Tag: Cincinnati

Cincinnati Reds: Unexplored Internal Options for Left Field in 2015

It’s finally come to this, Cincinnati Reds fans. With virtually no hope remaining in what has been one of the more miserable, disappointing Reds seasons to date, we shift our focus to 2015. In Redsland, 2015 is all we have. Beyond that, very little is guaranteed. 

Anyone with even a fractional interest in this team understands where improvements need to be made.

For years, dating back to 2010, left field has been a constant area of debate. We remember the days of the Jonny Gomes and Chris Heisey platoon. Ryan Ludwick was supposed to put an end to that, but in typical Reds fashion, a crippling injury in 2013 has reduced Ludwick to a shell of his former self.

He was signed by Walt Jocketty to essentially be the power bat in the middle of the order. But Ludwick has just 10 home runs in the near 479 plate appearances since he injured his shoulder on Opening Day of 2013. The power outage seems to be real. But it was probably expected considering he is 36 years old anyway.

And it’s not just the power. Everything from batting average, OBP and slugging have all been down since the beginning of 2013. With that in mind, it’s probably realistic that the Reds will spend $4.5 million just to send Ludwick off.

And with his departure comes the topic of replacements. 

The popular idea may be to just hit the market and sign a big bat. But with so many vital players approaching arbitration, that’s unlikely. Because of what these players are making now, it is not far-fetched to assume that Mike Leake and Mat Latos get salaries close to or above $10 million. 

Alfredo Simon’s salary will likely jump from just $1.5 million to maybe somewhere around $5 million, but that is strictly a guess and is in no way validated. Could be more, could be less.

Then there are, of course, the salaries of Jonathan Broxton, Sean Marshall, Homer Bailey, Brandon Phillips and Joey Votto.

Unless there is a decision to increase payroll, it is highly unlikely the Reds will have the cash necessary to procure the services of a bona fide cleanup hitter from the market. Therefore, they may have to consider internal options.

But is that a bad thing? With a healthy Votto, a healthy Jay Bruce, Devin Mesoraco and Todd Frazier, aren’t any of them qualified to bat cleanup?

In my opinion, there are enough able bats on a healthy Reds roster to hit for power. But OBP is a major problem. Per ESPN.com, the Reds are No. 28 in OBP, nearly dead last. That, more than nearly anything else, needs to be addressed. The following are three guys who may be able to help do that from left field.

 

Jason Bourgeois

Jason Bourgeois is the starting center fielder for the Triple-A Louisville Bats. This 32-year-old right-handed option is no stranger to the big leagues. He’s had stints with the Chicago White Sox, Tampa Bay Rays, Houston Astros, Kansas City Royals and Milwaukee Brewers

With a very limited time in the majors, his slash line after just 515 plate appearances in six years is .259/.305/.326. Surely that doesn’t blow anyone away, but that’s a very limited sample size.

In 15 minor league seasons, Bourgeois is slashing .282/.342/.386. This year, he’s slashing .283/.336/.372. He has 143 hits in 126 games played. This isn’t a power hitter, and he won’t drive in many runs, but he gets on base at a healthy pace and can steal a base. 

 

Felix Perez

Felix Perez has played mostly right field in Louisville this season in a year in which he was named to the Independent League All-Star game. On the season, Perez is slashing .282/.328/.456. This 29-year-old has spent five seasons in the Reds farm system. His slash line for those five years is .281/.330/.405.

Unlike Bourgeois, Perez does have some power. He’s got 11 home runs in 425 at-bats and 68 RBI to add to that. He also has 150 games of left field experience in five minor league seasons, with a fielding percentage of .990.

Per Rotoworld, Perez was once a prized prospect of the New York Yankees, but he lost out on a $3.5 million signing bonus when it was discovered that he lied about his age.

 

Devin Mesoraco

That’s right. According to Cincinnati Enquirer beat writer John Fay, the Reds plan on possibly moving Mesoraco around a bit next spring. Per Fay, Mesoraco is willing, saying:

If that’s something I was asked to do, I’d absolutely do it. There’s a few positions that I could play, probably first base, maybe left field, that would take more work. But I don’t see any harm in doing it. Spring training as long as it is, there’s plenty of time for it. I’d be more than willing.

