Say hey 3 total stolen base attempts were committed, with the same I'm guessing Pirate speedster guy swiping 2nd and 3rd off different pitchers (at times they kinda act like paying attention is not highly prioritized) + 1 CS eradicating precious OBP potential run capital on the Reds' side ... any associated reviews for these?
India 1/1 the only attempt for this one. Don't need to force the smallball when you can score. 2 attempts teams combined per game at the small park so far lol
Looks like o/o SB for Reds/Cubs gm1. GASP is where stolen base attempts go to die? 4 steals in 5 attempts in 4 games, both teams. Wonder what happened to the speed demon specialist CF Bae from opening day? (did not get on base anymore)
I agree. He does this all the time. Granted, he has few high end guys in the pen, but he definitely has better. Putting a new guy with little experience in there under heavy fire and high pressure is idiotic. What in the world is he trying to prove? It's like he thinks he can will bad players to be good. Insane. There's something missing upstairs in Bell's managerial mind. He has so many blind spots, and the Castellinis keep enabling him not to change.
It's the 4th inning of game 1/162 and Pogo the Manager perceives this as some "under heavy 🔥 fire and high pressure" situation? HG just put the #9 hitter C on first (so not much threat there to run or distract our man on the mound) with a pencil neck .24o Judy leadoff 'hitter' up next, needing only 2 outs. What you're looking for here is an immediate 4-6-3 one pitch outcome with K an acceptable 2nd. I'm wondering if F Cruz is a pitch to contact sinkerballer and/or if he can throw heavy in on the hands? DB has got 5 more innings to manage and another pirate Judy coming up #2 (guessing) and this may even be your 'long man' from the bullpen that you use for eating innings so he's the only guy warmed up, particularly needing only 2 outs + 3 man min rules. This is his niche role in this bullpen I would say. I'm not bringing in my mow down the middle of the order hammer (assuming there is one) at this juncture if it's me. Even as he's blowing up out there I'm only getting DJ calling down to the bullpen for next man up to start warming up (even that is managed to avoid overwork in the Show) after the 3rd batter faced. Cruz only threw 24 pitches ... what is DB missing in this situation?
It's like looking in your tool bag and choosing whether to hit yourself on the head with the framing hammer, pipe wrench, running angle grinder or the 15" flat bar ... dependent on how dangerous they were the last time you had to
Home run on the song this time Doc. All joking aside, the Reds may be better than predicted, if pitchers can throw strikes. 75 wins? Young inexperienced talent, yet still talent, makes for possibilities. I will die a Reds fanatic, if MLB doesn’t die first.
There's a very easy way to find out if David Bell is any good. Fire him. Hire a new guy. Keep the same system in place. See if the new guy is any better.
If he isn't, well, then it's nothing ventured, nothing gained. No big deal. Things are the same. But if the new guy is better than Bell, we get better baseball, better results from players, and much more enjoyment in following the team.
It's clear they have gone nowhere under Bell. I have argued for years that Bell is extremely ill-equipped to be a manager. I think he has proven it in blatant, obvious ways that you do not seem to understand, Doc. Furthermore, your logic suggests a manager of a bad team should never be fired, since we can never know whether he's actually bad or not. By that logic only good managers will get fired. If that's sin't the most bass ackwards thinking I've ever heard, I don't know what is.
A manager's job is to get the most out of what he has. I submit D. Bell does not do that nor has he every. He's a terrible enabler, and his buddy-buddy thing with his players is a total joke. There is little harm in firing him and bringing in someone better equipped. to lead this team. It should have already happened 2 or 3 years ago.
