Economy won’t hinder Reds’ payroll

By Hal McCoy | Thursday, November 13, 2008, 03:05 PM

The dismal national and world economy won’t have an immediate impact on the payroll of the 2009 Cincinnati Reds, but it most likely will have an affect on free agency.

Owner Bob Castellini is committed to a payroll in the mid-$80 million range, a slight uptick from last season’s $73 million, says general manager Walt Jocketty.

“We know it is a very tough economy and it will affect revenue for every club,” he said.

While many fans believe the Reds have a lot of wiggle room on their payroll after the trades last season of Ken Griffey Jr. and Adam Dunn, approximately $30 million what, they don’t realize is that a significant portion of that must go for contractual raises for second baseman Brandon Phillips plus pitchers Aaron Harang, Bronson Arroyo and Francisco Cordero.

That alone limits what the Reds can do on the free agent market, but Jocketty also says, “It is not really a good free agent crop this year. There are a couple of top-level guys, then it falls off quite a bit. There are a couple of players we might pursue, but their prices could knock us off.”

The Reds have nine free agents on the market and Jocketty said the club has made offers to a few.

“We’re interested in a handful,” he said. “We’ve talked to (pitcher) Mike Lincoln and (infielder/outfielder) Jerry Hairston Jr. Some of the other have indicated they want to try the free agent market.

One of those is pitcher David Weathers, who Jocketty is interested in bringing back, but late last season Weathers said, “No more hometown discounts. I’m going to see what’s out there.”

In addition to Lincoln, Hairston and Weathers, Reds who field for free agency are pitcher Jeremy Affeldt, catcher Paul Bako, pitcher Josh Fogg, pitcher Kent Mercker, outfielder Corey Patterson and catcher Javier Valentin.

Jocketty said the team is not interested in bringing back either Bako or Patterson and Mercker most likely will retire.

“It look as if the best way for us to go is through trades and from our system,” said Jocketty.

Jocketty is talking with several teams about trades, one of which is Colorado. Names that have surfaced include outfielder/leadoff hitter Will Taveras, catcher Yorvit Torrealba and third baseman Garrett Atkins.

All three fit into needs as the Reds search for a righthanded power hitter (Atkins — .286, 21 homers, 99 RBIs), a catcher (Torrealba — .246 in 70 games, most in a back-up role) and an outfielder/leadoff hitter (Taveras, who led the league with 68 stolen bases, but hit only .251 with a .308 on-base average).

The Rockies are searching for starting pitchers, but are not interested in Homer Bailey.

“We’ll do what we can to improve our team by any means — free agents we can afford, trades or within the system,” said Jocketty.

REDS FREE AGENTS:

Y - Players the Reds are interested in re-signing.

N - Players the Reds are not interested in re-signing.

Y-Jeremy Affeldt, LHP.

N-Paul Bako, C.

N-Josh Fogg, RHP.

Y-Jerry Hairston, Jr., INF-OF.

Y-Mike Lincoln, RHP.

N-Kent Mercker, LHP.

N-Corey Patterson, OF.

N-Javier Valentin, C.

Y-David Weathers, RHP.

Permalink | Comments (44) | Post your comment

Bonifay, Squires, Quirk join Reds staff

By Hal McCoy | Thursday, November 13, 2008, 11:42 AM

The Cincinnati Reds are set to announce, probably late this afternoon, the addition of three top-notch front office people.

General manager Walt Jocketty confirmed this morning to The Dayton Daily News that he has hired Cam Bonifay, Mike Squires and Jamie Quirk.

They are additions and there are no substractions.

Bonifay and Squires will become special assistants to the general manager and Quirk will be a pro scout with additional duties as directed by Jocketty.

“What excites me is that we are, more and more, adding quality pelople to our staff,” said Jocketty.

Bonifay, a former general manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates, was hired by Jocketty in 2006 for the St. Louis Cardinals. Before that Bonifay worked fivle years for the Tampa Bay Rays, “Helping to put together that young team that played in the World Series,” said Jocketty. “He is an excellent baseball person.”

