QUESTION OF THE WEEK
Q: Why is Bob Castellini sticking with Walt Jocketty as general manager when a team that was a contender a few years ago has been driven into the ground — by Jocketty? — JAY, Cincinnati.
A: We’ll see after the season. There was an Internet report that Jocketty would be kicked upstairs, which is curious because he already is upstairs, the No. 1 guy in the baseball department. Where would they kick him? Can Jocketty take a bunch of building blocks and put them together. If he is still here that will be his job, to put this Humpty-Dumpty team back together again. Remember one thing, though. Jocketty came in and helped make the Reds competitive after nearly a decade below .500. So you can’t say he ran the franchise into the ground.
Hall of Fame baseball writer Hal McCoy knows a thing or two about our nation’s pastime. To tap into that knowledge, send an email to halmccoy1@hotmail.com.
Q: After watching Joey Votto go face-to-face with umpire Bill Welke, might the umpires begin carrying Mace? DAVE, Miamisburg/Centerville/Beavercreek.
A: Who says they don’t? Who says they don’t carry a Smith & Wesson next to their balland-strike indicators? If Welke continues to call balls and strikes the way he tried to call them Wednesday he may need Mace, a gun and a machete.
Q: How much do the Reds have to spend on a big bat this winter or is it more likely a big slugger comes via trade? — NICK, Cedarville.
A: How about neither? The Reds are in rebuild/reboot mode and aren’t likely to be in the free agent market nor be acquiring high-priced talent via trades. Their trades will be to dump salary and acquire prospects. They don’t figure to be competitive for two or three years, so bringing in an expensive slugger isn’t likely.
Q: Are there any similarities between the recent success of the Royals, Pirates and Cubs and the perennial success of the Cardinals? — LARRY, Washington Twp.
A: It is about wise draft picks and putting together a great minor league system. The Royals, Pirates and Cubs finished low in the standings year after year and were rewarded with high draft picks. They used them wisely. The Reds are now where those three were for a long time. The Cardinals? They are either the luckiest or wisest organization in baseball. Everything they touch turns to platinum and championships.
Q: Am I the only one ready to cut Billy Hamilton? — JASON, Denver.
A: If you mean released or traded, it ain’t gonna happen. C’mon, my friend, Hamilton is 25 years old and still learning to play center field and how to switch-hit major-league pitching. How do you like the way he learned to play center field? My guess is that he’ll learn to hit just the way he learned the switch from shortstop to center field. And with his speed, who is fast enough to catch him to tell him he has been traded or released?
Q: I see that Barry Larkin has contacted some former players about being coaches when he is named manager. Does he know something we don’t? — RICK, Vandalia.
A: Barry knows a lot that I don’t know, especially about baseball. And if he knows he is going to manage the Reds next year he knows more than most people. I don’t know where that report emanated, but I doubt its veracity. That isn’t Larkin’s style because he knows Bryan Price is still the Reds manager until told otherwise.
Q: Has anybody ever hit the Toyota sign at Great American Ball Park since they began the promotion? — RANDY, Waynesville.
A: Nope. Not in a game, not in batting practice, not with a golf ball, not with a bazooka. If a player hits the sign a fan wins that Toyota Tundra truck sitting high on a pedestal in left-center field. There is more likely to be a landing on Saturn than for somebody to hit that sign or the truck. It is 500 feet from home plate to the front left tire of the truck and it must take a direct hit. And it is fortunate that nobody hits it because after the season the truck is donated to a needy fire or police department.
Q: We have just heard Marty Brennaman rant about Milwaukee’s Ryan Braun and Jonathan Lucroy taking so much time stepping into and out of the batter’s box. What is your favorite Marty rant? — MICHELLE and JEFF, Dayton.
A: I never heard it, but Marty once ripped Wrigley Field fans and they booed him when they saw him after that. He also once called Hall of Fame pitcher Pedro Martinez a head-hunter when Martinez pitched in Montreal and hit several Reds. One thing about Marty, what he thinks is what he says and there will be no sugar cubes on it. And if you are the object of his wrath he’ll reduce you to a shrinking violet.
Q: How much credence do you give to the theory that the Home Run Derby has sapped some of Todd Frazier’s ability? — CHRIS, West Milton.
A: It hasn’t sapped any of his ability. The ability is still there. It is just very tired ability. Is it coincidence that Frazier finished second in last year’s HRD and won it this year and then went completely downhill offensively the rest of the season. That’s pretty good evidence. If anybody asks Frazier to be in next year’s HRD he should turn and flee as fast as his HRD legs will carry him.
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