Who won't be a Red in 06'?

[Cincy]

My guesses are.....

Kearns- traded
Randa- leaves as FA
Larue- non-tendered
Milton(I can hope)- traded (for a Juan Castro baseball card)
Dunn- traded
Mercker- traded
Miley's b*tch(Aurilia)- traded

And even though these are all good player(except for Milton and Aurilia), I think we will be a much better team in 06'.

[Reds_fan_4_life]

Dunn wont be traded.

[missionhockey21]

Randa will be traded IMO Cincy. He's playing hot as is Ed E and I imagine the Reds would like to see what Ed E can do soon while shipping Randa to a contender for hopefully a decent spect. And I just cant see both Kearns and Dunn being traded at this point, but I can see one of them being traded.

Mercker, Aurilia, Ortiz (on a one year deal), Randa, and Weathers is who I see being traded off for sure.

On a sidenote, I hope the Reds aren't foolish enough to let LaRue walk. Even if we dont plan to compete in 06, I am not ready to watch Dane play everyday. Hopefully if they do let Jason walk or trade him... we can get a good AAA catching spect back from someone in one of our deals.

[CincyRedsFan30]

Not to mention LaRue is above average for Catchers.

[missionhockey21]

That goes without saying. He also brings a lot of intangibles to this team. If I could have a team full of players with LaRue's attitude, determination and work ethic.... you better believe I would.

[CincyRedsFan30]

Some have the misguided thought that LaRue is a bad hitter and poor on defense. Neither of those are the case.

[Wally Mo Pena]

i would list larue as an average catcher because he isn't very good behind the plate (though he's got a good arm). That being said, i like what he brings to the team as well, and you can't have an all-star at every position, so where you have average, you should at least have average with heart. And i think he will sign a multi-year deal after this season.

I think Kearns will be gone before the year is out, there are too many contenders that need an OF right now to keep him on the bench. Plus he doesn't seem to get on with the organization that well.

Randa will be gone before the deadline, and at this point he's going to bring a lot, which is great, but i'll be sad to see him go. I wish he could have been a red for longer.

Aurillia will be dumped when machado or olmedo come up. No one will trade for him, because he sucks, but someone will take him and be sorry they did.

They probably won't have Luis Lopez next year, or ricky stone.

The big question will be Dunn. I think the organization will try to sign him long term to avoid arbitration. I hope he takes it and continues to improve. He might not though, with all that has come up recently. If he doesn't, they will offer him arbitration and begin shopping him. They'd deal him before the deadline and get a lot for him.

[Wally Mo Pena]

Some have the misguided thought that LaRue is a bad hitter and poor on defense. Neither of those are the case.

Jason Larue was tied for the lead in Passed Balls last year, and he was tied with Doug Mirabelli who only catches a knuckleballer. So i think there is some argument for Larue not being a great defensive catcher.

[Wally Mo Pena]

Also lead the majors in Passed Balls in 2002.

[CincyRedsFan30]

Jason Larue was tied for the lead in Passed Balls last year, and he was tied with Doug Mirabelli who only catches a knuckleballer. So i think there is some argument for Larue not being a great defensive catcher.

Passed Balls don't lead to many runs over the course of a season. That's another misguided notion.

[Wally Mo Pena]

I never said they did, that was your misguided assumption. But they are a way to judge a catcher's defense. OF assists and errors don't lead to that many runs either, in fact, defense as a whole doesn't lead to that many runs being saved. That's why if you have a slugger who can't play D that well, you still play them Sure it's great to have a gold glover out there, but a position player get's 5 AB's a game to produce and may not get a ball hit to them the whole game. So overall it's better to have great offense over defense. But that was never the discussion, a problem you have pretty often CRF. You claimed that LaRue wasn't a bad defensive catcher, regardless of how important that is, and the truth is, he's a pretty bad defensive catcher. But he throws people out well, and he has above average power and on-base skills, so overall, he's pretty decent.

[CincyRedsFan30]

His ability to throw runners out is part of his defense, and he's good enough at doing that that his defense is tilted in a positive direction.(His ability to gun down runners outweighs the negatives of a few passed balls, because he erases more runners than he allows runners to advance and score). As you said, the "D" for him is overrated anyway, but he is a positive attribute on defense as a whole, and definitely one on offense.

[QuietAcre]

Not to mention LaRue is above average for Catchers.

In what way, exactly? I've seen the same thing said on another board, with nothing to back it up. Jason does the following things that I do not think qualify him as above average:

- passed balls
- poor batting average
- pitching ERA isn't impressive with him in there

About the only thing I can think of that *might* give him brownie points is his ability to throw out runners. That's about it, for Larue, though. No way is he worth the money he's making. If the bottom of the lineup weren't so piss-poor, I think you'd see the better hitters at the top of the lineup. That's the only thing that I can think of that has led to the speedier guys leading off and the sluggers in the bottom of the order.

[QuietAcre]

His ability to throw runners out is part of his defense, and he's good enough at doing that that his defense is tilted in a positive direction.(His ability to gun down runners outweighs the negatives of a few passed balls, because he erases more runners than he allows runners to advance and score). As you said, the "D" for him is overrated anyway, but he is a positive attribute on defense as a whole, and definitely one on offense.

Jason Larue is: (both leagues, NL)

BAVG .245 (36th, 19th)
OBP .348 (13th, 5th)

If it weren't for all the HBP's, he probably would fare as well as he is with his BAVG. Plus, HBP's are never a good thing. They lead to broken bones, suspended players, and a lot of them are an indicator that a player can't swing a bat.

[CincyRedsFan30]

In what way, exactly? I've seen the same thing said on another board, with nothing to back it up. Jason does the following things that I do not think qualify him as above average:

- passed balls
- poor batting average
- pitching ERA isn't impressive with him in there

About the only thing I can think of that *might* give him brownie points is his ability to throw out runners. That's about it, for Larue, though. No way is he worth the money he's making. If the bottom of the lineup weren't so piss-poor, I think you'd see the better hitters at the top of the lineup. That's the only thing that I can think of that has led to the speedier guys leading off and the sluggers in the bottom of the order.

You've seen stats. on that board that prove he's been an above average catcher, especially over the last couple of years. Passed balls lead to very few runs being scored over the course of a season...VERY few. His batting average isn't huge, especially when he is usually batting right behind Aurilia in the lineup, who isn't on base often. The pitching ERA isn't impressive because the Reds' pitchers are bad.

Last year here is how it looked:

"The Reds were 54–52 and pitchers had a 4.92 ERA in games LaRue started last season".

The team had an ERA well into the 5 range and a record of 22-34.