2009 questions...the infield.
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From: David Short on 2 Mar 2010 12:54 "At the end of 2008 Joey Votto was coming along like gangbusters. During the 08 draft the reds drafted a first baseman with their first pick. At the end of 09 will you want Yonder or Joey to be the reds first baseman of the future?" Tuff Gong was the only one that rose to the bait and suggested that Yonder would still be viewed as the firstbaseman of the future. Everybody else took Votto. John K, JustTom and Kommienezuspadt suggested Yonder could be successful in left. We still don't really know. "At the end of 2009 is Brandon Phillips considered an asset or a liablity?" Rja wrote overpriced asset. Kevin said "Liability...although it will be a perception is reality situation, since he will largely be what he's been up to now." Many pointed out that the reds didn't have a replacement handy. That's no longer really true. Brandon's contract starts to explode now, but really he was an asset last year. He's overcast as the cleanup hitter against righthanded pitching, but that's not really his fault. "During the offseason one of the needs that the reds didn't address was the shortstop position. They are going into opening day planning on playing a shortstop that has not played a full season in either of the last two years. Was that a good gamble?" .....You know what? Kommienezuspadt put it best "with 73 wins -- does it matter?" Several people wrote along the same lines. Even if the reds had "invested" in a free agent shortstop last year...It wouldn't have made enough of a difference to push them to 500. "Order by playing time (meaning total at bats) Richar, Hairston, Keppinger, A-Gon, Janish" The consensus was A-gon, hairston, who cares, but just about everybody put "Gonzalez, Hairston, Keppinger, Janish, Richar" Kevin suggested that Hairston would get hurt...he didn't. In the end it went Hairston, Janish, A-Gon, Keppinger. "A-gon's contract will be up at the end of the year. Name me a "shortstop of the future" Frazier? Valakia? Janish? who?" As of this writing, nobody knows. Valakia pretty much crashed last year and is now a secondbaseman. Frazier is playing all over the diamond. Janish has been pretty much denied a starting job. ....Soto has been moved off shortstop. "At the end of 2009 is Edwin Encarnacion considered an asset or a liablity?" heh. I guess that question has been answered. I want to be clear about this. There were a couple of grumblings about his fielding. I suggested he might need a change in scenery. Nobody thought he was going to clear out and out crater like he did. "During the offseason one of the needs that the reds did address was the catcher position. At the end of 2009 will you be happy that Ramon Hernandez got so much playing time at catcher as opposed to Ryan Hanigan and Wilkin Castillo?" JustTom wrote "No, another instance of spending money for no clear purpose. If we were planning to contend and he was just one of several key acquisitions, then maybe. But at the end of the day, we just spent money for no reason AND still won't know whether Hanigan is real or not." Will Vaughn agreed, everybody else thought it was a good pickup. In retrospect.....Wilkin is on the 40 man roster, but I have to think his days are limited. It was a bad year for him to get hurt. I want Hanigan to succeed, but I'm not convinced that he will. Hernandez seems to be part of the latinization of the reds and simply because of that, I think the pickup was a success. He should never get another start at firstbase, but again...that's not his fault.
From: John Kasupski on 2 Mar 2010 16:41 On Tue, 02 Mar 2010 12:54:35 -0500, David Short <David.No.Short.(a)Spam.wright.Please.edu> wrote: >Tuff Gong was the only one that rose to the bait and suggested that >Yonder would still be viewed as the firstbaseman of the future. >Everybody else took Votto. John K, JustTom and Kommienezuspadt suggested >Yonder could be successful in left. > >We still don't really know. Well, just for the record now...WJ has now told the beat writers flat out this spring, "I don't see us moving Joey." And they're saying they're planning to give Alonso time at 3B, LF, and RF. They also apparently did consider moving him to catcher - an idea that I had previously wondered about here - and even went so far as to have him catch some bullpen sessions, and that's all they're saying about that so I'm assuming the catcher idea didn't work out so well and is dead. But right now, it would appear that Alonso's the one who's going to move. >As of this writing, nobody knows. Valakia pretty much crashed last year >and is now a secondbaseman. Frazier is playing all over the diamond. >Janish has been pretty much denied a starting job. ....Soto has been >moved off shortstop. There's another potential shortstop down there too. Zack Cosart. Please tell us you didn't sleep through every single one of the 109 games he played for Dayton in 2008, David - you're supposed to be watching these guys for us! >"At the end of 2009 is Edwin Encarnacion considered an asset or a liablity?" > >heh. I guess that question has been answered. I want to be clear about >this. There were a couple of grumblings about his fielding. I suggested >he might need a change in scenery. Nobody thought he was going to clear >out and out crater like he did. Yeah. This goes into the bear/woods category now, but at the time it was asked, well...it was easy to see him being traded, but to totally crash and burn the way he did...just wow. >In retrospect.....Wilkin is on the 40 man roster, but I have to think >his days are limited. It was a bad year for him to get hurt. I want >Hanigan to succeed, but I'm not convinced that he will. Hernandez seems >to be part of the latinization of the reds and simply because of that, I >think the pickup was a success. He should never get another start at >firstbase, but again...that's not his fault. I'd have to hope that if Votto were to go on the DL again this year they'd bring Alonso up instead of displacing the catcher this time. Alonso is and always has been on a MLB contract so he's burning options in the minors anyway. JK
