dew1679666265

That's what gets me about this whole steroid issue. Everybody keeps saying the roiders were playing under an unfair advantage, and yet go on to say that they assume everybody was dirty. But if everybody was dirty, where's the unfair advantage? (By the way, I'm not referring to you with any of this Rocket.)

Also, the Titans are expected to name Chuck Cecil as their new defensive coordinator sometime this week. I really like this move. He's worked under Fisher for eight years and, thus, is familiar with what Fisher wants and the philosophy he's looking for on defense. He's also apparently a pretty tough, hard-nosed coach (he's coached the secondary for eight years for the Titans) and that mentality will mesh well with the defensive players. This will also almost certainly elevate former Titan safety Marcus Robertson to secondary coach.

Very interesting stuff from Jon Gruden in the Orlando Sentinel: He said he wants to get back into coaching and may be interested in either the NFL or college.

Bourn is so bad offensively, I'd be shocked if his defense would make up the difference between him and Pence. Bourn's career OPS+ of 62 is pretty despicable. I think the Astros have to start Pence in center if they sign Dunn - which I hope they don't.

My main point is, had we waited instead of rushing to sign Miles, we might have been able to wait out a Hudson or a Durham and gotten significantly better production for the price. Hudson at $5 million for one season is incredibly more valuable than Miles at $4.5 for two seasons. It's most definitely a risk, but Miles' production isn't that difficult to find off the trash heap. All of this coulda, shoulda, woulda talk is based on hindsight. If all of the GMs knew that the asking prices would drop this much, no one would have been signed. I saw on one site that Abreu might have to settle for $3 million/1 year deal. If Hendry had waited until now to sign Dempster, Bradley, and Miles to lesser contracts he probably would be short a SP, RF, and utility IF going into spring training. I can just imagine all of the bashing Hendry would have been getting for being cheap and waiting too long. As I've posted before, people just need to complain about any transaction he makes or doesn't make. I've never said he should have waited on Dempster and Bradley. He got pretty good deals there and I'm mostly happy with them. The problem I have with the timing of the Miles signing is that he's not particularly special. What does he do that is extremely difficult to find? He hits singles 28% of the time and gets on base at a very barely decent pace. There was no reason to hurry into signing him - especially with better options still out there. What would we have lost that we couldn't replace if Miles had signed elsewhere? Maybe you are talking about the Miles signing and not Dempster and Bradley, but I've seen other posters who said we should have waited on Dempster and signed him at a lower price (we actually would have probably lost him). They posted that we overpaid on Bradley and could have signed someone else (Abreu, Dunn, etc.) at a bargain price. Yeah, I've seen those arguments and disagree. Dunn isn't signed yet because he doesn't play defense and an oft-injured Bradley is still probably close to better (if not better) than a fully healthy Abreu. I wouldn't have minded Dunn over Bradley from the start, but I don't question Hendry's timing on either of the big moves. And I disagree with them. Unless they see something that I don't see and the stats don't tell, Miles is a very replaceable player that isn't much better than most of the crappy backup middle infielders out there. The same ones who aren't signed yet or signed minor league deals. Miles doesn't provide anything particularly important so I would have preferred Hendry wait on that signing (and I'd have been fine with losing him) to see how the market was going to play out. Especially with the early suspicions that it would be slow.

If you disregard the Dusty factor, these seem like two no-risk signings for the Reds. I think quite a lot of teams will have a couple of MLB vets as NRI's in spring training; it seems to be part of everyone's annual "you never know..." routine. Yeah, I don't think either is a bad signing on the face of it. The problems start when you consider Dusty is the manager.

They are yours, my friend.

I think it's harder to find that type of player then you think. Sure they might be able to find a guy with simliar power. But not a guy who can hit for average the way Miles can for 400 AB's. Yeah I know hitting for average isn't everything, but I don't think power is everything for every player either. I personally would rather have a 290/330/700 hitter over a 250/330/710 hitter. But thats just my opinion, from watching baseball for a long time. Mark Grudzielanek has posted a .760 OPS in his career against lefties. That's with a .348 OBP (.297 BA). Ramon Martinez has posted a .740 OPS in his career against lefties. That's with a .345 OBP (.275 BA). Both are currently still free agents. Chris Burke has posted a .748 OPS in his career against lefties. That's with a .347 OBP (.274 BA). Mark Loretta has posted an .806 OPS in his career against lefties. That's with a .393 OBP (.307 BA). Burke signed a minor league deal with the Padres and Loretta is playing this year with the Dodgers for 1 yr/ $1.25 million. They all get on base at close to the same rate as Miles (.284 BA and .352 OBP) against lefties (Loretta far better) and all were cheaper than Miles. What sets him apart from them? And I've said numerous times I'm not that obessed with power. But I want players to have distinguishable skills - Miles doesn't have very many.

