Cincinnati Reds

The Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game With all due respect to Bronson Arroyo, who was masterful today, Joey Votto wins. He wins the JNMHSotG, he wins baseball games, he wins MVPs, he wins that Canadian Athlete of the Year award thingomasomethin', he wins over your girlfriend, my girlfriend, his girlfriend, and he wins both life and the internet. If only we knew what he was actually getting paid to do. After today's 4 for 4 performance (which included a double, a homer, and two walks), Joey Votto now sits at .346/.473/.531, and his 1.004 OPS is now over his career average and in the Top 5 in the NL. As -ManBearPig is wont to say, that's delicious. Honorable Mentions are due to several Reds, obviously, as the pitching was stellar and the bats broke out in a big way. Arroyo threw 7 2/3 innings and was as effective as Goodroyo has ever been (i.e. throwing strikes and inducing weak contact); Todd Frazier broke out of his 0 for 20 streak with 2 hits; Jay Bruce was 2 for 4 with a sac fly; Ryan Hanigan was 1 for 3, scored 2 runs, walked, and hit his 1st HR of the season; and Donald Lutz was 2 for 5 with a smashed double and a million dollar smile. Key Plays The Reds broke through in the Top of the 2nd when Todd Frazier led off with an infield single, Donald Lutz crushed a hard single past Chase Utley, and Ryan Hanigan hit an elevated Kyle Kendrick fastball deep over the LF fence for his first HR since July of last year. Reds led, 3-0. In the Top of the 6th, Ryan Hanigan led off by being hit with a pitch, and Bronson Arroyo sacrificed him to 2B. Zack Cozart then scooted one past Ryan Howard down the line for an opposite field double, and much to the disbelief of Chris Welsh, Hanigan scored from 2B. Reds led, 4-0. The Reds played add-on in the Top of the 8th. Shin-Soo Choo led off with a single, Votto singled, and Brandon Phillips reached on an infield single to load the bases. Former Red Jeremy Horst was brought in for the lefty/lefty matchup with Jay Bruce, but Bruce launched a fly ball deep enough to score Choo on a sac fly. Philippe Aumont was brought in to face Frazier and promptly threw a pitch to the backstop that allowed Votto, who had moved to 3B on Bruce's fly out, to score. Phillips moved to 2B on the wild pitch and then scored when Frazier singled to CF. Donald Lutz then followed with a crushed liner to left-center that scored Frazier from 1B. Reds led, 8-0. In the Top of the 9th, Choo singled to LF, but was out at 2B on a Cozart groundout. Joey Votto then hit a ball a billion miles to score them both. Joey Votto is good at baseball, boys and girls. Alfredo Simon was good enough to shut down the tail end of the Phillies' chances, and that was that. Reds win, 10-0! Source: FanGraphs Other Notes Beginning with Votto's HR last night, he's now reached base in 7 straight PAs. Today was also the 6th time in his career where he has reached base at least 5 times, and the first time he's reached 6 times in one game. Neftali Soto entered the game for Votto at 1B in the Bottom of the 9th to make his Major League debut. He punched his glove, chewed some gum, spit a bit, and got in the ready position a few times. Looks like a baseball player to me. Brandon Phillips is hitting .281 with a .324 OBP; Jay Bruce is hitting .280 with a .324 OBP. Brandon Phillips is making $10 million this season; Jay Bruce is making $7.5 million this season. Both are on pace to have over 100 RBI this season. Tune in regularly to see which one gets treated like an MVP and which one gets treated like a replacement player. I'm in an INXS mood. Sue me. This is amazing. Click the link in the tweet. Joey Votto has a career 155 adjusted OPS. Here's the elite company he's keeping: bbref.com/pi/shareit/DgF…— Bill Baer (@CrashburnAlley) May 18, 2013