How many extra wins do you think a great manager can buy you, though? My opinion is probably less than 10…maybe no more than 5. In baseball in particular i think success is a direct reflection of the roster you’ve built. The manager controls the use of pitchers in the game, sets the lineup, and generally manages the offense (steals, hit and runs, etc). Over the course of a season how many wins/losses can be attributed to this stuff? Shoot…with all the eggheads out there obsessed with advanced metrics I’m surprised there isn’t a way to quantify this yet. I think i might enjoy seeing some manager “WAR” stats .😂
Obviously the # of increased or decreased wins/losses runs the gamut, the extreme being between the worst managers and best. Considering teams miss the playoffs by 3, 2, or even 1 game, it behooves a team to get the best manager they can every year they expect to field a decent team. Even with bad players, good to great managers tend to make better moves, inspire confidence throughout the team, teach/communicate better, hold players more accountable in a healthy way, play hunches better, and in general have a better feel for both the flow and rhythm of a game, which players definitely pick up on. Sure, with the Reds being so horrible right now, an increase from 65 to 75 wins sounds irrelevant. But by being held to a realistic high standard by a smarter manager, the youngsters pick up better work habits, more confidence, and a higher level of accountability and those can really kick in down the road, should things get better in 2-3 years and jell. A great manager can't save a totally screwed up organization (no one can), but he can help a good rebuild happen faster in a good organization. I think Bell is (unintentionally, of course) screwing up these rookies because he is inept. He is not made for this job.
I did a CPI calculator inquiry. $15M in 1990 would be $34.345M in 2023. Poverty level compared to the Dodgers’ & Yankees’ today.
I need to research what the MLB average was in 1990 and compare that to the inflation rates in the general economy vs. the MLB. Thanks for looking that up, you got my brain going.
Oh boy. Like most everyone who follows you, I'm a huge Reds fan. Since BPR. (Before Pete Rose). I like David Bell. I think he's a great and honorable man. But he's a mediocre manager. I say this just from watching the games. He's had decent talent and mismanaged them, especially his pitching staffs. In too long, pulled too soon, and so on. Couldn't see the game yesterday, being in Florida and a fellow thinwallet. Not paying 150 to watch the only team I want to see. So I can't comment on that one. I understand him still being the manager of this team, and maybe a light bulb goes off and he modifies his style, but I doubt it.
Also…you can get MLB tv for half off if you sign up for an MLBPAA membership. Fan membership is only $25, so with the discount you’d only be out $100 for MLB TV. If they didn’t still use blackout rules I’d do that every year. Much better deal than paying for cable (which is what I’m doing now).
I think when it comes to pitchers he leans too hard on analytics. That’s valuable data but doesn’t account for when a player is performing at a higher or lower level than average. Last year with an awful bullpen he’d regularly pull guys who were pitching well only to see the next guy come in and give up runs. I wish he had more “feel” for the pitching staff.
You gotta use a 5 day pitch count tracker and accept that he's still using that OMG max effort every other dayish for (mostly) one inning paradigm (which modified with the 3 battery min rule and now the DH) with certain guys for the 6-7-8-'9 in the order vs guys more 1-2-3-4 specific and anytime 'closers' for more 3-4-5-6 situations
If a managers IQ is dependent on bullpen maybe Bell should of worked on stretching out starters a little longer that 70- 80 pitches. Also has he ever let a pitcher pitch out of a jam in his stint here? Correct on announcers. I miss the old Brantley and Sadak...every hit is a Bill Mazerowski bottom of the 9th World Series walk off homer.
Most of the starters he intends to ride for 1oo pitch counts, especially the younger guys may shade under 1oo. DJ seems to prefer most of them paint the edges and walk too many vs overpower the batter, which is strategically inherent from pitching in a home bandbox in a rather bandbox park-centric division
I only saw the last few innings, and they confirmed what we expected.
Wil Myers has always been a fun hitter to watch. His smash liner up the middle in the 8th was a thing of beauty. He will hit the scoreboard in left this year.
Was it Law or one of the others wearing 47 reminding me of Stormy Weathers without the stuff? Whoever he is he certainly has the body type.
100% agreement about Bell's managing abilities. He's fine. No manager in history would be successful with this squad.
Cubbies? After the beef in 2021, I'm not willing to come around on them. I'll be rooting for the O's on the side. Mike Elias is the man.