This is a likely option to consider, because with Brayan Pena inked through next season, he’ll be able to play catcher while Mesoraco‘s bat stays in the lineup. It has been a challenge to keep him in the lineup for Bryan Price this year, so if Mesoraco becomes more versatile, it will help things out a lot.

Remember, while none of these options will blow you away, keep payroll in mind. It won’t be the No. 4 hitter who takes the Reds to the next level. It will be the team’s dominant pitching staff and, hopefully, its restructured, healthy bullpen.

The Reds need money to secure the very core of their team moving forward, so left field should be addressed as cost-efficiently as possible.

 

*Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com unless noted otherwise.

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Cincinnati Reds: What’s Really Killing the Reds Offense

The Cincinnati Reds are painful to watch at the plate right now. In the last 17 games, the Reds have averaged 2.4 runs per game. Monday night, August 4, marked the 25th time overall this season the Reds have scored one run or less. 

At 418 runs, this Reds offense is officially third worst in the National League. It’s only better than St. Louis and San Diego

Let’s examine the correlating abysmal offensive stats that comprise the third-worst NL offense. The Reds have 912 hits on the year, No. 12 in the NL. At 1,399 bases, they have tallied the fourth-worst amount of bases in the NL. 

Third worst in RBI. No. 11 in the NL in batting average. And worst than any other offensive statistic, and there are plenty to choose from, the Reds have a team on-base percentage of just .301, .10 beneath the National League average.

We look across the division at the offensively challenged St. Louis Cardinals. And while they’re comparable with the Reds in nearly every offensive statistical category, the Cards are No. 4 in the NL in OBP. Their .317 OBP dwarfs the Reds’ .301.

That may be a reason why a team that has scored fewer runs than this anemic Reds offense sits higher in the standings. It’s not the pitching—the Reds’ team ERA is 3.42; the Cardinals’ is at 3.50. The Reds have allowed the same amount of runs on the season as the Cardinals (407). 

Arguably the most crippling facet of this Reds offense right now is its inability to work pitchers, drive pitch counts up and, ultimately, cash in baserunners for runs. That’s evident by the Reds’ poor amount of walks on the season.

They’ve totaled 294 walks and are No. 11 in the NL in that category. The Milwaukee Brewers are the only team beneath the Reds in this category that occupies a playoff spot at the moment. They also have the second-best offense in the NL.

Most analysis surrounding the Reds of late has focused on their terrible inability to hit with runners in scoring position. But on the season, that’s not entirely accurate, at least not to the point that it accounts for what Reds fans are witnessing right now.

According to TeamRankings.com, the Reds rank just No. 8 in runners left in scoring position per game. In fact, they leave fewer runners in scoring position per game than the best offense in the NL (the Colorado Rockies). 

That doesn’t mean the Reds are efficient at hitting with runners in scoring position. It probably means that their opportunities are far fewer than what other teams generate.

TeamRankings.com also illustrates the few amount of baserunners the Reds leave on base per game (13.33) in comparison to the rest of baseball. They leave the fourth-fewest runners on base in the majors probably because they don’t get enough baserunners on in the first place to lead in this category.

Per TeamRankings.com, the Reds average just 2.64 walks per game. That’s No. 24 in baseball. 

What are the Reds missing? Among other things, they’re missing their best hitter. Say whatever you want about Joey Votto, but he’s played nearly half the amount of games as his teammates—on one leg—and still owns the highest on-base percentage on the team.

For as much criticism as Votto will incur because of his propensity to walk, the team would be decidedly better if more Reds adopted this approach. Not that everyone should be looking to walk; rather, if hitters didn’t settle for balls outside of the strike zone, if batters made pitchers work to get them out, the Reds would find more opportunities with runners in scoring position, and likely more RBI because of it. 

Look at it this way: Per SportingCharts.com, Jay Bruce is the Red who currently sees the most pitches per plate appearance at four. In 62 games played this season, Votto‘s averaged 4.32 pitches per plate appearance. 

