quality starts and 2 wins. Let's keep it going.
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