Something you don't hear every day

I watched yesterday's game via WGN's broadcast, accompanied by Ken "Hawk" Harrelson and Darrin Jackson. Now I'm not saying those guys are the best announcers in the world ... ... but they spent an inordinate amount of time praising Adam Dunn on his defense throughout the game. Now Dunn did have a very good defensive game. He made a nice stab running back to left-center early on, and really should have had two assists were it not for Freel's ill-timed cutoff and Brandon Phillips' inability to get a tag on Jermaine Dye. But it's the first time since spring training that I've heard someone praise Dunn's defensive abilities. Nice to hear, even if it's just the once...

Juan Castro returns to the Reds

On Thursday, the Reds re-acquired utility infielder Juan Castro from the Minnesota Twins for minor league outfielder Brandon Roberts. Roberts was a 7th-round selection in the '05 draft and had a good year at Rookie-league Billings, hitting 0.318/0.386/0.438 (0.824) w/ 32 steals in 39 chances. Not a huge prospect, but not half-bad either. In contrast, Castro has a reputation as a classic all-field, no hit middle infielder. The reputation is well deserved. Recent Stats:

Year/Team	PA	PA/K	PA/BB	PA/HR	SB/%	OBP	SLG	OPS	PrOPS	GPA	EqA	VORP
2003/CIN	341	5.9	18.9	37.9	2/40%	0.290	0.388	0.678	---	0.228	0.232	-0.5
2004/CIN	314	6.2	22.4	62.8	1/100%	0.277	0.378	0.655	0.657	0.219	0.224	-3.5
2005/MIN	283	7.3	31.4	56.6	0/50%	0.279	0.386	0.665	0.692	0.222	0.237	-0.9

Offensively, Castro has been lucky to reach replacement level the past three years. He doesn't walk much, strikes out fairly often, and doesn't hit a whole lot of homers (though he did hit 9 in half-time work in '03). Defensively, Castro saw most of his innings last year at shortstop, and was 9 plays above average last year according to the fielding bible, which would translate to 21 plays above average in a full season's work. So yeah, the guy can pick it.

So we've got a solid defensive option in the infield for late innings. Frankly that's what I thought we'd have with Phillips before he showed what we can do, and I have no problem with having someone like that on the roster. But carrying 12 pitchers and three catchers does put a premium on roster spots, so it will be interesting to see what happens when, say, Edwin Encarnacion returns from the disable list. Like many, I feel like we're bound to see another trade soon. If only LaRue was hitting... Maybe someone'd be interested in Aurilia? Package with Milton while he's still throwing well for a starter? Or maybe straight up for a reliever? We shall see...

Dunn hits a walkoff!

Man, I love winning! You know what I mean, man? Like it's better than losing? -- Ebbie Calvin "Nuke" LaLoosh, Bull Durham

It's so great to see something good happen to this team again. The 8-game winning streak had become a distant memory, past glories never to be seen again. And yet tonight, as I was watching my Tivo'd recording, it felt different. Maybe part of the reason it felt different was that I was watching it on ESPN, rather than on MLB Gamecast, but it sure felt different.

Aren't those two cute?



Itemized reflections:

• It won't be a surprise when I say "How about Elizardo Ramirez!!?" Our 22-year old Dominican kid was dazzling, with pinpoint control, a consistent 92-mph fastball, and tons on tons of poise. 8 innings, 5 hits, 1 walk, and 10 strikeouts?? Amazing. This was his first truly outstanding start, and despite him continuing to have that sorry looking 2-5 record, I think people will begin to really start to take note of how well he's pitched for us this year. Doesn't hurt that he's now sporting a 3.44 ERA. I think we have every reason to think that he could have a ~4.00ish ERA at the end of the season, racking up 150+ innings. That'd be a huge development for the Reds'.
  
• Todd Coffey seems to be settling into the closer role. Despite clearly not having his best stuff, he was able to battle and get the ground ball when he needed it. Rich Aurilia/Javy Valentin's play at the plate was a game highlight.
• Hammond looked pretty wicked. Even so, my heart stopped when I saw Carlos Lee staring him down. Hope Lee isn't hurt too bad with that little handle tweak he had..
• Griffey managed two important singles late in the game, though he did swing at a horrible pitch down by his right foot in an earlier at-bat. I still think he's pressing, as his typical patience isn't there.
• Freel's catch was outstanding, and he did his job today by getting on twice, including a nice double. It's nice to see him finally out of that May funk. His strikeout rate is up a bit this year (1 per 5.4 AB's, vs. 1 per 6.3 in 2005 and 1 per 5.7 AB's in 2004). Still, he's been remarkably consistent across years with that 0.370 OBP, and I'll gladly take that production.
• And Dunn, ah Dunn. Such a frustrating player at times, but such great rewards too. There's nothing quite like the sound of the ball leaving that bat when he finally connects with one like he did tonight. It'd be easier to stomach his failures if he wasn't so damn good. But tonight, at least, we can celebrate him and his all-important hit with a runner in scoring position.
  