Only one comment in reference to "Will We Ever Know" if David Bell is (can be) a good manager? He was given a roster filled with ready to win it players in 2021. Castellanos, Winker, and a ROY Jonathan India who invigorated OG Joey Votto to reach new heights of his old hitting self, Suarez was here Castillo was here, oh, and who was that Cy Young award-winning pitcher? And so on including M. Moustakas who actually failed in epic fashion to contribute, but the front office could not have known that...So, what happened? The Reds competed big time came out of the All-Star break within a game of the first place Brewers, with a three-game series scheduled against those Brewers to start the second half of the season. DAVID BELL completely mismanaged the pitching staff and the position players right out of the playoffs even. End story. Yes, we know all about David Bell and his analytics driven managing style. My opinion: he is not now, nor will he ever be, a good MLB manager - PERIOD.
I think you're talking about Bauer, who signed FA with LA in '21, netting the Reds a 1st rd #3o compensatory draft pick (HS OF Jay Allen) for their trouble. Bell's bullpen was crap back then and only through supreme DB smoke & mirrors + wing & a prayer coddling & juggling managed to thrill their ragtag way to whatever ephemeral level of contention they ultimately achieved
Yessir, Bauer was the pitcher of whom I was thinking. Regardless, the club was considered a real contender by all the so-called experts throughout that 21 season even near the end when Bell managed them to a lenghty losing streak which took them right out of contention. Again, my opinion...of course based on watching it happen. If Bell turns out to be a "good manager" somewhere, I'll adjust my opinion. I just don't see it happening - especially as long as he sticks to his analytics approach.
Followed them every game on Redleg Nation blog trying to explain the Yankee style pitching paradigm DB and DJ were running, especially after they finally gave in and traded for remnants of that very bullpen + the 'closer' they picked up from Colorado (?) Michael Givens and with TJ Antone twice blowing out his arm ... razor's edge is not descriptive enough to describe the ledge that outfit had to routinely operate from
This is what "Sports Talk" is made of...your opinion, my opinion - both based on fact and likely some personal bias. We should share our thoughts over a soda one day. I enjoy reading your comments here. Clearly, we both enjoy reading Doc. Have a great weekend.
Boomerang 2 U. I like that 'Tangerine Nectar of the Tiger Gods' IPA from Uinta Brewing which sadly they quit distributing in KY but still possible they left Ohio in the loop
God help me, I got sucked into the pomp and circumstance even though I'm 1800 miles away. I got a monthly subscription to MLB so I can listen to games on the radio. First pitch in the land of no DST is usually between 0900 and 1300.
I'm a fan of the Viking helmet for Steer and hope it becomes a thing for any Redleg home run hitter this season. At least have fun.
I'm with you and not paying that much attention to them. If they are at .500 at the All Star Break, I will take the team more seriously. Right now, I have "zero" expectations for the 2023 season (I was a 20 game Reds season ticket holder for 12 years). Baseball has been a top sport for me since my youth in the 1960's. MLB's executives and their antics have soured my love of the league.
I gradually evolved into a soccer fan after being a long-time recreational soccer player, so that's now the #1 sport for me. FCC is doing well, so I'll spend my sports $ on them.
Very good question about D Bell. And, sadly, a pretty likely scenario concerning his fate.
The worst things is that even though his employers know better than to fire a man whom they never gave the tools to perform his craft, they will probably do it anyway. And it will be as financially inspired as most of their foolish actions. In this case, pressure from shareholders to do something -ANYTHING - that might satisfy their dwindling fan base.
I always think of Buddy Bell when it comes to David. It has to torture that arguably HOF level player who never got a postseason at-bat to see his son in such an untenable circumstance. Both father and son deserve better.
Bell stuck with Cruz way too long and it cost them the game…. if you can’t throw strikes you won’t be a successful reliever.
Larkin is excellent, Welsh always lets us know he invented the game and I’m not a huge fan of Sadak. Gonna be a long season…Bell is the Red’s answer to the The Tonight Show’s Tommy Newsom… OG reference - look it up.
Doc, obvious he didn’t have it ... why allow him to walk 3 hitters...he was nowhere near the strike zone. Bell allowed a winnable game to get away. Throw strikes or get pulled ...this isn’t knothole.
