9 comments to “Fire Krivsky.”

1. KC2HMZ says:

   July 13, 2006 at 8:06 pm

   Wow. Geki, I dunno, man, sometimes I wonder if you’re really a Reds fan at all because you’re so negative about everything to do with this team.

   The Reds get:

   * Gary Majewski (righthander who is 3-2 with a 3.58 ERA in 46 games this year after 79 relief appearances with a 2.93 ERA last year)

   * Bill Bray (a rookie lefty who’s 1-1 with a 3.91 ERA in 19 relief appearances this season)

   * Royce Clayton, a shortstop who started this season ranked 2nd among active shortstops in games, starts, innings, total chances, putouts, assists and double plays, trailing only 10-time Gold Glover Omar Vizquel in every category; whose career fielding percentage of .974 entering this year ranked seventh among all Major League shortstops; and who on top of playing much better defense at short than Lopez is hitting .269 with 22 doubles and eight stolen bases in 87 games)

   * Brendan Harris, a major-league ready glove at 3B, SS and 2B who has shown signs of being able to hit for average and being a good situational hitter, plus

   * Daryl Thompson, a 20-year old pitcher with a fastball in the low 90’s and a solid curve and change (in other words, a good pitching prospect if they can get him healthy…20-year old pitchers with three solid pitches aren’t easy to find).

   It cost the Reds:

   * Felipe Lopez, a shortstop whose defense was highly suspect at a position that is all about defense, and whose offense failed to live up to expectations after last year;

   * Austin Kearns, who most people here will forget about once Chris Denorfia returns to Cinci to reclaim his Heartthrob nickname and starts hitting .300-plus and belting doubles to all fields; and

   * Ryan Wagner, who never managed to pitch himself back into the big leagues from AAA despite being on the 40-man roster of a team that desperately needed help in the bullpen…help that this trade and the earlier acquisition of Everyday Eddie have now provided.

   All of which was engineered by the same “useless <censored>” who already got us Bronson Arroyo, David Ross, and Brandon Phillips.

   You want O’Brien back? Really? You’d seriously rather have a GM who goes out and gets us detritus like Tony Womack? I find it hard to believe anybody who’s really a Reds fan could look at the difference between this year’s Reds and last year’s Reds and say that and really mean it, but if that’s truly how you feel, Dan O’Brien works for the Brewers now. Let us know how you like posting on brewcrewball.com! 🙂

2. Geki says:

   July 13, 2006 at 8:58 pm

   Daryl Thompson was ranked as the Nats 10th best prospect, and the Nats have a farm that was nearly as bad as the Reds was before this season. He’s 20 and has already had multiple shoulder issues and he projects as a reliever should he ever make the majors.

   The fact that you used such great defensive stats as “putouts”, “double plays”, and “fielding percentage” really shows me that Royce Clayton is a solid player. Had you looked beyond useless statistics such as that, you might have noted that Clayton has horrid range and overall is merely a slight upgrade on Felipe defensively. According to the stats, for the rest of the season, Clayton’s defense will result in about one-tenth more wins, while the downgrade on offense will result in over one less win. So Clayton for Lopez hurts the team this season and hurts it even more in the long run. If you’re going to trade him, you have to get better value.

   Brendan Harris is a utility infielder. His power has not followed him as he has progressed through the minors and he was unable to beat out Royce Clayton in Washington, so I don’t know why he’d be able to here.

   Majewski’s a fine reliever, a solid reliever, but he’s still probably a 3.50 ERA guy. He doesn’t strike guys out and he walks too many. He’s a helpful addition, sure, but he’s not worth anywhere near what we paid.

   Lastly, Bray. He’s a solid reliever, maybe he’ll even make it as a closer some day. He has good stuff, but he’s not dominant and he could just as easily end up as a lefty specialist. He’s more hittable than you like to see and his control also isn’t great. Another solid addition, but nowhere near worth Kearns.

   cont.

