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Top Ten After Ten - Reds

Saturday, June 15th, 2013

Below are the Cincinnati Reds Top Ten Prospects in 2003 as identified by Baseball America. During this season they moved into their new ballpark. They also had Jim Bowden as their general manager.

1. Chris Gruler RHP - He was the third overall pick in the 2002 draft. Only Bryan Bullington and B.J. Upton were selected ahead of him. Zack Greinke, Prince Fielder, Cole Hamels and Matt Cain were some of the first round stars of the 2002 draft. Chris never got past A ball, though shoulder injuries hampered his advance.

2. Bobby Basham RHP - At least he got to AA but he missed the entire 2004 season because of injury.

3. Wily Mo Pena OF - Bowden liked his tools so much he picked him up when he became GM of the Nationals. He was originally signed by the Yankees for over $2 million but traded to the Reds for another potential superstar who never made it Drew Henson. At least Pena played some major league baseball, hitting 84 homeruns. His best year was in 2004 when he hit 26 homeruns. It was downhill every year after that. Currently playing for the Softbank Hawks where he had a good 2012 season (.280, 21, 76) but is barely above the Mendoza line for 2013 (.218, 0, 6).

4. Edwin Encarnacion 3B/SS - Finally broke out with the bat last year with the Toronto Blue Jays when he didn’t have to play defense and slugged 42 homeruns.

5. Dustin Moseley RHP - The Reds traded Moseley to the Angels in 2004 for Ramon Ortiz. They did not miss much as his career major league record is 15-21, 4.67. The Padres nontendered him after the 2012 season and he is still looking for a team to sign with.

6. Ty Howington LHP - Another first round pick, the 14th selection in 1999, he never got past AA. He missed the entire 2004 season because of injury and only played in one season after that. The one consolation for the Reds is that after their selection, the only first round pick who had a decent major league career was Alex Rios.

7. Ricardo Aramboles RHP - Another signing by the Yankees that never made it. He was initially signed by the Marlins but found to be only 14 years old so that contract was voided.

8. Brandon Larson 3B - a first round pick by the Reds in 1997 after being voted the MVP of the 1997 College World Series. That got them three brief major league seasons with a .189 average and 8 homeruns.

9. Josh Hall RHP - His only season in the major leagues was in 2003 for a late season call up. His 6.57 ERA did not motivate a team to give him another opportunity.

10. Mark Schramek 3B - A 2002 supplemental first round pick, he only played four seasons. He reached AA but a .226 career minor league average sent him a message to hang them up.

Other top prospects or roster players from 2003 who had a major league impact.

14. Joey Votto 3B/C - Johnny Bench gave him some catching advice in 2003 but the Reds made the decision to move him to first where he has become an All Star.

22. Tony Blanco 3B - He did not have much of a major league career, but he currently leads the NPB in homeruns with 23 playing for the Yokahama Bay Stars.

2003 draft picks that made a major league impact

Ryan Wagner was their first round pick and he proved to be a disappointment. At least he got into some games as a major league reliever but his career was short. He did make the majors the year he was drafted and in 17 appearances had a 1.66 ERA but in his four following years Ryan could not get the ERA below 4.70. Chris Dickerson was selected in the 16th round and has been useful in a fourth outfielder role. He is currently playing for the Baltimore Orioles. The Reds were one of many teams who drafted Matt Harrington, but even as a 24th round pick he did not sign. Harrington had been a first round pick of the Colorado Rockies in 2001 but never signed.

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Donald Lutz - First German to the Major Leagues

Sunday, April 28th, 2013

Donald Lutz was born in Watertown, New York, but moved to Germany soon afterwards with his German mother. He didn’t pick up a baseball bat until he was fifteen. He had a tryout with the Friedberg Braves and made the team. That led to a stint on the German youth national team where the Reds saw him playing in Holland in the European championships. He went to the major league academy in Italy where the Reds signed him in 2006.

