Here are a few links to peruse on your Saturday, as Redsfest continues in Cincinnati:
- Joey Votto and Yonder Alonso aren't bothered by trade rumors and speculation, MLB.com's Mark Sheldon writes in two separate pieces. Votto concedes "it would be disappointing to get traded," but it doesn't appear he'll have to face that possibility this offseason – GM Walt Jocketty said during the GM meetings that the Reds won't move the 2010 MVP this winter.
- Jocketty says the Reds have identified six starting pitchers as potential trade targets, according to John Fay of the Cincinnati Enquirer (via Twitter). While the GM didn't name anyone specifically, Fay guesses that James Shields, Gio Gonzalez, and Jair Jurrjens are on the list.
- The Reds are looking for a veteran infielder who can play shortstop, tweets Sheldon. They were interested in Ramon Santiago before the 32-year-old agreed to return to Detroit.
- Sheldon also says that manager Dusty Baker hopes the club can give the closer's job to a specific pitcher. Baker's thoughts on the topic: "We're going to look in-house. We're going to look at trades or free agents and try to come up with a guy, a main guy. The one thing we don't want to do is have a closer by committee."
I’d guess Jurrjens isn’t on the list. Between Bailey, Cueto and Volquez the Reds already have their share of injured SPs. Why add another pitcher to make 20 starts????
i agree. the reds need a guy who can stay healthy AND put up good numbers. and yes, they’re going to have to give up a lot to get it
Dusty Baker eats Rotator Cuffs for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
That’s why he doesn’t want a closer by committee. It makes it harder for him to blow out arms…
But closer by committee is fun.
I give the closers job to Sam LeCure. No matter how bad the situation was when he was ran out there he always seemed to get out of it. As for SP, if it isn’t Shields I really don’t want any part of any pitcher on the market.
Wow that’s really limiting your options… My guess is the 6 pitchers are all someone could consider as a a number 1 or 2 in our rotation.
Red should go after Alex Gonzalez good for defense and has been playing for a while even though he is terrible at hitting maybe Cozart for Gonzalez but the Reds might not be willing to give up one of their good prospects just yet
Gonzalez is a free agent, so why would they have to give up their starting SS to get him? Plus, he’s a former Red and didn’t really work out (although in his defense his child was very sick.)
i think he meant cozart for gio gonzalez, but it would take more than cozart to get him
Well, I’ve never seen Gio Gonzalez hit, but I imagine he sucks at it, too. In any event…pretty sure he meant Alex.
original poster said “cozart for gonzalez” and i think he meant gio gonzalez since the reds are trying to trade for a pitcher, but slasher thought he meant alex gonzalez. Unless the first guy actually meant alex, which would be interesting as it would be the first free agent for a prospect trade…
Dusty already lookin like a fool and it’s only December.
He’s in mid-season form
Alonso for Jurrjens?
DEAL!
Can Alonso play LF?
Edit: shoulda look it up before I asked… I thought he was just a 1B, but I see he has played some LF and 3B. So I concur… DEAL!
Define play.
Would his defense in LF be better than Garret Anderson? If so, we’ll take him.
He’s less than average at best. He’s a bit slow footed and just doesn’t have a lot of experience out there. He has however lost twenty pounds in anticipation of competing for the LF job this spring.
I’d do it.
He has a good bat. And a good bat and a decent glove for JJ, someone we have no room for would be a deal.
His glove isn’t decent. It looks to be bad and potentially really bad. If last year was any indication, Alonso as a LF will probably be a below average player and hardly above replacement value. Think Adam Dunn without the power.
“Think Adam Dunn without the power.”
If by no power you mean a 20-25 home run guy, then yea, Alonso has no power.
I was referring to Adam Dunn power. He is Adam Dunn with average to slightly above average power, unlike the plus, plus power that Dunn has.
Alonso has much more plate discipline and hits MUCH better for average than Dunn ever did.
Adam Dunn has a career OBP of .374 in the majors. He may hit for a higher average, but he will make more outs than Dunn and not come close to his power.
If you’re refering to 11 home run power Dunn has than I agree… he’s plus plus that with average. Best case 45 home run guy, should be a solid bet for 20 or more a season throughout his career.
If you think Alonso can ever hit 45 HR you are crazy. You can try and be a smart guy by cherry picking Dunn’s worse season by far, but Alonso will never approach the power of Dunn. Before last year, Dunn had 7 straight seasons with 38+ HR and .257+ ISO. As a 24 yo MLB regular(same age Alonso was last year) Dunn hit 46 HR, slg .569 with a .303 ISO. Last season was Alonso’s best and he hit 17 HR and slg .498 with a .195 ISO.
