Tuesday, March 08, 2005
The Glass Menagerie
Austin Kearns has played 144 games in the last two seasons. Anderson Machado's return date is open-ended, but it'll be a while. Ryan Freel is coming off surgery on his knee in November, and Ray Olmedo won't be back until probably mid-May. Then, of course, there is the centerpieces of all centerpieces to this tender troop--Ken Griffey Jr. The Reds are working on a rule exception with MLB that would allow them to put Griffey at DH for home games in the first part of spring training. Treating Griff with kid gloves has become as common as breathing for the Reds' trainers. Mark Mann told the Cincinnati Enquirer that Junior's injury is common among professional water-skiers (I'm not really sure what that means or why it's relevant, so I’ll move on).
I'm all for saving Griffey as much as possible for when it counts. Cincinnati's "multi-million dollar guinea pig" has been more pig than guinea since 2000 and as much room as he takes up on the books, he should be protected with the utmost caution. But I've come up with a great idea that is so easy and apparently so revolutionary that no one’s thought of it (again, I've written this several times already and it's been like shouting at wet paint to dry). Play Junior in RF. What? Right field? Have the rivers turned to blood? Is the supermarket out of milk from the panic? Not quite. And WHY? Why is no one mentioning this? Why is this not an option? Is Griffey too vain? Has Dave Miley's creativity been stunted because he didn't get to color enough in kindergarten?
This isn’t uncommon on other teams. A guy is a little gimpy (or a little old), you move him away from center field so he doesn't have to jaunt all over the place chasing down flies, and he's moved to left or right--or wherever. Couldn't this have been tried before? Since 2000, Junior has played a grand total of two games in right field and one in left. What is happening here? Wily Mo can play center. Gold glover? No, but he can do well enough. Austin Kearns has even played 47 games in center with just 1 error. I've said it before and I'll say it again--this move should've been made long ago. The Cincinnati Enquirer referred to the Reds protecting Griffey as if he's Fort Knox's gold. That's a harrowing comparison because Fort Knox actually has very little gold left.
Always Needing a Good Laugh
Scanning the Reds official site, I found a recent column of mailbag questions from Reds fans to MLB.com writer Todd Lorenz (who has done a solid job with the gig). Someone named "Tyler P." asked, "Do the Reds have the potential for the best bullpen in baseball?" First, there was no word on whether Tyler takes any medication or whether he was late in taking said medication. When I came to later, recovering from laughing myself into unconsciousness, I figured I'd head off any speculation from any of my readers (and protect myself from subsequent potentially dangerous laughing spells) by saying that if you can manage to own zero Reds relievers this season, you're probably going to be a leg up on everyone else in your division. Worst? No. Best? That's just funny.
Somebody Needs a Chip on Their Shoulder
I'm worried. Worried that the Reds welcomed in Ramon Ortiz with arms wide open. Bad idea. Ortiz pitched his best ball last year when he was scratching and clawing for innings and fighting for PT. After a borderline year, he's given a free pass into the rotation when a guy like Aaron Harang has to "compete" for a spot. I'm not worried about that. Harang will show that he's very deserving--as he did in his first two innings of the spring--perfect and 3K. Ortiz's first outing? 3 IP = 3 R. As just about everyone in the Star Wars saga has said at some point during the story, "I've got a bad feeling about this."
Early Spring Notes
Austin Kearns is 4 for his first 10, with 3 doubles and a bomb. Future 3B Edwin Encarnacion is 5-11 with a SB. On the mound, Eric Milton allowed 6 hits and 3 runs in his first two innings of work. Ben Weber--2 IP, 4 H, 2 R. You take the good with the bad, I suppose. I'm Matt Allen, and this one belongs to the Red Letters.
I'm all for saving Griffey as much as possible for when it counts. Cincinnati's "multi-million dollar guinea pig" has been more pig than guinea since 2000 and as much room as he takes up on the books, he should be protected with the utmost caution. But I've come up with a great idea that is so easy and apparently so revolutionary that no one’s thought of it (again, I've written this several times already and it's been like shouting at wet paint to dry). Play Junior in RF. What? Right field? Have the rivers turned to blood? Is the supermarket out of milk from the panic? Not quite. And WHY? Why is no one mentioning this? Why is this not an option? Is Griffey too vain? Has Dave Miley's creativity been stunted because he didn't get to color enough in kindergarten?
This isn’t uncommon on other teams. A guy is a little gimpy (or a little old), you move him away from center field so he doesn't have to jaunt all over the place chasing down flies, and he's moved to left or right--or wherever. Couldn't this have been tried before? Since 2000, Junior has played a grand total of two games in right field and one in left. What is happening here? Wily Mo can play center. Gold glover? No, but he can do well enough. Austin Kearns has even played 47 games in center with just 1 error. I've said it before and I'll say it again--this move should've been made long ago. The Cincinnati Enquirer referred to the Reds protecting Griffey as if he's Fort Knox's gold. That's a harrowing comparison because Fort Knox actually has very little gold left.
Always Needing a Good Laugh
Scanning the Reds official site, I found a recent column of mailbag questions from Reds fans to MLB.com writer Todd Lorenz (who has done a solid job with the gig). Someone named "Tyler P." asked, "Do the Reds have the potential for the best bullpen in baseball?" First, there was no word on whether Tyler takes any medication or whether he was late in taking said medication. When I came to later, recovering from laughing myself into unconsciousness, I figured I'd head off any speculation from any of my readers (and protect myself from subsequent potentially dangerous laughing spells) by saying that if you can manage to own zero Reds relievers this season, you're probably going to be a leg up on everyone else in your division. Worst? No. Best? That's just funny.
Somebody Needs a Chip on Their Shoulder
I'm worried. Worried that the Reds welcomed in Ramon Ortiz with arms wide open. Bad idea. Ortiz pitched his best ball last year when he was scratching and clawing for innings and fighting for PT. After a borderline year, he's given a free pass into the rotation when a guy like Aaron Harang has to "compete" for a spot. I'm not worried about that. Harang will show that he's very deserving--as he did in his first two innings of the spring--perfect and 3K. Ortiz's first outing? 3 IP = 3 R. As just about everyone in the Star Wars saga has said at some point during the story, "I've got a bad feeling about this."
Early Spring Notes
Austin Kearns is 4 for his first 10, with 3 doubles and a bomb. Future 3B Edwin Encarnacion is 5-11 with a SB. On the mound, Eric Milton allowed 6 hits and 3 runs in his first two innings of work. Ben Weber--2 IP, 4 H, 2 R. You take the good with the bad, I suppose. I'm Matt Allen, and this one belongs to the Red Letters.
