Red Sky at Night: A Cincinnati Reds Dynasty

[Funkycorm]

Quote: Originally Posted by lazershow

Good start! Excited to see where this goes. Given votto's age are you going to consider moving him for some high level prospects as part of the future build or keep him around to teach the culture to young guys? Sent from my SM-G955U using Operation Sports mobile app

I have given it quite a bit of thought, actually. I am leaning toward moving him, not this season. If anything I may make an off season move or wait until the break next year. I don't want to wait too long so his value is still high. He is a stud on this team and his productivity is great but I can get a lot in return for him.

[lazershow]

The Red Sox would be interested but probably don't have the assets. Might get some major league talent from them though. They do have some low level pitching prospects that are currently crushing it in my sox franchise. Both 19 and are 8-2 and 7-3 in double a

Sent from my SM-G955U using Operation Sports mobile app

[Funkycorm]

Quote: Originally Posted by lazershow

The Red Sox would be interested but probably don't have the assets. Might get some major league talent from them though. They do have some low level pitching prospects that are currently crushing it in my sox franchise. Both 19 and are 8-2 and 7-3 in double a Sent from my SM-G955U using Operation Sports mobile app

I am at the end of season 1 right now so I will look into that during the off-season. I have my posts ready to go through post season's end. Thanks for the tip!

[Funkycorm]

The 2017 Amateur Draft

The Draft is upon us with our hopes hinging on how well we do. Our scouts have been all over the country and world scouting out the best talent. We hold the 3rd pick in the first round of the draft so we have a chance early on to start impacting our future.

Draft Picks:

Round 1, 3rd pick
Round 2, 3rd pick
Round 3, 3rd pick
Round 4, 3rd pick
Round 5, 3rd pick
Round 6, 3rd pick
Round 7, 3rd pick

Our focus on the draft is to improve across the board, starting with pitching and moving on to current/future positions of need.

Draft Pick Summary:

Cincinnati Reds Draft Pick Recap
Pick	Team	Player	Pos	Ht	Wt
Rd 1, 3	Cincinnati Reds	Evan Kalita (80 potential, 60 ovr)	SP
Rd 2, 3	Cincinnati Reds	Darrick Alford (80 potential, 65 ovr)	SS
Rd 3, 3	Cincinnati Reds	Steve Guzman (80 potential, 65 ovr)	RP
Rd 4, 3	Cincinnati Reds	Ray Lieber (80 potential, 55 ovr)	LF
Rd 5, 3	Cincinnati Reds	Steve Urbina (75 potential, 70 ovr)	1B
Rd 6, 3	Cincinnati Reds	Harrison Clevenger (75 potential, 60 ovr)	RF
Rd 7, 3	Cincinnati Reds	Julio Santana (75 potential, 60 ovr)	C

*Ratings listed were at time of draft, not true potential

Player Analysis:

SP Evan Kalita: 18 years old, MLB ETA 2020. Drafted with 80 potential in the 1st round (3). True potential is 94, which puts him in the top 5 of true potential to come out of this draft. This pick was a homerun for us. He is young and has a high ceiling. In a few years, he will be the ace of our rotation. He will not be rushed in his learning curve. He will be brought up only when he is ready and can handle the big-league bats. Current Rating: 63A

SS Darrick Alford: 18 years old, MLB ETA 2020. Drafted with 80 potential in the 2nd round (3). True potential is 70. He scouted as a solid contact hitter with decent speed. He is young so he could still potential develop into a decent player. We were looking at him to be a future replacement at shortstop for us. Time will tell with him. Current Rating: 53C

RP Steve Guzman: 20 years old, MLB ETA 2019. Drafted with 80 potential in the 3rd round (3). True potential is 78. He could be a solid late reliever for us for some time if he can develop quickly. Current Rating: 59C

LF Ray Lieber: 19 years old, MLB ETA 2021+. Drafted with 80 potential in the 4th round (3). True potential is 77. He is young and will take some time develop but he could become a corner outfielder for us. He has decent contact and power and could easily slot into the 5th or 6th spot in our lineup when he is ready. The key here will be to give him time and let him slowly develop. Current Rating: 49C