He came in needing 2 outs and by rule must face 3 hitters minimum, I'd say there wasn't anyone else throwing with him in the bullpen warming up and Bell still has 5 more innings to pitch and which ended up him using up 5 relievers all under 24 pitches. The aptly named F Cruz has got to get those 2 outs, partly because he's in the game because he only needs to get 2 outs here in this inning and he's only the first in the conga line
Nice mellow tune. Settled me down this morning after that ball game that went on and on. I felt like it was on fast forward and it all looked the same to me. Each player got pitch/pitch/pitch; and each player would swing/swing/swing as hard as they could. This takes Joey's philosophy of reading the ball as it comes over the plate entirely out of the picture. All I saw was 'swing and hope' strategy. It felt like a home run contest, gone bad. It was awful. Actually reminds me of playing on a golf course with women. We are always told by the starter to 'keep moving'. When I first started playing it was hurry up, hit the ball, jump in the cart, hurry up, hit the ball (get out of the way!), hurry up, get in the cart and rush to the green, and then hurry up! Nowdays, we are waiting for the guys on the tee box who are waiting for the people on the green, 500 yards away, to clear off as they have decided to play from the Blues which makes them "appear better than they are". So they wait, chatting away; finally, the green is cleared and the first guy slices the ball over the cart path into a creek; next guy pulls a grounder left into someone's yard; and generally the other two are lost about 15 minutes in the woods. Life takes patience, doesn't it? I hope I live long enough to be patient. The point being, the faster you go, the behinder you get.
Your description of those guys waiting on the tee and their subsequent shots, is hilarious. Well done. I've gotten stuck behind the same foursome more than once, snarling under my breath. I tend to daydream in those circumstances, looking at the sky, the clouds, the greenery, the sun pouring down, and remember that this, too, shall some day pass. And just like that , they're gone, off to the dense, wild wilderness to look for unfindable white objects, while I secretly hope a hidden patch of poison ivy lies very close to their wanderings..
This would be my opening to put 👍 thumb on the scale for Hey Michelle's rec for Alanis's Jagged Little musical theater production at the Aranoff ... and also my dream pairing for Jam City Blues fantasy of Morrisette crooning their song with the Old 97s
Wow the Reds bullpen is like the Mojave Desert of bullpens. There's nothing there. Sims and Antone, both on IL, the rest is....what you described. I hadn't been paying attention in the offseason to the bullpen, and now I have a hard timing wondering how the Reds will ever hold a lead. That said, what an awesome Opening Day. Shout out to whoever kept Phil Castellini off television.
Anyone else try to take in Reds pregame coverage on THE BIG ONE DUB EL DUBYA? Insufferable, unless you're into Will Cunningham yelling at you like you're his TV, then very much your cup of tea. I have never been more thankful for Lance McAlister, who was clearly doing the best he could to humor this lunatic. Will's pipes are usually used to reinforce conspiracy theories like stolen elections. Why is he doing Reds pregame coverage?
I caught a little bit of it before the game and kept wondering why WLW let a drunk wander into a booth to say whatever random thoughts popped into his head?
100% agree. Why have so many Americans embraced these types of windbags. You'd think we were smarter than that. . . Oh no, another belief in my fellow man has evaporated into thin air. I'd like to hear names of good analysts that are worth listening to.
The first time in eleven years that I'm not a season ticket holder. I'm admittedly not a David Bell fan. Even a couple years back when he had a fairly good team, he didn't manage his pitching staff well. I'd always bet the "over" on how many pitchers he'd use in a game. He has little personality in the dugout and absolutely no excitement. We got the wrong Bell, it should have been Buddy.
Say hey 3 total stolen base attempts were committed, with the same I'm guessing Pirate speedster guy swiping 2nd and 3rd off different pitchers (at times they kinda act like paying attention is not highly prioritized) + 1 CS eradicating precious OBP potential run capital on the Reds' side ... any associated reviews for these?
