SB Nation User Blog: The Crushinator

Calling All New Yorkers and Bostonians Sept 25 and 27!!!

The Crushinator — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 16:05:43 -0000

Calling All New Yorkers and Bostonians Sept 25 and 27!!!

My band is opening for the Slackers an awesome New York staple for the past 15 years at the Bowery Ballroom. If you haven't seen them shame on you. We will be playing at 8 if you want to come by. We will also be up in Boston on the 27th at the Middle East, same deal I believe. Come say hello!!

Understanding HAVOC

The Crushinator — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 23:32:15 -0000

I was thinking about speed in relation to some of the stuff I've seen about the value of a single, double, triple and HR in terms of runs created. I noticed things like HRs equal 1.4 runs and other hits have depreciating values attached to them. (I don't remember where I saw it otherwise I would put them up, but I’m sure you know what I’m talking about.) If I recall correctly a single had X more value than a walk, likely because singles create X more total bases than a walk would. I assume this is statistic is based upon many many observations over many seasons, but with a HAVOC filed lineup like the Reds, wouldn't a single be worth more with a runner like T-virus on base than a person with league average speed, as T-virus would be more likely to create more total bases off of a single than a league average runner would? If this were true then couldn’t you augment the value of a single, double and triple to account for the higher likelihood of scoring a runner with good speed? I wonder what level of speed T-virus and BP would have to have to create an equal amount of runs to hitters with a higher on base percentage and league average speed. I’m really grasping at straws to try to create a scenario where HAVOC might be a good thing, otherwise I might kill myself this season.

Get ready to have your mind blown

The Crushinator — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 04:37:52 -0000

Ok check this out. When I was growing up in New Jersey I was always a huge hockey fan, played it, watched it, and fought about it. In this area of the country, as some of you hillbillies may or may not know, there are three hockey teams, the best being the Devils and the worst being the Rangers. Being a smart kid, I noticed pretty early on that the Devils usually trailed the Rangers in the standings early in the season, not because they were losing games, but because the Rangers for some reason would front load their schedule and usually have 5 or 6 more games played through the first half of their season. Now being a smart young adult this had me thinking about baseball. A bunch of teams can’t compete with team salaries being the way they are, so we even the playing field by getting rid of the 162 game season. There will be no game limit. If you can schedule it you can play it. This would blow the whole lid off the system! A good team may decide they only need to play 100 games and keep their guys fresh, and maybe has a three man pitching rotation. Teams like the Royals may keep rotating people from the minors to the majors and try to run up 180 games. It would be a completely new era in strategy, teams would get extra attendance, we’d get more baseball.

Everything would be perfect…

I think it’s a fantastic Idea……

Stupid people weigh in on the Freel trade

The Crushinator — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 06:16:19 -0000

I was mulling over the Farney trade while reading all of your very insightful comments, and then I thought, I wonder what stupid people think? These are the highlights I pulled off the reds message board.

-“Why would anyone care if the Reds trade Freel ? My wife was a little upset but then again she really doesn't care that he is always hurt and if the Reds win or loose.While he did put forth great effort when he was healthy sometimes that led to doubles and triples instead of singles in the field and getting thrown out stealing when the team didn't need a steal”.-anonymous

”… johnney cueto(who did amazing for a 22 year old rookie)and micah owings(a desent pitcher and batter) if you dont think thats a good rotation ur crazy and the reds got jeff keppinger(amasing hitter and defence) and alex gonzalas(got some pop and defense) i agree with you…” –anonymous

“HAHA! Freel is not that good, he just plays hard. Dunn was HORRIBLE. 230 average with 200 strikeouts.-anonymous

“Is he still going to be at reds fest....I liked him”- anonymous

“Way to go Walter. What a steal! Didn't even have to pull a gun on the rube.”-anonymous

Now Fay’s blog!

“ChampSummers's comment has been removed for violating the terms of service.”-Champ Summers

“I speak a little spanish. Maybe I can catch for the Reds.”- Redguy 25

“…Freel was worse than Corey Patterson.”

Do you think ESPN has stupid people? Let’s find out together!

“I thought the title said: Reds get Hernandez from Orioles for Free!”-pseudooxan

“World Series 2009: Orioles vs. Reds” –danielmiller19

Milb.com rates Alonso at 34

The Crushinator — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 17:51:53 -0000

Milb.com is rating the top 50 prospects in baseball, and the first and possibly only Red to appear on the list is young Yonder Alonso at number thirty four and heres what they had to say.

