Cincinnati Reds

The Juice returns for season No. 6! It’s almost eligible for free-agency! Stop by daily for news from the action, along with great photos, stats, video highlights and more. This is more like what this year’s Los Angeles Angels were expecting. Thursday night the Angels won their fifth in a row, downing the Kansas City Royals 5-4 thanks to home runs from Mike Trout, Albert Pujols, Mark Trumbo and Chris Ianetta. The win pulled the Angels even with the Seattle Mariners for third place in the AL West and gave roughed-up pitcher Joe Blanton his first win of the season in nine starts. The Angels are now 20-27 and the highest they’ve been in the standings since April 27. It’s not proof that everything is right in Anaheim, but it’s a promising sign that things are getting better. The most impressive moment for the Angels came early: Trout’s first inning home run traveled 463 feet, the longest of his career, the third longest this week and 11th longest of the season, according to Home Run Tracker . View full post on Yahoo! Sports – MLB – Cincinnati Reds News

Zach Vincej drove in the tying run and scored the winning run for the Dayton Dragons on Thursday night.

Courtesy: MILB.comAMIR GARRETTDOB: 5/3/1992HEIGHT: 6-5 WEIGHT: 210 B/T: L/LWhen considering likely top 10 candidates for this list, I wasn't expecting Amir Garrett to claim a spot. However, after analysis revealed question marks about other likely candidates, Garrett did just that.Garrett is a pure upside prospect. He brings risk to the table in the form of a lengthy development path, but he's largely an empty slate at this point. As the years have gone by, I've gained a greater appreciation of certainty/probability in a prospect, but here Garrett's upside is simply too good to ignore. The main concern I have on Garrett is simply commitment. Or lack thereof.When the Reds shifted Aroldis Chapman from the rotation back to the closer role this offseason, I didn't have much of an objection. In a vacuum it seems like an inefficient use of an asset and that's what had people up in arms. After all, 200 innings are more valuable than 50. But, even setting aside the other considerations (i.e. stamina to start, declining performance level in multi-inning outings, etc), the determining factor was Chapman's stated desire to close. The margin for error at the highest levels of the sport is razor thin and forcing someone into a role they aren't completely committed to filling seems like a recipe for trouble.That raises the obvious question on Garrett, whose first love is basketball. He's unwilling to focus on pitching until the basketball powers-that-be tell him that his basketball career is over. Sooner or later, we all get told.DRAFT, HOOPS, AND PROFESSIONAL CAREERThe Reds selected Garrett with the 685th overall pick in the 22nd round of the 2011 draft out of Henderson International High School. Garrett didn't even play baseball as a senior, choosing instead to focus on his basketball career. However, he did participate in pre-draft baseball workouts, showing enough athleticism and raw stuff on the mound to impress those teams in attendance. The Reds were willing to roll the dice on his size, stuff, and athleticism. In fact, they were impressed enough to accommodate his desire to continue playing basketball. So, they not only signed him to a contract and gave him a ~$1M signing bonus, but also permitted him to continue playing basketball at the collegiate level. They obviously feel he's worth the wait.Since that time, Garrett has been playing basketball for St. John's University, only pitching for the Reds in the instructional and rookie leagues during the basketball offseason.Recently, Garrett announced that he was transferring from St. John's to Cal State Northridge with the full intention of continuing his basketball career. As a sophomore at St. John's, he averaged only 5.4 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 20.1 minutes per game. He was playing as an undersized power forward and had seen his average minutes per game decrease from 26.9 in his freshman year. Courtesy: Andrew Theodorakis/N.Y. Daily NewsAt St. John's, Garrett had a solid academic career, but had a couple of on-court incidents worthy of mention. After a loss, he had to be separated from a Georgetown player in the handshake line. Further, he was ejected from a loss at Notre Dame for leaving the bench when a teammate got into a fight with an opposing player. Just a healthy dose of competitiveness and having a teammate's back? Or, evidence of something a bit more worrisome?While the move from St. John's basketball program to Cal State Northridge's seems an obvious downgrade, it must be pointed out that Northridge just hired former NBA player Reggie Theus as head coach. So, the program may be on the upswing. Still, it seems likely that Garrett's professional prospects in basketball will fall short of his baseball prospects. If true, then he'll be focusing on baseball full-time in the near future...if he has the desire to do so. PITCHING MECHANICSAmir is tall and lean with long levers which should help him generate good whip on his pitches. Standing 6-5 and tipping the scales at only

Last game The Reds completed a 3-game sweep of the Mets yesterday, winning 7-4. Mat Latos pitched for the Reds. He put in 6.2 innings and allowed 4 runs (earned) on 8 hits and a walk. In the seventh, when the Mets scored their third and fourth runs, the Reds only had 4 runs of their own, so it was looking a little dicey, but these guys battled back and tacked on 3 more in the top of the ninth. Normally, Brandon Phillips’ 2-for-4 with a walk and 2 RBI would be a pretty … [visit site to read more]