1B Steve Urbina: 20 years old, MLB ETA 2018. Drafted with potential of 75 in the 5th round (3). True potential is 63. This was a miss for us. It was between him and another first baseman available in the round. The other player had a potential of 86 so we clearly missed here. This was not a position of urgent need for us with Votto slotted as our first baseman for another few years, give or take. He will probably not be kept long term unless he can show us something. It was a calculated risk in the late rounds so we did not spend an early pick on this miss. Current Rating: 57D

RF Harrison Clevenger: 22 years old, MLB ETA 2018. Drafted with potential of 80 in the 6th round (3). True potential is 74. Not a bad pick for the 6th round. Given a few years, he could work his way into our outfield with decent contact and power. Current Rating: 61C

C Julio Santana: 18 years old, MLB ETA 2021+. Drafted him with potential of 75 in the 7th round (3). True potential is 73. Not a bad pick for the 7th round. Given time he could develop into a decent backup catcher. With only 15 players left to choose from at this point in the 7th round, he was the best available. Current Rating: 53C

We signed 6 of the players here to contracts shortly after the draft. The only one not offered a contract at this point is 1B Steve Urbina for the reasons listed above. We will re-assess later in the season about him.

I will be following these prospects in more detail next season when they make it to our roster.

This was a solid first draft for us. I look forward to seeing these guys on the field at some point. I am especially excited about Evan Kalita and the potential of him being the future ace of this staff for years to come.
With the way this season is going, it looks like we will be near the top of the draft again next, only having a record better than the Padres at this point.

Stay tuned for our June update.

Thanks for reading!

[lazershow]

Solid draft. Guys can play beyond potential too. Especially the young guys. Did you manually scout or auto?

Sent from my SM-G955U using Operation Sports mobile app

[Funkycorm]

Quote: Originally Posted by lazershow

Solid draft. Guys can play beyond potential too. Especially the young guys. Did you manually scout or auto? Sent from my SM-G955U using Operation Sports mobile app

I manually scouted. Though I must admit I did not have the greatest scouting strategy in this first season. I look to improve upon it, be a better scout, and hire better scouts going forward.

[lazershow]

I manually scout but always feel I do better when I randomly pick.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Operation Sports mobile app

[Funkycorm]

June 2017

June has been our best month so far, this season. We lost no more than 3 games in a row and had two win streaks of 3 games apiece. With matchups against Atlanta, San Diego, and Milwaukee, this was our easiest month schedule wise. This month even included a 3-game sweep of the Washington Nationals. It took extra innings in 2 of the games but it was a nice morale boost for the team.

June Record: 14-12
Overall Record: 30-50
Current Place: 5th place

We are 20.5 games back in the NL Central and because of our winning record for the month, we didn’t lose any ground in the division. This was a nice month for us but given the difficulty of our schedule the remainder of the season, I don’t think this trend will continue.

Player Performances:

Joey Votto: .318 BA, 25 HR, 63 RBI
Billy Hamilton: .296 BA, 3 HR, 22 RBI, 13 SB
Raisel Iglesias: 2-0, 19 SV (2 blown saves), 2.18 ERA
Homer Bailey: 7-5, 66K, 25 BB, 4.35 ERA

Votto is 7th in the NL in batting average, 2nd in homeruns and RBIs, and top 5 in multiple other categories. Iglesias, even though he had his first 2 blown saves, he is still having a solid year with his limited save opportunities he is getting. Homer Bailey, though his stat line is nothing special, is still leading the Reds in pitching amongst starters.


Team Stats (Rankings):

BA: .247 (20)
R: 300 (22)
HR: 94 (10)
SB: 39 (10)
E: 36 (15)
ERA: 5.17 (30)
SV: 19 (28)
Runs allowed: 444 (30)
K: 644 (17)

As you can tell, our big issue is pitching. This was a glaring weakness going into the season and continues to be a trend and I predict that will not change this year.

Injuries:

We had no major injuries at the MLB level.

Other Notes:

We added SP Homer Bailey and CF Desmond Jennings to the trade block.
A lot of our top prospects have been playing extremely well at the AA and AAA level so there were some performance promotions/demotions amongst the farm system.

As you have noticed, my moves up and down from the majors has been very minor. I am not rushing our prospects so their growth is not stunted.

Stay tuned for our July Update.

Thanks for reading!