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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 > 2009 > January
January 2009
Weathers, Reds agree on a deal
Boxter and Ronnie O - enough guys. Let’s be civil to one another and keep our discussions on a human basis. Enough name-calling. We want opinions - I appreciate them - but no name-calling, puh-leeze.
David Weathers is back - he and the Cincinnati Reds agreed on a one-year deal Wednesday.
What do you think. Is he still a useful piece to this scrambled Reds’ puzzle? Is he too old at 39? Can he still help.
I do know one thing, Weathers is the anchor in the bullpen, the guy who furnished levity when it’s needed (often) and a guy who isn’t shy about expressing his opinions to other players and is always available to share his experience and knowledge.
What the Reds lack most (among many things) is a leader. If a relief pitcher can be a leader, Weathers is the guy.
Weathers and the Reds have agreed to a one-year contract for this year, with a club option for 2010.
Weathers, 39 and a free agent after last season, opted to accept arbitration with the Reds when he didn’t sign with another team.
Weathers, who was paid $3.3 million last year, was offered $3 million for 2009 by the Reds and he submitted an arbitration figure for $4.6 million.
He’ll receive $3.5 million this year with incentives worth another $700,000, and the club option next year is for $3.7 million with a $400,000 buyout.
That leaves third baseman Edwin Encarnacion as the only Reds player who has filed for arbitration, requesting $3.7 million while the team is offering $2.55 million. He was paid $450,000 last season.
Weathers was 4-6 with a 3.25 ERA in 72 appearances in a setup role last season, appearing in 63 or more games for the 10th straight season. His 896 career appearances ranks 22nd all-time.
Encarnacion hit .251 with 26 homers and 68 RBIs and made 23 errors at his thir
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TweetCasey calls it a career - on the field
Sean Casey said goodbye to the baseball field Tuesday and the field will never be the same.
He is only 34 and he leaves with a career average of .302. He hit .322 in 199 at-bats least season, an injury-filled year that limited his playing time with the Boston Red Sox.
And he couldn’t find a job this year - a victim of baseball’s system. There is room for the obscenely-paid superstars and there is room for young low-priced talent. There is little room for middle-of-the-road veterans who command relatively high salaries.
Casey’s agent checked around and he had a few nibbles, “But most of them wanted me to be a bench player, a role player,” he said. He wasn’t up to that, not after 12 years as a star and a man who any team would be proud to use as its public face.
As I’ve said many times, in 37 years of covering the Reds, Casey is the nicest guy I ever met. If he met you once, he was your friend for life. And he remembered your name after you were introduced to him once.
“It’s weird,” he said. “I know I’m retiring, but it feels as if I’m not retiring. I’m just moving to another stage of my career.”
That career is as an analyst and expert on the MLB Network.
“What a shock. Me talking,” he said. “Now I have a chance to talk on TV to people instead of them wondering all the time what I was saying to guys at first base.”
Of his decision, Casey said, “This is a way to stay in the game and to shift to my No. 1 priority - spending more time with my family (two boys and a girl). I know my legacy is as a nice guy, as a great teammate, as a good player and I’m proud of that. So rather than be a bench player, this gives me a chance to be home more.”
Casey spent eight of his 12 years with the Reds and said, “I consider that my baseball home. One of the highlights of my career was that I never really got to say goodbye after I was traded. When I came back, the ovation I got (a long, long Standing O), I was able to tip my cap. That was something I’ll never forget.”
Casey was traded by the Reds to Pittsburgh on December 7, 2005 - a disaster among most Reds fans almost as calamitous as Pearl Harbor. The Reds received lefthanded pitcher Dave Williams, an ill-fated acquistion.
His most vivid memories are of the 1999 season, a season that haunts him to this day.
“We had a one-game lead with two to play in Milwaukee and didn’t close the deal,” he said. “Then we lost that one-game playoff to the Mets. That bugs me to this day. I think of it whenever I see former teammates like Greg Vaughn and Mike Cameron.”