Since his first call-up to the Reds in 2007, Ryan Hanigan has been about as dependable a player as a catcher could be. He's stayed relatively healthy, he's walked more than he's struck out, he's been an on-base prowess in the bottom half of the lineup, he's handled the pitching staff extremely well, and he's provided top-flight defense in managing the running game. Slyde will tell you how excellent his catcher ERA has been, too. He has also done that while accounting for virtually nothing in terms of payroll. Hanigan signed a 3 year, $4 million contract following the 2010 season where he hit .300/.405/.429 in 243 PA, and while he's yet to equal any of those levels of production (aside from PAs, which he's topped in each year since), he's still managed to accumulate 4.5 fWAR in the two full seasons, 2011 and 2012, since inking his contract. That 3 year deal gave him a slight raise for his final pre-arbitration year and bought out his first two arbitration-eligible years for roughly $3.45 million, and he's been a steal of a bargain throughout. That contract is up after the 2013 season, however. The Reds still control his rights for the 2014 season (as he'll be arbitration eligible for the 3rd time), so they'll be facing a multifaceted decision at some point soon (likely this offseason): do they extend him, or do they trade him? I said multifaceted in the last paragraph, and that's not just a random big word I plucked out of a dictionary to make my paper look longer before I turn it in; Hanigan's situation has a lot of moving parts. I'll try to break those down as best I can. While Hanigan has provided consistent OBP since signing his contract, his overall OPS, OPS+, ISO, and wOBA have been falling consistently since his breakout 2010 campaign, and while I'm certain the injury issues he faced at the start of the 2013 contributed to his poor start to the season, I can't honestly say they were the only reasons his overall production has dipped. His SLG had dipped below his OBP, and that's never a good sign for any player, much less one approaching what could be the biggest single-season contract of his career. While Hanigan has posted fWAR totals of 1.8 and 2.7 in 2011 and 2012 respectively, he's going to have to have a hell of an offensive turnaround to reach those levels this year given his DL stint and lack of offensive production. It's likely that he'd be offered around $3.5 million in arbitration next season, which would place him in the top half of all MLB catchers in terms of 2012 salaries. The Reds would be forced to decide whether Hanigan would be capable enough offensively in 2013 to warrant that salary, and they'd also be facing the decision to play him, or to play Devin Mesoraco. To say the Reds have invested as much in Devin Mesoraco as in any other player aside from Joey Votto isn't really that hyperbolic. After using a Top 15 pick on Mesoraco in the first round of the 2007 draft, the Reds were patient in his promotions while watching him initially struggle, and they ultimately traded away another highly regarded former first round pick (Yasmani Grandal) who had the exact same ETA in Cincinnati. They obviously believe in him despite his slow transition to the majors, and at some point, he'll get his opportunity to have the bulk of the playing time. I would have to imagine that if Hanigan's decline continues through this season in similar fashion to in seasons prior, Mesoraco will begin to get the 'bulk' of the catching duties beginning in 2014. In Cincinnati under Dusty Baker, of course, bulk generally just means 3 of the 5 starts through the rotation, but it still would mean close to 400 PAs. The question becomes, then, if Hanigan isn't good enough to be your starting catcher, is it worth paying your backup catcher as if he's one of the top 15 catchers in baseball? As recently as last season, that would make him the highest paid backup catcher in all of baseball. Hanigan has consistently be

