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Burns will be here soon enough. I just wish that he could swing a competent bat.
It won't matter when the Reds do call him up. This year or next. Pitching is not the issue. Cincinnati is just pissing in the wind by not acquiring sluggers. The Reds will not pay for hitters during the offseason or take the route teams who can't afford to sign top stars when they can trade prospects for offense. It is something the Reds can address today if they wanted and not have to wait on prospects to get the call.
 
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It won't matter when the Reds do call him up. This year or next. Pitching is not the issue. Cincinnati is just pissing in the wind by not acquiring sluggers. The Reds will not pay for hitters during the offseason or take the route teams who can't afford to sign top stars when they can trade prospects for offense. It is something the Reds can address today if they wanted and not have to wait on prospects to get the call.
Agreed. The rotation is potentially elite with Greene already showing Cy Young potential and Lodolo and Burns and Lowder and Abbott as legitimate potential No. 1 to No. 3 starters themselves and also some legit good prospects as well.

If they can't start scoring, we'll have these guys finishing a season with numbers like 8-14, 3.25 ERA. It will be like Soto in '82 or Carlton on a bad Phillies team. It's a joke.
 
A few mock drafts I have seen showing the Reds taking outfielder Jace LaViolette out of Texas A&M. Others lefthanded pitcher Kade Anderson out of LSU. Cincinnati needs to prioritize offense in this draft with the organization's pitching depth already. Get a hitter from college closer to being ready for MLB rather than another high school shortstop. LaViolette hits for power and has decent speed. 50 home runs through his first two seasons at A&M. Strong arm on defense and versatility to play all 3 outfield positions.



 
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Inexcusable to lose two in a row to the White Sox and drop the series. Especially in GABP. A team that Cincinnati should sweep, but very well may end up being the ones who get swept themselves.
Alot of bad baseball recently and most of the year.

I thought Francona would take care of some of this but it happens every game whether its defense, moving the runner over, men left on base. Its simple things but we can't do any of them right.

Its very hard to watch currently. They need to find a guy, a leader, who will take charge and right now there is no one.
 
McLain has shown a little bit of life at the plate since being dropped in the batting order.

 
Alot of bad baseball recently and most of the year.

I thought Francona would take care of some of this but it happens every game whether its defense, moving the runner over, men left on base. Its simple things but we can't do any of them right.

Its very hard to watch currently. They need to find a guy, a leader, who will take charge and right now there is no one.
Krall and the FO did not do Francona any justice by acquring better talent to win games. They can't be shocked by the results after bringing the same cast of characters back outside of Hays, Lux and Trevino who aren't going to carry a team alone. Building a starting rotation is only part of the job.
 
They said Petty would be used, but they did not today. I suppose the game was closer than they thought and wanted to put their best pitchers in the game. Benson is hot with home runs in 3 straight games.
Benson for me is a must keep if his hitting improves. Covers a lot of ground in the outfield and if/when the hitting becomes consistent, he will be a good one for us.
 
They said Petty would be used, but they did not today. I suppose the game was closer than they thought and wanted to put their best pitchers in the game. Benson is hot with home runs in 3 straight games.
Jim Day talks like Hunter Greene will make his next start. 4 games in a row with a home run for Benson. For some reason I was high on him the moment the Reds traded for him in 2023 and often said "my man Benson" that year. Made that prediction here had the skillset to be somewhere between a Jason Heyward and Adam Jones. Still has a long way to go to be as good as they were in their prime, but this is the best baseball he has played in his career. His demotion woke him up. Happy to see this and him sticking it to his old team. His work with Eric Davis paying off.
 
Sweep the Pirates then the Cubs come to town
That didn't age ;(

They need to:
Send McClain back to the minors and work out his issues there. Get Elly out of the 3 hole spot. He still can't hit breaking stuff and has a poor approach to his at-bats. Put Stephenson on the bench where he belongs. He's not a very good catcher, and stinks at the plate. Get some offense at the deadline, even if it means moving some talent from the minors.
 
That didn't age ;(

They need to:
Send McClain back to the minors and work out his issues there. Get Elly out of the 3 hole spot. He still can't hit breaking stuff and has a poor approach to his at-bats. Put Stephenson on the bench where he belongs. He's not a very good catcher, and stinks at the plate. Get some offense at the deadline, even if it means moving some talent from the minors.
Elly seems to wait for the first strike to go by before swinging and from what I have seen, pitchers are seemingly aware because they are throwing first pitch strikes to him. Gets him behind so he starts chasing.
 
That didn't age ;(

They need to:
Send McClain back to the minors and work out his issues there. Get Elly out of the 3 hole spot. He still can't hit breaking stuff and has a poor approach to his at-bats. Put Stephenson on the bench where he belongs. He's not a very good catcher, and stinks at the plate. Get some offense at the deadline, even if it means moving some talent from the minors.

Yes to all of that. Elly is a 6-7 hole hitter and he is terrible in late game situations with RISP. Problem is Im not sure who the Reds can put there because the roster sucks.