Casey also made the All-Star team in ‘99, “And it was a thrill because it was the year they had the Team of the Century there and I met Ted Williams, then I got to replace Mark McGwire at first base in the game.
“Baseball has been good to me, everything I expected and more. It was a dream come true,” he said.
He will be missed.
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TweetChris Dickerson: ‘I’m your man’
Left field is a major hole in the Cincinnati Reds lineup - some call it a mine shaft - but Chris Dickerson doesn’t want left out in the cold.
“Manager Dusty Baker told me if I don’t make the team he is going to kick my butt,” said Dickerson.
Dickerson, 27, isn’t intent on making the team, he is intent on being the team’s left fielder on Opening Day.
Lack of confidence by fans struck him deeply last week during the team’s annual caravan and he related it with a smile Sunday during the team’s stop at the Air Force museum.
“It was in an Evansville (Ind.) car dealership and two guys back-to-back asked Dusty - and I was sitting right next to him at the podium, ‘Who is going to play left field this year?’ Then the next question was, ‘When Yonder Alonso moves up, will Joey Votto play left field?”
Those are questions Reds fans constantly ask, but they sting Dickerson, who hit .304 with six homers in 31 games after his August call-up last season, his first major-league experience.
“I thought to myself, ‘So, hey, where am I getting moved to?’ I bit my tongue not to say it out loud. I’m a mild-mannered person, but that was such a slap in the face,” he said.
“I could take it two ways. I could get upset or I could say, ‘OK, you two guys, I’ll be back in the gym (today) hitting and those comments will be the only things in my head.’ I’ll prove ‘em wrong.”
While Baker isn’t handing Dickerson the job - he probably has to be out Jerry Hairston Jr. and/or Jonny Gomes, Baker did tell Dickerson, “Don’t let everybody take away your potential for the job with words.”
Other than a propensity for injuries, a minor-league career full of them and a left ankle stress fracture that required surgery last September, Baker likes what he saw of Dickerson.
“I never heard of the guy when spring trainng began because he was barely on the radar screen,” said Baker. “If we started right now, it probably would be a platoon situation with him and a righthanded bat, either Hairston or Gomes.
“I told Chris to fight for the job because it has been a long hard road for him to get to the big leagues,” Baker added. “I told him I wasn’t here to give away his job, but I’m not here to give him the job, either. I’ll give him the opportunity to win the job, which is what he did last year.”
Baker knows some players develop later than others, “In sports not everybody figures it out at the same time.”
Dickerson agrees and cites the late arrivals of Travis Hafner and Chris Denorfia.
“Some guys spend a long time in the minors, then just get it, like Denorfia,” he said. “They were ready to give up on Hafner, then totally revamped him and he got it.
“I got it later and most of the time I worried about being the player other people wanted me to be,” he said. “I hit .303 in (Class A) Dayton in 2004 and they wanted me to hit for more power. I tried that the next year and hit .236. So much pressure to please everybody.”
Dickerson was hitting .136 on April 24 at (Class AAA) Louisville, “And it clicked in for me. Just clicked and locked in,” he said. Before arriving in Cincinnati in August, he had built his average to .287.
“When it clicks, it clicks in a big way - all the hard work I put in last winter with batting coach Brook Jacoby. I was able to take the rest of the season,” he added.
Now he hopes to take it through all of 2009, as the left fielder who’ll always remember the comments of a couple of guys in a car dealership in Evansville.
Bakers loves Dickerson’s bat - both for power and average - loves his speed and loves his defense. Health is the big issue, “But that’s a big issue for the entire team. We have to stay healthy.”
And how about shortstop Alex Gonzalez. One week the Reds say he won’t be ready for spring training and the next week, after an examination by team physician Tim Kremchek, Gonzalez is declared 100 per cent healthy.
I want some of that water from Kremchek’s office.
“Before Alex got hurt, he was one of the premier shortstops in baseball,” said Baker. “I’ve prayed a lot for Alex. Now it looks as if he’ll be OK. That’s so great.”
Baker knows what CEO/owenr Bob Castellini said about the bulging budget and there will be no more expensive additions. That, of course, doesn’t preclude a trade that doesn’t add significant payroll, if that can be done.
