Howard Miller

Volquez for Hamilton: Who is winning?

It’s not very often you can say a trade worked out equally well for both sides (just look at the trades of Jeff Bagwell, Scott Kazmir, Vince Carter, Kobe Bryant, Alexei Yashin, Roberto Luongo, Brett Favre, or Randy Moss). But sometimes it does, as is the case in the Josh Hamilton to Texas for Edinson Volquez trade that went down in the off season.

Through 40 games Josh Hamilton is raking for the otherwise unspectacular Rangers. He is on pace for 31 homeruns and 175 RBI. Let’s just hope he can stay healthy because this guy is such a good story and I’m surious to see what he can do in 162 game season. The RBI total (44 at this point) is 11 clear of Emil Brown and leads the American League.

Volquez has been wonderful for the Reds. He walks too many guys and his pitch count is always high, but he also strikes out a lot of batters, throws 3 great pitches, and is on pace for a 23-4 record with 220 strikeouts on a team struggling badly through the first 40 games of the season. Incidentally, while Hamilton leads the AL in RBI, Volquez leads the NL in ERA with a miniscule 1.12 ERA and he plays in Great American Ballpark. Not exactly known for its friendliness to pitchers.

I’m excited to see what happens this Sunday in Cincy when Cliff Lee brings his insane record into GAB to face off with Eddie V. Should be a great one.

Ken Griffey Jr. and Adam Dunn: Who is staying and who is going?

My opinion here is Ken Griffey Jr. will be traded as soon as he hits number 600. When asked by Walt Jocketty what he wanted to do, Griff said he’d like to finish the season in Cincy, but would be willing to consider trades. Ken is in the unique position of being able to pick his landing spot because he has a blanket no-trade clause due to his 10-5 status (10 years experience, 5 with the same team).

Ken Rosenthal is reporting Jr. is open to going to more places than in the past. The feeling is his children are old enough that he doesn’t feel he has to be near his Orlando home. He has also stated he does not require the new team to pick up his option. The Mariners are an obvious pick for sentimental reasons. Griffey admittedly was blown away from the response he received last year when he returned and has been quoted as saying he would like to finish where he started.

I see Jr. going to Seattle this season and signing elsewhere next year with a team he considers to be a contender. We all know money is not important to him, he is set for life, and he just wants a ring. However, I think Toronto would be an interesting place for him to land this season (but living in Ottawa, I’m just being hopeful).

As for Dunn, I don’t think Dunn gets traded. He’s still young and is good for 40 in Cincy every year. Play him with Jay Bruce and Brandon Phillips and the middle of your lineup is set for the next decade. The strikeouts are a problem, but power hitters strike out…plain and simple.

Aaron Harang: 2-5?

He gets almost no run support and seems to face the other teams ace every time out. Very deceiving record. He’s reminding me of Matt Cain last year.

Broken Knee Caps?

Something is amiss in Cincinnati. Reds shortstops must owe some bad people money because they keep breaking their knee caps. I feel awful for Keppinger. This guy has been incredible all year, and in limited playing time last year, only to have it all put on hold with a freak injury. But he’ll be back and I think he’ll pick up right where he left off. This guy is a professional hitter whose numbers are NOT inflated from Cincy as some other guys are. Small parks don’t help ground ball and line drive hitters.

Enjoy the weekend series…its the Battle of Ohio.  

Howard Miller

The Reds have fired General Manager Wayne Krivsky today and have replaced him with Walt Jocketty. The news is only surprising in the sense of its timing. Krivsky had to see the writing on the wall when ownership hired Jocketty in the offseason.

 I liked Wayne Krivsky, but Jocketty has a ring and that’s really all that matters in my book. The Reds need to get things turned around here and it’s now up to Walt to do it.

My guess is a Jay Bruce call up would be tops on Mr. Jocketty’s to-do list.

I am gone until Sunday. Enjoy the weekend.

Howard Miller

The Reds are 19 games into the season and are sitting at a disappointing 8-11. There are a couple things I want to cover today, starting with what to do with Edwin Encarnacion. There is no doubt this guy can straight mash but his defense is really becoming a problem. He has an astronomical SIX errors in 18 games. SIX!! Dude is on pace for 54 errors this season. His booting of the ball yesterday afternoon in the 10th inning would have cost the Reds the game had it not been for the heroics of…well…Edwin Encarnacion in the bottom of the 10th.

Eddie has phenomenal power, but is it enough to make up for his porous defense? I’m not so sure. The problem is there is nowhere to move him. You can’t move him to left or right because of Dunn and Junior. First base, with the emergence of Joey Votto, is set for the foreseeable future as well. Edwin Encarnacion may very well be booting and overthrowing himself out of Cincinnati. I would really hate to give up on such a young talent so full of potential, but if the Reds really believe they can win now with this lineup, it may be something Wayne Krivsky has to consider.

The emergence of Joey Votto really has made Hatteberg expendable. It’s too bad because he’s a great clubhouse guy with experience and leadership qualities. The only problem is that he bats left, the same as Votto, and will rarely see the field. I’d like to see this guy moved somewhere he will get a chance to play because he deserves it. He would fetch a good major league reliever, something the Reds could always use. Joe Gallo suggested the Yankees would be a good fit. I think he’s right.

So I’m not entirely sure why Jay Bruce is still riding bus and carrying his own bags down in Louisville. This guy is the real deal and needs to be in the everyday Major League lineup if this team has a legitimate shot at contending in the Central. They need to do it sooner rather than later before the division gets away from them. Only 4.5 games back right now and a lot of baseball yet to play, so no need to panic, but it is time to get a little antsy.

Homer Bailey may be able to stay down in Louisville for a little while longer if Matt Belisle can fill in as a serviceable 5th starter. He makes his first start of the season tonight against the Dodgers as Josh Fogg moves into the pen. Bailey’s numbers in AAA have been great so far, but a little more seasoning won’t hurt.

That’s all I have for today. Hopefully the Reds can build off their great game yesterday an take it to the struggling Dodgers.