India 1/1 the only attempt for this one. Don't need to force the smallball when you can score. 2 attempts teams combined per game at the small park so far lol
Pirates 1/1 SB and again the Reds broke out on top and stayed there with 1 for 9 hitting RISP
Looks like o/o SB for Reds/Cubs gm1. GASP is where stolen base attempts go to die? 4 steals in 5 attempts in 4 games, both teams. Wonder what happened to the speed demon specialist CF Bae from opening day? (did not get on base anymore)
Not sure why Bell picked the guy with the WORST resume to pitch in that situation. That’s my complaint... something he’s done often
I agree. He does this all the time. Granted, he has few high end guys in the pen, but he definitely has better. Putting a new guy with little experience in there under heavy fire and high pressure is idiotic. What in the world is he trying to prove? It's like he thinks he can will bad players to be good. Insane. There's something missing upstairs in Bell's managerial mind. He has so many blind spots, and the Castellinis keep enabling him not to change.
It's the 4th inning of game 1/162 and Pogo the Manager perceives this as some "under heavy 🔥 fire and high pressure" situation? HG just put the #9 hitter C on first (so not much threat there to run or distract our man on the mound) with a pencil neck .24o Judy leadoff 'hitter' up next, needing only 2 outs. What you're looking for here is an immediate 4-6-3 one pitch outcome with K an acceptable 2nd. I'm wondering if F Cruz is a pitch to contact sinkerballer and/or if he can throw heavy in on the hands? DB has got 5 more innings to manage and another pirate Judy coming up #2 (guessing) and this may even be your 'long man' from the bullpen that you use for eating innings so he's the only guy warmed up, particularly needing only 2 outs + 3 man min rules. This is his niche role in this bullpen I would say. I'm not bringing in my mow down the middle of the order hammer (assuming there is one) at this juncture if it's me. Even as he's blowing up out there I'm only getting DJ calling down to the bullpen for next man up to start warming up (even that is managed to avoid overwork in the Show) after the 3rd batter faced. Cruz only threw 24 pitches ... what is DB missing in this situation?
It's like looking in your tool bag and choosing whether to hit yourself on the head with the framing hammer, pipe wrench, running angle grinder or the 15" flat bar ... dependent on how dangerous they were the last time you had to
Home run on the song this time Doc. All joking aside, the Reds may be better than predicted, if pitchers can throw strikes. 75 wins? Young inexperienced talent, yet still talent, makes for possibilities. I will die a Reds fanatic, if MLB doesn’t die first.
There's a very easy way to find out if David Bell is any good. Fire him. Hire a new guy. Keep the same system in place. See if the new guy is any better.
If he isn't, well, then it's nothing ventured, nothing gained. No big deal. Things are the same. But if the new guy is better than Bell, we get better baseball, better results from players, and much more enjoyment in following the team.
It's clear they have gone nowhere under Bell. I have argued for years that Bell is extremely ill-equipped to be a manager. I think he has proven it in blatant, obvious ways that you do not seem to understand, Doc. Furthermore, your logic suggests a manager of a bad team should never be fired, since we can never know whether he's actually bad or not. By that logic only good managers will get fired. If that's sin't the most bass ackwards thinking I've ever heard, I don't know what is.
A manager's job is to get the most out of what he has. I submit D. Bell does not do that nor has he every. He's a terrible enabler, and his buddy-buddy thing with his players is a total joke. There is little harm in firing him and bringing in someone better equipped. to lead this team. It should have already happened 2 or 3 years ago.
How many extra wins do you think a great manager can buy you, though? My opinion is probably less than 10…maybe no more than 5. In baseball in particular i think success is a direct reflection of the roster you’ve built. The manager controls the use of pitchers in the game, sets the lineup, and generally manages the offense (steals, hit and runs, etc). Over the course of a season how many wins/losses can be attributed to this stuff? Shoot…with all the eggheads out there obsessed with advanced metrics I’m surprised there isn’t a way to quantify this yet. I think i might enjoy seeing some manager “WAR” stats .😂
Obviously the # of increased or decreased wins/losses runs the gamut, the extreme being between the worst managers and best. Considering teams miss the playoffs by 3, 2, or even 1 game, it behooves a team to get the best manager they can every year they expect to field a decent team. Even with bad players, good to great managers tend to make better moves, inspire confidence throughout the team, teach/communicate better, hold players more accountable in a healthy way, play hunches better, and in general have a better feel for both the flow and rhythm of a game, which players definitely pick up on. Sure, with the Reds being so horrible right now, an increase from 65 to 75 wins sounds irrelevant. But by being held to a realistic high standard by a smarter manager, the youngsters pick up better work habits, more confidence, and a higher level of accountability and those can really kick in down the road, should things get better in 2-3 years and jell. A great manager can't save a totally screwed up organization (no one can), but he can help a good rebuild happen faster in a good organization. I think Bell is (unintentionally, of course) screwing up these rookies because he is inept. He is not made for this job.