“We’re trying,” Baker said. “We’re really, really trying hard.” And about Castellini’s comment, Baker smiled and said, “I know you’ve ready about the payroll, but I’m still trying to push the envelope. I hope the fans understand what we’re trying to do and they’ll be happy when it all comes to fruition. Faith is what you can’t see. Sometimes you are forced to go in another direction. The direction we were taking before wasn’t working.
Baker said he senses the younger players get it more than some of the players who began with the team last season and there were three things he noticed last season that has to change:
ONE - “We had excessive strikeouts.” TWO - “We played poor defense.” THREE - “When we lost, some guys left the clubhouse like it was no big deal. It is a big deal to me. I don’t like to lose. My daddy used to tell people around me after I was part of a loss, ‘Stay away from him for about a week.’”
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TweetWhat’s up with Ken Griffey Jr,?
So what’s up with George Kenneth Griffey Jr., the man most loved and and most despised by Cincinnati Reds fans - with Adam Dunn a close second in both categories.
Griffey doesn’t need to have anybody, “Show me the money,” and he and isn’t looking for a contract with more zeros than the World War II Japanese Air Force.
As he says, “I just want to play, have somebody give me the opportunity to play. I just want to let people see me play and show them I can still play.”
Griffey, an unsigned free agent, certainly doesn’t need the money and is willing to sign a low-dollar, high-incentive contract.
Why doesn’t he need the money?
In addition to being paid fabulously well over his 20-year career by the Seattle Mariners and Cincinnati Reds, plus endorsement deals, the Reds will be paying him $5 million a year for the next 16 years.
It is the deferred money that was negotiated by former general manager Jim Bowden and was set aside at the time. When it kicks in this year, it won’t come out of this year’s or any year’s payroll budget.
Griffey’s Cincinnati-based agent, Brian Goldberg, says is talking with at least four teams, one of them the Mariners.
“Some teams are still waiting to see how things shake out,” said Goldberg. “We were in talks with Tampa Bay, but that dried up when they signed Pat Burrell.
“And we understand that,” Goldberg added. “Andrew Friedman (director of baseball operations) was upfront and honest with us from the start about their situation and how they’d get back to us if they didn’t sign a younger player.”
Griffey, 39, began last season with the Reds until he was traded to the Chicago White Sox at the midnight hour of the July trading deadline.
“What most people don’t know is that Junior played the entire season at less than 100 percent,” said Goldberg. Griffey had his knee drained of fluid three times last season.
“He could have had surgery, but he decided to play, wanted to prove to the Reds that he could play and maybe get re-signed,” Goldberg added. “If not, then maybe he could get traded, which is what happened.”
Goldberg said his job now is to convince teams that Griffey still can be productive.
“I tell them to forget about last year because he wasn’t 100 percent,” said Goldberg. “I ask them to check out his 2007 season, when he was 37 and healthy.
Griffey played 144 games in ’07 and hit .277 with 30 homers and 93 RBIs.
“We know he isn’t what he was 15 years ago, but he can still help teams,” Goldberg added. “All he wants is a chance.
“We have some teams interested but there are things that have to happen,” he said. “For instance, in one case they tell us they need a lefthanded bat like Junior because they are too righthanded. But they have to trade one of those righthanded bats for some relief pitching and if that happens they’ll get back to us. We’re just waiting.
“I’m very proud of him. He is being extremely patient. He knows he is a fallback guy for some teams,” Goldberg said. “But some team can get a very good player for not a lot of money
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TweetAnswering some truths and some falsehoods
Appreciate all the comments (most of them, anyway) from the last blog about Cincinnati Reds owner/CEO Bob Castellini closing his wallet for the time being, claiming the baseball-spending compartment is bare.
Got a hearty gut laugh out of Ryan’s post, telling me to eat more hot dogs and retire and quit being negative. Don’t you know, Ryan, that hot dogs aren’t good for you? And I told the paper I’m going to do this for at least two more years - no retirement forthcoming, my friend (they told me I was welcome as long as I wanted to stay) - and as for being negative, how do you put a positive spin on eight straight losing seasons?
