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Hall of Fame baseball writer Hal McCoy has retired from the Dayton Daily News after covering the Cincinnati Reds for 37 years. Hal's blog, though, will continue to be a must-read for Reds fans. He'll share his thoughts on the team this season and will file updates from Great American Ball Park. You also can catch Hal in print every Sunday in his popular Ask Hal columnHome > Blogs > The Real McCoy | Cincinnati Reds baseball news > Archives > 2008 > March > 27
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Can Bray stay healthy
Every time, it seems, a guy looks as if he has his act together, as if he has solidified his spot on the Cincinnati Reds roster, he soils the dinner host’s expensive linen.
Take Bill Bray, for example.
Until Wednesday night, the young lefthanded relief pitcher was pulling the light switch on every hitter. Then came the Toronto Blue Jays.
In one-third of an inning, Bray gave up three runs and three hits. He walked his first hitter, then gave up two doubles that nearly put holes in the outfield wall, an infield hit, yadda, yadda, yadda.
With leflthanders strewn everywhere in the bullpen, it wasn’t the most apropos time for Bray to go south - not with Mike Stanton and Jeremy Affeldt and Kent Mercker in the mix, four guys for (at most) three spots in the bullpen.
Even before that happened, manager Dusty Baker was skeptical of Bray’s track record of needing excessive medical attention.
“Bray has been doing well,” Baker said. “The only drawback with Bray might be that he comes up hurt. There is still a question with him of availability and durability. That’s a big issue in the big leagues because we play a lot of games, y’know. He started out this spring hurt.”
Baker wanted to know how much Bray has pitched in the majors and how much he has pitched in the minors. Bray, 24, pitchd only 35 1/3 innings last year, 14 1/3 with the Reds, due to a season stuffed with injuries.
His career consists of 65 major-league innings (42 with the Reds) and 99 2/3s minor-league innings.
He is putting that up against veterans like Jeremy Affeldt and Kent Mercker, guys with long track records, even though Affeldt’s numbers this spring are awful.
“Affeldt has been throwing the ball good all along, he just hasn’t been locating very well,” said Baker. “Throwing the ball good is not the issue. Just location. I mean, this is still spring training, but even in April it is still spring time.
“By Opening Day, you hope to have all your team sharp, but rarely do you have all your team sharp,” he said. “Everybody is not the same. You have hot-weather players, guys who need innings to get real sharp, guys who need 150 at-bats to get started and others who seem to get sharp in days.”
Are we missing a name here? Oh, yeah. Mike Stanton and his $3 million contract (with a $500,000 buyout). The Phillies inquired about his availability, offering first baseman/third baseman Wes Helmes. The Reds said no.
Meanwhile, Baker and general manager Wayne Krivsky met early in the morning, presumably to discuss more cuts. There are still 35 on the roster and 10 must go. Over in Winter Haven, the Cleveland Indians are down to 26, one over the limit.
Of course, the Tribe doesn’t have as many great players to check out as the Reds. Yeah, right.
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