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From: john smith on 26 Feb 2010 00:51
They basically look like the same team as last year sans Encarnacion and
Taveras. Will Rolen, the new shortstop and Stubbs make huge differences
for this team offensively?

Will Phillips and Votto continue to be staples of the offense?

Has this team improved defensively enough to stop making the mental
mistakes in the field it did in 09?

Will they really get more offense out of the catching position than they
did last year? It's almost a lock they do at SS.

Can Bruce finally step up and be a true hitter not a Dave Kingman with a
glove?

Can Bailey assume the role as ace and limit his temper tantrums on the
mound? Can he finally be the ace the Reds haven't had in a long time?

Will Cueto's arm fall off in late June like it has the past two seasons?
Will Mr. Volquez return in July?

Can Arroyo actually put up 2 solid half's? Will Harang win more than 8
games?

Is Matt Maloney a southpaw surprise that provides a solid #5 starter?
Will Micah Owings be better known as a pitcher rather than a hitter this
year?

Will Coco Cordero finally show his age and be worthless trade bait? Will
the lefties out of the pen be as good as last year?

Can Billy Bray finally make you all forget about leather pants?

Can Gomes be the power guy he was last year?

Will anybody be traded by April opening day?

Is Drew Stubbs going to be Willy Taveras or Billy Hatcher? Will Heisey
stick with the club going north?

Will Baker make it through June as manager?

All interesting questions about REDS 2010.........

Saved the most IMPORTANT QUETION for last? Will Stormy find his way back
to Redsville and make Chuck the happiest fan in the world?

From: Chuck on 26 Feb 2010 11:59
On Feb 26, 12:51 am, eddyg...(a)msn.com (john smith) wrote:
> They basically look like the same team as last year sans Encarnacion and
> Taveras.  Will Rolen, the new shortstop and Stubbs make huge differences
> for this team offensively?
>
> Will Phillips and Votto continue to be staples of the offense?
>
> Has this team improved defensively enough to stop making the mental
> mistakes in the field it did in 09?
>
> Will they really get more offense out of the catching position than they
> did last year? It's almost a lock they do at SS.
>
> Can Bruce finally step up and be a true hitter not a Dave Kingman with a
> glove?
>
> Can Bailey assume the role as ace and limit his temper tantrums on the
> mound? Can he finally be the ace the Reds haven't had in a long time?
>
> Will Cueto's arm fall off in late June like it has the past two seasons?
> Will Mr. Volquez return in July?
>
> Can Arroyo actually put up 2 solid half's? Will Harang win more than 8
> games?
>
> Is Matt Maloney a southpaw surprise that provides a solid #5 starter?
> Will Micah Owings be better known as a pitcher rather than a hitter this
> year?
>
> Will Coco Cordero finally show his age and be worthless trade bait? Will
> the lefties out of the pen be as good as last year?
>
> Can Billy Bray finally make you all forget about leather pants?
>
> Can Gomes be the power guy he was last year?
>
> Will anybody be traded by April opening day?
>
> Is Drew Stubbs going to be Willy Taveras or Billy Hatcher? Will Heisey
> stick with the club going north?
>
> Will Baker make it through June as manager?
>
> All interesting questions about REDS 2010.........
>
> Saved the most IMPORTANT QUETION for last? Will Stormy find his way back
> to Redsville and make Chuck the happiest fan in the world?

Hmmm , I never even remotely considered that a possibility John. But
you may be on to something. What is Weathers doing this spring?
From: HTP on 26 Feb 2010 12:55
On Feb 25, 9:51 pm, eddyg...(a)msn.com (john smith) wrote:
> They basically look like the same team as last year sans Encarnacion and
> Taveras.  Will Rolen, the new shortstop and Stubbs make huge differences
> for this team offensively?
>
> Will Phillips and Votto continue to be staples of the offense?
>
> Has this team improved defensively enough to stop making the mental
> mistakes in the field it did in 09?

John, everything i've read says that the Reds were the most improved
team defensively last season, especially with the squad they put on
the field the last 2 months.

The Reds have an average or better defender at every position now
except for ss (when cabrera starts), or LF if Gomes is out there. I
think they can live with the LF situation. Y'all know how i feel about
ss.