He played for Germany in a qualifying round for the World Baseball Classic that was eventually won by Canada. While Germany handled the Czech Republic and Great Britain by 16-1 scores they lost both their games to Canada 16-7 and 11-1. He went 4 for 13 with two RBIs in the qualifier. In the minor leagues he is playing for AA Pensacola where he is hitting .211 but he has five homeruns.

Originally a first baseman, the Reds have Joey Votto at first base so he was getting some left field experience on his resume in Pensacola. With the injury to Chris Heisey the Reds found they had a need for a leftfielder. It is interesting Lutz bats lefthanded. The Reds greatest need seems to be for an outfielder who hits from the right side. Lutz is only hitting .053 against lefthanders playing in AA and already have Xavier Paul who bats lefthanded who can play left field.

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Span Snatches Victory From Reds

Sunday, April 28th, 2013

Denard Span made a couple highlight catches to preserve the Nationals 6-3 win over the Reds. The first catch came in the sixth after a solo shot from Shin-Soo Choo landed into the right field bleachers to make the score 6-2. Zack Cosart had just rapped a single off Dan Haren, who appeared to be cracking now that he was going through the order a third time. Joey Votto scorched one to the opposite field, the ball tailing away from Span. Span raced after it, lept and caught the ball as he crashed into the fence in left centerfield. It did look like the ball would have hit the fence for extra bases for Votto, putting runners on second and third and no out. Instead there was just a runner on first base with one out, setting up a smash to Ian Desmond for a double play. That would be the night for Dan Haren.

In the seventh the Reds had started another rally off Zach Duke. Tyler Clippard came on in relief with two outs and gave up an RBI pinch hit single to Todd Frazier to make the score 6-3 and Choo walked to load the bases. Zack Cosart hit one that appeared to be sailing into the left centerfield gap, but Span was able to track the ball, reaching his glove out to rob Cosart of what appeared to be a game tying 3-run double.

Dan Haren pitched well holding the Reds to only two runs in six innings to get the win. He helped himself a little with his bat in the second inning to give himself an early lead. In the second inning back to back one out walks issued by Mike Leake to Ian Desmond and Anthony Rendon set up the two out RBI single from Haren that was blooped over first base. Denard Span followed with an RBI bouncer up the middle to make it 2-0.

In the third back to back singles from Bryce Harper and Jayson Werth got things started. Zack Cosart made a nice diving stop on the Werth hit, threw from his knees to first, but Werth legged it out. Ian Desmond hit a single up the middle to score Harper. With two outs, Kurt Suzuki slapped a slow roller to Jack Hannahan at third. He threw to second, where Desmond appeared to beat the throw, but the ball sailed into right field allowing Werth to scamper home with the second run of the inning. Suzuki was given an infield hit with the run scoring on the error. The Nationals built their lead up to 4-0.

After the Reds had scored their first run on a two out Joey Votto double followed by a Brandon Phillips single in the top of the fourth, Bryce Harper responded with a two run homer into the Nationals bullpen to up the score to 6-1. That was all the runs the Nationals could generate. The Reds battled back, but two terrific catches by Denard Span left them short.

Game Notes: With his ninth homerun in the fourth Bryce Harper is on a pace to hit 63. He also broke a Nationals record with 18 RBIs in April. His .783 slugging percentage and 1.232 OPS lead all of baseball. Everyone was shocked with the numbers Mike Trout put up during his second year exposure to major league baseball. Bryce Harper appears to be doing the same, but he may put up better numbers than Trout did last year…There were 38,903 attending the game…Chris Heisey was removed from the game with a hamstring injury after grounding into a double play…Adam LaRoche went 0 for 4, but in a positive sign in his third at bat launched one deep to centerfield. He is 0 for 20 in his last six games with eight strikeouts, dropping his average to .143…The Nationals should get Wilson Ramos back from his hamstring pull for the Braves series…Ryan Zimmerman is not expected back until the Pirate series which begins on Friday…Mike Leake threw 47 pitches after the second inning and was gone after three. If Tony Cingrani continues to pitch well and Mike Cueto returns from his injury, Mike may find himself out of the rotation…Joey Votto threw his helmet into the dugout after grounding out to short in the eighth inning.

