loosing respect for the hardball times

[Wally Mo Pena]

Tons of people in the industry rave about The Hardball Times, but i just found what i think to be one of the most biased and irresponsible baseball articles i've ever read on their site, in their rankings of offseason moves:

30. Cincinnati Reds

Last year, the New York Yankees made the absolutely stupid decision to give up $2 million dollars a year for two years of service from Tony Womack. He showed them just how stupid they were by hitting .249/.276/.280 in 329 at-bats for an abysmal OPS+ of 47. Good thing for the Yankees they have a big payroll and can absorb a lost $2 million, because surely nobody would want to take Womack off their hands.

Well, maybe not so surely. The Reds decided to one-up the Yankees by not only agreeing to give Womack his $2 million, but also giving the Yankees two players (Kevin Howard and Ben Himes) for the pleasure of doing so. The fact that neither Howard nor Himes is anything to write home about is unimportant. Smart teams wouldn't want Womack even if he paid them a million bucks to take up a spot on the roster. Giving up money and players (however uninteresting) for his services is inexcusable.

The other trade the Reds made was very perplexing, since we've heard for years about how important Sean Casey is to them and how reluctant they are to trade him. When they finally do decide to trade him (admittedly after a down year), all they can get is Dave Williams? They really need a 27-year-old who has 211 strikeouts and 140 walks in 335 innings that badly?

Bringing back Rich Aurilia for only $1.3 million isn't terrible because he was solid for them last year. And giving $700,000 to Scott Hatteberg isn't going to matter much in the grand scheme of things (although that money is just as wasted as the money spent on Womack). And signing Adam Dunn to a two-year deal with an option for a third is smart.

But overall, the Reds didn't do enough to address their big need (pitching), and some of the acquisitions they made were just so strange that you can't help but wonder what the Reds were thinking this winter. I guess it probably didn't help things that the ownership and front office was in flux, but that doesn't make it any easier for Cincinnati fans to accept what happened.

[Wally Mo Pena]

I can think of several teams right off the top of my head that did well worse this winter (can you say soriano anyone?), and the reds did just as well as many teams high up the list, and arguably better (the twins were #11).

this article seems entirely motivated by their hatred for tony womack, which while i understand, is way overblown. The reason the yankees were stupid was that they wanted womack to start. The reds are paying 1 million for a servicable and versitile utility guy, which may not be the best money ever spent, but is decidedly not stupid.

after that what do you have? they seem to hate the casey trade because they've "heard for years about how important Sean Casey is," which is piss-poor from an institution that's supposed to be all about analysis. We've all gone over the trade, and it makes sense, plain and simple. it was tough to swallow, but it makes sense.

Then he brushes off the dunn signing and doesn't mention gosling at all. Sure the reds didn't bring in a front line starter, but the fact that they got tony womack doesn't mean that they had the worst offseason.

So many people are going to choke on their articles when the reds are decent this year.

[Geki Ace]

It's decidely very stupid. Tony Womack does not deserve to be a major league player. The Dunn signing doesn't actually matter, since we're only gonna keep him for as long as we had him before anyways. Gosling's not gonna make the team, and the fact that picking him up is something that you think should be a positive just tells you how piss-poor our offseason was. I don't object to the Casey trade, but I also don't know that it's going to make the team better.

While there probably are teams that had worse offseasons, there aren't many. The Reds added one player to their rotation, lost quality bench depth in exchange for bad bench depth, and signed a bunch of senior citizens to help out the pen. Whine about hate for Womack all you want, but he had one of the worst seasons in baseball history last year, and I don't see any reason why he'll improve.

[Wally Mo Pena]

how am i whining? just stating an opinion about their journalism and actually said that i agreed with their hatred of womack. you are a dick, so i guess i shuold have expected it, but again i'll take you to school out of the kindness of my heart.

i liked what i've seen/read about gosling and whether or not he makes the team out of spring training it's depth in the rotation and should help louisville. good waiver grab.

we added an option year with dunn and got him below market value, so that's a good deal. And it increases our chances of keeping him long term.

adding a starting pitcher with an ERA below 4.5 (what the reds need) and actually increasing the offense (always nice) at the same time and letting young players develop is a good move. Then you add to that the fact that we save money getting out of casey's contract and have williams for three years instead of casey's one, and it looks pretty solid.

and how did we lose quality bench depth? we didn't lose anyone.

hammond is solid and white should be alright. And while i don't think they were great moves, they weren't terrible, and all i said was the reds didn't have the worst offseason of any team. I'd put them around 20 probably, but that's a pretty big difference. anyway, you can thank me for the intellectual boost over PM, we don't need this thread to get all mushy.