>
> Will they really get more offense out of the catching position than they
> did last year? It's almost a lock they do at SS.
>
> Can Bruce finally step up and be a true hitter not a Dave Kingman with a
> glove?
>
> Can Bailey assume the role as ace and limit his temper tantrums on the
> mound? Can he finally be the ace the Reds haven't had in a long time?
>
> Will Cueto's arm fall off in late June like it has the past two seasons?
> Will Mr. Volquez return in July?
>
> Can Arroyo actually put up 2 solid half's? Will Harang win more than 8
> games?
>
> Is Matt Maloney a southpaw surprise that provides a solid #5 starter?
> Will Micah Owings be better known as a pitcher rather than a hitter this
> year?
>
> Will Coco Cordero finally show his age and be worthless trade bait? Will
> the lefties out of the pen be as good as last year?
>

Its nice how this franchise has changed. Remember a few years back
when we would break camp with someone like Joey Hamilton at the top of
the rotation. Say what you want about Harang, but theres a possibilty,
if a couple things break right, that he could post his usual 200
league average innings and be only the 5th best starter on this club.
Thats how good this rotation could become. This franchise is about as
pitching rich as any time in the past 20 years and probably alot
longer than that.


I'd pretty much written off Matt Maloney after his poor showing last
season, and some others have expressed the opinion that he wont be
able to make it in GABP. But most of the prospect rankings still list
him as one of the Reds best pitching prospects and write good things
about him. I was a bit surprised by that. Everyone is seeing
something that i'm not. I dont want to see alot of major league
innings going to this guy if he's prone to gopherballitis. Hope i'm
wrong. Theres going to be a real battle for that 5th spot.
I'd assumed that the Reds wouldnt rush Chapman and he'd probably
start out in Carolina, but depending on when he can become a free
agent, i think that if he shows any decent level of command this
spring he may just break camp with a job. I'd guessed going into the
winter that Travis Wood had the best shot, but it looks like i may
have been way off base there.
From: john smith on 26 Feb 2010 15:04
Chuck, I believe Stormy was bought out of his 3.7 million 2010 contract
for 400,000. Nice to get a 400,000 check for for not playing. I don't
know if he has been invited to any ML camps. Hope he stays away from the
Reds...

Henry as far as the defense and stats are concerned, I don't put much
trust in them since they rarely take range and just stupid mistakes like
missing cut off men and pitchers failing to cover first base. Having
watched the Reds 09, they failed in my eyes in these 3 areas on numerous
occasions. Rolen should help a bit if he stays healthy and Stubbs is a
huge upgrade overTaveras. I can live with Cabrera if he hits .275 or
better. Janish can be a late inning defensive guy...

One last thing I didn't address was what I like to call the CRATERING
month. You know the month where the Reds usually lose 22 of 30 games and
fall completely out of contention. This team must get over " the here we
go again mentality" and limit the losses when things start going
south...

Every team goes through bad stretches but good teams seem to limit these
long losing streaks. In the past the Reds have given fans a whole lotta
false hope especially after the first two months. This can be a mental
thing and a tough hump to get over. But as former Houston Oiler's coach
Bum Phillips once said in regard to winning, you might knock on the door
a lot but eventually you got to kick the door down to win...I don't know
if Baker is any kind of real motivator at this point in his career.

Spring brings eternal optimism to all fans. I am optimistic this year
but I am also a realist and there are too many question marks on this
2010 Reds squad to get too excited... I'll just past that jug of Kool
Aid around and see if ther are any takers...

From: John Kasupski on 27 Feb 2010 09:37
On Thu, 25 Feb 2010 21:51:10 -0800, eddygdvd(a)msn.com (john smith) wrote:

As always with these things, my comments assume the players being commented on
stay healthy, which is never a sure thing. With that in mind...

>They basically look like the same team as last year sans Encarnacion and
>Taveras. Will Rolen, the new shortstop and Stubbs make huge differences
>for this team offensively?

I don't think there's any question that a healthy O-Cab upgrades the offensive
production at shortstop over what the Reds received last year from Janish and
Gonzalez. Whether he plays defense well enough to make the offensive upgrade
worthwhile (in terms of runs scored vs. runs allowed) is the question with him.
I'm not going to venture a guess because I haven't seen enough of him in the
field recently to feel that I've got a good basis to make that guess. I'm not
worried about him with the lumber, though...and I suppose they can always use
Janish as a caddy.

