Playing for almost every day for 6 months is what makes baseball the most fun to follow, IMO. Things change so much. A while back I posted that the AL Central would have had all 3 wildcard spots if the season ended that day. Since the all 3 have dropped 4-6 games under .500. The Yankees were running away with their division. Now Toronto and Tampa Bay, who were both under .50O have caught them. Miami had an 8 game winning streak which ended yesterday and now Pittsburgh has the longest streak at 6 in a row.
All this points out to me that all the Reds need to do is have a run like these other teams have and we would be right in the middle of the fight for the 3 wildcard spots.This morning the 3 spots are Mets +11, Brewers +10, and the Cardinals +7. Right behind them are the Padres +6, Giants +5,
Stopped hitting again. I have been watching the Marlins quite a bit lately in the sports book and am really impressed with all the young talent emerging there this year. Kind of reminds me of the Reds a couple of seasons ago. The whole roster is almost all first or second year players and they have lots of young hitters. Last night featuring catcher Augustine Ramirez a rookie who spent the first month in the minors but already has 14 homers and 16 doubles and pitcher Jeff Junk who threw 7 innings of 1 hit baseball. They just has an 8 game winning streak and somehow are ahead of the Braves in the standings with a team salary that is a small fraction of Atlanta’s.
Here is an amazing stat about the Marlins. Yesterday they set a franchise all time record of 11 consecutive road wins. Another amazing stat is that Aaron Judge leads the majors in hits despite being 3rd in walks.
You lose to the Rockies………Holy hell. Sorry. I overreacted. I thought we might be better than .500 when we were 4 above .500 … We are absolutely a terrible team. This is bleak.
Going 2-3 in this homestand has pretty much badly damaged chances for this year. With the tough schedule remaining after the All Star game this may change the Reds from a holder or a buyer to a seller. So who do we have that has value and is in the final year of his contract?
It’s too early to throw in the towel. The Reds are a game over and four back in the wild card, and y’all are talking about them like they’re the freakin’ White Sox. There are thirteen games after the All-Star break before the trade deadline. On paper, it’s a pretty tough stretch, but the Dodgers are beat up right now and I’ve seen enough of the Mets to know that they’re good but capable of losing to anyone.
After Detroit’s run last year, I’d guess a number of similarly situated teams that like their core will be less likely to sell more than a player or two and take their chances on seeing if they can get on a heater in August. And that’s a lot more fun for scoreboard watching around the league generally.
Just want to do a quick reality check: did you watch the game last night? Because I’m telling you if the top D1 baseball team played The Rockies in a series, they might win a game. That team may be the worst professional team I’ve ever watched.
They have a few guys who will be free agents this offseason or after 2026 season, but they’re not setting the world on fire:
Hays - been very good overall but putrid in July with a .527 OPS and 34% strikeout rate, yuck (and in an important game last night went 0-5 with 4 Ks and a DP).
Martinez - still owed $10m for remainder of 2025 and Reds would have to pay all of that to get a decent return. Better than average overall but also a horrible July, striking out just 3 batters per 9 innings and a 10.80 ERA (and 5.52 ERA in June which included a near no-hitter).
Rogers - has been less effective than his stats, 2.76 ERA but 4.06 xFIP, allowing a large amount of inherited runners to score, and has a career high barrel percentage (lots of guys hitting the ball really hard off him).
Singer - he’s been decent, and even though next year the Reds will have 5 or 6 starting pitchers with way better stuff, I think they need his veteran presence and will keep him.
EDIT: Forgot about Pagan, not expensive and been really good; he’d get a decent return, maybe a minor leaguer who could become a MLB contributor in the near future.
To get anything of note in return I think they will need to include a minor leaguer or a controllable MLB guy in a package deal with the above players.
I was busy reading the second volume of Rick Atkinson’s Revolutionary War trilogy to distract me from Skubal getting lit up last night. It’s baseball. Shit happens.
Colorado is really bad. I get that. But they’ve been winning about one game per series after that truly dreadful start, and they beat Houston last week. Let’s see how Cincinnati bounces back today.
That’s a banger. They’re all fun. I actually liked the Nancy Drew books better, and the original “Carolyn Keene” (Mildred Benson) was still writing for the Toledo Blade when I was a kid.
