Reds 5 at 5: Cardinals, Bats, More

Well, it seems the Reds Caravan has, in some spots anyway, run into a bit of a winter issue called snow. Earlier today, Jamie Ramsey of Better Off Red tweeted a pic of travels as his transportation was taking some of the gang to Zanesville. Yep. Roads looked great, huh?

One of the stops yesterday took place at Louisville Slugger Field.

Jul 2, 2012; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Cincinnati Reds general manager Walt Jocketty before the game against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium. (Kirby Lee/Image of Sport-USA TODAY Sports)

1. Jocketty views the Cardinals as a threat in the NLC

(H/T to Daniel Solzman of Redbirds Rants)

Honestly, anyone who doesn’t think St. Louis is a threat in the division is just plain crazy. I know there may be questions at a position or two, but we shouldn’t see much slippage in the offense from last season. The defense may be the a viable concern.

Their starting pitching looks extremely solid as well. (Insert your Kyle Lohse quip here.) Don’t forget, Chris Carpenter should be good to go for a full season. Same for Jaime Garcia. Yadier Molina is coming off his best offensive season ever while still maintaining his excellent defense.

The question surrounding Carp and Garcia will their health…as well as a few others on the Cards roster. In regards to Molina, can he continue or even improve that offensive production.

They are legit, folks. Do not take the Redbirds lightly.

2. Speaking of Louisville, the Reds and Bats extend agreement

The Louisville Bats and Reds will be linked for at least another four years. According to Mark Sheldon, the new agreement runs through the 2016 season. This is a two-year extension as the previous agreement was to expire after the 2014 season.

3. College baseball in the Bluegrass state looking strong

I know BRM has a few readers in both Louisville and Lexington. It’s not enough that we hear about the hoops programs (and all the associated verbal sparring), but I think we might want to pay attention to the baseball programs of both Louisville and Kentucky as well.

Why is that? Both are ranked in Baseball America’s pre-season Top 25 poll. The Cardinals come in at #4 while the Wildcats are at #11. Looks good from a U of L perspective, but let’s not forget that Kentucky does play in the SEC. Not only do they play a pretty good brand football in the SEC, the conference boasts some excellent baseball programs, too. Five SEC teams in the top 10 and eight in the top 25.

4. Gomes with a questionable quote

(H/T to Hardball Talk)

A certain portion of the Reds fanbase will always look upon Jonny Gomes with a certain degree of fondness and maybe even some affection. He built up a following (almost to a cult level status if you think about it) similar to what we witnessed last season with Todd Frazier. We’ll save the discussion about their differences for another day, but I hope you see my point here.

Well, Gomes doesn’t think he’s strictly a platoon player. From the Boston Herald…

“You look at baseball cards, there’s no such thing as a position of a ‘guy that hits lefties’ or a ‘guy that hits righties,’” Gomes said before last night’s 74th annual Boston Baseball Writers’ dinner at the Westin Copley Place. “You either hit or you don’t. Are they different? They are different, 100 percent, lefty and righty. But I didn’t hit just lefties in the 12-year-old All-Stars. Coming up through the minors, I didn’t have a swing that just hits lefties. I work very hard in the offseason to condition myself to be ready for 162 (games).”

Would love to take your word on this, Jonny, but if they did put splits on the back of baseball cards, you’re would show you are a platoon player (as Craig Calterra of Hardball Talk does mention Gomes’ splits) and should start only against lefties.

5. MLB Network to unveil top 50 prospects

We know of one Reds prospect that will be on this list, right? Maybe more? Who knows, but I do know that MLB Network will have a special on Tuesday, January 29 at 9 PM ET and the top 50 will be revealed. In association with this, MLB.com has “re-branded” their prospects portion of the site as MLBPipeline.com. The site has been busting out a top 10 for each position in leading up to Tuesday. Thus far, they have pitchers, both righty and lefty (10 for each), catchers, shortstops and third base.

Here’s a quick, 15 second vid for the show.

I hope Louisville is ready for that Hamilton guy. He’s pretty fast.