I'm a complete REDS HOMER, but the Reds are far from a sure thing this season. When looking at them at first glance you have to notice that they own a record of 29-20, 9 games over .500. However, when you look at their run differential, the Reds have outscored their opponents by only 1 run. Using Bill James' Pythagorean equation to predict winning percentage based on runs scored and runs allowed, the Reds should be a .500 team. So if they were playing at that level, it would mean that the reds should be about 25-24, so essentially the Reds are playing in 4 games of luck.
Looking at this from all the teams in Major League Baseball, only the Minnesota Twins are playing that far ahead of their run differential. The Pythagorean equation is a extremely accurate measure, so the Reds are essentially a .500 team playing at a higher level than they should be.
Does that mean that can't sustain it? No it doesn't. The Reds got off to a pretty bad start and now they are righting the ship. One thing to look at is the players however. If we take them one by one we get:
SS-BARRY LARKIN
Right now Larkin is hitting .292/.339/.398. That isn't exactly all that great to begin with, but the Reds are a little lackluster with their shortstops so we'll take what we can get from Barry. However, in Barry's previous 4 seasons, he's averaged about 90 games a season, so if the trend continues the Reds will be looking for a shorstop replacement very soon. Heck, Barry already has 171 AB and last season he only had 241 the entire season. Nevertheless, Barry's 737 OPS is doing more harm for Cincy than good.
2B-D'ANGELO JIMINEZ
Jiminez is better than his current .222/.335/.330. He's a career .269/.346/.383 guy and he's notoriously a 2nd half player. Even if Jiminez can just get back to his career numbers, it would help the Reds offense out even more than what it is doing. Jiminez currently is a hole in the lineup, but that lineup is still winning games, and the good part is that the only thing Jiminez can do is get better. I hate seeing him playing this poorly, but I'm sure better things are on the way.
1B-SEAN CASEY
Casey is hitting a ridiculous .390/.432/.621! I think there are a couple of points to remember about Casey. It looked like Casey peaked in his career from the ages of 24-26, when most players start hitting their peaks at age 27 or 28. Casey this season is 29 years old, which would mean he's in the middle of what normally would be called his peak years. When Sean Casey was 24 years old he had a season in which he hit .332/.399/.539. That is what had us REDS fans so excited because it should have been an indicator of how special a bat this kid had. Then Casey turned 27 and went all to garbage. His 28-year old season didn't help matters much. However, this season he's hitting the ball like he's never had and I'm sure batting in front of a healthy troika of Dunn/Griffey/Kearns isn't hurting the matter especially when you see how well Griffey and Dunn have been hitting. So the big question is can Casey keep up this pace. The simple answer is that I don't think he has a snowball's chance in Hades to keep up this pace, but if he turns in a year like he did when he hit .332/.399/.539, the Reds Faithful will be dancing in the streets! I know I would. Casey has the talent without question and now he has the bats behind him. His pace will slow, but Casey is a legitimate threat to hit .360 if the outfielders stay healthy and he himself stays healthy. The Mayor might be running for governor after 2004!
3B-RYAN FREEL/BRANDON LARSON/JUAN CASTRO
Freel is hitting .255/.341/.369, which is absolutley awful for a guy playing a corner infield position. Larson on the other hand has been been injured for pretty much the entire year. The book on Larson is that the guy has light-tower power but has never put it much to use because he can't find the ball with the bat in the big leagues. I think the Reds are just finished at this position. The threesome they are going to have this year might end up with the worst stats for a 3B of any team in baseball. This position is just lost and we have to hope that the hot start Mark Schramek is having down in the minors is for real or that Joey Votto plays 3B instead of 1B.
C-JASON LaRUE
In a word, LaRue has been horrible this season. The kid is hitting .198/.324/.291 and his backup, Javier Valentin, is even worse. LaRue is a lifetime .236/.315/.410 hitter, so this position, like 2B, could actually see some decent improvement for the Reds offense. However, I am of the opinion that catcher, like third base, is a lost position for Cincy. LaRue is horrible and he's 30 years old this year which is the wrong age to be for catchers not named Mike Piazza. The Reds are hurting here because this position gives them definitely 3 holes in the lineup when you count Ryan Freel and the pitcher. The Reds need Miguel Perez in a HURRY!
LF-ADAM DUNN
Some people might say that Dunn hitting .253/.440/.527 is over his head, but I'm thinking that it isn't. Dunn had an awful year last season, but that was one season and Dunn is here to stay. If he stays at .250/.440/.560 all season long, he'll be what Jason Giambi is now, except for more power. If Dunn can stay healthy, 40HR seasons should be his for the next decade. Could he stand to strikeout a little bit less? Sure, but Giambi is the same way. Dunn will never hit .300 but as long as he keeps posting OPS in the mid .900s, occassionaly popping over 1.000, he'll probably have a Hall-of-Fame career. Of course, staying healthy is the big question mark with Dunn. So far so good in 2004.