Something positive? Most of the Reds look good in those spiffy uniforms. How’s that? Except clothes don’t make the player (I just can’t stop being negative, can I?).
About some of the other posts:
-Yonder Alonso has to be on the team’s 40-man roster, but NOT on the 25-man major-league roster. The Reds still can option him to the minors for at least the next three years.
-For those who keep saying the Reds were better after they traded Ken Griffey Jr., well, they were 51-58 when they traded him, 21-30 after they traded him, including losing nine of their next 10 after the trade.
I’m not saying they shouldn’t have traded him, nor am I saying they shouldn’t have traded Adam Dunn, but neither trade made the team better and they certainly didn’t put the money they saved to good use - other than to pay salary increases for Bronson Arroyo, Aaron Harang, Brandon Phillips, Francisco Cordero and a few others.
They did get Micah Owings in the Dunn trade and we’ll reserve judgement on that one.
-Speaking of Cordero, I’m not a big Moneyball guy (but I agree with a lot of their points, disagree with some), I agree that it is foolish to put huge money into a closer when you are a bottom-tier team and there aren’t that many save opportunities. From what I’ve seen of Jared Burton, he has closer stuff and the right makeup.
-Castellini, who said the day he took over the club that he is an impatient man and wants to win NOW, now says the club is building for the future via the farm system.
That’s great. But he fired Dan O’Brien then quickly fired Wayne Krivsky, two GMs known for building farm systems. The young players in the system now were put there by O’Brien and Krivsky, other than Yonder Alonso.
Castellini gave the job to Walt Jocketty, an immensely talented baseball guy, but in St. Louis he built the team by trading prospects to make the Cardinals good every year. He is not a farm system guy.
-And as I said in the previous blog, yes, the Reds have a ton of young talent in the minors. But how will they keep them if they can’t pay them after three or four years with the Reds? They’ll go via free agency to the big money teams. That’s what I fear will happen to Joey Votto and Jay Bruce and Drew Stubbs and Johnny Cueto and Edinson Volquez and Yonder Alonso and others.
-Forget Sean Casey. He is retiring.
-No, Adam Dunn hasn’t signed yet. But I’ll wager a dozen hot dogs (in honor of Ryan) that Dunn is signed by somebody before spring training. Dunn is a perfect example of what I’m saying about developing players and losing them. Dunn was drafted by the Reds, developed by the Reds, then traded by the Reds when they couldn’t afford him any longer.
And he was not an ego problem nor a clubhouse problem. He was one of those most self-deprecating players I’ve ever covered and he was loved in the clubhouse by his teammates. Ask Jay Bruce.
-For those who believe Chris Dickerson is the answer to left field - well, he didn’t make the majors until last year, at 27, he is injury-prone (several surgeries on his shoulders and knees) and he strikes out at about the same pace as Dunn.
While I loved what he did late last season, I’m not convinced he is the answer. And I feel the same way about Jonny Gomes, who has not hit above .244 since his first year, when he hit .282 for Tampa Bay. Some players, like Dickerson and Gomes, come into their own late.
For the Reds’ sake in 2009, let’s hope that’s the case.
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TweetNo money, no more Reds moves
Manny Ramirez? Forget Manny Ramirez. The Cincinnati Reds can’t afford Manny Mota or Manny Trillo. They can’t afford Rafael Ramirez or Elizardo Ramirez.
That’s the disheartening explosion CEO Bob Castellini dropped on the media this morning before the annual Reds Media Caravan began it trek through five states.
There is no more money. The harsh economic times are smothering the Reds and there will be no more significant additions to the team this year.
Swell. Rush to purchase those tickets now. Send in those season ticket applications. Everybody wants to see a fifth-place team. Everybody wants to see a ninth straight losing season.
Castellini says the team hasn’t given up on this year, but they are building for the future. Same message, different voice. How long have Reds fans heard this? And how long is the future? 2015? 2020? 2035?
