2008 Reds eulogy

There were two plays on Sunday in consecutive innings that explained all you need to know about the 2008 Cincinnati Reds.

Ryan Freel led off the game with a sharp single up the middle. 3 pitches later, veteran Tom Glavine picked him off of first base. Freel tried to escape the out by playing a game of Frogger with the fielders. It was a sad and futile effort. In the second inning, the Reds again put the lead off man on base after Joey Votto drew a walk. The Reds, desperate for offensive action, called for a hit-and-run. Edwin Encarnacion missed the sign, took the pitch, and Votto was thrown out at second by 5 feet.

The Braves would score a touchdown in the 2nd inning and yawned their way to a series sweep. The Reds are now 12-20, losers of 5 in a row, and are tied for the worst record in professional baseball. And with 130 games left to play, the only thing we can be sure of is the Reds are on their way to their 8th losing season in a row. Postseason? Not even worth mentioning.

The Reds can't pitch (4.77 ERA 14th NL/26th in ML), can't hit (13th in NL/23rd in ML in runs scored) and can't run (67% 13th NL/24th in ML in stolen base %). Statistically, they are an average fielding team but those numbers are skewed since you can't get an error on balls you don't get to (see Dunn, Griffey).

The salary structure/roster makeup for this team has got to be the worst in baseball:

Adam Dunn, LF; 2008 salary: 13M; 2008 stats: .221 AVG, 4 HR, 13 RBI, 24 K
For his career, April has always been Dunn's strongest month. His numbers might go DOWN.

Ken Griffey Jr., RF; 2008 salary: 8.3M; 2008 stats: .228 AVG, 4 HR, 15 RBI, .310 OBP
38 years old going on 50. No pitcher fears him anymore. Every part of his game is slow.

Bronson Arroyo, P; 2008 salary: 4.6M; 2008 stats: 1-4, 8.63 ERA, 32.1 IP, 50 H, 8 HR
Arroyo will get salaries of $9.5 million in 2009 and $11 million in 2010.

David Weathers, P, 2008 salary: 3.3M; 2008 stats: 0-2, 4.91 ERA, 7.1 IP, 9 H
Sent down for rehab assignment in April. Presumed dead.

David Ross, C, 2008 salary: 2.5M; 2008 stats: .167 AVG, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 5 K
The Reds have lost every game (4) he has started at catcher this year.

Alex Gonzalez, SS, 2008 Salary: 4.6M; 2008 stats: has not played
On the DL until June. I could care less if he ever comes back.

Francisco Cordero, RP, 2008 Salary: 8.6M; 2008 stats: 2.25 ERA, 4 SVs, 12 IP, 12 K
What's the point of having a high-priced closer if he never gets any save opportunities?

Corey Patterson, CF, 2008 Salary: 3M; 2008 stats: .200 AVG, 4 HR, 11 RBI, .263 OBP
There's a reason Baltimore and Chicago gave up on this man. Make that reasons.

That's a grand total of 47.9M. Almost 50 million dollars going out to a group of players whose contributions are inconsistent, at best. That number comes out to 66% of the Reds total team salary of 72.3M. The Reds are hemorrhaging money on bad contracts. For small market baseball teams, the margin of error is small to begin with. Cincinnati has made a variety of bad signs that most big market teams could not recover from.

Owner Bob Castelini, in the press conference announcing the dismissal of former GM Wayne Krivsky, stated that the Reds "just aren’t going to lose anymore". Well, that made for a cool sound bite. But what does that really mean? The Reds don't have the resources to go out and sign more guys. They do, however, have some young talent in the minors (Bailey, Bruce, etc). Their development will take time. And more losses. Do the Reds have the patience?

Then again, the Reds are not winning WITH the likes of Dunn and Griffey in the lineup. Does their absence really hurt? Do they even make a difference? I say no.

Here's what the Reds need to do:

- Trade Dunn to an American League team after June 15 (he has a no-trade clause before that date); don't worry about getting market value because it is not going to happen – just get some prospects and be done with it
- After Griffey hits #600, try to trade him to Seattle. Be nice about it. Ask his permission. Take whatever they will give you. If he turns it down, let him finish the season and DO NOT pick up his 2009 club option. This needs to end.
- Sign Edwin Encarnacion to a long-term (4 years) contract. He's 25. He's coming into his own. Lock him up.
- Quit the 3-catcher carousel. One of these guys needs to go – probably Valentin. I don't know what happened to that portly Puerto Rican but he has morphed into a lazy pile.
- Try to move the contracts of Ryan Freel and Alex Gonzalez. A contender could use one of them. The Reds might have to eat some of their salaries. So be it.
- Pull Arroyo, give him an MRI, send him to the minors, call a witch doctor, hypnotize him, do something. This guy is on the books for 3 more years and there is not a sporting league in the world that will take him and his crazy price tag on. Pray that he is the not the second coming of Eric Milton. Pray hard.
- DO NOT let Dusty Baker ruin the young and brilliant arms of Johnny Cueto and Eddison Volquez. IT IS NOT HAPPENING THIS YEAR. So let them throw 175 innings or so and then SHUT THEM DOWN. (the capital letters indicates that I was yelling whilst typing)

The Reds, for seven long years, have not been able to do the little things necessary to win baseball games. They are woeful hitters with runners in scoring position. They rely too much on the home run (2008 Reds record when not homering: 1-10). They don't run the bases well. They miss assignments, miss cut off men and will miss October baseball. And you can hire Dusty Baker and fire GMs and make powerful speeches. But eventually, you just flat have to get some new guys to put in the uniforms.

So yeah, as you have gathered, the postseason dreams for the 2008 Reds have ended. I was wrong. Again. But the season is far from over. FOCUS. Say goodbye to the Dunn Griffer era. Take care of the young arms. Try to sucker teams into taking on some of the big salaries. Let the kids play. Cinco De Mayo and I am already rolling out the Reds eulogy. This is the team I have chosen.