This, of course, enables pitchers like the Arizona Diamondbacks‘ Josh Collmenter to throw complete-game shutouts, like the one he threw back on May 29 in the Diamondbacks’ 4-0 victory over the Reds. Prior to that game, Collmenter hadn’t pitched more than seven innings in any other outing this season. When batters are that content to offer at anything and retire themselves, it looks easy.

Could the Reds use a bat? Sure. But would even an Edwin Encarnacion home run do much without anyone in front of him?

Is the problem rooted deep within the organization? That’s unknown from my vantage point. But the inability to get on base has been an enormous problem during both Votto DL stints. 

According to ESPN.com, the Reds achieve their highest OBP in the months featuring Votto, primarily April and June. Sounds obvious. Interestingly enough, April and June are the only two months the Reds tallied 100 runs or more.

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com unless otherwise noted.

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Cincinnati Reds: Top 10 Reds of Week 15

The Reds roll into the All-Star break just 1.5 games back of first-place Milwaukee and seven games above the .500 mark. Two weeks ago, the Reds were flirting with .500 and anywhere from seven-to-eight games back of first.

A lot has changed in so little time. The Reds went 6-2 last week alone. 

What’s most remarkable about this recent Reds run is that it’s being facilitated by names Reds fans might never expect to witness on a Reds Top 10 list, but their contribution has been very real.

Nonetheless, here were the Reds that contributed most to winning four of five from the Chicago Cubs and two of three from the Pittsburgh Pirates.

 All stats courtesy of ESPN.com/MLB unless otherwise noted.

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Sal "The Barber" Maglie Finished Just a Little off the Top in 1956

Ninth in an 11-part series examining the vagaries of awards voting.

Sal Maglie’s 1956 season combines the “Elston Howard factor” of collecting more MVP votes than worthier candidates largely because his team inched out theirs at the finish line with the “‘Indian Bob’ Johnson factor” of a hot stretch drive that stayed fresh in the memory of writers come ballot time.

Maglie enjoyed the double-whammy of earning lots of votes this way in two award races: the National League MVP and the very first Cy Young honor.

Not to paint a picture that Maglie reaped undue reward for a marginal season. On the contrary, he was a key starter who contributed mightily to a pennant winner—but in my opinion, his runner-up finishes for the MVP and Cy Young Award came at the expense of more-deserving candidates.

Sal Maglie’s story is well known: Struggling for several pre-war years in the mid-minors, he went home to work in a defense plant as America mobilized, until finally making his debut with the New York Giants just as the war drew to an end. Three of his five wins came by shutout, including one against the World Series–bound Chicago Cubs.

But nearing his 29th birthday as Opening Day of 1946 approached, Maglie, along with Max Lanier, Mickey Owen, Giants teammate Danny Gardella and more than a dozen other major leaguers, jumped to the Pasquale Brothers’ outlaw Mexican League, nearly aborting his career before it started.

Maglie pitched in Mexico for two seasons under the tutelage of hotheaded Cuban fireballer Dolf Luque, who had enjoyed a successful 20-year NL career, including a 27-win season in 1923.

Luque taught Maglie to be a more aggressive pitcher, soon transforming Maglie into one of the most feared moundsmen in the National League for his eagerness to throw high and inside, resulting in his sobriquet, “The Barber.” (Despite his nasty reputation, however, Maglie hit only 44 batters in his 10-year major league career.)

Temporarily banned from the majors for his outlaw days, Maglie pitched in Canada before returning to the Giants in 1950. Now a well-traveled 33-year-old, he unleashed his talent and temper on National League batters to the tune of an 18-4 record, pacing the NL in ERA, shutouts and winning percentage.

In the Giants’ legendary 1951 campaign, Maglie reached his apex, tying with teammate Larry Jansen for the major league lead in victories, with 23.

His 2.93 ERA claimed second best, and he finished third in strikeouts. In the Shot Heard ‘Round the World game, Maglie surrendered four runs in eight innings but took a no-decision when Ralph Branca spared him the goat’s horns.

Maglie followed 1951 with several more strong seasons, helping New York to a World Series championship in 1954 and remaining one of the hated nemeses of the Brooklyn Dodgers—and their fans—during his tenure in the Polo Grounds. While donning a Giants jersey, Maglie tortured the powerful Bums by taking 23 of 34 decisions.