They say they haven’t given up on this year but what have they done to replace Adam Dunn’s 40 home runs, 100 RBIs, 100 walks and 100 runs scored? Not much.
They’ve added catcher Ramon Hernandez, outfielder Willy Taveras and relief pitcher Arthur Rhodes. And, oh yeah, don’t forget Jonny Gomes.
Who do you like in left field this year? Chris Dickerson? Jerry Hairston Jr? Gomes. Gomes hit .182 with eight homers and 21 RBIs in 77 games last year and was so bad the Tampa Bay Rays left him off their postseason roster. Compared to Gomes, Corey Patterson’s season in 2008 resembles an All-Star performance.
When Castellini took over the team before the 2006 season, he told the media he wanted to win and he wanted to return to the glory days of The Big Red Machine, “Heigh-yo, Silver, Away.”
Now he blames the media for spouting his philosophy.
“We want to win,” Castellini told the media Thursday. “That’s our message. I knew we couldn’t win right away. You want to, but it takes time. I said we want to win - not overnight. You guys took that out of context.”
Then why did he fire GM Dan O’Brien right away and why did he fire Wayne Krivsky so fast when Krivsky was successfully rebuilding the minor league teams. And why, when he fired Krivsky, did he say, “We just aren’t going to lose anymore.”
Wanting to win and doing something to make it happen are two different things. And if you are out of money, you do what the Reds have done. Not much of anything.
The payroll is close to $75 million, about what it was last year. And the vault is empty. The team is what it is - not every good. Another fifth place finish looms.
After eight years of losing, it seems more losing is assured as the Reds continue to put the ‘less’ in hopeless.
And fans are asked to remain patient for some distant future winner. With the economy in the cesspool, entertainment dollars will become scarce. All of you who can’t wait to get into Great American Ballpark this year raise your hands.
I can’t see you.
Walt Jocketty, installed as GM early last season to work the magic he worked in St. Louis, needs a bigger wand to handle this one and probably is wondering what he got himself into. But his upper lip remains stiff.
“I don’t think you can put a timetable on it,” he told the media Thursday. “It takes time to build a competitive organization - a consistently competitive organization. You can do some things for instant success. But you can’t sustain it. We want to build the organization to sustain success and be a club that’s in the hunt every year. We’re really trying to develop our younger players and utilize the talent we have in the organization.”
Those are fine words, but a little bit from the Land of Oz. An organization like the Reds can build a strong farm system and develop players. Then what happens? They keep those young players for three or fours years and just when they become solid stars, the Yankees or Red Sox or Mets or Dodgers take them away via free agenc or the Reds can’t afford to pay them and are forced to trade them (Adam Dunn).
Strap it on, Reds fan. Gonna be another lonnnnnnnnng year.
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TweetWhat’s left for other teams?
Are you finished, New York Yankees?
Are you finished, Boston Red Sox?
Are you finished, New York Mets?
Well, probably not. But even if those baseball monoliths are finished tossing around money like the federal government, there isn’t much left for the rest of baseball to go after. Mostly table scraps.
Although Cincinnati Reds general manager Walt Jocketty still could get something done in the immediate future, it is looking more and more as if he might wait until spring training to see who hasn’t signed and who might sign for less money.
While praising his manager, Lou Piniella, at a public forum at Cubsfest this year, Chicago Cubs chairman Crane Kenney took a haymaker swing at Chicago’s former manager, Dusty Baker, now managing the Reds.
“The one thing that we’ve done that I’m most proud of, we have the right manager. I can promise you that. If you think about the team that won in ‘07, does that team with our former manager? Not a chance.” said Kenney.
“Remember how we started? Everybody remembers that we won back-to-back championships. If you were standing in Lou’s office like I did in the second week of May. I think we were 7 and a half games out. We had just got our butts kicked by the Marlins. To pull that team of where it was heading, which was sort of the typical Cubs downward spiral, one guy turned that around, and that was our manager.”
Yikes.
IF YOU HAVEN’T seen the murals on the Portsmouth flood walls, well, it is worth the boring drive down U.S. 35 and U.S. 23. But if you have a driver who furnishes you with extra special cigars, like my friend John Robison, it’s a pleasant sojourn.
