GDawgs88 Wrote:You think that matters? Pitching is what matters. And ours is far better than the Giants.

BTW, I gotta hand it to you, swoosh. You said that Alou wouldn't be a great pickup, and you've stuck to your word even after he signed with your team. I like that.

well we've debated that enough.

i try :D .

Yeah, that's a dead horse. It doesn't really belong in this thread anyway.

Red's sign Eric Milton for 3 years. The Red's could really be a sleeper next year. You know they will hit(Casey, Griffey, Dunn, Kearns, Pena, Joe Randa) but who knows if they will pitch. The rotation should be decent though, with Ramon Ortiz, Paul Wilson, Eric Milton, Brandon Clausen and Aaron Harang.

Holy ****, Milton's deal is 3 years for 25.5 mill. I dont know what to think. It could potentially be a waste of money but at least Lidner is spending some.

I'm happy!! Great pick-up!

I don't think this is a good pickup for the Reds. Milton was highly overrated last year, and his ERA has been high in both Minnesota and Philadelphia. He's only won because of run support. He's also a flyball pitcher, which will hurt him in GAB.

Have you seen the Reds staff over the years? lol

I'm happy. I bet that he wins more games in Cincy than he loses. Don Gullett will have to work his magic again.

Yeah, I've seen their staff, but Milton wasn't the answer. They need to bring in groundball pitchers for that ballpark.

The one thing that I will say for Milton is that he does find ways to win, and he should help the Reds in that respect.

i agree with gdawgs. and i will take it a step further. they gave milton 8.5 mil per. that's a lot of money for someone whose ERA is constantly in the mid 4's.

Yeah, that's the thing that I really don't like. If they were going to give him 2 or 3 million a year, I say go for it, but they're paying him No. 1 starter money, and I think he's a decent No. 4.

Well, being a Reds fan, and knowing how they run their organization....I'd say Milton is more of a #1 pitcher than anyone they've had in recent years.

While I agree with you GDawgs...I'm also elated that we got someone like Milton. At least Carl is finally forking over the dough. Maybe they'll make some good moves and put together a decent team.

i definitely agree that milton is better than any of the other reds pitchers, but that money could have been spent on a better pitcher, like odalis perez.

Oh well, the Red's will make a run at the playoffs next year. Hopefully Uncle Carl can deal Kearns for some more pitching help.

JFlight21 Wrote:Oh well, the Red's will make a run at the playoffs next year. Hopefully Uncle Carl can deal Kearns for some more pitching help.

what playoffs? surely you don't mean the MLB playoffs? the reds don't have even close to enough pitching to get them anywhere near the playoffs. they could use some more hitting, too. What everyone seems to fail to notice is that the reds (even in that launching pad) were 20th in MLB in Runs Scored. couple that with second to last in team ERA in MLB, 22nd in MLB in fielding percentage. and you have a team that needs a lot more than milton and mercker.

flyingswoosh Wrote:

JFlight21 Wrote:Oh well, the Red's will make a run at the playoffs next year. Hopefully Uncle Carl can deal Kearns for some more pitching help.

what playoffs? surely you don't mean the MLB playoffs? the reds don't have even close to enough pitching to get them anywhere near the playoffs. they could use some more hitting, too. What everyone seems to fail to notice is that the reds (even in that launching pad) were 20th in MLB in Runs Scored. couple that with second to last in team ERA in MLB, 22nd in MLB in fielding percentage. and you have a team that needs a lot more than milton and mercker.

The Red's werent horrible last year, and this year's team is much much better. The bullpen is a lot better. Wily Mo Pena is a year older, he is gonna hit 40+ homers this year, so will Dunn. This team has a lot of potential due to its young stud outfielders.

JFlight21 Wrote:

flyingswoosh Wrote:

JFlight21 Wrote:Oh well, the Red's will make a run at the playoffs next year. Hopefully Uncle Carl can deal Kearns for some more pitching help.

what playoffs? surely you don't mean the MLB playoffs? the reds don't have even close to enough pitching to get them anywhere near the playoffs. they could use some more hitting, too. What everyone seems to fail to notice is that the reds (even in that launching pad) were 20th in MLB in Runs Scored. couple that with second to last in team ERA in MLB, 22nd in MLB in fielding percentage. and you have a team that needs a lot more than milton and mercker.

The Red's werent horrible last year, and this year's team is much much better. The bullpen is a lot better. Wily Mo Pena is a year older, he is gonna hit 40+ homers this year, so will Dunn. This team has a lot of potential due to its young stud outfielders.

they are better this year. but the playoffs are far away. as for the bullpen, yes they are improved. but besides mercker, did they sign any GOOD relievers? also, pena has a lot of growing up to do. he still can't hit an offspeed pitch.

flyingswoosh Wrote:

JFlight21 Wrote:

flyingswoosh Wrote:

JFlight21 Wrote:Oh well, the Red's will make a run at the playoffs next year. Hopefully Uncle Carl can deal Kearns for some more pitching help.

what playoffs? surely you don't mean the MLB playoffs? the reds don't have even close to enough pitching to get them anywhere near the playoffs. they could use some more hitting, too. What everyone seems to fail to notice is that the reds (even in that launching pad) were 20th in MLB in Runs Scored. couple that with second to last in team ERA in MLB, 22nd in MLB in fielding percentage. and you have a team that needs a lot more than milton and mercker.

The Red's werent horrible last year, and this year's team is much much better. The bullpen is a lot better. Wily Mo Pena is a year older, he is gonna hit 40+ homers this year, so will Dunn. This team has a lot of potential due to its young stud outfielders.

they are better this year. but the playoffs are far away. as for the bullpen, yes they are improved. but besides mercker, did they sign any GOOD relievers? also, pena has a lot of growing up to do. he still can't hit an offspeed pitch.

They picked up David Weathers and Ben Webber along with Mercker to help the bullpen.

I like Kearns and hope the Reds find a way to keep him. I also wish he could stay healthy for a whole year. One thing that hurt the Reds (other than their horrible bullpen from last year) was the glaring fact they have no true leadoff hitter.

Ryan Freel is a hard-nosed throwback type player, but he needs some fine tuning if he is to be declared their true leadoff man. Dunn should NOT be hitting leadoff. The sad part is that he led the team in OBP with a .388

I can see the Reds making a push into the playoffs. If, and that's a big if, the everyday players can stay healthy and the starters can stay in until at least the 7th inning in most games. Mercker is used to pitching a lot but would be more effective with less innings pitched. Weathers will wear down with too much action. That said, the bullpen will be better than last years pen and I am actually excited about the upcoming season.

I suppose the starters will be Eric Milton, Paul Wilson, Ramon Ortiz, Aaron Harang and Brandon Claussen. That sound about right to you, JFlight21?

i forgot about weber. as for weathers, i have always thought him to be a sub-par player. but weber is a good pitcher. and he's tough.

that starting rotation has got to be one of the worst i've ever seen. the only guy with an ERA under 4.40 is wilson. and the 4.36 he had last year, is the best he can do. harang is (correct me if i'm wrong) the only ground ball pitcher on that staff.

and for the record, ryan freel is awesome. players like that, are so important to have. Another guy like him, is craig counsell. i so wanted the giants to sign counsell this offseason.

High ERA's...that means they have plenty of room for improvement. I see lots of potential on that staff. Heck, they can't get much worse.

The Reds may end up trading Kearns (as was mentioned in another post) or one of the other outfielders. They will have a logjam at that position if everyone stays healthy. Dunn, Pena, Griffey Jr., Freel and Kearns. Of course, Dunn will slide over to 1B when Casey gets a day off.

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