In 1955, despite ringing up nine victories through July, the defending champs put Maglie on waivers. Quickly claimed by the Cleveland Indians, he hurled a mere 25.2 innings the rest of the season and looked to be near the end of the line.

Five innings into the 1956 campaign, the borough of Brooklyn did a collective double take as their defending champions, slow out of the gate, purchased the reviled Maglie from the Tribe.

During his first two months in Dodger blue, Maglie, used as both a spot starter and a reliever, did little to help Brooklyn’s fortunes, going 2-3 and carrying an ERA above 4.00.

Then, on July 28, The Barber found his groove. (He won his start previous to July 28 but did not pitch well and claimed victory thanks to Brooklyn’s 10-run assault.) Through the end of August, Maglie won four of five decisions, pitched three no-decisions in which he surrendered a total of two earned runs and dropped his ERA from 4.20 to 3.34

As Brooklyn slowly cut into the Milwaukee Braves’ summer-long lead—simultaneously rumbling with the revived Cincinnati Redlegs—Maglie maintained his magic.

On September 11, he went the distance to beat Milwaukee, 4-2, bringing Brooklyn into a tie for first. And in his next start, Maglie gutted out a narrow victory at Crosley Field to raise the Dodgers into the lead for the first time since April.

As Brooklyn, Milwaukee and Cincinnati played tug-of-war for the pennant, Maglie no-hit the Philadelphia Phillies on September 25. Although Milwaukee’s easy victory in Cincinnati that day kept Brooklyn from gaining ground, Maglie’s headline-making feat so close to the end of the season surely carried a lot of weight come awards time.

Four days later, his complete-game victory in the opener of a double-header against the Pittsburgh Pirates put Brooklyn one game in the lead for good. (After winning the back end of the double-header, Brooklyn clinched the pennant with a series sweep of Pittsburgh the next afternoon, despite Milwaukee also winning its final game.)

At season’s end, Maglie stood at 13-5, with a 2.87 ERA for Brooklyn—a fantastic ERA while hurling two-thirds of his innings in a home park among the toughest in which to pitch.

There is no doubt that Brooklyn—which edged Milwaukee by a single game and Cincinnati by two—won the pennant largely on the arm of Sal Maglie. From late July onward, Maglie was money—especially during the three-team race of September, when he went 6-1, with a 1.77 ERA.

For his heroics, Maglie finished second to teammate Don Newcombe in both the MVP race and the brand-new Cy Young Award, as Newcombe authored one of the monster seasons of the post-war era: 27-7, 3.06 ERA and a 0.989 WHIP—by far, baseball’s best.

Not to minimize in any way Maglie’s huge contribution to a pennant winner, but of the 11 NL pitchers who received MVP votes, only reliever Clem Labine collected fewer wins. Maglie also pitched the fewest innings of any vote-getting starter.

Especially considering that Don Newcombe and his 27 victories were the true anchor of Brooklyn’s staff—and rightfully rewarded as such—a Dodger who played every day deserved more recognition than Maglie for keeping the Bums churning through a daily dogfight.

How Duke Snider finished a distant tenth in the MVP is a real head-scratcher. Garnering a single first-place vote, the Duke’s vote share lagged well behind not only Maglie, but teammates Jim Gilliam and Pee Wee Reese—a part-time keystone combo having an excellent fielding season, with Gilliam cracking an even .300 and drawing 95 walks.

But Duke carried the biggest stick on an aging team suddenly replaced by Cincinnati as the most potent offense in the league.

Snider paced the Senior Circuit in home runs, walks and OPS, tying with Junior Gilliam for the lead in on-base percentage, all while chasing down fly balls to center field at his usual reliable rate. He also crossed the plate 112 times, second most in the league.

And as Newcombe struggled to clinch the pennant on the schedule’s final day—surrendering six earned runs on 11 Pirates’ hits—it was the Duke who saved Brooklyn’s season, slamming a pair of home runs and driving in four RBI.

