WMP
Wily Mo is off to a very cold start this Spring. At the same time, Austin Kearns is on fire, and is the better prospect.
Then, the news on Red Reporter that Jim Bowden covets WMP in DC. What to do?
You can certainly argue that given the health of our OF, we don't have any choice but to keep him because he will get ABs.
But is he worth a 4OF? What if we did get a pitching prospect him. Why not exploit Jimbo's addiction to 5 toolers? Freel can fill in in the OF. The meter on WMP is running out--he might have no value soon.
Choice is clear--unload him!
Wily Mo Pena appears to populate the same territory as can't misses like Russell Branyan, Kevin Witt, etc who never quite find the right fit or situation in which they can flourish. If I were the Reds, I would trade Adam Dunn to the American League where he belongs. I would get a raft of pitching prospects and hope that Griffey/Kearns can stay healthy enough for the team not to be too embarassing. Is Joe Randa going to cut it? Who will assume the SS role for the departed Larkin? No dis on Dunn-but he would be an excellent DH/1B guy with the ability to steal and hit 40 HR's. The NL game is different though, hard to accomodate 150 K's, even with all of those walks, in my opinion. In regards to the O'Brien pitch to contact philoosphy, I like not issuing free passes, but doesn't that mean you should populate your infield with gold glovers with fielding range so that those balls put into play are assuredly not freebie base hits? Just curious. Also, can Eric Milton reduce the long balls in Cincy? Later Steve
ReplyDeleteWow, a bunch of good questions.
ReplyDeleteFirst, Randa is going to be fine. He's only a fill-in until Edwin Encarnacion, one of the best prospects in baseball, steps in next year.
The word is that Aurilia will start at SS, but I would hope they don't completely rob Felipe Lopez of ABs. He is the future an having a great spring.
Don't let the money ball boys hear you talk about walks that way!
Pitch to contact is fine for the low walks, as you say. However, very few, if any pitchers survive without 6-7 K/9, because if you pitch to contact you will give up some hits. And yeah, some D will be nice.
The Reds probably do not have the pitching to finish .500. Eric Milton will disappoint, I believe, and be lit up in our small ballpark.
I don't want to diminish Dunn's value, but with 7 batters in your lineup (excepting catcher and pitcher) all those strikouts have to be costly. I know that with age, and Dunn's patience, those numbers should come down. The Griffey trade is a jaw-dropper, the fact that any team in baseball would invest prospects for Griffey is stunning. If the Reds could get Ezequiel Astacio, the trade should have been done yesterday. Boy, did the Tigers get lucky that they were jilted by the sucky Aurilia. (No Offense)
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