Will Reds Regret Standing Still?

Time will judge. The Brewers, though, kept moving.

A Vacation Line is here. The Morning Man chirps in on Deadline, even as he looks longingly at the Atlantic Ocean outside his window. What a selfless gesture.

The Reds did next to nothing at the Trade Deadline, and you can say what you want about that. It’ll be a few months before we find out who’s right. The fact remains the Brewers got noticeably better. The Reds did not.

What will we say if 1B Carlos Santana gets a hit that wins a game that helps the Crew finish, oh, 88-74, and the Reds end up 87-75?

What will the reaction be if Mark Canha does likewise? Santana and Canha aren’t headliners, but they are major-league hitters, capable of making an impact, if not a huge difference. And in this seemingly by-a-nose horse race between Milwaukee and Cincinnati, an impact might be all it takes.

The Brewers had an obvious need — to shore up their anemic offense — and they addressed it. They Reds had a similarly obvious need — to shore up their iffy pitching without ever again employing a catcher as a reliever — and they did not.

The take in This Space has forever been, “if you have a chance to win something, take it.’’ Did the Reds take it?

To me, they look a little like a king in his castle, counting the jewels in his chest. In the Reds case, the jewels are prospects. I have no idea what the discussions were between Nick Krall and his peers these past few weeks. I’m sure Krall and The Big Man would tell you the cost of landing a Lucas Giolito or Eduardo Rodriguez was prohibitive, now and, contractually. in the future. Maybe so. Perhaps the Reds were one of the 10 teams on Rodriguez's no-trade list. The Dodgers were.

Regardless, it’s worth noting that every other contender in baseball (save the Yankees and, curiously, the Guardians) did something potentially consequential. Even fringe contenders (Cubs, Padres) made some noise.

It might turn out well for the Reds. The Club has held its own since the Break. It’s entirely possible the Reds make the playoffs without giving up the crown jewels. But here’s the thing: The Brewers got better Today. (They also added a decent reliever, Andrew Chafin. He’s a lefty Arizona used in high-leverage situations and worlds better than the only player the Reds added, a lefty from the Black Hole of Oakland, named Moll._

MLB is about today, when you’re toiling in a little place like Cincinnati. In big places, money buys the luxury of time. The NY Mets are a disaster today, but they have the resources to regroup. The Dodgers never rebuild. They reload. The Reds time is today. Today is something they can see, touch and feel. A promising clutch of kids figuring it out on the fly, with a unique esprit de corps. Special is happening now.

The Reds do not know what ‘24 will bring. Kid major leaguers are like kids anywhere. Unpredictable, prone to highs and lows. No track record to lean on. Twelve consecutive Ws, 18-15 since. Elly De La Cruz was Rickey Henderson, only better, when Run-DLC came up.

In the last four weeks, he’s a .226 hitter with a .699 OPS and 36 Ks in 100 plate appearances. The point is not to rip Run-DLC. He has often been breathtaking. The point is, with kids you just don’t know.

About these kids, this year, the Reds know. They’ve chosen not to try to improve on that knowledge. We’ll see how it plays out.

Now, then. . .

A VERY BIG PAT ON THE BUTT for Ben Lively, who Tuesday night paid the price for David Bell’s overuse of his bullpen. Reds fans should hope last night’s thrashing wasn’t an omen.

We’ve posted all the numbers here. The conclusion is worrisome. America’s Team’s bullpen is hanging by a thread. The Reds scored nine runs at Wrigley, and lost by 11, partly because Bell had to white-flag the game because the bullpen arms might have been willing, but the flesh was weak.

The manager doesn’t have a Byrnes or a Woodruff to lean on when times are rocky. (Or a Steele or Stroman, for that matter.) His starters aren’t going to save his bullpen, certainly not with any consistency.

Maybe the Reds are fortunate and the likes of Gibault, Farmer, Young, Diaz etc. stay healthy and effective through this month and next. Maybe the price those guys will pay won’t come until the offseason and into next year. Maybe it won’t come at all.

We know only what we can see, and what we see is a conga line of relievers, game after game.

Regardless, Ben Lively is to be commended for selflessly taking a huge one for the team.

STICK TO SPORTS. It got a little more real for the former president Tuesday. And for the rest of us. A grand jury on Tuesday indicted Donald Trump for trying to thwart the peaceful transfer of power and subvert the rights of American citizens.

This isn’t politics. Many of those involved in Trump’s multiple indictments were Trump appointees. Some who have testified stood shoulder to shoulder with him in his White House. It’s not about a “crime family’’ or Hunter’s laptop or a witch hunt or “Nazis’’ trying to keep Trump from becoming president a second time. It shouldn’t be about partisan politics. It’s about stopping a man who aims to corrupt our way of life. to serve his own wildly narcissistic ends. And what we the people intend to do about it.

Trump is accused of trying to steal an election and corrupt our democracy. The details are chilling. The lengths he took, allegedly, to ensure the success of his plan should make everyone in America nervous.

He’s Innocent Until, of course. And maybe his defense team will pull rabbits from hats and their client will be acquitted of all charges. So was OJ, in criminal court. There is very little, if any, evidence to support any of Trump’s defense.

But these latest indictments, to me, raise the stakes.

NYTimes:

“. . . this third indictment in four months gets to the heart of the matter, the issue that will define the future of American democracy.

“At the core of the United States of America v. Donald J. Trump is no less than the viability of the system constructed during that summer in Philadelphia. Can a sitting president spread lies about an election and try to employ the authority of the government to overturn the will of the voters without consequence? The question would have been unimaginable just a few years ago, but the Trump case raises the kind of specter more familiar in countries with histories of coups and juntas and dictators.’’

The prior indictments, for allegedly paying off a porn star and stashing secret documents at Mar-a-Lago, were inconsequential in comparison. Trump’s attempting to mess with our elections. There’s nothing more bedrock American than that.

TUNE O’ THE DAY. . . The days are sunny and seasonably OK here in Ponte Vedra. We had a low-country fish boil at the Palm Valley Fish Camp last night that was beyond great: Crab legs, andouille sausage, shrimp, clams, corn on the cob, onions, broccoli, kitchen sink, all tossed into a huge pot and boiled. If you ever make it to PV, TML sez ckitout.

The tune, Doc?

Oh yeah. The Allman Brothers hailed from Jacksonville, just up the road. This one’s pretty good.