Sandy Amoros also clubbed two homers, but Duke’s three-run blast in the bottom of the first set the tone and put Pittsburgh in a hole from which it could not fully emerge before Don Bessent relieved the fatigued Newcome and sealed the pennant.

Of course, no one knew from WAR at the time, but the Duke tied Willie Mays for the NL lead at 7.6. Having topped 130 RBI in the previous two seasons yet driving home “only” 101 in 1956, perhaps voters turned their pens elsewhere based on Duke’s “drop-off” in that coveted stat.

Already a potent lineup, the long-lost Redlegs—who hadn’t seen .500 since 1944—slugged their way from 75 to 91 wins largely on the addition of Frank Robinson.

Enjoying one of the greatest freshman campaigns ever—and copping a unanimous Rookie of the Year honor for it—the gritty Robinson smashed 38 home runs, a record that would stand for 31 seasons.

In doing so, Robinson also helped Cincinnati clout a record-tying 221 home runs. Exhibiting impressive bat discipline for a 20-year-old slugger, Robinson drew 64 walks to go with his solid .290 batting average, which, combined with a league-high 20 hit-by-pitches for the rookie who defiantly dug in against veteran hurlers, led to an NL-best 122 runs scored.

Robinson also tied teammate Ed Bailey for second in OPS, with .936. Considering Cincinnati’s dearth of starting pitching—only Brooks Lawrence chalked up more than 13 victories, and only Joe Nuxhall logged an ERA better than league average—Robinson, in my opinion, had more to do with Cincinnati’s sudden resurgence than any other Redleg.

One can argue that a seventh-place finish on the MVP ballot was amply complemented by the Rookie of the Year honor, but Robinson, a natural-born leader and the highest-scoring player on the highest-scoring team, should have finished higher in the vote.

Interestingly, both Snider and Robinson batted their best against each other as Brooklyn and Cincinnati jockeyed all summer for the inside track. Duke lit up Redlegs hurlers for an even .400 and slugged a monstrous .787, while driving in 18 runs and scoring 23 times in 22 contests.

Nearly matching Duke’s mastery of Cincinnati pitching, the rookie Robinson still bruised Brooklyn for nine homers and .716 slugging, resulting in 13 RBI and 20 runs scored in the same 22 games.

Neither fared well against Milwaukee’s deep and stingy rotation.

Warren Spahn also probably should have ranked higher than Maglie. Arguably the best pitcher on what was, far and away, the best pitching staff in the NL (team ERA of 3.11nearly half a run better than runner-up Brooklyn), Spahn enjoyed a typical Warren Spahn season: 20-11, 2.78 ERA. He led the league in nothing but hurled 90 more innings than Maglie.

Over the course of an entire season, during which Spahn’s Braves spent 83 percent of its schedule within two games, either way, of first place, 90 high-quality innings is a huge difference to overlook.

Milwaukee’s strength on the mound may have actually worked against Spahn at voting time. Lew Burdette spun a season very similar to Spahn statistically (19-10, 2.70 ERA, in 256.1 innings), yet although voters barely took notice of Burdette or 18-game winner Bob Buhl at awards time, Spahn’s 20 wins might have lost some impact among his big-winning teammates.

Of course, had Milwaukee finished a game ahead of Brooklyn, Spahn likely would have received many of the votes that instead went to Maglie.

Unfortunately for Spahn, who went 7-1 and saved one game in September (including a 12-inning complete-game victory on September 13), he took a truly hard-luck loss in Milwaukee’s penultimate game of the season, which dropped the Braves a game behind Brooklyn and allowed the Dodgers to claim the pennant the following afternoon despite Burdette’s 4-2 win in St. Louis.

Tied with Brooklyn with two games to play, Spahn spun a masterful 11 innings, yielding only three hits and one earned run. But Cardinal Herm Wehmeier, an oft-wild thrower with a career mark of 80-100 going into the game, matched Spahn inning for inning.

With the score tied 1-1 in the bottom of the 12th, Spahn yielded a double to Stan Musial. Intentionally walking Ken Boyer to get to Rip Repulski, Repulski ripped a double to left, scoring Musial and giving Brooklyn—busy winning the second game of a double-header against Pittsburgh after Maglie won the opener—a one-game edge going into the season’s final day.

