SB Nation User Blog: ben nevis

The Latest from the Fay

ben nevis — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 17:56:08 -0000

Fay posted a fairly quick report on Jocketty's action at the GM meetings. There's a condensed (barely) version on MLBTR. The good news is, Khalil Greene rumors are a lie. It's nice to see Jocketty recognizing that it just doesn't make any sense, especially long term. Also nice to see Jocketty refusing to offer up the young pitching base we've finally been able to establish, though MLBTR assumes Homer is movable. Finally catching is on the list. Isn't it on everyone's list? And Walt has begun talks with Hairston's people and will approach Weathers, Affeldt, and Lincoln about resigning.

It's not a ton of news, but what should be the approach on Hairston, Weathers, Affeldt, and Lincoln? What would you guys offer?

Is any amount too much for Maddux?

ben nevis — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 19:34:00 -0000

Here's the report from the Padre's website for yesterday's game against the Angels:

Greg Maddux certainly looked in midseason form Friday, as he needed just 24 pitches -- including 19 strikes -- over three scoreless innings. He did not allow a hit or a walk.

It reminded me of his 68-pitch, 8 inning performance against the Giants on Aug 13, 2006. About a month later he threw 68 in 7 innings against the Padres. And a quick glance at his '07 numbers and he never threw over 100 pitches all last year and finished 14-10 with 4.14 ERA.

Now, I know he's clearly one of the best pitchers of this generation, let alone history. My question is this: is it too early to start talking to him about becoming the pitching coach of the Reds once he retires? And could you just promise him, like, $7m/yr? Whatever he knows about pitching, it's worth a lot of money.

Bill James Article

ben nevis — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 12:58:18 -0000

The Boston Globe had a short article on Bill James this morning, in which he refers to Paul Daugherty, saying, "Who does he think he is?! I'm Bill James, bitch!" Actually, he never said that. But it is an interesting read. Of special note to Reds fans is the mention of David Ross, James's '07 Kingman Award winner.

Baseball Strategy

ben nevis — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 16:19:11 -0000

I didn't notice this at the end of last year, but I read the other day that LaRussa is having his pitchers bat 8th in the lineup this spring and possibly into the season. I'm not a big fan of LaRussa (I think he's generally overrated), but I'm curious. Can someone with a little more baseball knowhow clue me in? What's the TLR trying to do here?

Face of the Franchise

ben nevis — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 19:48:27 -0000

ESPN.com just put up a page in which they're polling analysts and fans to find out who people think is the "face" of each MLB franchise. Like most of the polls ESPN seems to put on, it's little more than a easy way to waste a couple of minutes. My interest was peaked, however, when I noticed that our own JD is scheduled to weigh in with his opinion as Reds expert later this week. So go check it out if for no other reason than to support the efforts of our fearless leader.

I think mostly this is little more than ESPN.com's writers to come up with something to do ('cause I don't think they're usually offering up much useful material), but I am excited simply to see more and more "mainstream" media turning to the blogging community for their take on the sports and teams they care about.

Pat Forde on Cincinnati

ben nevis — Wed, 25 Apr 2007 21:46:56 -0000

Espn.com posted an article by Pat Forde today that discusses the unique nature of the city of Cincinnati. Specifically, he considers its rampant conservatism juxtaposed with its rampant affection for rough-and-tumble guys like Pete Rose and Bob Huggins.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=forde_pat&id=2848689&sportCat=ncb& ;lpos=spotlight&lid=tab1pos1

I thought it was an interesting read, but I don't live in Cincinnati myself. I actually don't live anywhere near it, but my family has all come from there. I'm curious how some natives feel about the article.

Also, somebody's gotta tell me how to embed html links into text so I don't have to post that long string of a web address.

Hats Off, Fellow Red Reporters

ben nevis — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 14:09:42 -0000

On NPR's Morning Edition this morning, a story ran about increasing nastiness on blogs and forums. Of particular interest was a woman who ran a blog about nothing terribly controversial who received death threats and some awful sexual harassment after posting something rather innocuous. Another woman was interviewed who worked full time moderating a food blog, spending hours daily deleting offensive material from member posts. A food blog! Here's the story:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9642178

At any rate, the story got me thinking about how grateful I am to this community for being so remarkably civil, not only to one another, but in the way we treat guests from other team blogs too.

I know JD has written on this sort of thing before, but it bears repeating: the Red Reporter community is top notch when it comes to class. Keep it up everyone!

Jayson Stark on Harang

ben nevis — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 03:57:50 -0000

Jayson Stark of ESPN.com just put up a pretty interesting article on the anonymity of Aaron Harang and Freddy Sanchez, reigning NL strikeout and batting champs. I knew Harang had led the league in K's, but I have to admit, I had no idea Freddy Sanchez won the batting title last year.

It is interesting to me that players like these on small market teams lacking in recent success get absolutely no publicity. It is also interesting to me that while this is essentially Stark's point, he's one of the members of the ESPN-opoly that helps create the attention deficit.

Anyway, it's a decent article with some pretty astonishing statistics regarding Cy Young award winners and strikeout/wins leaders like Harang.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/spring2007/columns/story?columnist=stark_jayson&id=2788301&lpo s=spotlight&lid=tab3pos1

Should Josh Hamilton Make the Roster?

ben nevis — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 16:36:12 -0000

There's been a lot of talk about Josh Hamilton early in camp, and understandably so. He's a very interesting story. (the latest is at the reds.com:
http://cincinnati.reds.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070226&content_id=1816891&vkey=news_ci n&fext=.jsp&c_id=cin).
Although it's still very early in spring training, I'm curious what those around Red Reporter think about having him on the 25-man roster.

There are a lot of interesting scenarios surrounding his place on the team since he was a rule 5 pick. Should Narron carry just 11 pitchers to maintain him? What would his inclusion mean for players like Denorfia or Bubba Crosby? If he makes the team, at what point is it no longer worth keeping him and sold back to the Rays for $25,000?

My own opinion is mixed. Certainly, he's been a great story so far, and that has its value. Otherwise, I don't know much about former rule 5 success stories, so I have a sinking feeling that all we're doing is giving the rest of MLB a chance to see how good he is so they can pluck him up for cheap and put him at AA or AAA. Perhaps someone can shed more light on this for me.

1987 Fiesta Bowl

ben nevis — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 16:22:27 -0000

There's a new article on ESPN.com entitled "The Night College Football Went to Hell." It chronicles the Penn State v. Miami Fiesta Bowl from 20 years ago. It's really an interesting read, especially given where college football has gone in the last 20 years.

The write up really reminds me of the '03 Fiesta Bowl. The Buckeyes that year were built in much the same way that the Lions were: defense first, special teams second, and offense last (though OSU did have Clarett). Still, Craig Krenzel was a quaterback whose job was to not lose games. And I can remember everyone talking about how OSU could never run with Miami.

Anyway, it's an interesting read, and let's hope the same isn't true in reverse come Monday.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/story?page=fiesta87&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab1pos1