Happy Opening Day to all who celebrate!
Internally I think the team and fans have high expectations but not getting any love from the media.
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Just as the night belongs to Michelob, this one belongs to the Reds. Nice opening day win.
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Other than Ben Verlander, who has Reds 10th in his power rankings.
Fun start to the season. But, why do the Reds have tons of injuries every Spring??
I think the expectations were dampened a little bit based on that. McLain could very well be out for the season. Friedl will be back, but wrist injuries tend to negatively affect hitting even after returning. Marte is a cheater, and it’s hard to get as fully behind a player who has that on their resume. The infield depth is gone, and with it so are the sky high expectations Cincy fans had had. And yes, the question is, why does this happen every year. Only the Twins have it worse I feel like. (The yearly Buxton injury, with new Buxton, aka Royce Lewis, getting hurt on opening day).
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The Reds are portraying that Marte was not deliberately cheating. He was back home recovering from an operation (?). He just trusted the Dr’s in what they prescribed to help him recover. So he was naive or lazy, not trying to cheat. So make of that what you want.
Joey Votto wasn’t on the Blue Jays opening day roster because he stepped on a bat, in the dugout, and twisted his ankle. Should be reporting to Buffalo for rehab in the next few weeks
I don’t know that the Reds have a higher rate of spring training injuries than anyone else. The Reds currently have 7 players on the injured reserve. There are only 7 teams that have less than 5 players on IR coming out of spring training.
I have no issue as a fan of supporting Marte when he returns. He did something dumb and/or took some bad advice while rehabbing his injury. He wanted to make sure he got back quickly to help his team but ended up costing his team. It’s not like he’s Bonds or Clemens here. At least not until proven otherwise.
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Elly is likely gonna be more streaky than the typical MLB hitter, but wow is he a joy to watch when he’s going like this.
My slow starting Mariners get their first sweep - against the Reds. We never played the Reds while I was involved with them (1981-1996).
I’m going to say this as someone who truly loves the Reds and wants to see them do well: I think we might be fool’s gold. Enough hitting to keep things interesting and in a not that great division so mediocre pitching isn’t apparent but the truth is, we probably don’t win 85 games this year. I’m going all in at 75-80. I don’t know why I feel that way but I do. Also not sure our manager is great. I hope I end up wrong on all accounts. Early sample size seems to prove I might not be.
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Really hard to tell right now with guys like Friedl, McLain, Marte all out. Doesn’t help that Candelario has also gotten off to a slow start. At full strength, the bottom of our lineup is a lot more competent.
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I think we had a lot of depth last year and were able to find good matchups for our hitters. This year we have had so many injuries to the hitters that we have been forced into playing guys where they are not as comfortable and productive, lie Martini and Benson starting against lefties as an example. The pitching has been healthier though, so that is a major plus.
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It’s May now and we are 1 game above .500 and sadly, my fools gold prediction is still on target. Plenty of baseball left so hopefully I am wrong. I will check back in June 1st.
With their multitude of offensive injuries, illnesses, and flat-out pathetic production from CES, Candelario, Maile, and every player that has replaced Friedl, McLain, and Marte, this team is lucky to be 16-15 (although xWL on run differential has them 17-14).
Pitching probably over performing right now, but offense definitely underperforming. Maybe I’ll feel different in another month, but I’m still bullish they’ll be in the running for a playoff spot come September.
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As the old saying goes; you can’t win the world series in April, but you can lose it. So far they have not lost it but May brings a particularly tough schedule. They just need to keep their heads above water long enough to get healthy and go on a run. Easier said then done.
Pitching seems like we have three potentially really good starters in Greene, Lodolo and Abbott. Aschraft feels a little shakier at times but all four have an ERA under 4. Martinez has shown why he’s better suited out of the pen and I think the book is still out on Montas if he can come back healthy.
Some of the bats seem like they are starting to come around. CES seemed like things were starting to click again when he got hurt and Candelario has had a few more good AB’s recently. Espinal has had some really good AB’s and timely hits recently. Getting Fairchild out of the everyday lineup and Friedl back in it will be huge.
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The horrid May continues. Losing streak goes to 7, 2 wins in their last 11.
Pitching continues to be a strength but the offense is offensive. When they do manage to get something going it’s with two outs or they shoot themselves in the foot and cost themselves runs.
Fools gold. As a fan, I’m tired of it.
I said I’d check back on June first as I didn’t like how we started May and had a bad feeling we’d be about 10 under come end of June. We are currently 9 back and going nowhere fast. Although we beat the Cubs last night who also stink so there’s that. I am not trying to a cynic as I’d love nothing more than to see the Reds be good again, but I fear there is bad and systemic issues in the org. Maybe I’m a party of one here but it sure seems worse teams talent wise than us are now playing at a way higher level. Don’t think you can blame it on injuries alone. Curious what others think. Make or break month for the club. Go on a run like last year or risk being 20 under come July 1st…