[Geki Ace]

You know, for all your claims of "taking me to school", you never seem to be able to win an argument. If you want to put the Reds around 20, I want to see you name the 10 teams that had a worse offseason.

My point about Gosling was that if he's something to brag about for this offseason, you know it has sucked. The man was let go by the Diamondbacks, for heaven's sake. Everyone seems to be assuming that Dunn's option will be picked up, but with the buyout as small as it is, I don't see that happening. While he's worth $13 million on the open market, I'd be surprised if he actually got it two years from now.

As I said, I don't have a problem with the Casey trade, but it's really not a trade that we won overwhelmingly or anything. It's a fine trade, but it's not going to make the team much better. Whether or not the offense improves depends on if our outfielders can stay healthy and play up to their level. And, as overrated as hitting for average is, I'd be unsurprised to see us with three .260 or lower hitters batting 4-6. That's not good run production, plain and simple. Williams should be an improvement for the staff, but I expect that he'll struggle to get an ERA under 4.50, and he's still not gonna be that great of a pitcher.

We lost quality bench depth by trading Casey, as now we don't have Wily Mo to come off the bench. We lost quality bench depth by trading for Tony Womack, because he's not a quality player. Our bench right now is looking like Aurilia, Womack, Hatteburg, Valentin, and Denorfia. That's a solid bench, but not as good as what we had last year. Therefore, we lost quality bench depth. Hammond is decent and White sucks, but neither addressed the team's closer problem or lack of a good fifth starter. The fact that they're both on Medicare is also a bit discouraging, to be honest. This isn't a team that's one cagey lefthander in the bullpen away from competing, and we should be looking to sign younger guys who could have an impact beyond this season.

[CincyRedsFan30]

One good thing about not having WMP on the bench is that he gets to play and develop and won't be in a bad mood over a lack of playing time, which could lead to clubhouse issues at this point, as he seemed to be getting quite annoyed last year about the situation(as did Kearns).

[Geki Ace]

I think Wily Mo deserves to start and I think he'll make a serious run at 40 homers if he stays healthy, but as irritating as Casey was with all his double plays and lack of power, the man could just plain hit when his shoulder was fine. I think he complements our lineup a bit better than Wily Mo, and I don't think we're gonna see much change in overall run production either way due to the switch between the two.

[CincyRedsFan30]

Casey didn't have the OPS, which would have helped the offense out more.

[Geki Ace]

Casey's OPS was a whopping 2 points lower than Wily Mo's last year, and about 70 points higher the year before that.

[CincyRedsFan30]

WMP is also younger. Casey isn't going to get his up any higher. He has been on a pretty steady decline over the last few years in general. WMP is just getting started, even despite his lack of patience he's displayed.

[Providence A's]

The Reds had the #1 offense in the NL last year (scored the most runs)...that wasn't and isn't their problem.

[Geki Ace]

WMP is also younger. Casey isn't going to get his up any higher. He has been on a pretty steady decline over the last few years in general. WMP is just getting started, even despite his lack of patience he's displayed.

Steady decline? He went from about .760 to well over .900 down to .794. I see a lack of steady decline. Wily Mo's OPS is never going to be all that gaudy because his OBP is going to hover around .310-.320. He could hit 35 homers per year and still not put up an OPS over .850. I see his offensive numbers being comparable to Alfonso Soriano. Casey wasn't going to get better, but he doesn't tend to be prone to slumps and he makes contact, which is a bit of a premium in our lineup. While strikeouts are overrated, I expect Wily Mo to shatter Dunnsy's record if he plays the whole year. Having Dunn, Kearns, and Wily Mo hitting back-to-back-to-back is gonna be hellish for opposing pitchers at times, and hellish for any rallies we might have begun at others. Casey provided balance and may have been a better match for what we've got.

[CincyRedsFan30]

As I said, as a whole Casey's stats. haven't been as good in recent years.

He might make contact, but a lot of that contact has caused DPs.

Strikeouts are just another out. We all know that as it's been proven through factual evidence.

[Geki Ace]

Casey's stats have been just as good as Wily Mo's. While strikeouts are just another out, Wily Mo makes those outs at an exceptionally high rate, which you don't want out of your 5 or 6 hitter. Dunn generally strikes out on good pitches and works walks to even out his strikeouts. Wily Mo strikes out on the same pitch over and over and almost never walks. The fact that Casey, with a bum shoulder, was still able to get on 70 points more often than Wily Mo says something about Wily Mo's impending production. Like I said, Alfonso Soriano without the steals (or the playing second base).

[CincyRedsFan30]

I have been nervous about WMP too, as you would know if you have read my posts regarding him before.

I just don't agree that getting someone young like him playing time is a bad idea and I don't think we will be hurting without Casey.