March 19, 2013

In brief: Leake/Chapman question still unanswered

Bronson Arroyo and his red bat move towards the batter's box.

Bronson Arroyo and his red bat move towards the batter’s box.

Last Game
The Reds can actually win occasionally! They improved their record to 7-14-2 last night by beating the Rockies 4-3. Bronson Arroyo started for the Reds, giving up 1 run (earned) on 5 hits and 2 walks through 5.2 innings. The RBI belong to Devin Lohman, Donald Lutz, some guy called Jay Bruce who hit a solo shot in the sixth, and Arroyo himself.

Next Game
The White Sox come visit the Reds today at 4:05 p.m., so keep a lookout for Adam Dunn. Homer Bailey is starting for the Reds.

When the fifth rotation spot is the most interesting thing to talk about
It’s been a slow spring training. A team where most of the positions are already set is a team lacking the drama of guys breaking their backs to prove themselves. It’s a double-whammy of boringness: little roster drama and a team too busy perfecting their game to win.

Good problem to have, right? Yeah, I guess. No, it is.

The one position that isn’t decided is that fifth rotation spot. Will it be Mike Leake, the guy who has proven he can throw strikes and who could be better than a fifth starter on most every team out there? Or Aroldis Chapman, who is more of a question mark but could be the next Randy Johnson?

Fortunately for those of us who try to write something about this team most every day, the debate continues. Apparently the front office types met just yesterday afternoon and still aren’t announcing a decision. Since it’s about the only one they’ve got to make, I guess they can afford to wait.

What to Say to Sound Smart at the Water Cooler
It’s Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic finals. Puerto Rico had to beat 2-time WBC Champion Japan to get to this point. The game is at 8 p.m. tonight at AT&T Park in San Francisco.

March 18, 2013

In brief: Votto on The Cleveland Show

Still shot from The Cleveland Show

If you don’t have distinctive facial hair, you don’t have a prayer of being recognizable as a Cleveland Show character.

Last Game
The Reds got out to an early lead against the Indians yesterday, but let the Tribe come back to tie it in the ninth. This being spring training, they left it at that. Final score: Indians 7, Reds 7

Mat Latos started for the Reds and turned in a decent performance: 3 runs (2 earned) on 6 hits over 5.0 innings. In the first inning, Xavier Paul hit a 3-run home run and Todd Frazier hit a 2-run shot to provide the Reds that big opening inning. Chris Heisey and Denis Phipps hit solo shots in the seventh.

Considering how bad the Indians beat up on the Reds to start the spring training season this year, it was quite a show against Cleveland. I don’t know if I’d go so far as to call it The Cleveland Show, but we’ll get to that in a moment.

Next Game
Today the Reds visit the Rockies at 10:10 p.m. Bronson Arroyo will take the mound.

Votto appears on The Cleveland Show
Last night, Joey Votto and a couple other major leaguers made guest appearances on The Cleveland Show. Here’s a preview; Votto first shows up around 0:23.

The Cleveland Show seems to be written to suit the sense of humor of 15 year olds, and, in my mind, many professional athletes have the sense of humor of 15 year olds, so it’s a great match.

What to Say to Sound Smart at the Water Cooler
Other guest stars on The Cleveland Show have included KiD CuDi and Dale Earnhardt Jr.

March 18, 2013

Reds cut 5 more over the weekend

The Cincinnati Reds cut 5 more players from their roster over the weekend, getting their total roster count down to 39.

Optioned to Triple-A Louisville were right-handed pitchers Pedro Villarreal and Curtis Partch, infielder Henry Rodriguez and first baseman Neftali Soto. Outfielder/first baseman Donald Lutz was optioned to Double-A Pensacola.

Lutz, Rodriguez, and Soto all impressed manager Dusty Baker during the spring and leave knowing they have things to work on in their progress to the majors. There’s a good chance these players will make appearances with the club during the season.

Just 14 cuts to go!

March 15, 2013

In brief: Votto hitless in come-from-ahead loss

Last Game
The Reds pulled their spring training record down to 5-13 yesterday with a loss to the Mariners. Homer Bailey gave up 3 runs (earned) on 6 hits over 4.0 innings of work, but left the game with a sizeable lead. Seattle did their coming back on Clay Hensley who pitched the next 2.0 innings and gave up 4 runs (earned) on 3 hits and a walk. He also struck out five, for what it’s worth.

