Quote:

Animalman said:
I wrote this yesterday, but there seemed to be a problem with the boards so I wasn't able to post it.

The problem, I think, with the Reds, is that they had a lot of guys who were playing much better than they ever had, and probably much better than they ever will again. Scott Hatteberg has been having a career year. So have Bronson Arroyo, Ryan Freel, and David Ross. Rich Aurilia hasn't been this good since '01. This gave management the illusion that the Reds were much closer to being a playoff contender than they actually were.

Essentially, and I don't want to sound mean when I say this, the Red's are a fool's gold team(being a Ranger fan, I know a thing or two about such a concept). Instead of recognizing this, Jim O'Brien has given up two pretty valuable pieces of the future for what he seems to think will help them get to the playoffs. Unfortunately, a lot(if not all) of those aforementioned players are going to come back down to Earth pretty soon, and when that happens, Cincy will not only be out of the playoff hunt, but will have damaged their chances of getting back to that level any time soon.




I think you mean Wayne Krivsky. I understand you are one of those guys who calls the sportslines and thinks he's an expert, but reality is you dont really understand baseball all that well.

The Reds are going to need to aquire some starting pitching next year, they are going to need some $ to do this. I would say that if you pay Kearns arbitration numbers your gunna lock up your check book with money that could go towards a quality starter. Kearns bat isnt gunna make as much difference this year as having some bullpen guys with ERA's in the 3's rather than the 6's. So Kearns is prolly not going to be here in the future anyways, so when you are 1 q/2 games out of the wild card and 4 out of first you try for today.
As you say many of them are having career years, better to win today instead of waiting till next year with more holes.