SB Nation User Blog: bobestes

2008 = The Year

bobestes — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 20:24:40 -0000

Chicago will be a fat, bloated team owned by owners who have taken on so much debt that they will either cut payroll or hold steady.
Pittsburgh will be the piece of crap they've always been.
Jocketty is out in St Louis because they're going to be bad for the next 3-5 years. Mark it down. No farm system + no payroll = rebuilding.
Houston has no young talent and no Biggio, Bagwell, Clemens or Petitte. See St. Louis.
Milwaukee should be good.

That leaves your Cincinnati Reds. Honestly, if there were an offseason to make a run, this is it. Bruce, get your ass up here; make a big trade for pitching, pick up Dunn's option.

Hell, they could pick up Dunn's option for next season and let him walk after. In my eyes, 2008 is the year.

Jocketty Out on His Ass

bobestes — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 21:05:00 -0000

Sounds like he was pushed out.

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sports/stories.nsf/cardinals/story/32456B7DBB9EEC44862573690069E6D7 ?OpenDocument

Sounds to me like he knows that they're going to be toast for a couple of years. They're pretty maxxed out, money-wise, and don't have much by way of talent ready to go.

With Houston looking crappy for the forseeable future, it's looking like a reversal in the NL Central.

Teams like Milwaukee and our Reds suddenly have much better prospects for the playoffs with teams like the Cards and Astros headed toward the dumpster.

The Pirates shall always suck.

The Cubs are one year away from being overpaid and bloated; their new owners are going to be saddled with so much debt that there's no way they add payroll.

Dig in, Folks

bobestes — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 13:27:31 -0000

Here is CTrent quoting Bob Castellini re: our good friend, yet incompetent GM, Wayne Krivsky:

"Wayne's a plugger. He's a plugger. He just keeps after it. A lot of determination."
"I think Wayne is taking a studied approach to everything," Castellini said. "We're on the same page."
Is Krivsky's job in jeopardy? "No."
"He's done a good job overall," Castellini said. "He's trying really hard, we're all trying hard."

How comforting.

Using the Pittsburgh Pirates as my historical model, this is how I see it playing out:

2007 - Lucky to finish 4th place
2008 - Pete Mackanin steers the Redlegs to another 4th place finish (let's be honest, has an interim-to-permanent manager here ever done better?)
2009 - Mackanin fired, someone else manages the team to a fourth place finish
2010 - Kriv dawg fired, start the clock on another three year plan
2011 - Year two of three year plan
2012 - Oops, THAT didn't work. Start another three year plan.
2013 - Year one of three year plan
2014 - Year two of three year plan
2015 - Year three of three year plan. Playoffs?

Adam, Tell Us How They Really Feel

bobestes — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 13:51:13 -0000

This is from Hal's recent notebook:

Reds left fielder Adam Dunn, the subject of trade rumors, said he wasn't concerned at all about the trading deadline.
"Yeah, I'm happy I'm here," Dunn said. "But ask me on Sept. 1."
Dunn, who entering Tuesday led the Reds with 27 home runs to go with 67 RBIs and a .260 batting average, has been offered as trade bait by talk shows and print media, if not the Reds.
"It bothers my mom more than me," Dunn said. "My family hates the Brennamans (broadcasters Marty and Thom) and Jeff Brantley. If George Grande and Chris Welsh aren't doing the television games, they won't watch. That's sad."

An aside: throw sabermetrics out the window. Why are people so upset with 27 home runs, 67 RBI's and a .260 batting average?

A Question of Baseball Ethics, No. 2

bobestes — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 16:37:01 -0000

Today's question of baseball ethics is:

Isn't it "part of the deal" when most ballplayers get married that they'll sleep around and be manwhores on road trips and such, so long as they don't:

A) Transmit an STD
B) Father a child out of wedlock or
C) Publicly flaunt said infidelities?

I've always assumed that most players' wives know their husbands are sleeping around, but enjoy the perks of being a player's wife far too much to raise much of a stink.

The Next Generation

bobestes — Tue, 22 May 2007 22:06:55 -0000

Ok, folks.

Part of our duties as fans involves raising future generations of Reds fans.

Use this diary as a forum to show off your offspring. Include any humorous parent-related stories, hopes and dreams for future fandom, transcendental baseball moments y'all have had together, you name it.

I get real sappy when I think about sharing baseball with my 12 month old son in the future.

Too Negative?

bobestes — Wed, 16 May 2007 02:30:57 -0000

C.Trent had an interesting comment in his latest game thread:

red scoop, fans are even more negative in cincinnati than anywhere else i've lived -- and i've lived all over the place -- including the atlanta area.

This was in response to an earlier post criticizing Junior for joking around too much, in light of the team's recent struggles.

So what do y'all think? Are fans in Cincinnati more negative than anywhere else? If so, why and how?

A Question of Baseball Protocol

bobestes — Mon, 07 May 2007 22:05:31 -0000

This is a stupid baseball question I've always wanted answered:

For argument's sake, you're a middle reliever. You can throw some 92 mile per hour heat. Which would make you probably not a middle reliever, but whatever. It's all hypothetical anyway.

Your team's slugger knocks one out of the park, and takes his time rounding the bases.

This angers your opponent, so they plunk him the next time he comes to bat.

He comes to you on the bench and says "You drill the next blankety blank you face".

Because you're a loyal teammate, there is no question that you'll throw at the next batter.

My question is, do you throw as hard as you can and drill him with all 92 mph of gas? Or, being a nice guy, do you back off a bit to go easy on him? After all, he's just an innocent bystander in this mess.

The Yankee Turd Express

bobestes — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 15:11:53 -0000

Is anyone else not surprised about the Yankees being such a crappy, last place team this year?

Right now, they are 8-12 and in last place in the AL East.

Feel free to use this thread to share your feelings about the Mighty Yankees stinking up the joint, and to pile on the gloating where necessary.

Encounters with Reds Players

bobestes — Mon, 19 Dec 2005 20:17:38 -0000

Post your encounters with Reds, past and present. Maybe you ran into Rob Dibble at Frisch's, Pete Rose at the dentist's office, or Aaron Boone at Japp's. Post your encounters.

Here's mine:

We had a tradition of singing karaoke at Mount Lookout Tavern during college. The female 20something alums that frequented the place loved us.

While I was belting out my rendition of "Suspicious Minds", I was joined onstage by none other than Braves/Reds/Rockies great, Denny Neagle. Eventually the hysteria devolved to the point where he pretty much yanked the microphone from me and sang his heart out, as drunk as you would expect. I'm pretty sure I said "Ladies and gentlemen, Reds great Denny Neagle!" at some point of the process.

He was hitting on just about every girl in the bar and ended up leaving with one, which I can only assume flew in the face of his marriage.

One of my friends said that Ryan Klesko was there with him, but I'll have to admit, his performance was far less remarkable than Denny's.