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Reds 3 Dot Cafe…Rolen, Remaining $, ESPN Snubbing

Tyler Grote — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 15:33:15 +0000

It’s January 21st. It’s getting painfully cold and I’m tired of using the ice scraper every morning. Worse, in the world of baseball, there’s precisely nothing intriguing to talk about. So, in the interest of keeping the Reds dialogue going, let’s take a visit to the 3-dot cafe and ramble off some thoughts…

Sep 27, 2012; Cincinnati, OH, USA; Cincinnati Reds third baseman Scott Rolen (27) sits in the dugout during the first inning against the Milwaukee Brewers at Great American Ball Park. (Frank Victores-USA TODAY Sports)

Why is Scott Rolen still in Reds headlines? Wasn’t this pretty much a forgone conclusion that Rolen was hanging it up after the season? If you’re Scott, why do you want to stay? He’s hit .242 and .245 consecutively the past two years…He has an emerging young slugger behind him that will officially be the starter on Opening Day… .222 in the months of September and October, when runs come at a premium…This was supposed to be an open and shut case…News has it, the Dodgers have expressed some interest in the Ol’ Jasper native…Good for them…It’s warmer in California…BTW: Wasn’t the signing of Jack Hannahan the official goodbye to Rolen now that Frazier’s back-up is spoken for?

$5 Million Dollars Left… to spend, according to the Bleacher Report. So after arbitration and signing some key free agents, the Reds will have about $5 million left to spend…the same report suggests the Reds are interested in Freddy Garcia. From CBS’ John Heyman: #twins, #rox, #reds among teams to check in on freddy garcia, veteran starter who knows how to pitch (10 W avg last 3 yrs)

Reds Get Iced on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball… which is a joke. I get that I’m from Cincinnati…I get that I hold a natural bias… But I also get that this team is considered a World Series favorite, by more than just folks following the Reds…and two teams that will grace the national audience with their participation, instead of the Reds? The Chicago Cubs, and the Houston Astros…two models of baseball excellence…How is it that Major League Baseball routinely fails to effectively market its own product?

Anyways, back to your regularly scheduled Monday…Pitchers and Catchers has to be getting close.

The Value of Victory

John Heitz — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 02:37:17 +0000

There are a lot of ways to break down the success of a season, or lack thereof. You can look at playoff status, you can compare to the previous year or years, you can compare to your division or league. I am guessing while owners look at each of these factors, the overriding concern is the bottom line. I think it comes down to two questions: Did we make money or at worst, break even? And; Did we invest our money wisely into the product on the field? Given the invisibility of most of the information needed, the first answer can not be answered here. In a cursory way the second answer can addressed by comparing payroll to win production.

A few things to keep in mind, there is a demonstrated correlation between payroll and attendance as you will see. The Reds finished the year with the 10th highest attendance in the National League after starting the year with the 10th highest payroll. Not every team fits this perfectly into the mold, but it is predictive. The saddest example is the Tampa Bay Rays who began with the 31st highest payroll and finished 3oth in attendance in spite of making the playoffs on the last day of the season in arguably the toughest division.

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Payroll to Increase for 2012

Steve Engbloom — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 13:25:00 +0000

John Fay reports that Walt Jocketty has told him the Reds payroll will be on the up for 2012. Really, it’s not that big a deal. As Fay points out, Jay Bruce, Joey Votto and Johnny Cueto are due large raises. Fay also asked Walt about the Reds delving into the free agent market. Walt’s reply…”Probably not”.

Great. No moves. Although…

With that as the back drop, the Reds go about trying to fix a club that is destined to finish third in the National League Central — somewhere around the .500 mark.

Jocketty promises that this offseason will be busier that last.

“Oh yeah, definitely,” he said.

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