CF-KEN GRIFFEY JR.
Griffey is hitting .247/.347/.529. The weird thing about Griffey is that he hasn't lost any power and he's showing his usual plate discipline. So the only thing that has really hurt Griffey in his stat line is his ability hit the baseball. It hasn't shown that much, but is has shown up in 2002, 2003, and now 2004. Griffey is a career .294 hitter. Right now Griffey has a 100 point difference between his OBP% and his batting average. If he can just hit .280 then his OBP% is likely to be about .380 and if his slugging goes up to .550 then we are talking about a guy resembling the Griffey that was once considered the best player in baseball instead of the injury ridden Griffey we've seen in Cincinnati for the majority of the time. As crazy as it sounds, if Griffey stays, healthy, the Reds offense is going to get stronger and stronger.
RF-AUSTIN KEARNS
Kearns is the best player on the team by a wide margin in my opinion. He hasn't been able to stay healthy but once he does it's sky's the limit. Think Adam Dunn with a .320 batting average.
So the Reds offense can conceivably get better as the season progresses assuming everyone stays healthy. When you are counting on guys like Dunn/Griffey/Larkin/Kearns to stay healthy though, that is a pretty big assumption and I'm still convinced that Griffey and Larkin will miss some time due to injuries. The problem with that is that the Reds just don't have the bats to replace them. If Larkin goes down you are putting either Jiminez at SS and moving Castro to 2B which would give you an infield of Freel/Jiminez/Castro/Casey! Let's not even discuss the prospects of Ray Olmeda playing SS.
If the Reds are healthy though I think the quartet of Kearns/Dunn/Casey/Griffey are the best in the NL Central. Maybe the NL as a whole.
What I haven't mentioned is the pitching. Looking at the Reds starting rotation you have:
Paul Wilson 7-0; 3.34ERA; 1.28WHIP
Jose Acevedo 2-3; 4.53ERA; 1.21WHIP
Cory Lidle 4-4; 4.73ERA; 1.18WHIP
Aaron Harang 4-2; 5.27ERA; 1.66WHIP
Todd Van Poppel 2-2; 3.63ERA; 1.15WHIP (most stats as reliever)
The WHIPS are good, but the ERAs high which leads to what? HOME RUNS! The Reds pitchers are homer happy and that is never a good thing. I suppose they can get by with giving up solo shots, but they put a couple of men on then they are starting to give up 3 and 4 runs in a hurry.
Danny Graves is a very very scary closer. Just look what he did last week against Houston when he came in with a 7-4 lead! If that was anybody other than Graves I would have felt great, but with Graves, I was on the edge of my seat hoping disaster wouldn't strike.
What it all boils down to is that I just can't imagine the Reds competing this year. I love the fact that we are 29-20 and are tied with Florida with the best record in the NL, but when it comes down to it the Reds have an offense with 4 guys that can hit (assuming they all stay healthy which is a big assumption) and 5 guys that are pretty much useless in LaRue/Freel/Jiminez/Larkin/Pitcher's Spot.
Acevedo and Wilson might be fairly decent, but those guys are at their very best #3 starters. Houston brings 2 #1 starters in Clemens/Oswalt and Pettitte and Miller are #2 starters. When you listen to what scouts say, Tim Redding has potentially the best stuff of the entire Houston staff with is downright FILTHY!
The Cubs have potentially 5 #1 starters when maddux is on, and even if he isn't Maddux is the worst starter on the staff. can you imagine a staff in which Maddux is the worst? It's nuts. Plus the Cubs are decimated by injuries.
The thing with the NL Central is that it is looking right now to be the toughest division in baseball because for whatever reason the Pirates and Brewers just don't want to lay down.
The sad thing as a REDS fan in my opinion is that management just didn't think the Reds could compete at all this year. Why couldn't the Reds have made bids on guys like Andy Pettitte, Greg Maddux, Bartolo Colon, Kelvim Escobar, Miguel Batista or Ted Lilly this past free agent season?
Say the Reds were able to open up the books to both Colon and Maddux then you'd be looking at a rotation of Colon-Maddux-Wilson-Acevedo-Lidle. If Claussen comes up then bonus for the Reds.
I hate to say it, but the Reds are a team on the verge of disaster. I'm not saying they will or won't but it would be easy to see them slip to 4th, 5th, or 6th by the end of the season.