Posted in Nationals, Reds | No Comments »

Gio with the Game; Harper with the Homer - Nats Win

Friday, April 26th, 2013

Gio Gonzalez tossed a one hitter over eight innings and Bryce Harper blasted his eighth homerun into straight away centerfield to give the Nationals a 8-1 win over the Cincinnati Reds. The win puts them back at .500 ball.

Davey Johnson fiddled with the lineup in an attempt to end the hitting drought. While some of the parts may have changed the position of the names in the lineup had shifted. This seemed to wake up the Nationals bats.

Ian Desmond got things started for the Nationals in the second inning with a one out single off Bronson Arroyo. Danny Espinosa poked one deep to right center field. Ian seemed confident Shin-Soo Choo would not catch the ball and was screaming around second. Choo was just short of getting to the ball. It bounced against the fence and Desmond was able to score. A Kurt Suzuki single and a Denard Span infield single drove in Espinosa for the second run. Zack Cosart made a nice bare handed pick up on Span’s infield single but the umpire ruled the bang/bang play at first in favor of the Nats, allowing the second run to score.

Last year Bryce Harper had trouble with the slow breaking stuff. This year he has not been fooled. In the third Bryce belted one of Arroyo’s slow offerings into the deepest part of centerfield to up the lead to 3-0. Jayson Werth, hitting in the cleanup spot, singled. Adam LaRoche finally made contact with a ball and grounded it to first. Joey Votto elected to throw to second to begin the double play but hit Jayson in the back. The ball bounded to right field with Werth advancing to third and Adam to second. An Ian Desmond ground out to second scored one run. With the infield playing in against Danny Espinosa, Danny made the point moot by depositing a ball into the right field bullpen to up the Nationals lead to 6-0.

In the fourth Gio gave up his only hit of the game when Joey Votto stroked a ball into left field. It hit into the flowering plants in left field just before the front row of the bleachers to end the shutout and the no hitter for Gio Gonzalez. Gio did not let the hit faze him, retiring 13 of the next 15 hitters.

The Nationals added two more runs in the eighth off Logan Ondrusek. Ian Desmond led the inning off with a single, but he was eventually picked off first by catcher Devin Mesaraco when he was caught leading off too far from first base. With two outs Kurt Suzuki extended the inning with a walk. Roger Bernadina pinch hit and got his first hit of the year, lining a ball over second base for a single. Denard Span hit a shot straight at Shin-Soo Choo who first broke in for the ball and then tried to retreat, reaching the ball too late. As it bounced against the wall Span raced to third with a triple making the score 8-1.

Davey Johnson decided to give Rafael Soriano some work and brought him out to pitch in the ninth. After walking the leadoff hitter Shin-Soo Choo on four pitches to make Nats fans a bit nervous he got Zack Cosart to ground to Espinosa for a double play.

Game Notes: There was a big smile on Danny Espinosa’s face after his homerun in the third. With Davey Johnson wanting to give Steve Lombardozzi more playing time and Danny hitting only .150 his playing time looked to be reduced. He had a double and homerun to give his name another day on the lineup card…Steve Lombardozzi played third base last night instead of the struggling Anthony Rendon, who had gotten off to a slow start. Lombo hit in the second spot and went 0 for 5 to drop his average below .300…Gio Gonzalez had retired the first 11 hitters until the Joey Votto opposite field homerun…Adam LaRoche struck out in his first at bat in the second to give him six straight strikeouts. He finished the night 0 for 4 to drop his average to .160, grounding out to first or the pitcher in his last three at bats.

