2014 Cincinnati Reds Thread

[Motown]

Re: 2014 Cincinnati Reds Thread

2 year friendly deal with Frazier signing looks like they just might be able to pull off signing Cueto. Love the Badenhop move and Gregg is another Hoover

Yes, I can't believe Badenhop was out there for so long...as for Gregg, hopefully the surgery on his elbow will revive his career. Both are sinker ball pitchers, which is essential in our ballpark.

[CaseIH]

Re: 2014 Cincinnati Reds Thread

2 year friendly deal with Frazier signing looks like they just might be able to pull off signing Cueto. Love the Badenhop move and Gregg is another Hoover

Yeah Badenhop could be a nice addition, Gregg has had his moments, but don't expect anything from him, its just a minor league deal so not a bad move just incase he turn it around.


I figure they will do everything they can to sign Cueto, but if I were them I wouldn't get stupid either like they did with Votto's deal. Cueto prefers to stay a Red, so hopefully he will give some to stay here.

[slickdtc]

Re: 2014 Cincinnati Reds Thread

We can throw mass money at Cueto, but it can't be a mega deal that spans a decade.

That's what seems to burn so many teams, us included. There's almost no incentive to do it for a club. What mega deal like that has panned out, across all sports? Players don't usually get better then they were when you decided to give them insane money over an insanely long term.

It's easier said then done and players want long term commitments and other human factors so it's not cut and dry like in a video game.

If any team should be aware of the dangers of mega deals, it's the Reds. I suspect that's why it's gotten this far with Cueto. I don't think they can or will offer anything super long term considering that and the fact that Cueto is a pitcher hitting 30 years old.

I can't get a feel for what's gonna happen to this team. A part of me feels like it's just last year again, but I am holding on to hope that health and a resurgence by Votto will be the missing ingredient. But then I'm sure Mes or Frazier regress or Hamilton gets hurt or any number of things that can derail a season.

We'll see. Can't believe pitchers and catchers will be back shortly.

[CaseIH]

Re: 2014 Cincinnati Reds Thread

We can throw mass money at Cueto, but it can't be a mega deal that spans a decade.

That's what seems to burn so many teams, us included. There's almost no incentive to do it for a club. What mega deal like that has panned out, across all sports? Players don't usually get better then they were when you decided to give them insane money over an insanely long term.

It's easier said then done and players want long term commitments and other human factors so it's not cut and dry like in a video game.

If any team should be aware of the dangers of mega deals, it's the Reds. I suspect that's why it's gotten this far with Cueto. I don't think they can or will offer anything super long term considering that and the fact that Cueto is a pitcher hitting 30 years old.

I can't get a feel for what's gonna happen to this team. A part of me feels like it's just last year again, but I am holding on to hope that health and a resurgence by Votto will be the missing ingredient. But then I'm sure Mes or Frazier regress or Hamilton gets hurt or any number of things that can derail a season.

We'll see. Can't believe pitchers and catchers will be back shortly.

Yep, it never seems to fail, when you give a guy a big long term deal, they either end up injured often, or regress, or both. Pitchers especially are fragile, and its only a matter of time before most end up with arm issues, so never a good deal to give them real long deals.


If Votto is healthy I do believe he will put up his typical #'s. And if we stay healthy or atleast relatively healthy this can be a very potent lineup, along with solid pitching even without Latos and Simon.

[HustlinOwl]

Re: 2014 Cincinnati Reds Thread

http://www.foxsports.com/mlb/just-a-bit-outside/story/mat-latos-miami-marlins-new-pitcher-interview-cincinnati-reds-022215

Damn, Mat and sounds about right with medical staff

[slickdtc]

Re: 2014 Cincinnati Reds Thread

That makes the Reds look really bad. Wow, sharp words. You can tell he wasn't trying to drum up anything, just speaking honestly.

Hey I can't blame him. Especially when it hurts you as a player and person that the medical staff might be pushing guys too hard.

Some of that stuff would be considered a positive if the team had been winners, like the horsing around in the clubhouse and stuff. But when you're not playing up to expectations, and guys are a bit too loose or comfortable, it makes the guys look like they don't care.

He kept it straight about Votto and it sounds like he's the person that he's portrayed as. I don't have any athletes as role models, but if I did, Votto would be mine. I like to think he's the type of player and person I would be if I had been as talented.

[jasontoddwhitt]

Re: 2014 Cincinnati Reds Thread

Mat Latos sounds like a scorned ex-girlfriend.

You can't have it both ways. Last year, he complained to the media about the training staff holding him back in rehab and making him make one more rehab start. Now all of a sudden, he was rushed. Which is it buddy?

He complained when he left San Diego. He's complaining again. He's a great pitcher, but his maturity was always the question mark with him.