Quirk comes from the Colorado Rockies and Jocketty said, “He played for me when I was in Oakland and I’ve followed his career. He is a good baseball man. He’ll be a pro scout, but we’ll have him at spring training and we’ll also have him doing some field work.”

Squires was a long-time associate with Jocketty during his days with the Cardinals and is highly respected in the industry.

Permalink | Comments (6) | Post your comment

Gold Glover Phillips no longer angry

By Hal McCoy | Wednesday, November 5, 2008, 04:14 PM

Brandon Phillips admits that shortstop is his first love and switching to second base was torture and traumatic, but as he said, “I talked to (former infielder) Delino DeShields and he told me, ‘If you can dance, you can play second base.’”

Phillips can dance. And as he said, “I dance with the stars at second base. That’s what I call it, ‘Dancing on the Diamond.‘“The 27-year-old Cincinnati Reds infielder danced his way to a Rawlings Gold Glove this year, emblematic of being the best defensive second baseman in the National League.

Manager Dusty Baker said he was shocked when he talked to Phillips and Phillips couldn’t believe he won the Gold Glove, “And I couldn’t believe he couldn’t believe it.”

Managers and coaches do the voting and Baker said, “Nearly every day a manager or coach comes up to me and asks about Brandon and tells me what a pleasure it is watching that guy.

“Brandon Phillips works hard,” Baker added. “He practices making catches over his head and I’ve never seen a player practice that.”

Phillips should have won the award last year, had better numbers than Arizona’s Orlando Hudson, but Hudson won.

“To tell you the truth, it hurt me last year when I didn’t win,” he said. “I was really pissed. Now that I’ve finally won one — well, it’s great the people are finally recognizing my defense.”

Phillips was a 30/30 offensive player last year (30 homers, 30 stolen bases), but only a 24/23 player this year, losing 27 points off his batting average (.288 to .261).

“To me, winning the Gold Glove is more important and more satisfying than the 30/30,” he said. “Defense is my passion and I take pride in it. I’m all about defense. Defense wins games and this is the best thing to happen to me.”

Phillips said winning the Gold Glove is one of many surprises that have popped up in his career, “But winning this is a blessing. I worked hard to get this award and I’m blessed to finally be recognized.”

Baker said he knows Phillips won’t stop working.

“The first one is the toughest,” he said. “But I see four or five more in his future. A great defensive player can pick up the offense. It prevents offense from the other team when you make a great play and turn a double play.

“His range and his athleticism and his arm are special,” Baker added. “He is so good he could almost be a tumbler.”

Or Dance With the Stars.

Phillips got this year what he deserved last year - and actually he deserved it both years.

The man with the flashy glove and the flashy smile won his first Gold Glove, emblematic of being the defensive second baseman in the National League.

Phillips led all NL second basemen with a fielding percentage of .990 this season, making only seven errros in 706 chances.

And he didn’t do it by making only the routine plays. Phillis roamed far to his left, far to his right and deep into the outfield to make many superlative plays and ghostly throws.

He is the first Reds player to lead the league in fielding percentage at second base in consecutive seasons since Bret Boone did it in three straight years from 1995-97.

In addition he is the first Reds player to win a Rawlings Gold Glove Award since Pokey Reese earned the honors in 2000, also as a second baseman.

Phillips received the Bill James Handbook’s Fielding Bible Award as the best defensive second basemen in the Major Leagues. His career-high 78-game errorless streak from April 10 through July 8 was the second-longest by a second baseman in the Major Leagues last season (Pittsburgh’s Freddy Sanchez, 82 games).

Permalink | Comments (99) | Post your comment

Cancun becomes Can’t-cun

By Hal McCoy | Thursday, October 30, 2008, 12:12 PM

Never, never, never take a trip with me — not on a bet, not on your life, not ever, ever, ever.

Just returned from Cancun and the worst vacation of my life. The highlights: It rained every day but one, so Nadine and I were on the beach once. I contracted food poisoning the third day and spent one entire day getting right with The Almighty because I was sure I was in the last days of my life on earth.

It started when we landed in Cancun and they told departing passengers to “declare” any prescriptions they were bringing in. Nadine was the only passenger on our flight to say she had prescription drugs, so we were stopped and her luggage was searched. Everybody else — most carrying pX drugs, walked through.