My main point is, had we waited instead of rushing to sign Miles, we might have been able to wait out a Hudson or a Durham and gotten significantly better production for the price. Hudson at $5 million for one season is incredibly more valuable than Miles at $4.5 for two seasons. It's most definitely a risk, but Miles' production isn't that difficult to find off the trash heap. All of this coulda, shoulda, woulda talk is based on hindsight. If all of the GMs knew that the asking prices would drop this much, no one would have been signed. I saw on one site that Abreu might have to settle for $3 million/1 year deal. If Hendry had waited until now to sign Dempster, Bradley, and Miles to lesser contracts he probably would be short a SP, RF, and utility IF going into spring training. I can just imagine all of the bashing Hendry would have been getting for being cheap and waiting too long. As I've posted before, people just need to complain about any transaction he makes or doesn't make. I've never said he should have waited on Dempster and Bradley. He got pretty good deals there and I'm mostly happy with them. The problem I have with the timing of the Miles signing is that he's not particularly special. What does he do that is extremely difficult to find? He hits singles 28% of the time and gets on base at a very barely decent pace. There was no reason to hurry into signing him - especially with better options still out there. What would we have lost that we couldn't replace if Miles had signed elsewhere?

Because we got burned on the Peavy deal and traded DeRosa to free up money before that was set in stone. I have no hope that this is true, but what if we were interested in Hudson to play SS and move Theriot to platoon with Fontenot? That would make me very happy. And I don't dislike Theriot that much. How's Hudson's defense at SS? He's never played there. However, his range at 2B is phenomenal, and his arm can't be worse than Theriot's. It'd be a big risk for Lou to take - and I don't think he will - but I think that'd be a solid upgrade. That'd leave us with literally no power on the bench, however. We already have no power on the bench. Very true. We do have an open spot on the bench, however. As of now, we could fill that spot with a power hitter (Rich Aurilia, Nomar). If we sign Hudson, though, that open spot goes away and leaves us with no power whatsoever. Rich Aurilia just signed a minor league deal with the Giants. At least I think thats what I saw on ESPN about an hour ago. Ah, hadn't seen that yet. Ok, Nomar it is then. I hate Aaron Miles so much. And it will only grow with each start he gets.

My main point is, had we waited instead of rushing to sign Miles, we might have been able to wait out a Hudson or a Durham and gotten significantly better production for the price. Hudson at $5 million for one season is incredibly more valuable than Miles at $4.5 for two seasons. It's most definitely a risk, but Miles' production isn't that difficult to find off the trash heap. But Miles Gittiness>>>>>>>>>>>>>>O-Dog's Gritiness, so we got that going for us... :unsure: Now that's not even fair, comparing Miles' grittiness to anyone else. Few can equal the grittiness that Miles exudes in his sleep. I hope you're properly ashamed.

My main point is, had we waited instead of rushing to sign Miles, we might have been able to wait out a Hudson or a Durham and gotten significantly better production for the price. Hudson at $5 million for one season is incredibly more valuable than Miles at $4.5 for two seasons. It's most definitely a risk, but Miles' production isn't that difficult to find off the trash heap.

Shockingly, I think yes. He was getting offers from the Cards and somebody else at the time. With guys like Ray Durham and Orlando Hudson still on the market I'm shocked he's employed, though. Well yeah, at the time he had offers. The FA market has tanked since then and I can't imagine Miles could compete in such an oversaturated market. And since he took our offer at the time, I'd have to think he would have taken one of those offers had ours not been out there. In theory, were he available right now, though, no I don't think he'd get more than a minor league deal. At least, he shouldn't.

Durham's had three years worse than Miles' best year. Almost every year he's been significantly better than Miles' career year. Durham, over his career, has also hit lefties better than Miles in his career year. If he does sign a cheap deal, he most certainly would have been a better option from what I can tell. Yep - we're saying the same thing. My quote regarding Durham being a quality option if we hadn't signed Miles wasn't regarding who is the better player as much as who Hendry has already gotten for the 2009 team. If the money was comparable I'd rather have Durham next year. Sorry, I was intending to agree with you on that one. :D

Huh? Fukudome is the starting center fielder against RHP, meaning he'll be starting the majority of the games. If you put Fukudome in for bradley when he is out, who starts CF against RHP? Gathright? It's the same thing.... a big downgrade. Milton Bradley is a switch hitter. He's not going to be platooned. Come on. I think he's saying that when Bradley gets hurt, moving Fukudome (the left handed portion of the platoon in CF) to RF would leave Reed starting every day or Gathright playing a lot in his place in center. Those aren't very good options - but are better than playing Miles out there.

