I'd be surprised if Cain turns into a star. He's young but not that young, and generally has not been that great in the minors. The only guy I was really sad about losing was Jeffress. I really think he had the potential to be a great reliever, but I think the Brewers bullpen is pretty solid so maybe we didn't need him. All I can say about Betancourt is thank God we have Counsell, who hopefully will get 1-2 starts a week. Yuni actually seems like a good hitter; he just doesn't walk and can't really play defense.

Wow, great point about Cain. I went to fangraphs for support on his hot end to the '10 campaign and found his BaBip was .370, .073 pts over the league average. Jesus, yeah thats probably smoke and mirrors with him.

I personally didn't mind seeing Jeffress go, b/c he's been inconsistent in the minors and he's 1 strike away from getting the Steve Howe treatment.

And thats exactly right about Betancourt, thats whats going to drive me crazy this year. Watching him fail to extend innings and work to increase a pitcher's pitch count b/c he refuses to take walks.

<3 the 11 day MLB Extra Innings free trial. Braun looks dialed in, conversely all of these Reds in the NL Central picks. With what pitching? Volquez had a terrible spring and a worse opening day.

I guess if you're the Reds its hurry back Johnny Cueto!

I hope this isn't the type of drama Axford has in store for us all year. At least Saito looked good working the 8th.

SIIIIIGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGH

yeah, holy christ.

FML

how tight a leash is Axford on now ya think? he had a pretty awful spring too

holy cow, that was painful. i hate games like those because they literally were in front from the very first AB, they already had a great storyline (two homers to leadoff), and just...blew it at the last moment. as a fan they are absolutely the worst kind of games (although, for a Reds fan, it must be the best). I wonder a bit about Ax and really hope he gets it together (obviously). I would hate for this to be another year where we get torpedoed by a bad closer - in fact, besides '09, I can hardly remember the last time we had a decent closer!

Well I'm not sure Saito is the answer if Axford does suck. Some combination of Saito/Loe until the ASB or thereabouts would be worth a look. If none of those 3 can do the job, there are alot of closers coming free next Winter. Melvin has definitely taken a this year or bust mentality. So acquiring someone worth a flip shouldn't be too difficult. That is if Axord/Saito/Loe doesn't have us 7.5 back by the ASB.

Things are starting to get really serious for my infatuation with the Brew Crew. I'm starting to feel real emotion...

I ****ING HATE THE REDS!!!

yeah, that really sucked

defense looking to be a real issue this year

and seriously we need to get rid of betancourt; can't hit and can't field...is there a way that we can maybe get hardy back? he's not great but he was at least a one-time allstar who could field...

piss poor effort by Braun on that Uggla home run... I heard he was a crappy defender, but seriously you're just going to stop short of the warning track and turn around to play it off the wall? Then watch it bounce off the top of the wall and fall over for a home run?

Over 2/3 of mlb OF'ers at least make a play on that ball, probably 1/8 or so come up with it for an out. Too bad its not the AL, where you can just DH ****ty fielders like that.

Exactly 0 of all outfielders in the majors would've been able to get to that ball TC32. It was a line drive.

Were you watching the game?

Yes, and even if I wasn't there is this thing called MLB.com

Well A) Carl Crawford makes a play on that ball and B) it wasn't a "line drive" it didn't bounce off the top of the wall and go careening into the stands the way a rock skips off a pond. It hit the top of the wall bounced up in the air for a brief second, giving the illusion it might bounce back into play and then fell over the wall.

A) Define "Make a play". Is he closer to the fence? Sure. But my "line drive" point is that in the time from the bat making contact to the ball to it hitting the fence no OFer couldn't touched the ball, period.

Just saw a replay of it again on Quick Pitch.... You were right the ball got off the bat quicker than I remembered. But Braun took a terrible angle to the ball. He's running farther right of the ball than he should have expecting it to bounce off the wall. I think alot of OFers would of at least made a crashing dive attempt into the wall. You're probably right no OFer would have likely gotten to it, but even looking at it a second time. I don't think it was an impossible play to make. The embarassing part for Braun is he's hunched over waiting for the ball to bounce back off the wall as it bounces over the wall.

Thank You Yovani! I guess the only way we're winning games this year is if our starters can go all 9 innings..... sigh

otoh, 1-4 Whoop Whoop!!!

Well they did catch some unlucky breaks. To me it looked like Braun was safe but oh well. Getting thrown out twice in one inning at the plate really sucked but for once that kind of thing didn't come back to bite us. Hopefully this game convinces Roenicke to start Morgan in RF until Hart gets back and to give Counsell more starts at SS. I know he didn't get a hit but with so many balls hit to him you can only wonder what would happen with Yuni out there. Surprising that at 40 he still plays awesome defense. Maybe the best defensive player on our team.

I'm in favor of putting Morgan in right til Hart gets back. If I were Gomez that move would scare me S-less. Figure Morgan will hit better than Gomez til then and when Hart does come back there will be alot of pressure to keep Morgan in the lineup and send Gomez to the bench.

I really can't figure out what their plan was with Gomez. He didn't earn the 2 hole, but I really don't like messing with the kid's head like that. I'll understand the move if thats what happens, b/c this isn't a team looking to the future. I just wish they had started him in the 8 hole and Hart had stayed healthy. Would of liked to seen him get a true 6-8 weeks to prove himself.

The real question is, what will they do at SS. I really think the defense is going to just kill this team. Gomez and Morgan are good but everyone else is below average. Some, like Weeks, Fielder, and Betancourt, are really below average. They could really stand to lose a lot of games that way...actually, they're already starting, if you count Opening Day

the whole infield is crap, weeks might be the strongest defensive player in the infield. and gomez is overrated because he has range but i dont think hes that good. hart and braun are both liabilities. we better hope we get really good outings from our pitching staff.

i dont know much about morgan but he should be gomezs replacement right now. gomez doesnt have a future, hes been bounced around a bunch. just a guy with a lot of raw talent that will never figure it out. theyd be better of ridding themselves of him.

and with all that said, they should still be able to compete. theyre in a weak division.

area,

I'm inclined to agree with you b/c Gomez is in his 5th season now and calling his major league performance a steaming pile of cow dung would be being nice. That said, the kid was barely 21 yrs old when he made his major league debut. Alot of guys at that age are still juniors in college and don't even make their major league debuts til after their 25th birthday, which Gomez just turned 25, 5 months ago....

I also think he's had his head toyed with along the way. His talent is there, I'd like to see the Brewers try and cultivate it. Morgan is almost 31 and nothing special. I think Gomez's talent demands a longer leash, but if he can't come around and show more plate discipline by June than I say forget him, cut bait. How he doesn't have 1 or 2 bunt base hits every week is beyond me. He should really work on that, b/c he's just not a very good hitter at this point of his career, and legging out bunts could keep him in the major leagues. I really worry about if he has it upstairs.