I'm not saying he's lying about the clubhouse environment, but I want context. Were these things that happened every once in a while or was this an every day occurrence?

As Bryan Price said, this is tabloid BS.

[redsrule]

Re: 2014 Cincinnati Reds Thread

Meh, the medical staff is garbage. It has been since Griffey was here. Kremcheck is awful and he's not the first guy to say it.

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[TheShizNo1]

Re: 2014 Cincinnati Reds Thread

Reds fire back at Mat Latos' comments

http://www.cincinnati.com/story/redsblog/2015/02/23/reds-strongly-support-the-clubs-medical-staff/23880811/

[email protected][/email] ] GOODYEAR, Ariz. — When he was with the Reds, it was hard to miss Mat Latos. The pitcher was not only a physical presence, he was gregarious and boisterous.

Even with Latos across the country, he made noise in the Reds' clubhouse on Monday, the day after an article with scathing accusations about the Reds' training staff, management and former teammates.

"If this was a court of law, the cross examination would go after the credibility of the witness," said Reds starter Homer Bailey.

Said veteran Skip Schumaker: "It's really disappointing because we have a really good training staff, one of the best I've been around. I've been around a long time. I'll just say it's addition by subtraction and I'll leave it at that."

On Monday, Latos told writers in Florida that he was taking a break from talking to the media.

Both Reds manager Bryan Price and general manager Walt Jocketty spoke about the FOXSports.com article where Latos was quoted as saying he was rushed back from a knee injury to the team. Latos had knee surgery on Feb. 14 of last season and started the season on the disabled list. He then suffered elbow soreness during a rehab start at Double-A Pensacola and didn't make his 2014 debut until June 14, when he threw 99 pitches in six innings against the Brewers. He allowed just two hits in that outing.

Sunday, Latos told Ken Rosenthal, "I went along with it because I wanted to be out there. I figured they knew what they were talking about."

On June 6, the day Latos was told he would have to make another rehab appearance before making his season debut against the Brewers, Latos said he was upset the Reds were holding him back.

"It's pretty bogus I have to go on another rehab assignment. But it it is what it is. I don't make the decisions around here. I'm a puppet on a string. I get told to do what I need to do and I do it," Latos said in June. "I can tell you I'm about as healthy as I've been. I could pitch in a game if I needed to. "

Not only did Jocketty and Price defend the team's medical staff, so too did other players. Like Latos, catcher Devin Mesoraco started the 2014 season on the disabled list. Mesoraco had a strained oblique to start the season and then went on the DL with a strained left hamstring at the end of April.

"This was really the only thing I wanted to say, those guys in there do an unbelievable job," Mesoraco said on Monday when asked if he was pushed back to the lineup too soon. "I fought and fought and fought to say, 'Hey, I want to play Opening Day.' They kind of held me back. They wouldn't let me get to the point — just because they knew how much time it took to heal. For him to say that they're rushing people to get back in the game couldn't be further from the truth. "

Jim Edmonds, who joined the Reds at the end of the 2010 season, criticized the team's medical staff the year after his injury, saying he wishes he had never played for the Reds.

Latos praised three former teammates by name — Sam LeCure, Joey Votto and Ryan Ludwick — but made broad accusations about others, without naming names. However, he accuse the "closer" of sleeping in the clubhouse. He also said the clubhouse lacked a leader since Scott Rolen and Bronson Arroyo left.

"Mat's no longer with the team, so at this point I'm happy with the guys we have in the room and focused on this year," Mesoraco said. "Whatever he wants to say or thinks he has to say is fine."

The Reds sent four players to San Diego for Latos in December of 2011, and in three years in Cincinnati, Latos was 33-16 with a 3.31 ERA in 81 starts. Entering his final year of arbitration, the Reds traded him to Miami in December in exchange for right-hander Anthony DeSclafani and catcher Chad Wallach. The Marlins went to arbitration with Latos, and beat him. He will earn $9.4 million in 2015 instead of the $10.4 million he requested. Latos will be a free agent at the end of the season.

Latos also criticized the Padres in the interview with Rosenthal, something he'd done in the past.

"I don't remember specifically what he said, but I think he made some comments when he left San Diego, too," Jocketty said. "Consider the source."

As far as individual accusations, Price and others said they wouldn't go line-by-line to discuss them.

"I'm not going to get into a he-said, she-said environment, all I can tell you is a lot of things came out that shined a really negative light on our organization and that is unfair and inaccurate," Price said. "We have outstanding leadership from ownership through the front office, through the coaching staff, training and medical staff and we have outstanding, quality, high-character people in our clubhouse. We have our own imperfections, as does every other club, but this is a first-class organization and it's ridiculous we even have to discuss something of this nature that would shine a negative light on this organization, because we've done nothing to deserve it."

