Location: Cincinnati, Ohio | Ballpark: Great American Ball Park (42,941) | Spring Training: Sarasota, Fla. (final season)
Owner: Robert Castellini | GM: Walt Jocketty | Manager: Dusty Baker | World Championships: 5
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POWER RANKINGS
Power Rankings
Date
Ranking
Previous
07/07/2009
23
20
Whenever Edwin Encarnacion touches the baseball, bad things happen -- a throw past the catcher on a potential force at the plate, an impromptu and unintentional juggling exhibition, etc. Get this guy into a DH cocoon, fast ... Edinson Volquez has been on a throwing program for so long that it's threatening to become a throwing miniseries ... It doesn't just seem like Bronson "Brandon" Arroyo is allowing a run almost every inning; he's actually doing it, with 37 plated in his last 38 frames ... Hello, Nick Masset! Somebody outside your immediate family recognizes that you're really good! Hi!
06/30/2009
20
21
It's great to see Joey Votto back in the lineup, but even greater that he's made enough progress to speak easily and openly about the depression that has plagued him ... Homer Bailey is 21 and has both a big dumb arm and a big dumb head. Somebody might've said the same thing about Curt Schilling at a similar point in his career. Giving up on him now would be folly ... Actual headline from the team's official site this morning: "Undersized Reds reliever has big heart" (with a sub-hed of "What Herrera lacks in height he makes up for in intensity"). A short guy saddled with rage issues and smothering feelings of inadequacy? I can relate.
06/23/2009
21
20
Joey Votto's return does a lot to return this batting order to its former state of minimal competence ... But I sure loved this quote by Reds' assistant something-or-other Eric Davis on the team's offensive struggles: "Our hitters are trying to think with the pitcher. You can't think with the pitcher. The pitcher is the dumbest guy out there. Half the time, he doesn't know what he is going to do, so how are you going to think with him?" Amen.
06/16/2009
20
15
They scored 15 runs during a six-game road trip to D.C. and Kansas City. "Slump" doesn't begin to describe it ... I don't watch the Reds every day, but I see them enough to identify Brandon Phillips, ostensibly a franchise cornerstone, as the league-leader in missed signs, urgency-free trots down the first-base line and general dumbassedness. This guy needs some tough love, stat.
06/09/2009
15
11
Given all the injuries and the beaten-down staff, how relieved must the Reds be to see the Nationals and Royals on this week's schedule? ... As a words monkey who harbors resentment toward his parents for not genetically blessing him with the ability to hit a curve ball, it's hard for me to understand what Joey Votto is going through. He gets to play baseball every day! How could that possibly be anything but cupcakes and wheelies and awesomeness? Nonetheless, here's hoping that he gets well and returns to the field before too long. Sans Votto and with Jay Bruce in the throes of a deathly slump, this offense will crater.
06/02/2009
11
14
Cincy's doctors are in the type of slump that would get a player bounced back to the minors. First they can't figure out if Joey Votto is vertiginous or just a little ditsy. Then they clear Edinson Volquez to return, only to see him disabled anew with numbness in his fingers. Perhaps the players aren't being 100 percent candid about how they're feeling, but the docs still gotta catch stuff like that.
05/26/2009
14
13
They're managing to stay in most games on the strength of their starters, but without Joey Votto and Brandon Phillips the Reds' offense should be mentioned alongside those of the Giants and Padres ... Homer Bailey just turned 23. I realize he's been more Nuke LaLoosh than Mike Mussina so far, but we should probably hold off on the obituaries.
05/19/2009
13
11
Getting swept by the Padres is an unpardonable sin, right up there with regicide or dating your best friend's sister. ... Kudos to Dusty Baker for not ruining a top-flight pitcher during a meaningless extra-inning game on the West Coast in May. After last year's destruction of poor, trusting Aaron Harang in similar circumstances, Dusty decided to make pinch-hitting sensation Micah Owings his play-out-the-string horse this time around. ... We say lots of critical things about players and teams in these here parts, but here's an approving, not-at-all-inappropriate pat on the rear for Chris Dickerson and his WePlayGreen.org environmental initiative. A ballplayer with a sense of civic responsibility -- how refreshing.
05/12/2009
11
12
If I were Bronson Arroyo, I'd sure be concerned if I saw GM Walt Jocketty paging through a copy of Soldier of Fortune ... Micah Owings might be the Reds' second-best pinch-hitting option. He's got the power of 12 Paul Janishes ... It's amazing how low-grade flus, like the one that felled Joey Votto and Brandon Phillips last week, rip through major-league clubhouses so quickly. Don't these guys ever wash their hands?
05/05/2009
12
14
Here comes the starting pitching, with Johnny Cueto looking fierce (against hitters inclined to curtsy when they reach the plate, but still) and Edinson Volquez refamiliarizing himself with the strike zone ... Along those lines, I'd be much more excited by the return of Bronson Arroyo's curveball from political exile if it had materialized against a team other than the Pirates.
Preseason Power Rankings
Date
Ranking
Previous
02/16/2009
16
-
Chris Dickerson ain't great, but he's a far better player in most ways that matter than Willy Tavarez, the guy he'll back up. ... When was the last time the Reds had a front four as strong as Harang/Volquez/Arroyo/Cueto? 1976? ... Utility wisp Jerry Hairston projects as the prime-time guy in left. Insert could've-used-Abreu-or-Dunn blurb here. ... I own Edinson Volquez in like 31 Fantasy leagues. The idea that his baseball adolescence will be managed by a certified arm-shredder like Dusty Baker makes my teeth hurt.