As for the Cy Young Award—which, in 1956, was issued to a single pitcher selected from both leagues—Maglie again placed second to Newcombe. The same argument for Spahn (and Burdette) in the MVP race becomes stronger for this vote. With Newcombe deservedly running away with the inaugural award, Maglie earned four of the remaining six votes, outpacing both Spahn and Whitey Ford.

The ace of the eventual world-champion New York Yankees, Ford went 19-6, with a Major League–topping 2.47 ERA. But the Bronx Bombers peeled away from the rest of the AL in July and coasted to the pennant, so Ford enjoyed none of the hero-making drama of a close race, as did Maglie.

Yet a pitcher superior that season both to Spahn and Ford, let alone Maglie, was completely ignored. Herb Score, coming off a Rookie of the Year effort in 1955, took another step toward the superstardom he’d sadly never reach (see his entry, No. 2, in my series for a fuller explanation).

Flame throwing his way to a 20-9 season, garnished with an AL-high five shutouts and 263 strikeouts—best in the Majors and 71 more than anyone else—Score unfairly went missing at ballot time thanks to an 88-win Cleveland Indians squad made irrelevant by the machine-like Yankees.

As good as was Maglie down Brooklyn’s stretch drive, Score, with his adjusted ERA of 166, pitched at the highest caliber virtually all season.

Pitching in his third—and final—World Series, in 1956, Maglie went the distance in the opener, whiffing 10 Yankees in a 6-3 victory at Ebbets Field. In Game 5, he had the misfortune of pitching against history, as his gutsy eight innings were no match for Don Larsen’s perfection. (Along with the Shot Heard ‘Round the World game, this made Maglie a starting pitcher in perhaps the two most famous contests in baseball annals.)

New York, of course, went on to reclaim the crown Brooklyn had usurped the previous year.

Maglie pitched one more season in Brooklyn, but now 40 years old, the Barber’s days were numbered. He bounced to the Yankees—becoming one of only 14 players who made the stop at all three New York boroughs—before concluding his short but eventful career with the St. Louis Cardinals, in 1958.

Etching a most impressive 119-62 record, with a career ERA 27 percent better than league average, Sal Maglie enjoyed one helluva ride for a guy who didn’t stick in the Majors until age 33.

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Cincinnati Reds: Top 10 Reds of Week 12

On Tuesday, Reds fans look to the standings and finally see a winning baseball team. It took 70-plus games, but there is no denying the difference Reds fans have witnessed since the team got healthy. 

The Reds faced a tall order last week. They went into Pittsburgh and faced the division rival Pirates, who were just one game beneath .500 when the Reds showed up and one game ahead of the Reds in the standings. Then, they hosted the AL East first-place Blue Jays, MLB‘s No. 3 offense.

Offense has commandeered the list of the top 10 Reds of Week 12, and the bullpen, which was getting heavy exposure for a while, has gone missing.

 

All stats courtesy of ESPN.com

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Stock Up, Stock Down for Cincinnati Reds’ Top 10 Prospects for Week 12

Cincinnati Reds fans will have now seen 30 percent of this list in live action following the debut of Carlos Contreras last Saturday. The young right-hander had a great outing in a low-stress situation.

Billy Hamilton has been scorching hot, and Tucker Barnhart continues to climb his way back up in batting average, in case he’s ever needed again.

The rest have had mixed results. 

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Cincinnati Reds: Week 8 Player Power Rankings

After seven long weeks atop the Reds player power rankings, Johnny Cueto was officially lifted from the throne following a disastrous outing against the Washington Nationals. It was an odd sequence of events; the first two runs to cross the plate were unearned. By that time, Cueto had already been laboring, working nearly every full.

But on a night when the Reds’ ace was less than perfect, the defense behind him was less than adequate, making for a beating at the hands of the Nationals and a new No. 1 in this week’s power rankings.

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Cincinnati Reds: Bullpen Crippling Team’s Progress

The reason why the Reds are three games below .500 and six games back of the first place Milwaukee Brewers has little to do with offense. According to the numbers, the Reds are just under par when it comes to National League offenses.