I did a CPI calculator inquiry. $15M in 1990 would be $34.345M in 2023. Poverty level compared to the Dodgers’ & Yankees’ today.
I need to research what the MLB average was in 1990 and compare that to the inflation rates in the general economy vs. the MLB. Thanks for looking that up, you got my brain going.
Oh boy. Like most everyone who follows you, I'm a huge Reds fan. Since BPR. (Before Pete Rose). I like David Bell. I think he's a great and honorable man. But he's a mediocre manager. I say this just from watching the games. He's had decent talent and mismanaged them, especially his pitching staffs. In too long, pulled too soon, and so on. Couldn't see the game yesterday, being in Florida and a fellow thinwallet. Not paying 150 to watch the only team I want to see. So I can't comment on that one. I understand him still being the manager of this team, and maybe a light bulb goes off and he modifies his style, but I doubt it.
Also…you can get MLB tv for half off if you sign up for an MLBPAA membership. Fan membership is only $25, so with the discount you’d only be out $100 for MLB TV. If they didn’t still use blackout rules I’d do that every year. Much better deal than paying for cable (which is what I’m doing now).
I think when it comes to pitchers he leans too hard on analytics. That’s valuable data but doesn’t account for when a player is performing at a higher or lower level than average. Last year with an awful bullpen he’d regularly pull guys who were pitching well only to see the next guy come in and give up runs. I wish he had more “feel” for the pitching staff.
Then you better blame Johnson too.
You gotta use a 5 day pitch count tracker and accept that he's still using that OMG max effort every other dayish for (mostly) one inning paradigm (which modified with the 3 battery min rule and now the DH) with certain guys for the 6-7-8-'9 in the order vs guys more 1-2-3-4 specific and anytime 'closers' for more 3-4-5-6 situations
https://www.rotowire.com/baseball/bullpen-usage.php?team=CIN
If a managers IQ is dependent on bullpen maybe Bell should of worked on stretching out starters a little longer that 70- 80 pitches. Also has he ever let a pitcher pitch out of a jam in his stint here? Correct on announcers. I miss the old Brantley and Sadak...every hit is a Bill Mazerowski bottom of the 9th World Series walk off homer.
Check the pitch counts of yesterday’s starters
Most of the starters he intends to ride for 1oo pitch counts, especially the younger guys may shade under 1oo. DJ seems to prefer most of them paint the edges and walk too many vs overpower the batter, which is strategically inherent from pitching in a home bandbox in a rather bandbox park-centric division
I only saw the last few innings, and they confirmed what we expected.
Wil Myers has always been a fun hitter to watch. His smash liner up the middle in the 8th was a thing of beauty. He will hit the scoreboard in left this year.
Was it Law or one of the others wearing 47 reminding me of Stormy Weathers without the stuff? Whoever he is he certainly has the body type.
100% agreement about Bell's managing abilities. He's fine. No manager in history would be successful with this squad.
Cubbies? After the beef in 2021, I'm not willing to come around on them. I'll be rooting for the O's on the side. Mike Elias is the man.
