GDawgs88 Wrote:Weaver's a solid No. 3 on a good team. He should give the Angels 200 good innings.

What that move also does is allow Hector Carrasco or Kelvim Escobar to move to the bullpen. Escobar showed in the playoffs how good he can be as a setup man.

i think he's somewhere between a 2 and a 3, but there's no point in splitting hairs. you're right, it allows scioscia to keep escobar in the pen. because even though they lost byrd and washburn they still have colon, lackey, weaver and santana. that's a damn good top 4.

Cincinnati Reds: Haven't had a winning season in a while, I don't look for that to change this year. Like always we have some great bats (this should be one of the top 3 offenses in the NL) but we are severly lacking in the pitching rotation. Dunn, Pena, Griffey and Felipe Lopez look to be the stars offensively, with a real sleeper being Edwin Encarnacion (starting 3B). Edwin is only 22 and he showed flashes last year. He's got great power. I look for .275 22 homers 85 rbis from him this year. If Kearns starts performing like he did a few years ago before he got hurt (was leading the NL in rbis and homers in june) this offense could be scary good.

Pitching: added Dave Williams in the Casey trade. Claussen and Harang are very good but after that there is nothing. Hopefully Wagner emerges as the closer, if he gets his slider right he could be dynamite.

Prediction: 70-78 wins==>4th in NL central

Just curious, JFlight, who do you see the Reds finishing ahead of in that division? Obviously it won't be St. Louis. The Astros should be decent. The Brewers are a .500 club that is only getting better. The Cubs still have lots of potential. And the Pirates made some solid moves in the offseason.

Cubs and Pirates.

JFlight21 Wrote:Cubs and Pirates.

you think the reds can beat a cubs team that has better starting and relief pitching and equal hitting? the pirates are pretty much as bad as the reds, so it's really a wash.

flyingswoosh Wrote:

JFlight21 Wrote:Cubs and Pirates.

you think the reds can beat a cubs team that has better starting and relief pitching and equal hitting? the pirates are pretty much as bad as the reds, so it's really a wash.

I know we are better than the pirates, i guess you could say that it is wishful thinking for me to believe the reds will finish above the cubs. I just think our young guys will improve even more (Harang, Claussen, Wagner, Lopez, Encarnacion and Kearns) and it will push us to fourth.

How are you better than the Pirates? Their rotation isn't great, but it has potential with Zach Duke, Oliver Perez and Paul Maholm. If Perez pitches like he can (ala 2004), they've got a strong 1-2 punch with him and Duke. I've given up on Wells, though. He doesn't seem like he'll ever turn the corner like we keep waiting on him to. I can't remember who their 5th starter is supposed to be, but there's still potential there.

They've also got strong late inning relief with Roberto Hernandez and Mike Gonzalez, who I think could be this year's B.J. Ryan.

Another thing I like about the Pirates is that they have good young talent up the middle. They've got a good young catcher behind the plate in Ryan Doumit, a good DP combo in Jack Wilson and Jose Castillo, and a good young centerfielder in Chris (I believe it's Chris) Duffy.

No they won't make the playoffs, but I could see them finishing close to .500.

GDawgs88 Wrote:How are you better than the Pirates? Their rotation isn't great, but it has potential with Zach Duke, Oliver Perez and Paul Maholm. If Perez pitches like he can (ala 2004), they've got a strong 1-2 punch with him and Duke. I've given up on Wells, though. He doesn't seem like he'll ever turn the corner like we keep waiting on him to. I can't remember who their 5th starter is supposed to be, but there's still potential there.

They've also got strong late inning relief with Roberto Hernandez and Mike Gonzalez, who I think could be this year's B.J. Ryan.

Another thing I like about the Pirates is that they have good young talent up the middle. They've got a good young catcher behind the plate in Ryan Doumit, a good DP combo in Jack Wilson and Jose Castillo, and a good young centerfielder in Chris (I believe it's Chris) Duffy.

No they won't make the playoffs, but I could see them finishing close to .500.

I don't really see any good bats on the Pirates. You could make a case that Casey is the best hitter on the Pirates and he was the our 5th best bat. Yes Perez was good in 2004 but what has he done lately. Brandon Claussen was alot better than him last year as was Aaron Harang. I know Duke was outstanding last year and Molhom is a great prospect but the pirates are all relying on very very young players in the pitching rotation and on the field. The reds have outstanding hitters that are all established and two good starters , if another starter quality starter comes from within (maybe Paul Wilson) and Ryan Wagner becomes our closer, we have a chance to be pretty good

umm, you forgot about jason bay.

you think wagner is going to step in and be a good closer? i think the 6.11 ERA means he still needs some seasoning.

i checked out what claussen did, and i recognized he had a 4.21 ERA. That's actually not terrible. i didn't know he pitched that well.

JFlight21 Wrote:I don't really see any good bats on the Pirates. You could make a case that Casey is the best hitter on the Pirates and he was the our 5th best bat. Yes Perez was good in 2004 but what has he done lately. Brandon Claussen was alot better than him last year as was Aaron Harang. I know Duke was outstanding last year and Molhom is a great prospect but the pirates are all relying on very very young players in the pitching rotation and on the field. The reds have outstanding hitters that are all established and two good starters , if another starter quality starter comes from within (maybe Paul Wilson) and Ryan Wagner becomes our closer, we have a chance to be pretty good

No doubt you have a better lineup, but that's no new revalation. The Reds have been able to mash with anybody for the last few years and it hasn't produced much.

I like the addition of Dave Williams to the rotation, but the group as a whole still looks like a steaming pile of dog poo, although there is some potential. Claussen's a passable 2nd or 3rd starter with the Reds, Harang is underrated, and you have to figure Eric Milton will bounce back some, although I still think that move was a dreadful fit for the Reds and Milton. Wilson hasn't done anything in a couple of years so I wouldn't expect much from him.

It also seems like the Reds bullpen might be a little underrated. Hopefully they won't stick with Dave Weathers as the closer. They should at least let one of the youngsters like Wagner, Brian Shackleford or Todd Coffey get a shot. At least they have some upside. Weathers needs to be a middle reliever. He's solid in that role. So is Rick White, who was a nice addition.

So I guess the Reds pitching staff isn't as horrible as I thought now that I think about it, but of course, on March 5th, every pitching staff has potential. We'll see if there's any real improvement.

While our rotation is still in the bottom 10 of baseball it should be better than last year. And they bullpen shoudl be alot better if Wagner reverts back to his form of 03.

BTW, just wanted to tell you and swoosh its good to be back posting in this forum, i really enjoy talking baseball with you guys.

Yeah, glad to see you venture back over here, J.

Now if we could get a few more people....

GDawgs88 Wrote:Yeah, glad to see you venture back over here, J.

Now if we could get a few more people....

same on both comments. it's good to have a another sensible person to talk baseball with.