Reds Season a Disappointment, Mountaineers Flying High
If you're a Cincinnati Reds fan, the season was thrilling. That is, until August. Then the team dropped like an anchor in shallow water. Actually it dropped around the middle of July, just past the All-Star break when GM Wayne Krivsky traded a potential 35 home runs and 140 RBI's for two major league pitchers and an aging veteran shortstop. Whatever was he thinking?
Apparently, Krivsky was thinking that the bullpen was so horrible that he needed to shore it up and that rookie Chris Denorfia and veteran Royce Clayton would be more than able to fill the shoes of traded players Austin Kearns and Felipe Lopez. Lopez made the All-Star game in 2005 and Kearns was in his first ever healthy season in the majors. Wrong.
Krivsky got pitchers Majewski and Bray from the Washington Nationals. Majewski immediatly allowed more runs than the Reds could score and Bray was a raw rookie. It was found that Majewski had a sore arm when traded (though Washington GM Jim Bowden didn't mention it while trade negotiations were ongoing) and Bray was simply a rookie.
From that point on the Reds were 4 under .500 the rest of the way. Would Kearns and Lopez have made a difference? Well, the Reds did have a winning record when they were on the team. Without them, the Reds averaged a run less per game and the pitching didn't seem that much better.
Add to that a manager who has never, ever had a winning record and you get more of the same. Krivsky loves manager Jerry Narron. My outlook for 2007? New uniforms and more of the same. If Krivsky can trade Kearns and Lopez for Moe and Larry, think what wonders he can do over the winter. I shudder to think...
Apparently, Krivsky was thinking that the bullpen was so horrible that he needed to shore it up and that rookie Chris Denorfia and veteran Royce Clayton would be more than able to fill the shoes of traded players Austin Kearns and Felipe Lopez. Lopez made the All-Star game in 2005 and Kearns was in his first ever healthy season in the majors. Wrong.
Krivsky got pitchers Majewski and Bray from the Washington Nationals. Majewski immediatly allowed more runs than the Reds could score and Bray was a raw rookie. It was found that Majewski had a sore arm when traded (though Washington GM Jim Bowden didn't mention it while trade negotiations were ongoing) and Bray was simply a rookie.
From that point on the Reds were 4 under .500 the rest of the way. Would Kearns and Lopez have made a difference? Well, the Reds did have a winning record when they were on the team. Without them, the Reds averaged a run less per game and the pitching didn't seem that much better.
Add to that a manager who has never, ever had a winning record and you get more of the same. Krivsky loves manager Jerry Narron. My outlook for 2007? New uniforms and more of the same. If Krivsky can trade Kearns and Lopez for Moe and Larry, think what wonders he can do over the winter. I shudder to think...
posted by Ronnie Flamingo at 8:53 PM
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