Said Jocketty: "There might have been a couple of things that were exaggerated — more than a couple… There's no reason to go there."

[jasontoddwhitt]

Re: 2014 Cincinnati Reds Thread

Joey Votto went on a five minute rant with the media today and I love it. An emotional, pissed off Votto sounds good to me.

"Ever since Scott (Rolen) left, there's been a lot of talk about leadership," Votto said, "and the importance of having one focal point. That's not how . . . that's not what's really going on in the clubhouse. We're a group of guys who have come up in the organization together at different times. As we grow, we're doing it collectively. So there's not going to be one focal point. We're doing it collectively as a unit.

"I know when we traded for Marlon (Byrd) the conversation was about his leadership qualities. Marlon's going to come here and be himself and bring what he brings and he's also going to fit in.

"The thing I wanted to say is we're doing all right. We just lost last year. We won three of the last five years. We had a couple of not-so-good runs in the playoffs. There's a lot of variables involved. There's no excuses. We just lost in the playoffs, but we got there. We won the division two out of three times.

"Last year, I would like to think was a bit of an aberration."

"The thing that upsets me most is the people who are talking about leadership and our clubhouse are not in clubhouse. They're not consistently here to make any sort of comment on the clubhouse. These are guys who very rarely show their face in the clubhouse. They're never on the bus, not in the hotel, certainly not on the field. These guys are constantly commenting about the importance of leadership with no sort of experience to be able to have that conversation. They don't see the interaction. They don't see the bench. They're going to write and talk endlessly about something they have no information on. And, to me, that's doing a disservice to this team. It's doing a disservice to the front office, the coaching staff. I think it's highly, highly convenient because we lost last year to highlight that.

"I played with Scott, a wonderful, wonderful teammate, but Scott was one of the more quiet guys I ever played with. He led as an example. We've got guys that don't need to be led because we are that example. You don't see any guys."

"Brandon (Phillips) has become a wonderful leader on this team and a wonderful teammate. It's been such a great experience playing with him and learning from him. He never gets any credit and he does little things nobody sees. The people who write and talk about it are not being very fair, I don't think. I think it's totally out of left field. I think, in my opinion, it's just talk. We win this year, all of a sudden there's going to be a leader on the team or a group of leaders, and so and so did this or so and so did that, we win and all of a sudden everything changes. We have one unhealthy year last year — not a good year, let's not forget about that, we did not have a good year last year — we need this and we need that. Leadership is one of the things people have been pointing out. I don't think it's objective."

Votto was asked who is this coming from?

"The less they're in our clubhouse, the more they have an opinion on our leadership," he said. "The less present they are, it seems to me, the more of an opinion they have on our leadership. I don't know anybody specifically (laughs, big smile). I take that back. I feel like there's several voices that feel a certain way and have a perception of what leadership looks like. I'm telling you, these guys are grinders, ***-kickers, you're not going to lead Devin Mesoraco. He's part of the leadership.

"You're not going to lead Brandon, he's part of the leadership. You don't need one focal point, we don't need rah-rah, we don't need everyone to be slapped on the *** and patted on the back, because we're not that group of guy. None of these guys need to be motivated to be at their very best. I'd like to think that this year we're going to play and play well and win and win the division again and all that chatter will just be chatter — chatter in the rear-view mirror. I just wanted to say something like that, because if it because a subject that's steady throughout the season, I think it does a disservice to the effort we put into (the season) and the personality we have in the clubhouse. I think it's just a specter, you know, it's not true. It's not true. So, take it for what you will."

[redsrule]

Re: 2014 Cincinnati Reds Thread

Votto is an extremely smart guy. I really wish he talked more to the media.


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[slickdtc]

Re: 2014 Cincinnati Reds Thread

Damn straight Votto!

Everyone can nitpick when you aren't a winner but you don't hear this crap when we won. It was Dusty's fault, remember?

Votto just did what a leader does. Saw the team under siege, and handled it.

Now let's play ball!

[TheShizNo1]

Re: 2014 Cincinnati Reds Thread

Loved reading that, but to kind of play devil's advocate here, isn't he being that guy? That vocal leader he says they don't have by doing this?

[Motown]

Re: 2014 Cincinnati Reds Thread

Loved reading that, but to kind of play devil's advocate here, isn't he being that guy? That vocal leader he says they don't have by doing this?

Votto comes off to me as the practical joker in the clubhouse, & in that Canadian Mountie getup he did on The MLB Network was HYSTERICAL!!!
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Asf5Exg94NI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[slickdtc]

Re: 2014 Cincinnati Reds Thread

That was truly glorious.

My man crush for Votto is at an all time high.