McClain is a complete failure and bust. Some of his stats are so embarrassing that Im not even sure he is worthy of playing in the minors.
He is hitting .082 with 2 strikes, and he has the highest strikeout rate on the team. Matt is striking out 38% of the time. That is disgusting. Elly strikes out 31% of the time for comparison.
McClain is hitting .121 with RISP, and he was batting in the 2 hole most of the season.

The problem is the Reds were banking on Elly being a superstar, and he is not. He is a nice, average major league player. They were also banking on McCLain and Strand being huge pieces, and they are complete and total busts who should be career minor leaguers. The Reds thought those 3 were going to make up the core of their lineup but instead you have one average player and 2 that are complete garbabe.

At some point the Reds need to address their hitting coaches at all levels. Its amazing to me the guys that enter the organization labeled as good hitters that are total and complete wastes. Like McClain, Senzel, Strand, and the list goes on and on. Seems they are getting poor instruction somewhere along the line.
 
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Just read where Reds have been held to 1 run or fewer in 14 of first 51 games, their worst performance since 1945. 😧
 
How is Valaika still employed in Cincinnati? This guy is trash
Unload for Kevin Long. Sean Casey on his show says how every team hits wherever he lands and he is correct. It can be done. Cincinnati plucked DJ away from Milwaukee when they were first starting their run under Counsell. If not, Eric Davis full time would be better than Valaika. I never understood why so many teams hire these players who were not good hitters in the big leagues. Valaika a .238 hitter with no power and only 99 games at the MLB level. If they make such good hitting coaches, why could they not fix themselves back then and stick around in MLB? I know most hitting coaches in MLB weren't All-Stars, but that is no excuse for Valaika to have a job with the Reds. I think some of the best hitting coaches are guys that hit rock bottom and changed their whole approach to become successful hitters. Re-invent themselves like Ryan Ludwick did. He understands what it was like to struggle in the big leagues after failing in Cleveland. He came back as an All-Star, Silver Slugger and hit for power with as many as 37 HRs, 117 RBIs at his peak. I know Ludwick left here on a sour note in 2014, but he is far from the only player that fixed their game and could help this Reds team better than the likes of Valaika, Zinter, McKeithan and Terry Bradshaw lol.
 
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Reds about to get their comeuppance for the next six weeks. Only three games against a team under 500 (Brewers, 25-26) in that period. Still being around 500 after that will take a miracle.
 
Reds looking like the bad news bears out there with the poor defensive plays and bad pitching.
 
Damn right Marty! Sit on their ass and did nothing to improve the offense of this team. Content with getting by the cheapest way possible. Get what you pay for, nothing more. 12 hits and 6 runs most nights will give teams the chance to win. Tonight's pitching and the performance by the Reds offense Tuesday and Wednesday are not acceptable results. Reds bullpen once Giblow entered, followed by Santillan, Suter & Mey collectively shit the bed tonight. Demoting Lyon Richardson to Louisville was a stupid move. He could have ate a few innings tonight once Greene exited after 4. It is the same story every single year with this organization. They can keep scapegoating managers all they want, but the FO needs to take the fall for this.

“I think they missed the boat in the offseason,” Brennaman said on Chatterbox Sports. “Priority one, for me, and I think I speak for a lot of people relatively close to the situation…they needed to go out and get a veteran hitter who had a track record of hitting home runs and driving in runs. Then put that guy in the middle of the order to take pressure off the Spencer Steer’s of the world and the Will Benson’s…the young players like Matt McLain. For whatever the reason, probably monetary, they did not do that.”
 
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Better performance today. 6 runs were enough to win this one. Great start by Abbott. One of the best in the NL this year. Bullpen still shaky. Especially Pagan at the back end. EDLC with a couple of hits, 4 RBIs and the 2-run in the 1st. These are performances the Reds need to get out of him more often being the spark that gets this team going.
 
There are some guys in the roster who have issues between the ears. Start with Elly and his hair flipping. He's too comfortable out there. How does a guy with that much speed get thrown out so easily? Why is he routinely hitting grounders to short and second? McClain should have been sent back to AAA. Ashcraft is so ho-hum on the mound.
 
Stephenson 3-3 so far, that home run giving them a 6-0 lead. Beating up on old Red Michael Lorenzen.
 
Damn right Marty! Sit on their ass and did nothing to improve the offense of this team. Content with getting by the cheapest way possible. Get what you pay for, nothing more. 12 hits and 6 runs most nights will give teams the chance to win. Tonight's pitching and the performance by the Reds offense Tuesday and Wednesday are not acceptable results. Reds bullpen once Giblow entered, followed by Santillan, Suter & Mey collectively shit the bed tonight. Demoting Lyon Richardson to Louisville was a stupid move. He could have ate a few innings tonight once Greene exited after 4. It is the same story every single year with this organization. They can keep scapegoating managers all they want, but the FO needs to take the fall for this.


IMO, Francona, needs to go to the front office and tell them straight up, "I'm on a three year deal here, I need this, this and this in order to win something in the next two years, if you can't get me these pieces, I'm walking away to the next viable job opening."
 
Singer getting a win in his return to KC. Good to see one of those returns against a former team go the Reds way. He needed a game like this to get back on track. He has been much better with Trevino behind the plate for his starts with the rapport built up between those two. Keep Jose as Singer's personal catcher if he pitches like this.
 
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