Baseball Insider: Family means most to Yost

[CincyRedsFan30]

Family means most to Yost

By Hal McCoy

Dayton Daily News

CINCINNATI | In this one, the Cincinnati Reds lost out to paternal loyalty, although Milwaukee manager Ned Yost III said he had zero to do with it.

The Reds were interested in catcher Ned Yost IV, a fifth-year senior at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, but he signed with his dad's Brewers last week.

Because Yost is a fifth-year senior, he didn't have to wait for the June amateur draft to sign. He was hitting .413 with 11 homers and 42 RBIs at UW-Oshkosh, by gosh, with a .500 on-base average, 60 runs scored, 15 doubles and 26 walks.

"It had nothing to do with me," said Daddy Yost. "He earned his way here, and the Brewers have been watching him for five years."

Yost said his son signed for, "A cheeseburger and french fries." Heck, the Reds would have thrown in a medium-sized diet soda.

Give Castro a hand

The Minnesota Twins are discovering what Cincinnati fans always knew — infielder Juan Castro has the softest hands this side of the Pilsbury doughboy commercial, and what he does on defense is a baseball ballet.

Castro has been the Twins starting shortstop the past two weeks and is hitting a respectable .273. His agility on defense makes him good enough to form the Rudolph Nureyev, Mikael Barishnikov & Juan Castro Trio.

"He fits into our mold here," said manager Ron Gardenhire. "He catches the ball."

And throws it. And sometimes hits it.

Pitchers Incorporated

The Atlanta Braves, a.k.a Pitchers Incorporated, just keep filling the holes from within. When starter John Thomson went down for at least two months, the Braves called up Kyle Davies from Triple-A Richmond.

In his first two major-league starts, the 21-year-old right-hander has not allowed a run over 10 1/3 innings and is 2-0.

How do they do it?

A humble Guillen

Former Reds outfielder Jose Guillen, not always a stand-up guy, was beating himself up after his Washington Nationals lost five of six, including three straight to the Reds, even though Guillen hit two homers in a 12-3 loss.

"I'm sick, sick, sick, sick," said Guillen. "I want to throw up. I don't think I should be hitting third. I should be hitting ninth, behind the pitcher. Seriously, it makes me sick."

The entire team made interim general manager Jim Bowden ill. After the three straight losses to the Reds, he made nine roster moves, eclipsing his personal record three years ago when he was GM of the Reds and made seven roster moves — between games of a doubleheader in Puerto Rico against the Montreal Expos, now the Washington Nationals.

Don't talk, throw

Just how effective are clubhouse meetings? They are a bust in Oakland. After catcher Jason Kendall called a players-only meeting before a game against Tampa Bay, the Devil Rays scored 10 runs in the first inning.

"I guess you could say the meeting didn't work," said third baseman Eric Chavez.

Maybe Kendall should work more on his throws than his rhetoric.

He has thrown out only one of the last 30 base stealers, and opponents have stolen 38 against him this season, most in the majors. He probably wouldn't be good at talking about it, either.

Money ball

The St. Louis Cardinals are 19-4 against National League Central foes. Why are they so far in front that last-place Houston is closer to second place than second-place Milwaukee is to first place?

One reason might be that the St. Louis payroll is from $5 million to $55 million more than the other five teams in the division.

And, of course, they have a genius as a manager.

[redsrbetter]

Yost IV is a catcher! Does this mean that DanO really sees the need for a catcher? Clement may be on the list then. Its a shame that DanO really screwed up not keeping Estalella around.

[CincyRedsFan30]

I'm sure O'Brien doesn't think LaRue brings enough of a vetern presence, and he probably thinks he K's too much, meaning he isn't advancing runners and hitting sac. flies the way O'Brien wants him to. I'm sure O'Brien thinks signing a Catcher is one of the team's biggest priorities and that adding starting pitching is just secondary. He's basically conceded as much with his comments about how moving runners over and hitting sac. flies is one of the team's bigest issues and that the starting pitchers will in essence "come around", despite pasts that suggest they won't.

The guy looks more and more clueless by the day. Just totally unbelievable. And not in a good way.

[Steak]

Nice to see my boy Juan Castro get some love. He has been solid for the Twins. He has earned his SS job.

Kyle Davies could be another long list of Atlanta's crop of good pitching.

The A's are a mess

McCoy is right on my boy, LaRussa. TLR should be in the Hall today. He is the man. He is the reason why the Cardinals have been great.

[CincyRedsFan30]

Castro has certainly been better than Aurilia. I didn't shed any tears over him being dumped, but if I had known Aurilia was going to be given SS, I would have rooted for us keeping Castro. At least he brings the D and has brought a bit of offense so far thsi year.

I still give most of the Cardinals' credit to Jocketty, but I do have to say LaRussa has done a nice job with them. Maybe he'll finally win that elusive World Series this year.

[Steak]

The thing is the Twins were banking on Jason Bartlett to be the everyday SS. Unfortunately, he struggled hitting and he wasn't getting it done defensively. Considering how the Twins are in fight for the playoffs, they couldn't afford to wait for him to develop through playing time with the club so they sent him to the minors to develop. Juan Castro started to play good defense which is a must to get playing time. Juan has gotten some hits. I am happy for Juan even though I would love to see Bartlett get it together. Jason is still the team's future at SS.