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Posted in Nationals, Reds | No Comments »

Cingrani Dominant in AAA Debut

Thursday, April 4th, 2013

Tony Cingrani was promoted from AA to the major leagues last year. In AA he struck out a little more than 10 hitters per nine innings. In his AAA debut Cingrani struck out 14 of the 18 hitters he faced. He did not give up a hit and the only baserunner he allowed was a leadoff walk to Jordan Lennerton in the sixth. The Louisville Bats were able to beat the Toledo Mudhens 4-3.

Felix Perez lead off the bottom of the ninth inning with a walk off homerun. A Bat error on a dropped throw by Josh Donaldson allowed the Mudhens to rally for three in the ninth. Mike Hessman crushed two solo homeruns to give the Bats an early lead.

Tony Cingrani is number 65 on myworld’s Top 100 prospect list. With outings like this his prospect status should move up or be eliminated as he is promoted to the Reds.

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2013 Hot Stove - Reds

Wednesday, January 23rd, 2013

Overall Assessment: The Reds went for it by trading a slew of prospects to the Padres for what they hoped would be their ace starter in Matt Latos. They also forked out big bucks to sign Ryan Madson to a one year contract to be their closer. They didn’t blink when Madson got injured before he could throw a pitch for the Reds, turning to Aroldis Chapman to be their closer. He did a good job picking up 38 saves. They hope to move Chapman to the starting rotation in 2013 and see how effective Jonathan Broxton is closing. He had the job briefly for the Dodgers before losing it and finding his career drifting to the Royals. They also stayed patient with the early season struggles of Matt Latos to finish with a respectable 14-4, 3.48 ERA. Johnny Cueto turned out to be their ace, right in front of their nose going 19-9, 2.78. They also dodged a mid-season injury to Joey Votto, showing their mettle and playing their best baseball while he was on the disabled list. Considering all their trials and tribulations last year, next year should be easy.

Hot Stove Season: The Reds did not make any big season moves. They traded for Jonathan Broxton during the season and resigned him to be their closer for the 2013 season. They also resigned Ryan Ludwick to fill their left field job. The only real new free agent acquisition who could make an impact is third baseman Jack Hannahan. With the expected retirement of Scott Rolen, the third base job will be Todd Frazier’s to lose. Hannahan will be insurance for injury or depth at third base if Frazier should struggle. They did make one big trade, acquiring Shin-Soo Choo from the Cleveland Indians to play centerfield and bat leadoff. They gave up last year’s centerfielder Drew Stubbs and shortstop Didi Gregorius, another case of a player in a position of minor league depth they could trade to improve their major league lineup. Choo is not your traditional centerfielder or leadoff hitter, lacking burner speed. He does get on base. As the year plays out it will be interesting to see if the trade is a good fit for him.

Strength: They have three top level starters in Matt Latos, Johnny Cueto and Homer Bailey. Reds management hopes Aroldis Chapman makes a successful transition to fill the fourth slot. Bronson Arroyo pitched well last year and is a veteran presence in a relatively young rotation. That leaves Mike Leake as their long man or depth in case one of the starters breaks down. They also have to hope for a healthy year from Joey Votto. He fell short of the MVP numbers he put up in 2011. He and right fielder Jay Bruce make for a potent 3-4.

Weakness: They have a lot of options for their bullpen, but not a lot of great options to close. They are taking away their closer Chapman to move him into the starting rotation. Jonathan Broxton is a big presence, but he may not be as effective a closer as Chapman. The other pitchers in the pen have not had any experience closing. Sean Marshall may be their best option if Broxton fails. Myworld doesn’t really like Shin-Soo Choo as a centerfielder. He’ll be effective as a leadoff hitter because of his onbase percentage but his lack of burner speed will prove a weakness in centerfield.

Top Position Prospect: Billy Hamilton is an easy choice. He broke the record for most stolen bases in a year with 155. That is more than one for each game he played. He will move from shortstop to centerfield in 2013. Expect him to play a role at that position in the major leagues by mid-year when Choo moves to left. Hamilton is a more pure centerfielder/leadoff hitter.

