As Doug Gray pointed out, Edwin Encarnacion is hitting 0.359/0.375/0.590 with 2 HR's in 39 AB's since arriving in AAA. Sounds to me like he's ready to come back...starting Juan Castro at 3B every night certainly isn't getting the Reds anywhere fast, and at this point the Reds are so far behind that they need to put their best potential offense on the field each night, defense be damned.
Update: Eddie's back and starting, as it should be. He earned it. I did support sending him down to get him a jump start and to put a bit of fear into him, but at this point the Reds need to rally around the kid and help him be what he can be.
Hope Hamilton's tummyache gets better soon.
Yeah... he was hitting before they sent him down. The week before he went down he had an OPS over .800 then they tried to feed that crap about he was sent down to work with his bat too.... BS.
ReplyDeleteAnd I am telling you what, if Joey Votto keeps playing in left field I am going to kill myself. The Reds take the best first base prospect in baseball, with no one blocking him, and try to throw him into the outfield? I really would like to know what the heck they are thinking. They seem to be going with a 'super sub' mentality. By 2009 the Reds are not going to even have starters, they are going to have 13 super subs.
Hmmm. That or they're expecting to trade Dunn this year before they have to deal with the club option... -j
ReplyDeleteSooner or later they are going to have to come to grips with the idea that they cannot win with this team. Out with Dunn, out with Griffey (who would fetch alot), out with the 1B platoon, out with Milton, Stanton, Valentin, Castro, bring 'em up and play 'em and see who develops. This team at its best, would flirt with 500. Krivsky has simply built a bad team.
ReplyDeleteI still don't think this team is as bad as they've shown so far this season. I would hold on to Dunn for another season and take advantage of that club option (it disappears if he's traded, and he's still only 27), but I'm ok with trying to trade Griffey now if the return is good. This is probably as good as he will look any time over the remaining year and a half of his contract. I would miss him, but that would be a smart move if the return is good.
ReplyDeleteI don't see what the problem is with the 1B platoon right now. They've been reasonably productive, and the Reds don't have a good alternative just yet. Both contracts expire at the end of the season, just in time for Votto to step up from AAA. I would probably try to trade Hatteberg at the deadline, though, as he could be a valuable cog for someone off the bench or as an injury replacement (much more so than Sean Casey was last year).
Milton I'd stick in the 'pen. Stanton I'd probably hang with for a bit longer, as he has been solid the last several years. Valentin has been productive enough in a year when he was supposed to be a strict backup to Ross--not sure why you're down on him. He's still pretty young. Besides, the Reds have absolutely nothing in the minors right now at C.
Castro... well, I don't mind him being on the team as a defensive replacement, but Narron uses him as a pinch hitter and starter far more than seems reasonable to me.
I'll have more on Krivsky later today. -j