Archive for the ‘Cincinnati Reds’ Category

Dat Demigod BP

Posted by Drew Fairservice under Brandon Phillips, Cincinnati Reds, Joey Votto on May 28, 2013

Chicago Cubs v Cincinnati Reds

Brandon Phillips is a very good baseball player and has been for a long time. There is no way to proceed on this topic without first making that statement clear. He is a very good hitter and defender with the flare for the dramatic and/or spectacular.

Brandon Phillips is not the best player on the Cincinnati Reds. He isn’t now and I don’t know that he has ever been during his tenure in the Queen City. Maybe in 2007 but that was a bad team so what does it matter?

Brandon Phillips is a very good player currently playing on a very, very good team. Only one team in baseball has more wins than the Cincinnati Reds, which makes the columnists looking for talking points seem even more pathetic.

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Mat Latos is All About Friendship

Posted by Drew Fairservice under Cincinnati Reds, Mat Latos, Riffin' And GIFfin' on May 22, 2013

Mat Latos is pretty easy to dislike as a baseball player. If he doesn’t play for your favorite team, he makes for a wide target for your scorn. His haircut, tattoos, and face in general scream “guy who isn’t fun to hang out with who also sort of likes it that way.”

Also: Mat Latos is a terrific pitcher. While he wasn’t quite at his best today against Matt Harvey and the Mets. 6.2 innings pitched, eight hits allowed, one walk and four strikeouts. The kind of day where Mat Latos needs his defense to pick him up a little bit.

When that defense didn’t quite pick him up, when a shallow fly ball allows a run to score via sacrifice fly, Mat Latos get a little upset. So upset that he feels the need to come back to the dugout when the inning ends and get into a very visible argument with right fielder Jay Bruce? It seems so. It is about the throw and its relative lack of quality?

Could be. Either way, Mat Latos hardly comes out of this smelling like a rose. Mostly because he looks like such a goddamn creep.

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Roto-Relevant Research: Projecting Billy Hamilton

Posted by Eno Sarris under Billy Hamilton, Cincinnati Reds, Roto Relevant Research on Apr 18, 2013

Montgomery Biscuits v Pensacola Blue Wahoos

That’s a misnomer. We don’t need to project Billy Hamilton overall, that’s why there are projections systems. He won’t have much power, and he has elite speed, we can use his minor league walk and strikeouts and presto, bingo bango: projection.

Here’s the thing. Billy Hamilton has speed like you’ve never seen before. He set the record for minor league stolen bases. The real Billy Hamilton facts are so ridiculous you don’t even need to make up fake ones. The guy he beat out for the record, Vince Coleman, once rode the no-power, inconsistent-walks, too-many-strikeouts train to some seasons that any fantasy player today would love to own — even his first season, when he hit .267 and stole 110 bases (and he had better).

So perhaps, when Steamer projects Billy Hamilton to hit .245, perhaps it can’t account fully for Hamilton’s elite-elite speed. You don’t build a projection system to be right for the two dots way out out on the extremes, you build it for the heart of the bell curve.

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Riffin’ and GIFfin’: Todd Frazier Makes Great Baseball Play

Posted by Scott Lewis under Cincinnati Reds, Riffin' And GIFfin' on Apr 10, 2013

The versatile Todd Frazier making great defense look easy at third base. That’s Scott Rolen-esque.

2 Comments

Man Catches Home Run, Doesn’t Drop Son

Posted by Archi Zuber under Cincinnati Reds, Jayson Werth, Riffin' And GIFfin', Washington Nationals on Apr 06, 2013

As a single man without any legitimate children that I’m aware of I don’t have to deal with any of the problems that arise when it comes to raising a brood. Thus far I’ve managed to get by just doing Uncle things, which mainly involves contracting my nieces and nephews to get me things like beer and candy from the other room while I’m laying on the couch watching sports. Even without any parenting experience of my own, I think we can all take a minute to sit back and enjoy the entry into the pantheon of parenting.

A better angle is after the jump  Read the rest of this entry »

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Aroldis Chapman Moves Back to the Bullpen, Chaos Ensues

Posted by Drew Fairservice under Aroldis Chapman, Cincinnati Reds, News And Notes on Mar 21, 2013

Cincinnati Reds v New York Yankees

The Reds deserve credit for attempting to get the most out of Aroldis Chapman. Their slender closer just put together an outstanding season in relief, moving into the closer’s role and dominating over 71.2 innings, posting a 1.55 FIP and 1.52 ERA. He struck out 44% of the hitters he faced, which is a lot. The third highest rate of all time.

Given his overwhelming dominance, the Reds thought re-converting Aroldis Chapman back to a starting pitcher would be a good idea. Why contain that domination to 71 innings when it could stretch out, probably not as dominantly but still good, over 200 or so innings?

A good idea in theory but one that just hasn’t worked out as planned. After some hemming and hawing, it appears the Reds will move Chapman back to his preferred role in the bullpen for the coming season.

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2013 Cincinnati Reds: Core Strength

Posted by Travis Reitsma under Cincinnati Reds, Preview on Mar 19, 2013

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2012 Record: 97-65, 1st NL Central
2012 Pythagorean Record: 91-71
Impact Player: 1B Joey Votto
Impact Pitcher: RHP Johnny Cueto
Top Prospect: CF/SS Billy Hamilton

Significant Acquisitions: OF Shin-Soo Choo, 3B/1B Jack Hannahan, IF Jason Donald, LHP Manny Parra, RHP Clay Hensley

Significant Departures: 3B Scott Rolen, CF Drew Stubbs, IF Wilson Valdez, IF Miguel Cairo, SS Didi Gregorius, RHP Alfredo Simon

It feels like the Cincinnati Reds have been a good team for quite a while. Boasting an impressive core – Joey Votto, Brandon Phillips, Jay Bruce, Johnny Cueto — fuels that impression.  Odd, then, that their 97-win season in 2012 represents not only their highest win total since 1976 but but just the second winning season since 2000. Walt Jocketty and his front office have done an excellent job of turning a perennial loser into a team bursting with high-end talent. The team’s core is locked up for several seasons and every year they seem to add more pieces to improve.

This winter is was the addition of Shin-Soo Choo along with some savvy depth pickups. Choo playing centerfield could end up being a calamity, but either way the Reds will once again trot out an awfully impressive lineup chock-full of stars. They have some serious depth in the pitching staff as well and they have to be considered one of the best teams in the NL—at least on paper.

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