I, too, was skeptical about wasting time gandering at some paintings on a wall. But I did it last week on one of the coldest days of the year. And it was breathtaking. The murals are huge and they are works of art.
And there is a portion devoted to the amazing baseball heritage of the area around Portsmouth, beginning with Branch Rickey, the man who integrated major league baseball with Jackie Robinson.
There is a mural of Rickey and Robinson.
It is amazing how many baseball people are from the Portsmouth area - former players Don Gullett, Al Oliver, Larry Hisle, Gene Tenace, Del Rice, just to name a few. There are scouts and umpires, too.
Some are on the murals, including legendary scout Gene Bennett, still active with the Reds after 56 years. Bennett is from nearby Wheelersburg and signed, among other notable Reds, Barry Larkin, Paul O’Neill, Chris Sabo and Charlie Leibrandt.
Just last week, at the Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles, Bennett received the FIRST Legends In Scouting Award from the Professional Baseball Scouts Foundation at its annual fundraiser dinner - an affair to help scouts in need.
Bennett, a senior adviser and assistant to the general manager with the Reds, has received the TOPPS Scout of the Month Award 12 times and in 1988 received the TOPPS All-Star Scout Award.
BENNETT also has a place on the Portsmouth murals.
He was the reason I was in Portsmouth, a guest at their fifth annual baseball dinner to provide funding for the murals. As always, the place was sold out - more than 400. And the room was full of baseball dignitaries.
Marty Brennaman was the guest speaking this year and couldn’t resist chiding Bennett for not signing Arizona pitcher Brandon Webb (also from the Portsmouth area) and Boston infielder Kevin Youkalis (from Cincinnati).
Said Bennett, hands spread with palms up, “Out of my hands. I tried.”
FORMER MAJOR LEAGUE umpire Terry Craft, also from the Portsmouth area, was at the dinner and revealed something few people know. Remember when former Reds manager Lou Piniella picked up first base and hurled it into right field? Then, not satisfied with his distance, Piniella retrieved the bag and threw it farther into right field.
Well, Craft was the first base umpire.
Several baseball people were asked to stand and reveal their fondest memories and Craft said, “One of the first games I umpired was a game involving the Reds and The Big Red Machine. When the game started and I saw Johnny Bench and Joe Morgan and Pete Rose, I thought, ‘Wow, am I privileged to be standing on the same field with those guys.’”
Gullett, former Reds pitching star and later a pitching coach for the team, is from across the river from Portsmouth in Lynn, Ky. He, too, is on a mural. He attended McKell (Ky.) High School and scored 72 points in one football game (11 touchdowns, six extra points) because his coach was mad at the other coach. He also scored 50 points in a basketball game and pitched a perfect game, striking out 20 of the first 21 batters.
Gullett, who had a wonderful major-league career, got up and said, “My most memorable moments in baseball was the time I spent with Joe Nuxhall.”
And if you think Big Men Don’t Cry, especially a hard-boiled guy like Marty Brennaman, well, most of his speech was about his days with Nuxhall in the radio booth and by the end of his talk, Brennaman was sobbing.
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TweetFrom gynecologist to the Hall to the Reds
Am I the only male who accompanies his wife to the gynecologist and the grocery store? Seems that way to me, but I’m glad to do it. Gotta keep the franchise happy.
Lost six pounds last week on something called the Flat Belly Diet. My belly still isn’t flat. How long does this take?
RICKEY HENDERSON and Jim Rice were voted into the Hall of Fame. Good choices. I voted for Henderson, Rice and the next three top vote-getters (Andre Dawson, Bert Blyleven, Lee Smith).
Couple of questions.
How can more than 5% of my voting brethren not have Henderson on their ballots? This isn’t Flo Henderson, it’s Rickey Henderson and if his numbers aren’t Hall of Fame numbers then they should board up the venerable ol’ museum.