Many serious Reds collectors will tell you the same thing: “I need Randy Myers”. Well, maybe not need him personally, but need his signature on something – a ball, bat, photo, etc. – to complete a part of their collection. Myers has always been an elusive autograph for many, many fans. Myers’ interestingly fickle signing habits makes his upcoming appearance with his Nasty Boys teammates, Norm Charlton and Rob Dibble, at Sports Gallery an extremely exclusive engagement. The signing, being put on by Sports Gallery (our events calendar sponsor) and CEI Sports, will take place on Wednesday, June 12th from 6-8pm at their location in West Chester. We’re wondering – Have all three Nasty Boys ever made an appearance together like this before? If it has happened before, it must have been a very long time ago as we’re unaware of any events like this taking place the past few years. Wow. So, this may be the shot you’ve been looking for to complete that autograph project, but it won’t come cheap, or automatically. The signing will set you back $200 for autographs from all three (reasonable, considering Myers’ rare availability) and tickets are limited to 150 and just one per household. You may get the item of your choice signed. Sports Gallery has instituted a lottery system to handle the demand. According to Sports Gallery, you can submit two entries to better your chances. Here are a few more details from the registration page: Sports Gallery is excited to announce we have 150 exclusive autograph tickets, at $200 each, for this premiere, once in a lifetime “Nasty Boys” event. Each lottery winner will be notified directly by phone or email immediately upon selection — Good Luck! Per athletes and management request, all other information will be announced to the lucky lottery winners as it becomes available. It appears that lottery winners will have the choice to either have their items signed in-person or by drop-off or mail-in. Make sure you’re in the mix by registering here. Good luck! The Nasty Boys will be at Sports Gallery on June 12, 2013

Some quick thoughts on the season thus far:This has to be worth something: the great Rickey Henderson loves Billy Hamilton. Henderson said "He reminds me so much of me, I had to go hug him. At (Class A) Stockton, we did everything to stop him, but he's just going to steal when he wants." Now, Rickey was only talking about Billy's wheels, but Henderson was great because he got on-base at a very high clip and provide a bit of pop. Still, it's an encouraging endorsement and Billy is starting to hit at triple-A (including a stretch of 11 hits in 24 ABs, arbitrary endpoints be damned!). The uproar over Dusty's refusal to switch Zack Cozart out of the 2nd spot in the order is only mildly interesting on a micro-level because it has minimal impact. Lineup construction may, at best, generate an additional win or win-and-a-half over the course of a season. So, it's not so much that the proper lineup would make a massive difference, rather that it's a minimal improvement that costs nothing. In an era when teams are scrounging for anything resembling a competitive advantage, it's somewhat disconcerting for us not to pluck the low-hanging fruit. The added 1+ wins come from (1) maximizing the number of Plate Appearances that your best hitters receive, as happens when you hit higher in the order (each lineup spot gets ~2.5% more PAs than the one directly after it) and (2) based on historical data, the 2nd spot in the order generates more value than the 3rd spot in almost every way of reaching base due to who's typically on base and with how many outs. So, having Cozart hitting second is bad on a number of levels. To me, the lineup construction issue is more interesting on the macro-level. Things got complicated for the organization when Ludwick went down with an injury. But, it's difficult to believe that we failed to find 4th/5th outfielders in whom we could believe. There are players out there who, at minimal cost, could step in and fill the void created by Ludwick's absence. Xavier Paul has put up solid numbers, but his playing time is still sporadic. Given that we are in win-now mode, is it excusable for the front office to have failed to bring in better depth??? Chris Sale and Shelby Miller: A remarkable and scary thing has happened over the last week plus. Shelby Miller tossed a near perfect game, allowing only a single to the leadoff hitter before retiring 27 straight batters and posting a 13/0 K/BB ratio in the process, while Chris Sale also flirted with a perfect game before settling for a one-hit shutout with a 7/0 K/BB ratio. Truly remarkable performances for each. Performances that elevate already stellar seasons. The scary part is that both were Shadow Draft selections of mine, Shelby in 2009 and Chris in 2010. That's scary because either I'm starting to understand what makes a good pitching prospect or I've now managed to use up all of my luck on things unrelated to lottery tickets. For more reasons than one, I'm rooting for the former. In my 2013 rankings, I rated Tucker Barnhart the Reds 13th overall prospect. In that write-up, I mentioned not only that I loved Barnhart's footwork and defensive prowess, but also that I thought the game may actually be moving back in his direction. That there was an evolution in the valuation of catcher defense. My reasoning was based, in part, on the new studies of the substantial value to be potentially derived from pitch-framing. And, in that spirit, there's a tremendous article on pitch-framing written by Ben Lindbergh over on Grantland. The article, which is lengthy, discusses the issue and provides hypnotic video clips comparing framing done right with framing done wrong. It's definitely a recommended read. The Milwaukee Brewers couldn't believe that Donald Lutz managed to keep his homerun fair. Part of the reason he was able to do so is the "bat lag" I mentioned in his write-up. Wily Peralta, who gave up the homer, had this to say: "I thought I made a great pitch and he put a good swin