Chris Heisey, Zack Cozart, Denis Phipps, and Jason Donald had multi-hit games for the Reds. Joey Votto went 0-for-2 but still had a run scored, thanks to hitting into a fielder’s choice.

Next Game
The Reds host the Rockies tonight at 10:05 p.m. Johnny Cueto will take the mound for the Reds against Jeff Francis for the Rockies.

Morgan and Foster with a batGeorge Foster to Marshall the Opening Day Parade
Opening Day is a huge deal in Cincinnati, and every year they select a celebrity to be the grand marshal of the parade. This year they’ve selected George Foster. From the story on Cincinnati.com:

Foster is a former member of the Big Red Machine and a National League MVP (1977) who spent 11 of his 18 major league seasons with the Reds.

“I think sometimes George gets lost in the shadow of Bench, Rose and Morgan, but if you look at his stats, he was just as big a part of the Big Red Machine as anyone,” said Neil Luken, chairman of the 94th annual parade. “And to boot, he’s just a nice guy.”

April 1 will be here before you know it!

What to Say to Sound Smart at the Water Cooler
When the Reds faced the Rockies’ pitcher that they’ll be facing tonight earlier this spring, Cozart grounded into a triple play.

March 15, 2013

Daugherty lends support to Chapman as starter

On occasion, I’ve made fun of Cincinnati Enquirer columnist Paul Daugherty for his terrible excuse for sports writing. So I suppose it’s only fair that I point out a time when he writes something that doesn’t suck monkey balls.

If you believe Aroldis Chapman is a starting pitcher, this ain’t for you.

If you think the way Dusty Baker thinks, read on.

I swore I wouldn’t type the words “Aroldis” and “Chapman” until he actually threw a pitch that mattered. Some horses are beaten to death once. Others are flogged enough, they need 1,000 lives. Chappy’s been flogged.

Start him.

Really? Daugherty is supporting the idea of starting Chapman? That’s unexpected. What’s his reasoning? Surely, it’s something like, “Throw ball. Strike out. Win.”

Chapman had zero impact in the playoffs against the Giants last October. Your best pitcher — or at least your best arm — in the five biggest games of the year: Zero impact. That’s ridiculous.

That’s…a valid point.

Chapman will get far more starts than he would appearances in one-run, ninth-inning save situations.

And another one. Why is Daugherty making sense?

A stat from my pal Joe Posnanski:

During his career, Mariano Rivera converted 140 of 158 one-run save chances, in the ninth inning. That’s a conversion percentage of .886. During the 2000s, according to Baseball Prospectus, the major league average was .848.

Posnanski writes, “The average team with that lead would have been expected to hold the lead in 134 of those 158 games. With Mariano, the Yankees held the lead six more times over 16 seasons.”

Now I get it. Daugherty’s been reading some Posnanski, who, outside of his hero worship book on Joe Paterno, is one of the best sports writers out there. You could do far worse than take inspiration from and emulate him.

Before Daugherty finishes, he makes one comment about Dusty Baker that was quite insightful.

Baker wants Chapman to close because it makes his job easier.

Baker has been complaining again this week about want a decision made on whether Chapman starts. And this is probably why. Having Chapman as the close means Baker doesn’t have to think, doesn’t have to manage. But as Tom Hanks said in that great scene from A League of Their Own, “Chicken shit!”

Baseball is supposed to be hard. If it wasn’t hard, everyone would do it. The hard is what makes it great.

Having Chapman close because it makes the manager’s job easier is a terrible reason. For the reasons listed in the column and many more, moving Chapman to the starting rotation is the right move.

And then Daugherty finishes his column strong.

In 2011, Coco Cordero saved 37 games for the Reds, and blew six. In 2012, Chapman saved 38, and blew five. That’s a one-game difference. The Reds won 79 games in 2011, and 97 in 2012. Do you still believe Chapman the closer was a difference maker?

Nicely done.

I’m not getting my hopes up that this is a predictor of things to come, though. I mean, even a blind squirrel gets to bust a nut once in a while. Besides, starting with a valid premise, putting together mostly coherent sentences, and backing up your statements with verifiable facts is really hard and more than we can expect on a constant basis from “journalists” like Daugherty.