more questionable moves from krivsky

[Wally Mo Pena]

the reds have claimed utility infielder matt kata from the phillies and released allan simpson. Now, i'm not saying that my love for allan simpson was entirely rational, but this just seems silly.

We have LOTS of utility infielders at this point, and the 27 yr old kata is certainly nothing with the bat (in 3 MLB seasons .248/.308/.392/.700), so he offers our team exactly nothing. Even if he somehow radically improves on that, he's not going to take away a starting position from EdE, Felo, Freel/Aurillia, or Dunn. So even if he gets better, he still gives our team exactly nothing.

on the other hand simpson has minor league career number of 3.66 ERA 7.38 h/9 0.40 hr/9 5.08 bb/9 9.84 k/9 1.38 WHIP. Yes it's too many walks, but he could have been servicable as is with a 1.38 WHIP. Is a servicable reliever worthless to the reds? no. it's better than we got out of belisle and coffey last year and about the same as mercker.

Now consider what he could be if he manages to cut down the walks, say by 2.08/9 (still not exactly great). Using my projection system based on pitching peripheral stats (http://strike3forums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8715) his ERA should have been about 4.21 in the minors, and it was probably a little lower because of the high k rate getting him out of some jams. say .25 for the sake of argument because of k's, the rest luck.

if he was able to drop his walks to 3 per 9IP, i'd project him to have an ERA of 3.33, and then with correction for high k/9, around 3.08. it's not an exact science by any means, but what i'm getting at is that this was a guy with the potential to be one of the reds best relievers if he marginally improves, and kata has the potential to be nothing even if he drastically improves.

for a team whose main need is pitching, we sure do seem to be getting rid of a lot of pitchers (hancock, hudson, simpson) who could have helped, and bringing in a lot of utility players (kata, McC, Perez) who have no chance of contributing.

[Krazyredsfanguy]

kata brings fantastical D according to baseball mogul

[Geki Ace]

It's a retarded move, but I really don't see how Simpson was going to magically cut two walks per nine innings while keeping his stuff. I wasn't high on Simpson, but Kata's just another mediocre 2B.

Freel
Aurilia
Womack
Menechino
Olmedo
Bergolla
Kata

I'm probably forgetting someone, too. That's too damn many potential 2B, and while I don't think Simpson was worth much, he's still better than Kata.

[Wally Mo Pena]

It's a retarded move... while I don't think Simpson was worth much, he's still better than Kata.

that's pretty much all i'm saying. I know it wasn't likely for simpson to get much better (though i thought his 0.63 ERA in the fall league was promising), i was just showing that if he did get better he would be of great use to the reds so it might have been worth trying to work with him, where as even if kata "magically" jumps his OPS 70 points he's still not going to be better than freel or aurillia. so why even bother trying to work with him?

i guess his defense could be good, and maybe that would make sense with krivsky, since the twins are notorious for having terrible hitters with good D.

[Saber]

They couldn't get Justin Baughman?

[CincyRedsFan30]

I'm thrilled to see Simpson gone. Hopefully Standridge joins him soon.

Great move, Krivsky!

Since we shouldn't expect any majors moves (it would be great if one happened but we shouldn't expect it), I have been very pleased with most of Krivsky's decisions during his very limited time as GM. The "meat" issues probably won't get addressed until the All-Star Break time range.

[Wally Mo Pena]

i just don't understand that, why are you thrilled? Help me out here. The AFL is where you send you're most promising prospects to get experience that's close to the majors. Simpson gave up one run in 14.1 innings with 14 strikeouts. He was one of the best relievers in the league and he throws 98.

maybe you don't think he had what it takes in the end. But why did you dislike him to the point that you're thrilled to see him go? Didn't those numbers excite you even a little?

[NFLman2033]

my problem is that 2b isn't our problem, Pitching is, so cutting a Pitcher, no matter how bad he is, for a joke 2b player doesn't seem to make any sense to me.

[Wally Mo Pena]

this is from MLB.com and starts to make the simpson move make more sense:

"The club felt Simpson's chance of making the team was slim and decided to release him now so he'd have a chance to hook on with another club."

so i guess in a way it was a nice thing to do, hopefully he doesn't come back to haunt us. if they were going to cut him to give him a chance somwhere else, i guess maybe they just needed to put someone on the roster, and picked up this kata guy. I'm not familiar with all the rules, but maybe if they put one of the other young guys on the 40 man they have to option them or something.

Could be in the end, the only reason they claimed this guy is that he's someone they wouldn't mind losing if they have to make another move later, who knows.

[CincyRedsFan30]

Yeah, I don't think much of Simpson. I find him a poor man's Scott Williamson. He will probably always been inconsistent and won't even be as good as Williamson.

I don't mind the Kata pickup. Perhaps it's a harbinger of Womack or someone else getting dumped or maybe Krivsky is stockpiling all of these players for a potential midseason move or moves.

I have faith in Wayne.

[missionhockey21]

The Kata move screams of a Freel trade to me, sadly.

[missionhockey21]

i guess his defense could be good, and maybe that would make sense with krivsky, since the twins are notorious for having terrible hitters with good D.

Let's just hope Wayne K wasn't the man responsible for bringing in Juan Castro and his career .270 OBP at a hefty contract considering his minimal talents with the bat.

[CincyRedsFan30]

If Freel is traded, it better be for something worthwhile.

I'm not sure that will happen though. That sounds more like idle speculation from some folks who think trades are going to happen after every move made.

I could be wrong though.

[Maximillian]

Picking up another reserve infielder and Dunn back in left field for today,s game has aroused some suspicions. One scenario I read on another board was that the Griffey to the Nationals rumor had no chance of bearing fruit. But the poster thought a three way swap involving the Mets, Nats and the Reds was possible. Here,s how he laid it out. The Mets covet Soriano(sp), Jimbo needs an outfielder and the Reds need pitching. Soriano goes to the Mets. Aaron Heilmann(sp) goes to the Reds. The Reds then send Wily Mo and Womack to Washington. I think he mentioned a player named Church coming to the Reds also. I'd sure hate to loose Wily Mo. Oh well, it's just a rumor.

[Wally Mo Pena]

sounds totally unfounded, but pretty interesting none the less. If the reds could get ryan church and aaron heilmann for wily mo and womack, they'd have to do it, but i can't imagine bowden would give up church in that deal. I like heilmann, but i think it would take more to get wily mo, so maybe they could work something out in between, a prospect from the mets maybe.