Because we got burned on the Peavy deal and traded DeRosa to free up money before that was set in stone. I have no hope that this is true, but what if we were interested in Hudson to play SS and move Theriot to platoon with Fontenot? That would make me very happy. And I don't dislike Theriot that much. How's Hudson's defense at SS? He's never played there. However, his range at 2B is phenomenal, and his arm can't be worse than Theriot's. It'd be a big risk for Lou to take - and I don't think he will - but I think that'd be a solid upgrade. That'd leave us with literally no power on the bench, however. We already have no power on the bench. Very true. We do have an open spot on the bench, however. As of now, we could fill that spot with a power hitter (Rich Aurilia, Nomar). If we sign Hudson, though, that open spot goes away and leaves us with no power whatsoever. Rich Aurilia just signed a minor league deal with the Giants. At least I think thats what I saw on ESPN about an hour ago. Ah, hadn't seen that yet. Ok, Nomar it is then.

Because we got burned on the Peavy deal and traded DeRosa to free up money before that was set in stone. I have no hope that this is true, but what if we were interested in Hudson to play SS and move Theriot to platoon with Fontenot? That would make me very happy. And I don't dislike Theriot that much. How's Hudson's defense at SS? He's never played there. However, his range at 2B is phenomenal, and his arm can't be worse than Theriot's. It'd be a big risk for Lou to take - and I don't think he will - but I think that'd be a solid upgrade. That'd leave us with literally no power on the bench, however. We already have no power on the bench. Very true. We do have an open spot on the bench, however. As of now, we could fill that spot with a power hitter (Rich Aurilia, Nomar). If we sign Hudson, though, that open spot goes away and leaves us with no power whatsoever.

Because we got burned on the Peavy deal and traded DeRosa to free up money before that was set in stone. I have no hope that this is true, but what if we were interested in Hudson to play SS and move Theriot to platoon with Fontenot? That would make me very happy. And I don't dislike Theriot that much. How's Hudson's defense at SS? He's never played there. However, his range at 2B is phenomenal, and his arm can't be worse than Theriot's. It'd be a big risk for Lou to take - and I don't think he will - but I think that'd be a solid upgrade. That'd leave us with literally no power on the bench, however.

Because we got burned on the Peavy deal and traded DeRosa to free up money before that was set in stone. I have no hope that this is true, but what if we were interested in Hudson to play SS and move Theriot to platoon with Fontenot? That would make me very happy. And I don't dislike Theriot that much. How's Hudson's defense at SS?

Shockingly, I think yes. He was getting offers from the Cards and somebody else at the time. With guys like Ray Durham and Orlando Hudson still on the market I'm shocked he's employed, though.

Jones could be an interesting option, but the rumor is he's about to sign a minor league deal with the Rangers. Man, I would've liked Andruw on a minor league deal. He's almost certainly completely done, but for extremely cheap, it's a risk I'd take. Yeah. I said the same thing about Richard Hidalgo a few years back. :( Eventually we've got to get one right. :D

Jones could be an interesting option, but the rumor is he's about to sign a minor league deal with the Rangers. Man, I would've liked Andruw on a minor league deal. He's almost certainly completely done, but for extremely cheap, it's a risk I'd take.

Durham's had three years worse than Miles' best year. Almost every year he's been significantly better than Miles' career year. Durham, over his career, has also hit lefties better than Miles in his career year. If he does sign a cheap deal, he most certainly would have been a better option from what I can tell.

The question of the offseason, my friend.

Overweight guy known best for his pinch hitting roles, yep this sounds like Lenny Harris all over again. He'll get way too many starts this year. Oh yeah, I'm sure he will. Just saying if Dusty used him right, there's a chance he could revert back to 07 Ward. I don't think very many people are ever going to be able to be 07 Ward, including Ward himself. People forget how damn good he was in 2007. Yeah, you're probably right about that. Even if he could replicate 06 or close to it, he'd be a very valuable member of the Reds' bench. That's the beauty of a pinch hitter like Ward, as long as the skills aren't diminishing, there's always the possibility of getting hot for a few ABs and being highly productive.