"Statistically speaking: After getting in six games with Sarasota in the Florida State League, Alonso showed just what made him the No. 7 overall pick in the Draft in Hawaii. He finished ninth in average (.308), sixth in OBP (.419) and fifth in SLG (.510). That made his OPS of .929 the fourth-best in the winter circuit.

Scouting report: A pro at the plate, Alonso should be a run producer with good plate discipline and power. Showed power mostly to the middle and opposite field in college, but will learn to turn on pitches. He doesn't run well, but he doesn't clog the bases and he's just fine at first base defensively.

Upside potential: A middle-of-the-order run producer who hits for average and power.

They said it: "He swung the bat the way everyone that had seen and scouted him thought he would. He hit some home runs and drove in some big runs." -- Reds Minor League Director Terry Reynolds

He said it: "I play with a lot of hunger. I consider myself a line-drive hitter. I can drive the ball, but I'm more of a gap-to-gap guy. I'm a very passionate guy. I take baseball very seriously. I'm a winner."- milb.com

From what I read of the other prospects, milb.com apparently thinks we are going to have fifty new All-Stars joining the MLB ranks in the next couple years... They are pretty heavy handed with their praise, yet there is no mention of the Hall of Fame or the All Universe team for Alonso and it has me pretty steamed. From what I have been reading on Doug's website over at redsminorleagues.com the rating system seems to be a bit flawed but its still nice to see Alonso get some national press.

All right I did a fanpost, yeeah

Hey everybody, quick question

The Crushinator — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 20:08:49 -0000

Im not a Rockies fan per se, but i do appreciate your organizations success. That being said, I have two questions; with Fuentes more than likely leaving, who will be your closer next year, and what kind of a deal are you guys expecting for one year of Holliday? since i need a longer post I guess if you could give me a paragraph overview of your organization for someone ignorant of the state of the organization that would be awesome too. Thank you very much and come visit me at redreporter.com sometime

There are alot of Reds fans in NYC...

The Crushinator — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 12:48:27 -0000

I moved to New York about a year ago and walking around the city this weekend looking for people who I thought might know the score of the Yankees Reds games reminded me about a fun little adjustment I had to make after my move. I live in a mostly black neighborhood in Brooklyn and I didn't know anyone at all when I moved here, so I naturally tried to make some friends. The first thing i noticed was an inordinate amount of people wearing Cincinnati Reds hats, and i thought "awesome a whole bunch of Reds fans, this is going to be great." After about 3 weeks of walking up to people and asking "hey are you a Reds fan too? I just moved out from Cincinnati myself!" and getting some pretty strange glances I realized something was afoot. Turns out one of the Subgroups of the Bloods hat of choice is the Reds cap with the black brim, also alot of dudes just wear it to match their outfit. Safe to say I felt like an ass. They seemed to be pretty entertained by my complete ignorance though. On a pleasant side note it was nice to see Edinson Volquez, "the Red Baron" plastered all over the back pages of the newspapers this weekend, it made me wistful for the Nasty Natti.

Is there anybody down in Florida right now besides Fay?

The Crushinator — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 18:52:31 -0000

Ive been checking Fay's Red insider every day for info on whats going down at spring training, but the majority of his articles seem to be puff pieces about Baker or whoever. There was a nice one a bit earlier about Coffey tossing meatballs and Volquez and Cuteo working well in BP, but is that all you can really glean from spending a week watching baseball? I was wondering if there were any other bloggers or websites that recapped the day to day down at the camp and had any real insight on whats happening with the team. Id love to hear how Andy Phillips is hitting or whats going on with all those new catchers or how Jay Bruce is hitting. There was one interview that Fay did with Valentin in which he pretty much said to throw Volquez in the bullpen, but he had already completed his mandatory daily paragraph and didn't feel the need to dig any deeper with this. Anyone who can put up some links to some real reporting would be a big help.

Would you trade Hamilton

The Crushinator — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 01:59:27 -0000

I was watching the tv broadcast a couple of days ago and they were discussing a hamilton trade. Obviously this is most likely just an inflamatory statement to spur discussion, and origionally dismissed it as such. But now a couple of days later i think of our current dirth of outfielders, Dunn is coming back and can't be traded Hopper hasn't shown any inclination of slowing down, and we are in dire need of a leadoff hitter. Griffey is Griffey PLUS hes expensive and injury prone; ie not great trade bait(i think thats how you use a semi-colon.) Theres Hamilton whos played excelent but had a frightening amount of injuries this season, and theres Bruce waiting in the wings. Now I like Hamilton as a player and I like watching him on the field, but you and i both know we NEED pitching to compete, so, would you trade Hamilton if the arms in return were right?