Cincinnati Reds

Oh, since you asked…  * INTERESTING HOW SAVANTS also so easily dismiss BP as team MVP after six weeks. They live in the world of numbers. What number measures the runs he saves? The hits he takes away, practically nightly? The outs he creates? Is there a SABRE-fact for that? I guess it would be ...

May 15, 2013; Phoenix, AZ, USA: Detailed view of an official MLB baseball in a glove in the Atlanta Braves dugout prior to the game against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports For the first time this season, a team on the farm owns a winning streak that extends beyond five games. If you think back to how the Bakersfield Blaze already owns three separate losing streaks of at least 7 games, they are the most unlikely candidate to accomplish such. Well, as you will see, the Blaze are streaking hot. Taking 3 of 4 across the farm is nice, but starting a slump is in full force for one affiliate. Here’s your quick tour of Thursday’s games. Louisville Bats Paw Sox 0, Bats 10 (Box) TEAM 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Pawtucket (27-20) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 1 Louisville (24-23) 1 5 1 1 0 0 2 0 X 10 17 0 W: Cingrani (2-0, 0.00) ; L: Doyle (3-4, 4.63) In his first game back in Louisville, same as it ever was for Tony Cingrani. Before he was promoted to Cincinnati, Cingrani couldn’t be touched. The issue, as was becoming the case as a Red, was pitch count as Cingrani tossed 97 pitches with 57 going for strikes. The Bats bats supplied him with plenty of offense as 8 of the 9 lineup spots got at least one hit and the duo of Felix Perez (3 RBI) and Josh Fellhauer (4 RBI) drove in 7 of the 10 runs. Next Game: 5/24 v. Pawtucket, 6:35 PM ET. Armando Galarraga (2-2, 2.37) looks to bounce back from his last outing and Pensacola Blue Wahoos Blue Wahoos 3, Lookouts 5 (Box) TEAM 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Pensacola (16-28) 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 3 14 2 Chattanooga (19-27 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 X 5 5 0 W: Nelo (3-0, 2.60) ; L: Van Mil (0-2, 3.63) ; SV: Elbert (1) HR: PNS: Mattair (5) As hot as the Blaze has been, the opposite holds true for the Blue Wahoos. Last night’s loss was the fifth in a row and the third time this season Pensacola has a losing streak of five games. And the offense had a shot at scoring more than 3 runs as the Blue Wahoos had 5 different starters with at least 2 hits. Chad Rogers went 6 innings and only allowed 3 hits and the run he surrendered was unearned. Next Game: 5/24 @ Chattanooga, 7:15 PM ET. Ryan Dennick (2-3, 3.00 ERA) will look to snap the skid. Bakersfield Blaze Ports 3, Blaze 4 – 11 innings (Box) TEAM 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 R H E Stockton (23-23) 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 3 7 2 Bakersfield (17-29) 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 4 10 1 W: Muhammad (1-0, 1.21) ; L: Hassebrock (1-3, 4.94) HR: BAK: Smith, M (5) Make it 6 in a row for Bakersfield. Needed a pair of extra frames, as Steve Selsky‘s 11th-inning single drove in Ryan Wright to give the Blaze the win. Juan Silverio extended his hitting streak to 14 games and despite the no-decision, Jon Moscot (5 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 6 SO) looked good over his 5 innings of work. Pat Doyle worked 3 shutout innings in relief. Next Game: 5/24 v. Stockton, 10:30 PM ET. James Allen (2-4, 4.62 ERA) goes for the lucky #7. Dayton Dragons Whitecaps 6, Dragons 7 (Box) TEAM 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E West Michigan (20-24) 2 1 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 6 13 3 Dayton (19-27) 0 0 1 1 3 0 0 2 X 7 7 1 W: Klimesh (2-0, 4.80) ; L: Knudson (0-1, 2.45) ; SV: Lucas (5) HR: WM: Kirksey (3) , Martinez, M (4) . DAY: Rahier (5) Dayton got behind early, took the lead in the middle innings, and a little back and forth in the late innings before the Joe Terry doubled in Zach Vincej in the bottom of the 8th to give the Dragons the one-run win. It was the second RBI of the game for Terry. Next Game: 5/24 v. West Michigan, 7:00 PM ET. Sal Romano (4-3, 3.28 ERA) will look to keep the wins coming.

Games Played on 5/23/2013 Minor League Player of the Day: There were a lot of hits (mostly singles) and a couple of good starter pitcher performances last night, but I’m going to go with the frequently unsung bullpen heroes for today’s MLPotD. Pat Doyle pitched 3 shutout innings over the 8th, 9th, and 10th innings of the Bakersfield Blaze game. He allowed just 1 hit and 1 walk while striking out 4. AAA Louisville 10 – Pawtucket 0 Tony Cingrani made his first AAA start since being optioned back to the minors. It is his 4th AAA start overall, and he still has not allowed a run in 19.1 innings this year. Despite throwing 5 shutout innings (2 hits, 4 walks and 5 strikeouts), Cingrani was not pleased with the number of walks he allowed. Unfortunately, the game story makes no mention of how much he threw fastballs versus other pitches. The Bats offense pounded out 13 singles and 4 doubles in route to the victory. Josh Fellhauer was 2-for-4 with 2 doubles, a run scored and 4 RBI. Felix Perez was 3-for-5 with 3 RBI. Billy Hamilton was 2-for-6 with his 24th stolen base of the year and 2 runs scored. AA Chattanooga 5 – Pensacola 3 Chad Rogers allowed just 1 unearned run over 6 innings of 3-hit baseball. He walked a batter and struck out 3. Pensacola pounded out 14 hits, as every regular had at least one hit, but had just three runs to show for it. Twelve of the hits were singles to go along with a double and a Travis Mattair solo homerun. Redleg Nation Spotlight Player, Tucker Barnhart (2-for-5, R) has been on base in 9 consecutive games. High A Bakersfield 4 – Stockton 3 in 11 innings Jon Moscot went 5 innings and allowed 2 runs on 5 hits, 2 walks, while striking out 6. Kyle Lotzkar made his first high-A appearance of the season and allowed a run over 2 innings. He didn’t walk a batter and struck out 4. Pat Doyle pitched 3 shutout innings, allowing just 1 hit and 1 walk while striking out 4. El’Hajj Muhammad was credited with the win after pitching a perfect 11th inning. Marquez Smith went 2-for-4 with a double and a 2-run homerun. Yovan Gonzalez (2-for-5) was the only other Blaze player with two hits. Steve Selsky’s only hit was a game winning walk-off single in the bottom of the 11th. Low A Dayton 7 – West Michigan 6 Drew Cisco allowed 5 runs on 11 hits, 1 walk and 6 strikeouts over 5.2 innings. Joe Terry was 2-for-4 with a walk, a double, a run scored and two RBI. Joe Hudson was 1-for-2 with 2 walks, a double, and two runs scored. Tanner Rahier (1-for-4) hit his 5th homerun of the season. It was Dayton’s 6th win in their last 7 games.

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