Top Pitching Prospect: Robert Stephenson is another easy choice. His fastball hits triple digits and he was the Reds first round pick in 2011. Last year was his first year in professional ball, signing too late to play in 2011. He didn’t get further than Low A in 2012. Expect the peak to be AA next year, depending on how well he develops his secondary pitches, i.e change and curve.

Watch out for: Donald Lutz. A big firstbaseman from Germany with a lot of pop in his bat. With Votto at first their appears to be no room for him, but he could be another nice trade chip.

Rookie of the Year Prospect: Billy Hamilton would probably be the favorite but he would need at least half a year in the minors to master centerfield. That education could be shortened if Choo does not adapt well to the middle outfield. The rotation is crowded but it would be hard to ignore Tony Cingrani if injuries or ineffectiveness leave an opening in the starting rotation. He’s got height, good velcoity on his fastball and is lefthanded, all ingredients to make for a successful starter. His strikeout to innings pitched last year dropped to 10.6 after hitting 14 in 2011, both figures impressive numbers for a starting pitcher.

On Paper Projected Finish: They will battle all year with the St. Louis Cardinals for the NL Central, winning out in the last week because of the improvement in their big three starters.

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Choo Shipped to the Reds; Didi to Diamondbacks

Tuesday, December 11th, 2012

The Cincinnati Reds appear to have found their leadoff hitter and centerfielder, having grown tired of the swing and miss production of Franklin Stubbs. The Reds had to cough up promising shortstop Didi Gregorius to get him. The Reds got Shin-Soo Choo and also got thrown in Jason Donald who will play in a utility role for the Reds.

The Diamondbacks sent promising pitcher Trevor Bauer to the Indians. It seems they may have tired of Bauer’s unique training method since he seemed to be in trade discussions with a number of teams. Those unique training methods are now the problem of the Indians pitching coaches. The Diamondbacks also sent to the Indians major league bullpen fodder in Matt Albers and Bryan Shaw.

For this pitching smorgasbord the Diamondbacks received Didi Gregorius, Tony Sipp and Lars Anderson. They have been in search of a shortstop and that position appeared to be blocked at Cincinnati for Didi with Zack Cosart permanently entrenched there. Didi has Chris Owings to compete with for the shortstop job this year with Didi offering the better defense and Chris providing the more productive offense. Veterans Willie Bloomquiest and John McDonald stand in the background as insurance. Tony Sipp will make up for the loss of some young pitching, providing some bullpen presence from the left side while Lars Anderson has seen his third team this year. The Red Sox recently traded him to the Indians.

So in summary:

Cincinnati gets - outfielder Shin-Soo Choo (for only one year) and utility man Jason Donald who will compete for the third base job that appears to be Todd Frazier’s to lose.

Arizona gets - shortstop Didi Gregorius, lefthanded pitcher Tony Sipp and first baseman journeyman Lars Anderson. Tony will provide some bullpen help.

Cleveland gets - pitcher Trevor Bauer, major league setup/long man Matt Albers and major league setup man Bryan Shaw. It appears they also get the aforementioned Drew Stubbs.

If any of the three teams want to see this trade succeed it relies on Shin-Soo Choo, Didi Gregorius and Trevor Bauer being successful. All the other players are just window dressing, though Cleveland may get some major league relief help from two of their pitchers and the Reds may get some utility time from Jason Donald.

Posted in Uncategorized, Netherlands, Korea, Indians, Diamondbacks, Reds | No Comments »

Posey Slam Leads Giants to the NL Championship

Friday, October 12th, 2012

Mat Cain and Matt Latos twirled four shutout innings each. A Brandon Crawford triple scored the first run. Crawford scored on a boot by Zach Cozart. Latos got worse from there. He walked Marco Scutaro. Pablo Sandoval lashed a single to load the bases. Buster Posey ended the day for Matt Latos with a grand slam homerun. The Reds could not recover after that.