Stubbs...this is where I have some concerns. Was he for real, or just a flash in
the plan last year? If he flops they're not totally screwed, they do have
Dickerson who looked to me to be a plenty good enough CF defensively and I
thought he contributed enough with the lumber to earn his keep...his trouble is
that he gets hurt too much. They have other optiosn also - Bruce has played CF
in the bigs, Heisey has played a lot there in the minors. I think it's
conceivable they could be better off, offensively and defensively, with any of
those four guys than they were with Taveras.

>Will Phillips and Votto continue to be staples of the offense?

Does a bear defecate in large densely wooded areas?

>Has this team improved defensively enough to stop making the mental
>mistakes in the field it did in 09?

I think the main offenders in that regard...Votto and some of the other younger
players...well, they only figure to get better with experience. They were an
improved team defensively last year, vastly so, but there were moments. Kids are
going to make mistakes. FWIW, the Reds do have a lot of veteran MLB infielders
around now (Rolen, Cabrera, Burke, Cairo, Miles) who may have somewhat of a
steadying influence.

>Will they really get more offense out of the catching position than they
>did last year? It's almost a lock they do at SS.

Yes. As for catching...I think a lot of the answer to this question comes from
whether or not Hernandez stays healthy. He was among the Reds' best hitters with
ducks on the pond but he spent a lot of time playing 1B when Votto was on the
DL, and he spent some time on the DL himself.

>Can Bruce finally step up and be a true hitter not a Dave Kingman with a
>glove?

Dude was just 22 years old last year. A lot of the "young" players the Reds
played last year are older than Bruce - Stubbs was 24, Votto was 25, Janish and
Rosales were 26, Bailey was 23, Cueto was 23, Volquez was 25. Jay Bruce is still
developing as a MLB player. Be patient. He's basically torn up every minor
league he's played in since 2006. I think he will be fine, but we need to
remember that he's in the majors at a time when most kids are in the middle
levels of the minors.

>Can Bailey assume the role as ace and limit his temper tantrums on the
>mound? Can he finally be the ace the Reds haven't had in a long time?

He's another one. He was only 23 last year. Everybody freaked out in 2008 when a
22-year old Bailey went 0-6. When Jose Rijo was 22, he went 2-7 with a 5.90 ERA
for a .500 ballclub - and three years after that he was the World Series MVP.

>Will Cueto's arm fall off in late June like it has the past two seasons?

No, I don't think so. He had pitched a hell of a lot of innings between pitching
in winter ball, the WBC, and MLB last year. This offseason he skipped winter
ball. And he, too, was only 23 last year. He only pitched four games at AAA and
then he was in the majors at age 21.

>Will Mr. Volquez return in July?

I don't think the Reds' season hinges as much on this as a lot of people may
tend to believe. There's more pitching depth here now than I can remember them
having in at least a decade. I really don't see an Osvaldo Fernandez, Brandon
Claussen, or Todd Van Poppel in the bunch, either. This is perhaps the single
most encouraging thing I see right now concerning the Reds' future. Others will
disagree, but to me, this game is about pitching....if you don't have it, you're
not going to contend, period.

>Can Arroyo actually put up 2 solid half's? Will Harang win more than 8
>games?

Really, you can split the season into thirds, and if you manage to hang around
..500 during two of them and have a good third one you're going to be in it at
the end most of the time. That again is the nice thing about having some depth
in the pitching department, one or two guys don't necessarily have to carry the
club all year. It's nice if they can - just ask the 2001 Diamondbacks about
Johnson and Schilling. But more often than not the playoff teams have three
starters who are league average or better, and with the current Reds pitching
it's entirely possible that two of them could be somebody other than Harang or
Arroyo. That means a lot.

>Is Matt Maloney a southpaw surprise that provides a solid #5 starter?
>Will Micah Owings be better known as a pitcher rather than a hitter this
>year?

The #5 starter is impossible to call. That's been the case a lot recently. The
difference iis that in past years it's often been a matter of trying to find
somebody to at least pitch like they might belong in the major leagues, whereas
this year you have candidates (Wood, Maloney, Chapman) who could ultimately end
up being among the best in the game competing for the #5 slot in the rotation.
That's a far cry from throwing detritus at a wall to fill that slot, as they've
often done in recent memory.

JK

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