3. Geki says:

   July 13, 2006 at 8:59 pm

   cont.

   Dan O’Brien may have sucked, but at least he didn’t get totally fleeced by Jim Bowden. Arroyo having a good half season doesn’t make that trade good. Sure, if he keeps it up it’s nice, but I see that as unlikely. Same with Phillips and Ross, and while I think Phillips probably will, I also think Ross probably will not. This is up there with Kazmir for Zambrano in that everyone knows it won’t be good right off the bat. If Wagner recovers, he’s better than either reliever we got back, and I think he’s perfectly capable of doing so. Kearns and Lopez are studs, and the deal just doesn’t make sense, especially if you’re expecting Deno to match Kearns’ production offensively and defensively.

   Simply put, this deal isn’t good for the present. It isn’t good for the future. It isn’t good for team chemistry. It sure as hell won’t keep Adam Dunn happy, and Adam Dunn is a guy we want to keep happy. What happens when his contract expires in a few years and Griffey is gone or about to be gone? Do you think he’ll want to stay around when he knows the organization trades people to a hitter’s personal hell no matter what they do? This trade was retarded, plain and simple.

   Oh, and you can say I’m not a Reds fan for criticizing a move, but I’d rather not be a Reds fan for that than just be a yes-man like you and many of your fellow idiots.

4. Red Hot Mama says:

   July 13, 2006 at 9:57 pm

   It’s nice to see such substantive arguments, fellas. It might be nice to have some of this in the post proper next time.

5. smartelf says:

   July 14, 2006 at 3:45 pm

   Felipe is a Scott Boras client, so we’d have to over pay to keep him. Kearns was set to start making big money via arbitration and he strikes out a ton. Basically we avoid taking future salary hit and shore up the bullpen at the same time. Denorfia, Jay Bruce, etc. — this team has a fck of young outfielders working their way up. You sell high and buy low, and Kearns was at an all-time high even though he is striking out a ton. I think we get better by subtraction AND addition with this deal. Another good move by Krivsky. If we had the Yankees payroll I could understand not wanting to trade Lopez or Kearns, but we don’t… so we have to play moneyball… Maybe the front office won’t admit that’s what they are doing because they don’t want the fans to call them cheap or whatever, but a small market team has to play moneyball — that’s what the Twins have done and that’s what the Reds are doing.

6. smartelf says:

   July 14, 2006 at 3:46 pm

   ** “flock” of young outfielders **

7. Red Hot Mama says:

   July 14, 2006 at 3:51 pm

   I don’t mind that they traded away Lopez and Kearns. I mind that they didn’t get anything noteworthy in return. IF both relivers turn out to be good, we’ve given away our two most valuable trading chips for a quarter of a respectable bullpen. We were already a quarter of the way there, so add this new quarter and now we’ve still got a half-crap bullpen and no one left to trade.

8. smartelf says:

   July 14, 2006 at 4:35 pm

   When Ross comes back healthy look from them to trade LaRue if they still need help. He is getting his chance to audition now, and he typically does way better in the 2nd half so there could be takers… maybe even our buddy Bowden. I disagree with your assessment of the bullpen. Guardado should be a bonafide closer. Think of John Franco. Coffey will HOPEFULLY get back to being comfortable as the setup, and with Majewski they should be a nice set up tandem. Mercker and Weathers can handle the 6th inning. Bray is way closer than Wagner to becoming a quality closer. So we aren’t as far as you may think. I am a bit disappointed they DFA’d Yan though… I thought he threw pretty well but just got tagd for a few home runs.

9. Red Hot Mama says:

   July 14, 2006 at 5:24 pm

   Mercker and Weathers. Bah. My husband’s been saying the same thing.

   Hello? These guys were flaming poo bombs for a month, but they put in a couple respectable innings and now they’re reliable again? They do not count as the part of the bullpen that’s decent. If they haven’t gotten bombed again come August, we can talk about putting them there. Till then, the best they get is “neutral.”