Alonso will never have the power of Dunn and probably not the bat. Dunn had a .381 OBP, .521 SLG and .902 OPS for his first 10 seasons.
Alonso will be lucky if that slash line is his career year.
didnt the braves just kinda throw Prado into left for like the first time as a starter?
Yes, although he had played there in winter ball before.
how is freddie freeman in left?
Better than Adam Dunn! lol
Glove on the end of a broomstick also falls into that category…
I’m sure he can do better out there than Garret Anderson did a few years ago. :p
Alonso cannot play that position.
mlbvideo.mlbkorea.com/mlbtv_cinchn_17663983_1200K.mp4
He played 112.2 innings there last year.
Anyone can play, but playing there at MLB level is somewhat different.
He played 112.2 innings there for the Reds… that’s almost like playing at the MLB level.
Possibly with lots of inside park homers.. He will only get slower and slower. Poor defense also played some roles Reds having the worst team ERA of all baseball.
They had two gold gloves in their infield and Bruce was nearly a third in right field. Pretty sure we can chalk the poor ERA up to poor pitching.
I have to agree that he looked bad in the beginning in Left, but got a little better as time went on. He has also lost 18 pounds so far this off season to make himself quicker & has another couple of months to lose more weight. Not sure how much that will improve his defense in Left, but if he can become semi serviceable out there, it makes him more valuable
Honestly I think he is working really hard to learn better defense and he should be able to move faster with his weight loss if he continues that. I honestly am hopeful that Alonso gets a shot to turn it around for his career in LF. It might be a pipe dream but love his bat.
Oh and to those doubting his power he will hit enough home runs to warrent time out there. Thought I do wish Heisey would be giving the job for a full year to see what he can do with it.
that clip made me really miss baseball
He’s lost close to 20 pounds in an effort to be more mobile, so I wouldn’t give up on him becoming league average in LF just yet.
His power ceiling was above average, say 15-20 homers. If he lost 20 pounds then he would be 10-15 homer guy with slow foot I guess. He must go to 1B. Either trade him or trade Votto and give Alonso everyday 1B job should be the only choice.
At least he ran after the ball… still has a leg up on Garret Anderson.
edit
mlbvideoDOTmlbkoreaDOTcom/mlbtv_cinchn_17663983_1200K.mp4
copy and paste it, change DOT to . , then watch the clip… it may answer your question hopefully.
Braves dont need another left handed bat. save JJ for someone else
Really curious who the other 3 are … starters whose names have been in the MLBTRumor mill over the last few weeks:
Danks -Whitesox
W. Rodriguez – Astros
Cahill & McCarthy – A’s
Garza – Cubs
Niemann & Davis – Rays
Guthrie
Since there doesn’t seem to be much discussion about Billy Hamilton, I’m just wondering what the Reds are planning.
It looks like Cozart and Phillips will occupy the middle infield, so there might be a jam for Hamilton…
He’ll be in High A next season … they have a couple seasons before they have to decide on him
does anyone else worry about shields transitioning to GABP?
You can probably say that about any pitcher they target.
look at his hr/fb ratio and its correlation to his era and fip. gabp=higher hr/fb.
The Reds might look at shields? They better give us Alsonso and a reliever in the bullpen
Hamilton to CF sounds like a good idea for the near future. Maybe they could accelerate that move by trading off Droofus SKrubbs. I don’t think any reasonable Alonso package is going to net the kind of pitching the Reds (and their fans) need and want. I’d be much more content with a darn good bat and average (optimistic, I know) defense in LF. The dude can flat out rake. He’s most definitely undervalued by everyone outside of the RedLeg nation, and probably justifiably so. But that’s OK. I’d rather he be smacking the ball all over GABP as a Red than to see him do so anywhere else for a marginal return…especially if a FA Joey Votto walks in a couple years (which I expect he will, if not traded sooner). So yeah, we want solid gold in return for an Alonso package. Maybe it’s pie in sky thinking, but it doesn’t hurt to ask, right?
After all, some genius once traded Josh Hamilton for Edinson Volquez. Oh, wait…….
After all, some genius once traded Josh Hamilton for Edinson Volquez. Oh, wait…….
Hamilton’s bat is probably not good enough for CF. .278/.340/.360 avg/obp/slg in Single A at age 21. Those are SS/2B numbers.