Reds in sole possession of first place

• I am so impressed with this Reds team. The offense is back and as good as ever, but the pitching has been so amazing. Did you realize that Reds' pitching ranks 7th in the league with a 4.34 ERA? That's insane! By constrast, last season's ERA was an appalling 5.15. I doubt that the pitching will continue to be as good as it has been, but it's so exciting to even have decent pitching…much less above average pitching, which is what they've had so far this season!
• A big part of that is Bronson Arroyo, who continues to amaze me. Who could have ever imagined he'd have the sort of first half that he has thus far? He's so fun to watch. He's almost surgical with his location, and Bob Brenly couldn't stop talking about how Arroyo was constantly changing speeds. Not just by varying between breaking pitches and his fastball, but also varying the speed of his fastball. After about the second inning (he was admittedly a bit wild in the first two innings), no one seemed comfortable against him because he kept them off balance so well. This might turn out to be his career year, but I'm sure glad he's doing this with the Reds.
• I also wanted to give some kudos to Brandon Phillips. I love watching him play defense. His start of the double play in the 4th was sweet--he got rid of that ball so fast, I almost thought that it'd bounced off him. He also made an incredible play on a ground ball up the middle that got only brief acknowledgement from the WGN announcers, but it had him ranging to the other side of the second base bag, pivoting, and throwing off balance to nail the runner. It's easy to forget how much fun great defense can be, but having it now (at second base, at least) sure makes me appreciate it.
• Tonight was the first time I got to see Estaban Yan pitch. He definitely brings another look to the Reds' pen, so I'm pleased with that acquisition. I can see how he could get pretty wild, as his motion is pretty herky-jerky. But if used in the right spots, I can see him being pretty effective.
• Wanted to close by saying that I love the stolen base, as long as they don't get caught. It's fun to see the Reds being aggressive, especially against easy targets like Novoa, who didn't seem to be paying any attention the people on base. I'm still crediting Billy Hatcher with at least some of the improvement in that aspect of the Reds' game. Having three high-percentage base-stealers on the club can be an incredibly potent weapon in tight ballgames.
  

Reds win 6th straight, beat Cards *again*

Holy winning streak batman! Who is this imposter, and what have you done with my Eric Milton? And what's with this pushover Cardinals team anyway?

So it's Stubbs

So the Reds took University of Texas outfielder Drew Stubbs in the first round today. I'm going to just have to trust the Reds scouting department with this one. Good power and speed, plus great defense are good things. And high strikeout rates aren't a death-wish to prospects, but they can be problem if the player's good numbers were based on dominating some of the lesser college-level pitching talent while the strikeouts come against the better talent. Nevertheless, Stubbs does walk at a good clip (41 bb vs. 60 k in 243 AB's); if he can maintain a 2bb:3k ratio throughout this development, he could be in the mix for the Dunn/Kearns/Bruce/Stubbs outfield a few years down the road. It's hard to get too upset about the Reds taking a college hitter, as they are easily the most reliable selections in the amateur draft.

But what I'm surprised about is that University of Washington's right-hander Tim Lincecum was available and we didn't take him. Many forecast him as going in the first 5 picks (at least before #1 overall Luke Hochevar entered the picture this past week), but Tim ultimately fell to the Giants at #10. Lincecum has been extremely dominant for the Huskies this year, is the Pac-10 career strikeout leader, and many draft reports seem to think he could pitch with success in the majors within a year or two. I had this vision of both he and Homer Bailey hitting the majors at about the same time and leading our rotation for years to come... :) The major fault I've seen on him is his size, which at 5'11", 170 lbs isn't terribly large for a would-be starter. Of course, scouts who like him compare him to Tim Hudson, who's had a pretty darn good career despite being of roughly the same physique.

As of right now, in the 9th round, the Reds draft looks like this:

1. Drew Stubbs, RHB OF, U Texas Austin
2. Sean Watson, RHP, U Tennessee
3. Christopher Valaika, RHB SS, UC Santa Barbera
4. Justin Reed, LHB CF, Hillcrest Christian HS
5. Joshua Ravin, RHP, Chatworth HS
6. Jordan Smith, RHP, Southern Nevada Community College
7. Justin Turner, RHB 2B, Call St. Fullerton
8. Travis Webb, LHP, Wasthington St. U
9. Jeremy Burchett, RHP, UC Berkeley

So that's 5 pitchers, 4 hitters in the first 9 rounds. 6 college, 2 high school, 1 community college. Pretty good spread of talent, also looks like a fairly "safe" draft. I'll take some time to investigate each of our selections from the first 10 rounds later on (I'm liking Watson at #2 based on initial impressions...). Hopefully we can get 'em all to sign (Justin Reed has a football scholarship to U Miss--maybe we can get Adam Dunn to give him a ring and convince him to go full-time baseball!). And let's hope that a good proportion of them will arrive in the big leagues over the next five years.

Draft Day

Well, it's finally draft day. I'm always giddy with anticipation, and today I'm more optimistic than I have been in a while. Two main reasons; first, our last two first-round selections, Homer Bailey and Jay Bruce, have done everything you could hope they would thus far in their young careers. Bailey, in particular, is making a lot of heads turn. Second, the Reds look to have really bolstered their scouting department with this year's hire of Chris Buckley. Here's a quick write-up on Buckley from BP last week:

Scouting Director: Chris Buckley. Buckley learned under Wilken, spending 17 years in the Toronto organization before joining the Reds this year. He was the assistant scouting director in Toronto from 1999-2000, assumed scouting director responsibilities in 2001 when Wilken moved up, and then joined Wilken as an assistant GM in 2004. In the three drafts he conducted, all three of the first-round picks reached the majors, and two of three second-rounders have.

The Enquirer and Post have featured articles on Buckley recently as well, which are nicely summarized by jmcclain19 over at Red Reporter. He looks to be an outstanding addition to our front office. Kudos to Krivsky for the hire.

As to what the Reds will do, that's anyone's guess. The Reds are clearly interested in the top college-level arms (Miller, Morrow, Lincecum, etc), but it's entirely possible those guys will have been taken. Some of the hitters that are available who reportedly are of interest to the Reds include Drew Stubbs and Billy Rowell.

I, unfortunately, have some family things going on today so I won't be able to follow the draft as closely as I'd like. But I will have some commentary and, hopefully, statistics on some of the Reds early selections later on (maybe today?).