Only one comment in reference to "Will We Ever Know" if David Bell is (can be) a good manager? He was given a roster filled with ready to win it players in 2021. Castellanos, Winker, and a ROY Jonathan India who invigorated OG Joey Votto to reach new heights of his old hitting self, Suarez was here Castillo was here, oh, and who was that Cy Young award-winning pitcher? And so on including M. Moustakas who actually failed in epic fashion to contribute, but the front office could not have known that...So, what happened? The Reds competed big time came out of the All-Star break within a game of the first place Brewers, with a three-game series scheduled against those Brewers to start the second half of the season. DAVID BELL completely mismanaged the pitching staff and the position players right out of the playoffs even. End story. Yes, we know all about David Bell and his analytics driven managing style. My opinion: he is not now, nor will he ever be, a good MLB manager - PERIOD.
I think you're talking about Bauer, who signed FA with LA in '21, netting the Reds a 1st rd #3o compensatory draft pick (HS OF Jay Allen) for their trouble. Bell's bullpen was crap back then and only through supreme DB smoke & mirrors + wing & a prayer coddling & juggling managed to thrill their ragtag way to whatever ephemeral level of contention they ultimately achieved
Yessir, Bauer was the pitcher of whom I was thinking. Regardless, the club was considered a real contender by all the so-called experts throughout that 21 season even near the end when Bell managed them to a lenghty losing streak which took them right out of contention. Again, my opinion...of course based on watching it happen. If Bell turns out to be a "good manager" somewhere, I'll adjust my opinion. I just don't see it happening - especially as long as he sticks to his analytics approach.
You are absolutely correct on all accounts. For whatever reason, some people give Bell a pass on the collapse. It was on him 1000%.
Followed them every game on Redleg Nation blog trying to explain the Yankee style pitching paradigm DB and DJ were running, especially after they finally gave in and traded for remnants of that very bullpen + the 'closer' they picked up from Colorado (?) Michael Givens and with TJ Antone twice blowing out his arm ... razor's edge is not descriptive enough to describe the ledge that outfit had to routinely operate from
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/relievers-have-broken-baseball-we-have-a-plan-to-fix-it/
This is what "Sports Talk" is made of...your opinion, my opinion - both based on fact and likely some personal bias. We should share our thoughts over a soda one day. I enjoy reading your comments here. Clearly, we both enjoy reading Doc. Have a great weekend.
Boomerang 2 U. I like that 'Tangerine Nectar of the Tiger Gods' IPA from Uinta Brewing which sadly they quit distributing in KY but still possible they left Ohio in the loop
God help me, I got sucked into the pomp and circumstance even though I'm 1800 miles away. I got a monthly subscription to MLB so I can listen to games on the radio. First pitch in the land of no DST is usually between 0900 and 1300.
I'm a fan of the Viking helmet for Steer and hope it becomes a thing for any Redleg home run hitter this season. At least have fun.
I'm with you and not paying that much attention to them. If they are at .500 at the All Star Break, I will take the team more seriously. Right now, I have "zero" expectations for the 2023 season (I was a 20 game Reds season ticket holder for 12 years). Baseball has been a top sport for me since my youth in the 1960's. MLB's executives and their antics have soured my love of the league.
I gradually evolved into a soccer fan after being a long-time recreational soccer player, so that's now the #1 sport for me. FCC is doing well, so I'll spend my sports $ on them.
Very good question about D Bell. And, sadly, a pretty likely scenario concerning his fate.
The worst things is that even though his employers know better than to fire a man whom they never gave the tools to perform his craft, they will probably do it anyway. And it will be as financially inspired as most of their foolish actions. In this case, pressure from shareholders to do something -ANYTHING - that might satisfy their dwindling fan base.
I always think of Buddy Bell when it comes to David. It has to torture that arguably HOF level player who never got a postseason at-bat to see his son in such an untenable circumstance. Both father and son deserve better.
Did you know that Gus and David Bell are the first grandfather/grandson combo to have each hit for the cycle in MLB history?
I did not.
Bell stuck with Cruz way too long and it cost them the game…. if you can’t throw strikes you won’t be a successful reliever.
Larkin is excellent, Welsh always lets us know he invented the game and I’m not a huge fan of Sadak. Gonna be a long season…Bell is the Red’s answer to the The Tonight Show’s Tommy Newsom… OG reference - look it up.