They’re near the bottom of the NL in terms of cumulative runs scored (No. 13), but top seven or better in several other categories.

The team batting average (.249) is No. 7 in the NL, in front of both Milwaukee and St. Louis. Their OBP (.321) is No. 4 in the NL, in front of every NL Central rival. In terms of strikeouts, only one team in the NL strikes out less than the Reds.

They are on the low end of extra-base hits (89), but they’re just 11 short of Milwaukee (100), and the Brewers are tied with several other teams for the fourth most extra-base hits in the NL. 

So while the offense isn’t great by any means, it’s not barren. And the early portion of the schedule has been littered with exceptional opposition pitching. The difference so far in this young 2014 season is the Reds bullpen.

Some daunting numbers plague a facet of this team that has traditionally been a staple. The Reds bullpen sits at 2-8 with a 4.40 ERA. That’s officially tied for the worst win/loss bullpen ratio in baseball. In fact, just one team has more bullpen losses than the Reds.

The 4.40 bullpen ERA is No. 25 in baseball. The ERA might be that large because of the Reds’ bullpen inability to strike batters out. At just 65 strikeouts on the year, the Reds’ bullpen is officially dead last in strikeouts (No. 30).

Opponents are hitting .258 off this bullpen, which is the sixth worst opponent batting average in baseball. That’s just partially why the Reds’ bullpen WHIP is the second worst in MLB. With a WHIP of 1.33, only the Houston Astros are worse.

WHIP can be described as a measure of stress, which might explain why Reds fans have been so stressed whenever the ball is turned over to the ‘pen. It’s the amount of walks and hits allowed per inning. The above means the Reds have not experienced a lot of easy innings under the bullpen.

The bullpen is probably in its current state due to massive preseason injuries to both setup men, Sean Marshall and Jonathan Broxton, as well closer Aroldis Chapman. These three injuries produced a chain reaction that ended with the Reds relying on guys like Nick Christiani (4.91 ERA), Logan Ondrusek (6.48), J.J. Hoover (9.31) and Trevor Bell (67.50).

And even though guys like Ondrusek and Hoover were in the blueprint, they probably wouldn’t have been pitching in favor of Marshall, Broxton and Chapman late in close games. And the Reds have had plenty of those, having already lost an MLB-leading 11 one-run ball games.

There is hope, though. Despite poor numbers, the Reds bullpen has pitched in just 73.2 innings. That is remarkable, considering the next bullpen to throw the least amount of innings is Atlanta, a bullpen that has pitched in just over 87 innings.

Bullpen innings pitched is a significant stat. Last season, just two of the top-10 teams in bullpen innings pitched made the playoffs. In 2012, just three teams in the top 10 teams in bullpen innings pitched went on the postseason.

In 2011, zero. In 2010, just twoone being the Reds, who were steamrolled by the Phillies in a first round sweep. 

The low amount of innings pitched is a faded silver lining to an overall disastrous problem. Given the starting pitching, the offense doesn’t need to boast big numbers. The Reds are in a strong position to win baseball games because of their ability to limit runs scored against them. For now, that changes as soon as the bullpen gate opens. 

All stats courtesy of ESPN.com

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Cincinnati Reds: Reds’ Week 5 Player Power Rankings

The Reds took a bite out of a 7.5-game deficit by taking three of four from the first-place Brewers. Last week, we witnessed a healthy shot of offense while getting the same consistent pitching we’ve come to expect from this team. Here are the top 10 Reds from last week:

 

1. Johnny Cueto (last week No.1)

Johnny Cueto sits atop the power rankings for the third straight week. His marvelous 1.31 ERA is the No. 1 ERA in baseball. Cueto was masterful against the Brewers, going eight innings and surrendering just two earned runs. He leads the majors with 55 innings pitched, and no starting pitcher in the game has given his team more in the early season. Only Juan Fernandez of the Marlins has more strikeouts than Cueto.

 

2. Alfredo Simon (last week No. 3)

Alfredo Simon continues his shocking campaign as one of the best arms on the staffand one of the best arms in baseball. His 1.99 ERA is among the top 10 in MLB, and he turned in two strong performances last week. He allowed just two runs to the Cubs in a win and then allowed just three runs against the Brewers en route to a no-decision. Simon continues to keep the conversation away from Mat Latos, which is a remarkable feat when you consider what the Reds are missing.  

