Feast or Famine

[redsrbetter]

Feast. Famine.
That's a cycle the Florida Marlins have gotten used to. A lot of bad years. A world championship in 1997. A firesale. Bad years. World Series title in 2003. Two decent years. And another firesale.
I wouldn't want to be a Marlins fan. That's a few too many ups and downs for me. And the downs go pretty deep. I would probably cry if my team went the firesale route.
But here's the thing. Feast or famine isn't such a bad way to go in Major League Baseball. It's a heck of a lot better than small, unsatisfying meals year after year.
In other words, sometimes the best way to build is to tear down and start with a blank slate instead of building in little bits and having to deal with changing blueprints along the way.
That's the difference between the Marlins and a team like the Cincinnati Reds.
The Reds have been on roughly the same path since 2000, when they traded for Ken Griffey, Jr. and seemed to decide that a powerful offense was a lot more important than a dominant pitching staff. They've built around players like Sean Casey, Adam Dunn, and Austin Kearns. They've tried to get by with pitching rotations featuring the likes of Pete Harnisch and Paul Wilson. Either way, it hasn't really worked. The Reds have been over .500 once in the last five years.
It's not entirely their fault. The Reds finished 96-67 the year before Griffey arrived. They thought Griffey would push them over the top. Unfortunately, Griffey got hurt in 2000 and only got completely healthy again last year. And sometimes, a team can only cast its lot with the players it has and take the chance. For the Reds, that means a slugging, but strikeout-prone outfielder in Dunn, a power-deficient first baseman in Casey, and a suddenly mediocre youngster in Kearns.
That, combined with an always-mediocre pitching staff, has forced the Reds into the same breath as the Royals — a small-market team that may never win.
But maybe the biggest problem for the Reds is that they're stuck in the middle. They had a plan, they went with it, and it hasn't worked. But instead of scrapping the plan, they've made little adjustments, building things piecemeal, with a pitcher here and a pitcher there. But the formula has remained the same for five years. The Reds can hit, and the Reds can't pitch. No feast. No famine. Just mediocrity.
Would the Reds be better served starting from scratch? It's entirely possible.
Just look at the Marlins. In 1997, their hired guns won a World Series then packed their bags. The players who filled in were no-names. The Marlins' best record in the next five seasons was three games under .500.
But they were building something. And in 2003, they finished, winning the World Series with the players they had made room for in '97.
They bit the bullet, lived through the famine and got to the feast. There were no piecemeal additions. Just solid construction.
Now, the Marlins are doing it again, though not necessarily because they think it's the way to go. Their offseason firesale came about more because of dissatisfaction with their situation in Florida than because of a carefully-laid plan.
But the results may end up being the same. While Josh Beckett and A.J. Burnett and Juan Pierre and Carlos Delgado were shipped out, the players who arrived aren't so bad. Young, but with plenty of potential. Hanley Ramirez was Boston's top prospect last year. Sergio Mitre was solid for the Cubs, but never really got the chance. The same could be said for Mike Jacobs.
Of course, it remains to be seen what will become of these Marlins. But it's bound to be better than what may become of these Reds. Cincinnati looks better this year. They sent Casey to Pittsburgh. They acquired a solid starter in Bronson Arroyo. And new ownership is promising changes.
But if the Reds have learned anything from baseball's landscape they should know this: minor adjustments along the way rarely work for anybody other than the Yankees or the Red Sox.
Sometimes, a famine is the only way to go.

http://www.sports-central.org/sports...and_famine.php

I am not too sure that the Reds would go this route. Castellini is far too impatient (good thing) and they are slowly getting a better team together. We have a good core of players and some young up and comers. Now it is a matter of continuing to get prospects as much as possible along with shoring up the pitching.

I think the only way Cast can do this is by opening up some money to buy a few FA pitchers this offseason and then trading guys like Griffey and Milton for prospects. Make sure that this year's draft comes out to be a very positive one, and we will look 5 times better next season in both the MLB level and all minor league levels as well.

[Wally Mo Pena]

i think moves like the wily mo trade show that we're going in the right direction. It was the first deal in a while where the reds actually gave something of value up to get something that fits with a solid plan. For years we haven't been willing to deal anything of value (like that guy we traded for ramon ortiz).

I disagree with this article in that i don't think we need to "start over," but we are going to need to deal some pieces that we might not want to lose. If it means getting strong young pitchers, guys we want to keep will have to be moved.