Way too long? He had to pitch to three hitters.
Doc, obvious he didn’t have it ... why allow him to walk 3 hitters...he was nowhere near the strike zone. Bell allowed a winnable game to get away. Throw strikes or get pulled ...this isn’t knothole.
He came in needing 2 outs and by rule must face 3 hitters minimum, I'd say there wasn't anyone else throwing with him in the bullpen warming up and Bell still has 5 more innings to pitch and which ended up him using up 5 relievers all under 24 pitches. The aptly named F Cruz has got to get those 2 outs, partly because he's in the game because he only needs to get 2 outs here in this inning and he's only the first in the conga line
Nice mellow tune. Settled me down this morning after that ball game that went on and on. I felt like it was on fast forward and it all looked the same to me. Each player got pitch/pitch/pitch; and each player would swing/swing/swing as hard as they could. This takes Joey's philosophy of reading the ball as it comes over the plate entirely out of the picture. All I saw was 'swing and hope' strategy. It felt like a home run contest, gone bad. It was awful. Actually reminds me of playing on a golf course with women. We are always told by the starter to 'keep moving'. When I first started playing it was hurry up, hit the ball, jump in the cart, hurry up, hit the ball (get out of the way!), hurry up, get in the cart and rush to the green, and then hurry up! Nowdays, we are waiting for the guys on the tee box who are waiting for the people on the green, 500 yards away, to clear off as they have decided to play from the Blues which makes them "appear better than they are". So they wait, chatting away; finally, the green is cleared and the first guy slices the ball over the cart path into a creek; next guy pulls a grounder left into someone's yard; and generally the other two are lost about 15 minutes in the woods. Life takes patience, doesn't it? I hope I live long enough to be patient. The point being, the faster you go, the behinder you get.
Your description of those guys waiting on the tee and their subsequent shots, is hilarious. Well done. I've gotten stuck behind the same foursome more than once, snarling under my breath. I tend to daydream in those circumstances, looking at the sky, the clouds, the greenery, the sun pouring down, and remember that this, too, shall some day pass. And just like that , they're gone, off to the dense, wild wilderness to look for unfindable white objects, while I secretly hope a hidden patch of poison ivy lies very close to their wanderings..
This would be my opening to put 👍 thumb on the scale for Hey Michelle's rec for Alanis's Jagged Little musical theater production at the Aranoff ... and also my dream pairing for Jam City Blues fantasy of Morrisette crooning their song with the Old 97s
https://youtu.be/9xR0bBczsV8
https://cincinnati.broadway.com/shows/jagged-little-pill/
Wow the Reds bullpen is like the Mojave Desert of bullpens. There's nothing there. Sims and Antone, both on IL, the rest is....what you described. I hadn't been paying attention in the offseason to the bullpen, and now I have a hard timing wondering how the Reds will ever hold a lead. That said, what an awesome Opening Day. Shout out to whoever kept Phil Castellini off television.
Anyone else try to take in Reds pregame coverage on THE BIG ONE DUB EL DUBYA? Insufferable, unless you're into Will Cunningham yelling at you like you're his TV, then very much your cup of tea. I have never been more thankful for Lance McAlister, who was clearly doing the best he could to humor this lunatic. Will's pipes are usually used to reinforce conspiracy theories like stolen elections. Why is he doing Reds pregame coverage?
I caught a little bit of it before the game and kept wondering why WLW let a drunk wander into a booth to say whatever random thoughts popped into his head?
Never agreed w you more on anything. I’d dislike Cunningham even if I loved his politics.
100% agree. Why have so many Americans embraced these types of windbags. You'd think we were smarter than that. . . Oh no, another belief in my fellow man has evaporated into thin air. I'd like to hear names of good analysts that are worth listening to.
The first time in eleven years that I'm not a season ticket holder. I'm admittedly not a David Bell fan. Even a couple years back when he had a fairly good team, he didn't manage his pitching staff well. I'd always bet the "over" on how many pitchers he'd use in a game. He has little personality in the dugout and absolutely no excitement. We got the wrong Bell, it should have been Buddy.