 

3. Todd Frazier (last week No. 9)

Todd Frazier made a splash last week, and he’s jumped six spots on this list because of it. Frazier was instrumental in the offense last week, recording a hit in every game against the Cubs and the Brewers. He had six hits in the Brewers series alone. Last week, Frazier led the team in RBI with eight and had eight hits, four doubles and a .364 average. His OBP last week was .423; just Billy Hamilton got on base more in that time frame.

 

4. Brayan Pena (last week unranked)

When Devin Mesoraco pulled a hamstring, Walt Jocketty secured the services of former Tigers catcher Brayan Pena. Pena was imperative in the Reds’ productive offense last week. He hit .421 and homered thrice, driving in six runs. Only Todd Frazier drove in more runs than Pena in this time frame.

 

5. Joey Votto (last week No. 5)

Joey Votto turned in another mediocre week, at least at first glance. He hit for just .227, but his OBP was a useful .393. Votto also recorded four doubles last week. With six walks, Votto once again led the Reds in walks for this time frame. He drove in no runs last week.

 

6. Brandon Phillips (last week unranked)

After weeks of power rankings, Brandon Phillips finally cracks the top 10 after turning in a prolific week of baseball. Last week, he hit .368 with a great OBP of .381. He drove in three runs and homered once, which might have been the Reds’ biggest home run of this young season. Phillips homered in the eighth inning of a 3-2 ball game while the Reds trailed the Brewers. The Reds went on to win the game and the series.

 

7. Jonathan Broxton (last week No. 8)

Steadily climbing the charts is reliever Jonathan Broxton, who has been very serviceable in the absence of closer Aroldis Chapman. Broxton pitched in three games last week, allowing no runs and just one walk. He allowed no hits and struck out three batters, earning his fifth save in as many opportunities.

 

8. Sam LeCure (last week No. 6)

LeCure drops to No. 8 through no fault of his ownhe can only serve a limited amount of time, and the offense last week was surprisingly prolific. But LeCure still had a very productive week. He pitched three games and allowed no runs. He did surrender two hits and two walks in that time, which made his WHIP 1.33 for the week, but he managed to keep any runs from scoring and earned his first win of the year last Sunday against the first-place Brewers. It was also his birthday. 

 

9. Zack Cozart (last week unranked)

Zack Cozart has made the power rankings after a week in which he led the team in batting average, tying only teammate Todd Frazier. He hit .364 last week in 22 plate appearances, which included eight hits, a double and a triple. His OBP for the week was .417, the third-highest in this time frame.

 

10. Ryan Ludwick (last week No.4)

Ludwick takes a big dip in the power rankings. He had a below-average week at the plate, turning in a .211 average with a .289 OBP. But he did drive in three runs. Ludwick will have to rebound with more contribution at the plate in order to stay in the rankings next week.

 

Dropped from Reds Player Power Rankings

Jay Bruce (last week No. 7), DL

Tony Cingrani (last week No. 10), DL

Devin Mesoraco (last week No. 3), DL

Biggest Jump: Todd Frazier (No. 9 to No. 3)

Biggest Drop:  Devin Mesoraco (No. 3 to unranked)

On the Cusp: Billy Hamilton, Homer Bailey

 

All stats provided courtesy of MLB.com

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com


Ranking the Cincinnati Reds’ Most Important Players Heading into 2014

2013 ended with another disappointing first-round loss for the Cincinnati Reds. It led to the firing of Dusty Baker. Outside the big bats of Joey Votto and Jay Bruce, which players will be instrumental to the Reds’ advancing deeper in the postseason? 

Ranking Criteria

To rank the players, I used past statistics as well as potential upside. A player who has been a consistent producer could be behind a player who could be a game changer for the Reds for that reason.

Included are five positional players and five pitchers. The Reds will need both to advance further in the postseason.

 

Honorable Mention

Mike Leake, Devin Mesoraco and Zack Cozart will all be important to the Reds, but just missed the cut. 

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