May 22, 2013; New York, NY, USA; Votto hits a single against the New York Mets during the seventh inning of a game at Citi Field. (Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports) Apologies to Mike Chapman and Nicky Penn, the duo that penned the 80′s smash Mickey, for the slight “editing” from the first line of the tune, but it is true. Joey Votto is fine. Depends on your definition of fine, of course. To some, it could refer to his handsomely good looks. Well, I know of a few that believe that’s the case. Others may look at Votto as spew forth praises for his humble, quiet and unassuming nature. We could deliberate the status of his surgically repaired knee. It appears that all is well there, too. But when you hear “Joey Votto”, the following words, in some form, flow: “one of, if not the best hitter in baseball”. And it is honestly no wonder. If you haven’t taken the opportunity to Jerry Crasnick’s excellent article on ESPN.com about Votto, you are truly missing a fine piece. Yes, I said fine. Within the contents, Crasnick notes a chance “meeting” that took place early in Votto’s career. Several years ago, Votto was standing in the on-deck circle at Great American Ball Park while Pete Rose was watching from a box seat. The two men struck up a conversation, and the Hit King passed along a few pearls of wisdom that resonated. Among other things, he told Votto that it’s no sin to reach for the last cookie in the jar. Rose would never have amassed 4,256 hits if he didn’t have a touch of the greed-monger in him. And like that, the torch is passed. There is significantly more to Crasnick’s article, and, again, it is a highly recommended read. He talks about the professional relationship between Votto and Shin-Soo Choo and the history they have a chance to duplicate. There are excellent quotes from Votto, his teammates and Dusty. At the beginning of the article is a video from Eric Karabell and David Schoenfield that is watch-worthy. Take a few minutes to set aside to read the article and view the vid. The superlatives for Votto are endless. Just today, SI.com released its newest MLB power rankings. While I personally have no liking of such, what Joe Lemire notes in ranking the Reds #2 tells us that if Joey leads the NL in on-base percentage this season, he will have done so for four consecutive season. There is a select group he would join: Barry Bonds, Wade Boggs, Ted Williams, Lou Gehrig and Rogers Hornsby. Four in the Hall of Fame and the one, well, that’s another discussion/debate for another day. No one would doubt that Votto was not Votto-like once he returned and might not have been at the onset to this season. But for today, or even for the past few days, a question that has to be on the mind of some baseball fans (not just Reds fans) is a simple one. Can Votto regain his 2010 form which brought him the NL MVP? This was asked by Kyle Sullender of Players View. While his question was from a couple of days ago, there are some valid points Sullender makes. No one can deny that Votto’s RBI count is down. Crasnick even notes that there are a few players with more RBI than Votto that you might not suspect. Home run number isn’t where some feel it should be, but the production is. In 42 less plate appearances in May, Votto has as many RBI than he did in April (11). He has one less home run in May (3) than last month (4). All three for this month came during the recently completed road trip. You know. The road trip where he slashed for .559/.651/.882 with those three big flies, drove in 7 and scored 12 runs… Now that I think about it, maybe the question needs to be re-phrased. Is Votto back to that 2010 form? Or maybe this question. Has Votto surpassed his 2010 form? I ask that last question because of where Votto was last season when that whole meniscus thing occurred. He had produced a triple

No matter what happens on the field these days, it seems as if Matt Harvey cannot be beaten. View full post on Yahoo! Sports – MLB – Cincinnati Reds News

Jon Moscot has an ERA that is over 5.00, but how much is the California League at blame?

I spent a solid hour last night putting together a nice, big post about the Dragons and their 6-4 win over the Whitecaps, but it looks like the SB Nation site issues have claimed another victim. RIP, awesome post. Goodbye, recs that will never come back. Adios, lost funnies. Fare thee well, mildly interesting analysis of the Dayton roster to date. But seriously, wtf? I am displeased. If SBN was Mat Latos (it isn't, Latos is much awesomer), then I feel like going all Jay Bruce on it. Anyway, here's a very abridged version of the post I had scheduled to hit you kids this morning, lost forever to the ether. Dayton won, like I said before, and like I wrote last night. They shined bright on their day in the spotlight as the only Reds' minor league affiliate with a scheduled contest. Jesse Winker rip van'd a 2-run homer to break an 8th-inning tie, giving the Dragons their fifth win in their last six games, three of which have been decided by late inning long balls. Winker continues to tear the cover off the ball, now sporting a third-in-the-league OPS of .954, and he went 2-4 on the night he was crowned Midwest League Batter of the Week. Junior "High Was a Nightm-" Arias stole his 20th and 21st base, also good for third in the league, and Seth Mejias-Brean "Casserole" smacked a double as part of a 2-4 night as well. Pedro Diaz gave up 4 runs in 5 innings, but the bullpen put the lockdown on the Whitecaps, following with 4 innings of no-hit ball. Dayton is all of the sudden on a bit of a run, and if guys like Ismael Guillon and Tanner Rahier can get their shit together (coughSBNationcough) they might just be able to turn their season around. Up next: Drew Cisco (2-3, 2.88) and the boys host the Whitecaps at 7.

Whether we're blog posting, SlydePress publishing, podcasting or kicking it with Chris Welsh; you can't escape the wide reach of RR Media Empire. While it's not yet confirmed, rumors are that KMiB, FordhamRam and Bresser are working on a remake of the hit show "Two and a Half Men." In addition, -ManBearPig has started a YouTube channel dedicated to fashion tips for wearing the clothing of elderly women. I joined the folks of the Afternoon Drive show on 1450 Sports Buzz yesterday immediately following the Reds victory. I was greeted by glorious sound of the "Saved By the Bell" theme. Topics discussed: Reds win! Mat Latos, 20 game winner? Successful road trip! Jay Bruce, consistently inconsistent? How lucky are Reds fans to have Joey Votto? (spoiler alert: very lucky!) Cueto's return, possible lingering injury issues Inter-league play and the inevitability of the DH in the NL Upcoming series: Cubs, Indians, etc... The segment starts around the 17:20 mark. Listen and laugh at me as I start each and every answer with "yeah..." Link! Hi Chris!