Brandon Phillips had a 2-run double in the bottom of the fifth. Ryan Ludwick led off the sixth with a booming homerun to left. They put two more runners on in the sixth but could not score, a strikeout/caught stealing double play ending that threat. They also put two runners on in the seventh and eighth and did not cross the plate. In the ninth they again put two runs on. Ryan Ludwick drove in one with a single. That would be all they could get as the Giants win the last three games to advance to the National League championship.

There was a lot of criticism leveled at Dusty Baker for starting Scott Rolen over Todd Frazier. Rolen could have quieted those critics hitting with two on in the bottom of the ninth with the score 6-4. He struck out to end the game. A walk off 3-run homer would have made Baker look good.

The Giants now wait for the outcome of the Nationals/Cardinals game. A win by the Nationals means they fly to D.C. A win by the Cardinals means they will open in San Francisco. The outcome won’t be known until past midnight on Friday.

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Giants Even Series Versus Reds

Wednesday, October 10th, 2012

Barry Zito got the start for the Giants. Bruce Bochy did not show a lot of patience with him, taking him out in the third inning. Tim Lincecum threw four innings of relief to get credit for the victory, allowing the Giants to even their series with the Reds with the 8-3 win.

Reds starter Mike Leake was less effective than Zito. He gave up a leadoff homerun to Angel Pagan. Grego Blanco went deep off him in the second inning for a 2-run homer. The Giants chased him in the fifth with two more runs to extend their lead to 5-2.

Pablo Sandoval put the game out of reach in the seventh with a 2-run homer off Jose Arredondo. Sandoval finished the game with three hits and three RBIs. Leadoff hitter Angel Pagan drove in two runs and scored twice.

No team in major league history has been able to win a playoff game after losing the first two games and coming back to winning the next three on the road. The Giants can be the first team to accomplish that feat tomorrow. The Reds have yet to lose three home games in a row all season. Matt Cain will get the start for the Giants against Mat Latos for the Reds.

Posted in Giants, Reds 4105 | No Comments »

Giants Stay Alive with Overtime Win Over Reds

Tuesday, October 9th, 2012

The Giants took advantage of a passed ball and a bobble by Scott Rolen in the tenth inning to escape with a 2-1 victory over the Cincinnati Reds, despite getting only three hits in the ballgame, two of them in the tenth inning. Cincinnati did not do much better, collecting only four hits, but just one after the first inning. The Reds still lead the best of five series two games to one.

Homer Bailey was the story in this game. He had a no hitter going into the sixth. A single by Marco Scutaro broke up the no hitter. The Giants were able to score a run off Homer in the third after a hit by pitch, walk and sacrifice bunt set up a sacrifice fly hit by Angel Pagan. Bailey worked seven innings, giving up only the Scutaro hit in the sixth, walking one and striking out 10.

The Reds only offensive outburst came in the first inning when they collected three hits and a walk to score one run. Jay Bruce drove in the only run with a single. Ryan Vogelsong settled down after that retiring the side in order in every inning but the third, going five innings before he was lifted for a pinch hitter. The Reds only hit after the first inning was a infield single by Scott Rolen in the sixth.

Jonathan Broxton came in to pitch the tenth after Aroldis Chapman retired the side in order, getting two Giants on whiffs. Broxton gave up leadoff back to back singles to Buster Posey and Hunter Pence to put runners on first and second with no one out. Broxton struck out the next two hitters but a passed ball by Ryan Hanigan allowed the runners to advance. They were able to score when Rolen bobbled the slow roller by Joaquin Arias, the throw to first too late to get Arias. Another strikeout by Broxton was the 16th for Reds pitchers, but it didn’t give them the “W”.

Sergio Romo worked his second inning of 1-2-3 to get credit for the victory.

Barry Zito will pitch game four to keep the Giants hopes alive. Last year he did not make the Giants starting rotation when the post season rotations were set. The Reds will go with Johnny Cueto if he is healthy. Cueto only threw eight pitches when he left after slightly injuring his oblique. If he is not healthy the Reds can go with Mike Leake, or Matt Latos who worked four innings of relief in the first game after Cueto was injured.