While Henderson made it on the first ballot, Rice made it on his 15th try - which would have been his last try. I voted for Rice all 15 years, but I’m perplexed. First, this isn’t Condoleezza Rice. It’s Jim Rice.
In those 15 years, Rice didn’t have a single at-bat, didn’t play a single game. Nothing improved. If he is a Hall of Famer now, why wasn’t he on the first ballot? That’s my contention. If a guy isn’t a Hall of Famer on the first ballot, is he EVER a Hall of Famer?
As I said, I voted for Rice all 15 years, but my belief is that if a guy isn’t a Hall of Famer on the first ballot, then he should never be a Hall of Famer.
I was glad to see that Mark McGwire received fewer votes this year than last year, his first year of eligibility. Having said that, I can’t wait for that McGwire fan to make his post telling him I’m an old fart who shouldn’t have a vote because what does a guy in Dayton know about baseball and that I should retire.
Before you post, my friend, I AM an old fart, but I’m not retiring yet. I’m on the beat for at least another year.
IT IS EXACTLY a month until the first day of spring training. I know Cincinnati Reds general manager Walt Jocketty has tried - and is still trying - to find a power-hitting left fielder, preferably righthanded.
Matt Holliday? Gone.
Pat Burrell? Gone.
Rocco Baldelli? Gone.
Milton Bradley? Gone.
Raul Ibanez? Gone.
There are some left fielders remaining on the free agent market — and don’t even mention Manny Ramirez.
There is Moises Alou, Garret Anderson, Eric Hinske, Emil Brown, Jacques Jones, Jay Payton. Any of those interest you?
Here’s the thing about free agents. A team has to outbid other teams and even then the free agent has to want to come to the team. Not many are interested in coming to a team with eight straight losing seasons, making Jocketty’s job doubly hard.
A significant free agent most likely is out of the question now. Jocketty said recently a trade might be more realistic. Again, that’s difficult. There has to be a team willing to trade and you have to have somebody to offer that the other team wants. That, too, is difficult for the Reds - unless they want to risk wrecking the future by trading top-level prospects.
The Yankees might want to trade Xavier Nady, a guy who blisters the Reds. And he might be a snug fit in Great American Small Park. But what would the Yankees want? Probably more than the Reds can pay.
Happy hunting, Walt.
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TweetHairston nice fit, but more is needed
As expected, Jerry Hairston Jr. is returning to the Reds - a nice piece to the puzzle that is still missing some pieces.
The fact that the Cincinnti Reds might be expecting Hairston to play regular shortstop if Alex Gonzalez can’t do it is not a good message.
The fact they might expect him to play a lot of left field - if they can’t find a regular - is not good news.
Hairston is what he is - a plug-in, a guy to fit in where he is needed for short periods.
He talks, though, as if manager Dusty Baker plans to play him a lot.
After much delay and posturing, Hairston did what he knew he would do all along - re-sign with the Reds.
Hairston agreed to a one-year $2 million contract , with $2 million more in incentives, and is prepared to play just the way he played last season - anywhere, everywhere and often.
He hit .326 while playing six different positions for the Reds last season and is prepared to wander out to any of those positions this year, “Anywhere (manager) Dusty Baker wants me to play.”
Hairston, 32, said he might play a lot of shortstop at the beginning of the season while Gonzalez tries to ease himself back into game shape after a year off.
“I told Dusty and (GM) Walt Jocketty that I love the infield because I’m an infielder by trade, but I’ll play wherever they need me. That includes shortstop, second base and all the outfield spots.”
The Reds were 25-19 when Hairston batted leadoff and his on-base average of .487 while batting leadoff was second best in the National League among leadoff batters with more than 150 plate appearances. Only LA’s Rafael Furcal was better.
He knows, though, he won’t be batting leadoff after the Reds acquired Willy Taveras.
“I can see the light at the end of the tunnel with Taveras, Brandon Phillips, Jay Bruce and Joey Votto,” he said. “We have a very athletic team. We all know that pitching, defense and baserunning win games - Tampa Bay proved that.”