From: David Short on 3 Mar 2010 12:19 On 3/2/2010 4:41 PM, John Kasupski wrote: > On Tue, 02 Mar 2010 12:54:35 -0500, David Short >> As of this writing, nobody knows. Valakia pretty much crashed last year >> and is now a secondbaseman. Frazier is playing all over the diamond. >> Janish has been pretty much denied a starting job. ....Soto has been >> moved off shortstop. > > There's another potential shortstop down there too. Zack Cosart. Please tell us > you didn't sleep through every single one of the 109 games he played for Dayton > in 2008, David - you're supposed to be watching these guys for us! Cozart seems to be the immediate future. After watching them at Dayton, I thought Frazier would get the nod and then they moved him off the position. I'm hoping we get Billy Hamilton in Dayton this year. dfs
From: HTP on 3 Mar 2010 12:48 On Mar 3, 9:19 am, David Short <David.No.Sho...(a)Spam.wright.Please.edu> wrote: > On 3/2/2010 4:41 PM, John Kasupski wrote: > > > On Tue, 02 Mar 2010 12:54:35 -0500, David Short > >> As of this writing, nobody knows. Valakia pretty much crashed last year > >> and is now a secondbaseman. Frazier is playing all over the diamond. > >> Janish has been pretty much denied a starting job. ....Soto has been > >> moved off shortstop. > > > There's another potential shortstop down there too. Zack Cosart. Please tell us > > you didn't sleep through every single one of the 109 games he played for Dayton > > in 2008, David - you're supposed to be watching these guys for us! > > Cozart seems to be the immediate future. After watching them at Dayton, > I thought Frazier would get the nod and then they moved him off the > position. Right now, Cozart is just another version of Janish. I had hopes that Janish would recognize his offensive limitations and learn to get on base a bit more. He had decent walk rates coming up through the minors but they petered out by the time he reached AAA. > > I'm hoping we get Billy Hamilton in Dayton this year. > Theres a great example of drafting an athlete over a ballplayer. He may be exciting to watch as he tears across the diamond, but will he ever hit enough? I bet he eventually gets moved into centerfield, as many players drafted at ss get moved. If i were in Dayton i'd be a bit more interested in watching Yorman Rodriguez. he's one of those guys signed for big money out of venezuala a couple years back. I assume he'll show up in a Dragons uniform at some point this season, if not the whole year. He's what... 17/18... this year with a high ceiling. let us know what you think if you see him. While were talking about Dragons baseball, did you get to see any of the pitchers that Walt drafted the past couple summer? Looks on paper like some live arms. I'm talking about Donnie Joseph, Mark Serrano, Matt Fairel, and JC Sulbaran. Did you get to see ezequial Infante?
From: David Short on 3 Mar 2010 13:08
On 3/3/2010 12:48 PM, HTP wrote: > On Mar 3, 9:19 am, David Short >> Cozart seems to be the immediate future. After watching them at Dayton, >> I thought Frazier would get the nod and then they moved him off the >> position. > > Right now, Cozart is just another version of Janish. I had hopes that > Janish would recognize his offensive limitations and learn to get on > base a bit more. He had decent walk rates coming up through the minors > but they petered out by the time he reached AAA. Janish's offense vanished once he was about A ball. Cozart had a decent enough season at AA last year. He's still a prospect, but by no means is he a monster. Other than Frazier, the only middle infielder I saw at Dayton that impressed me was Justin Turner who went with Farney to the Orioles for Hernandez. I don't think he'll be a star, but he clearly WANTS to play in a way that made him stand out to my eye. I didn't think much of either Valakia or Janish. >> I'm hoping we get Billy Hamilton in Dayton this year. > > Theres a great example of drafting an athlete over a ballplayer. He > may be exciting to watch as he tears across the diamond, but will he > ever hit enough? > > I bet he eventually gets moved into centerfield, as many players > drafted at ss get moved. That may happen. I've not seen him play yet. > If i were in Dayton i'd be a bit more interested in watching Yorman > Rodriguez. he's one of those guys signed for big money out of > venezuala a couple years back. I assume he'll show up in a Dragons > uniform at some point this season, if not the whole year. He's what... > 17/18... this year with a high ceiling. let us know what you think if > you see him. I don't think he'll be in Dayton yet. It would surprise me if he was. He'll be playing short season ball someplace. > While were talking about Dragons baseball, did you get to see any of > the pitchers that Walt drafted the past couple summer? Looks on paper > like some live arms. I'm talking about Donnie Joseph, Mark Serrano, > Matt Fairel, and JC Sulbaran. Did you get to see ezequial Infante? ......I saw Sulbaran pitch a decent game. None of the other names are ringing a bell. It's a tough ticket to get. I think I'll only get there a couple time this year. dfs |