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The Cincinnati Reds have optioned left-hander Tony Cingrani to Triple-A Louisville and recalled infielder Neftali Soto. View full post on Yahoo! Sports – MLB – Cincinnati Reds News

Reds starting pitcher Bronson Arroyo (3-4, 3.76 ERA) takes the mound this afternoon in Philadelphia against Kyle Kendrick (4-1, 2.47). Get updates from the 4:05 p.m.game with our live look-in module. Updates: Reds vs. Philies

Tony Cingrani will now have to mow down AAAers. Tony Cingrani did a most admirable job filling in for Johnny Cueto while our ace was on the DL. In 6 starts he went 2-0 with a 3.27 ERA. Among the starting … [visit site to read more]

PHILADELPHIA — The Reds thanked Tony Cingrani for his six starts and sent him back to minors Saturday with a mandate: Improve your off-speed pitches. “We talked to him,” Reds manager Dusty Baker said. “He did a great job for the limited experience that he had. It was a great learning experience, but he also ...

I apologize for the haphazard and largely uninformative game threads, but with the non-schedulability of posts and a few unusual schedules around the Red Reporter office, please try to bear with it. The Reds try to even the series against the Phillies today, as Bronson Arroyo goes against the surprisingly productive Kyle Kendrick. I guess use this thread for predictions and game thread, since it is going up so late, which I am sorry for. Go Reds, they're our favorite team.

The Reds 6-game winning streak ended last night which means it is time to start another winning streak of equal length or longer today.  The club will have to solve the curse that is playing the Phillies in Citizens Bank Ballpark if the hope to do so. Bronson Arroyo will be called upon to get the job done for the Reds today.  Meanwhile, everyone who is not participating in the game will be checking to see if Votto’s HR ball from last night has landed yet. Let’s cheer for the Reds to Go today and get the Win!

It's really amazing how far this franchise has come in the last 8-10 years. Write this same script, with the same statistics, the same results, and the starting rotation from 2005, and the folk tale we'd tell our kids becomes much, much larger than the short story we just witnessed. Imagine, if you will, a Top 100 prospect who has age-appropriately dominated the minors to the tune of a 1.62 ERA and 11.8 K/9 over 211 innings being called up to be a part of a rotation that featured no fewer than 5 different starters who got at least 4 starts and still managed ERAs over 6.00. Six point zero zero. Luke Hudson, Elizardo Ramirez, Ramon Ortiz, Paul Wilson... ...Randy Keisler? Randy Keisler. Randy freakin' Keisler. Had Tony Cingrani set fire to the 2005 Reds baseball world with a 3.27 ERA, 1.03 WHIP, and 11.2 K/9 the way he did in 2013, he'd have had the ball in his hands on the Great American Ball Park mound every 5 days with the biggest crowds of the week behind him going nuts. It would've been electric to watch there be a pitching talent emerge from a miserable development system both unscathed and worthy of the hype. Tony Cingrani doesn't have a hoverboard or a DeLorean, though. Instead, he's got a bus ticket to head down to Louisville and work with Ted Power and Corky Miller on using less fastballs and more offspeed pitches. He'll work on keeping his pitch counts down, getting deeper into games, and he'll be doing it in front of crowds of a couple thousand and with a very, very different number 19 playing 1B behind him. The Reds rotation is deep and immensely talented. They have young and old, power and finesse, leg kicks and dreadlocks, tattoos and would-be Silver Slugger awards. What they also have is a track record, and the Reds trusted that over the promise of Cingrani in keeping Mike Leake instead of him. Is it the right call? It's certainly not a wrong call, if that makes any sense. It's the conservative call, though, and it's the one we should've expected all along. Those kind of calls are why Aroldis Chapman is the closer and why Sean Marshall has been MIA since having a sore shoulder. Those kind of calls are also why the Reds are reigning NL Central division champs and sit 7 games over .500, though. Neftali Soto was called up in place of Cingrani, and he'll likely get his first cup of coffee with a pinch-hit appearance today or tomorrow before catching a flight back to Louisville in exchange for Johnny Cueto's return on Monday. I'd tell you to get excited about Soto, but you probably shouldn't. Just hold your excitement for Cueto's return. That'll be worth it.