Hairston envisions himself batting second behind Taveras, “A couple of speed guys who can wreak havoc. We can get on base for Bruce, Votto and Phillips. I have three goals - get on base, score a ton of runs and help the team win.”
And how was it fairly certain that Hairston was returning?
“I’ve been texting with Jay Bruce and we have a little contest going on who is going to score the most runs,” said Hairston.
“And I’m a loyal person,” he said. “The Reds gave me a chance last year when nobody else would.”
The Cardinals, Royals and Mariners had lukewarm interest in Hairston, but he chose to return.
He played only 80 games and batted 261 times last season, mostly due to a hamstring injury.
“I’ve worked this winter with a nutritionist and he thinks my diet may have even contributed to my injury,” he said.
“I know this - I feel better right now at 32 than I did when I was 27 and 28 when I had a lot of injures,” he said. “I really believe my best years are ahead of me and that I have six or seven good years left in me.
“I actually felt better the second half after I came back from the first half,” he said. Hairston spent 44 games on the DL over three different periods with a broken left thumb and two right hamstring injuries.
Why only a one-year deal at relatively low price? A combination. The Reds want to see if he can stay injury-free while Hairston wants to see if he can put together a career year and become a high-value player.
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It is now 2009 and it is only six weeks before the Cincinnati Reds begin their final year of spring training in Sarasota before relocating in Goodyear, Ariz., which some people believe is part of a witness protection program.
So far, with what the Reds have done, there is no reason to believe they’ll climb out of fifth place - they still are not better than the Brewers, Cubs, Cardinals and Astros.
They’ve made three minor moves, mere tinkering, with the additions of catcher Ramon Hernandez, relief pitcher Arthur Rhodes and center fielder/leadoff hitter Willy Taveras.
There hasn’t been a single cry of “Break up the Reds” from Milwaukee, Chicago, St. Louis or Houston.
The addition of Hernandez adds some punch to the catching position, offensively, but there are concerns about him defensively. It concerns me that Hernandez had 10 passed balls, second most in the American League last year, and nine errors, tied for second most in the AL.
I’m not so sure rookie Ryan Hanigan isn’t a better option. In addition to hitting .271, Hanigan threw out 8 of 23 base stealers, made only one error and caught the only two complete games Reds pitchers threw last year - all over 31 games and the team was 14-11 in games he started.
Rhodes, 39, is an OK addition as long as he was acquired only to face lefthanded batters in crucial situations and not to pitch an inning or two innings at a time.
After he was traded to the Marlins by Seattle in mid-season, he went 2-0 with a 0.68 ERA in 25 appearances over only 9 2/3 innings. The Marlins used him correctly.
For his career, lefthanders have hit .221 against him and righthanders .245. But lately, the gap is wider. Lefthanders hit only .165 against him last year and righthanders over .300. You don’t want him pitching to Albert Pujols.
I’m not giddy over Willy, either. While his 68 stolen bases in 75 tries is nice, his .251 average, his .308 on-base average and his 36 walks in 533 plate appearances are not so nice for a leadoff hitter.
His career batting average is .283 with a .331 onbase average - numbers he’ll need to help the Reds.
The Reds still need help - and lots of it. They still need a left fielder with some nitro in his bat.
There are reports that the Reds were interesed in Andruw Jones during the winter meetings. And now it has come out that the Dodgers and Jones came to an agreement that will make Jones more palatable to other teams.
Jones has agreed to shed big money from his contract if the Dodgers will trade him or release him - cutting his 2009 contract from $12 million to $5 million.
Now that the Reds have signed Taveras, here’s hoping they don’t go after A.J. The guy is injury-prone and played only 75 games for the Dodgers last year, hitting .158 with three homers and 14 RBIs. Those numbers make Corey Patterson look like a superstar.
He has been overweight the past couple of years and he is playing winter ball right now and several scouts say he looks no better now than he did with the Dodgers last season. And Jones is a center fielder, not a left fielder. If he could play left field, why wouldn’t the Dodgers keep him instead of talking with Adam Dunn?
Do you think the Reds could use Jones or should they look elsewhere? I say look elsewhere and anywhere.
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