Time for the Annual “We Don’t Suck” Parade
By
Zeldink
Posted at 2:14 pm
Perhaps I’m being a bit harsh about the Reds 2009 Caravan, but I haven’t been as disinterested in anything related to the Reds since the last strike. So I guess Dusty Baker is equal to the mid-90s strike in my mind. He’s like an atom bomb of suck.
Anyway, the Reds Caravan is this weekend and might be coming to a town near you. The team has done a great job of expanding this over the past few years. Now all they have to do is make the team not suck. Of course, with Dusty Baker at the helm, you know that’s impossible.
The premier attraction will be Brandon Phillips, no doubt wearing ear plugs on Marty “Adam Dunn killed my puppy” Brennaman’s bus. When I skimmed over the list of players, I was surprised at the lack of talented, recognizable players in attendance. And then I remembered, the Reds don’t really have any.
Sigh. It’s going to be a long 2009 baseball season.
I don’t think its as grim as you make it out to be. I will list some reasons for optimism:
1) The team and offense improved after the departure of Griffey and Dunn.
2) Joey Votto was damn impressive last year. 3 home runs in a game as a rookie? He can easily bat 4th and maintain a high average and knock in more runs than Adam Dunn ever did.
3) Jay Bruce showed flashes of greatness and we should see more of that in 09.
4) Edwin Encarnacion finally becomes a multi-millionaire. Now that he isn’t in the shadow of sluggers Dunn and Griffey he suddenly becomes one of the veterans on this ball club. I expect his production to go up, and we need it to go up.
5a) Aaron Harang cannot possibly be worse than he was last year.
5b) The starting pitching has the potential to be one of the best with a bounceback from Harang. Harang, Volquez, Cueto.. that’s a pretty solid 4 man rotation right there.
6) Keppinger hopefully stays healthy the whole season.
7) Maybe Phillips will cut down on his swing and return to his form from a couple yrs ago.
Okay I will stop now because I am starting to get into wishful mode, but still there are some things to be excited about. Its a new era without Dunn and Griff and lets see how the new kids do.
That’s a lot of ifs there. Even if they do all fall the Reds way, I would put the Reds right around .500. As it is, they strike me as a 70 to 75 win team.
Also, since the team effectively replaced Dunn and Griffey with Taveras and Dickerson, I can’t see the offense being better. The defense, yes, but this team will not have much offense.
No Dunn and Griff are not being replaced by Taveras and Dickerson. Votto will likely bat 3rd or 4th this year. No more back-to-back at-bats against the overshift in the heart of the order. Griff and Dunn couldn’t hit for average. Votto Bruce and Encarnacion will be getting more ABs this year and replacing a lot of that heart of the order production.
Taveras is replacing Corey Patterson. He is an upgrade when you look at it like that. Patterson may have been fast but he made a ton of bonehead decisions on the basepaths. Taveras is a much better stealing threat.
Dickerson was like the best player on the team for 3 weeks or so. I have no idea if he can continue but he deserves a look. He won’t be batting at the top of the order unless he belongs there.
Without Griff and Dunn Baker has much more flexibility with the lineup. We all know Griff should have been batting 6th or 7th the past couple of seasons, but he is a hall-of-famer and no manager is going to dog him like that. Dunn is an oaf in the outfield, we instantly get much better in that area no matter who takes over.
I think this team is going to show more energy then we have seen in a LOOOOONG TIME. And when you are a middle of the road team like we are, energy is something that could swing some close games our way. I think we have as good a chance at .500 as we have any of the past several years.
“He won’t be batting at the top of the order unless he belongs there.”
I love your optimism. 🙂