The hotel sent a van for us, and as we left the airport the policia, or the federales, stopped our van. They took our driver back to their car to scan his papers. Then one of the officers walked around the van peering in the windows at us. Satisfied that we were not unsavory, they let us go.

Our hotel was excellent, except it was $20 via cab to the nearest civilization that had restaurants and shops. Everybody took U.S. dollars, but gave change in pesos — which was 12 pesos to one dollar. I nearly choked at the first restaurant when I saw my meal was $875 on the menu. But that was pesos — about $40 U.S.

Nadine had a club sandwich at the hotel and had a Cracker Jack-type prize between the bread — a piece of plastic.

The food was below average and I’m sure the chicken mole I ate one night was the culprit that knocked me off my feet — diarrhea, fever, cold sweats, chills, dizziness that had me bouncing off the walls as I tried to walk to the bathroom.

One plus: They sold Cuban cigars (fairly cheap) out of backpacks on the beach. And they were legit, not phonies. For $50, I got five pyramids from a guy on the beach. For the same cigars, they wanted $27 FOR ONE at a shop downtown.

They told us to be at the Cancun airport three hours in advance to go home. We were there. It took us 15 minutes to check in. We figured we still had to go through customs. Wrong. You go through customs on your first stop in the States, for us it was Charlotte.

So we had to kill almost three hours at the airport. When we got to Charlotte, we had 1:20 to make our connecting flight. Customs, of course, was jammed. Took us 1:10 to get through and we sprinted to the gate and were the last to get on our Dayton flight.

Alas, as we pulled from the gate and headed for the runway, a young passenger up front had a panic attack or a seizure. He was screaming. They took us back to the gate and we sat for an hour. US Airways did give us a cup of water and one cookie and didn’t charge us, as they usually do for coffee ($1), soft drinks ($2) and adult beverages ($7).

Amazingly, after an hour, they announced that there had been a medical emergency on board, but all was OK now and they were putting him back on board. After another 20 minutes to add fuel, we left. The guy began screaming again.

But he stopped and apparently the drugs kicked in and he fell asleep until the end of our Trip From Hell.

Did get to see bits and snatches of the World Series, broadcast in Spanish.

And what did the 2008 World Series prove?

ONE — The season needs shortened. How about 148 games and some Sunday and holiday doubleheaders?

TWO — A neutral site for the World Series, such as a warm climate in California or Florida or in a domed stadium.

Watching Game 5, played in a downpour, convinced me. Baseball is not meant to be played under cloudbursts and in cold, cold weather. The only gloves that should be worn at a baseball game are the ones players use to catch baseballs. Gloves to keep hands warm are not for baseball games.

Sorry Tampa Bay didn’t win, but happy for the much-deprived Phillies fans.

One questions: Why did Joe Maddon start Grant Balfour when Game 5 resumed? Why didn’t he go with David Price right way? From what I saw, Maddon was outmanaged throughout the Series by baseball lifer Charlie Manuel.

More later.

Permalink | Comments (35) | Post your comment

Can the Reds be the 2009 Phillies?

By Hal McCoy | Thursday, October 16, 2008, 12:05 AM

There are defining moments in every baseball game, usually a defining moment.

As for the Philadelphia Phillies and Los Angeles Dodgers Wednesday night in the NLCS, it was the first batter of the game.

LA pitcher Chad Billingsley slipped two quick strikes past Jimmy Rollins. Then Rollins worked the count to 3-and-2 and on the eighth pitch of his at-bat he popped one into the right field seats.

It was Rollins who hit a leadoff home run in the final game of the NLDS when the Phillies eliminated the Milwaukee Brewers - and as Yogi Berra would say, “It was deja vu all over again.”

I turned to my dog, Barkley (Nadine was getting us ready for a trip to Cancun) and I said, “That’s it. Game over. Series over.”

And I was right.

Billingsley quickly crumbled and the Dodgers were bird seed in the left hand of Phillies starter Cole Hamels, a 24-year-old powder keg who was 2-0 with a 1.23 ERA in his two starts in the NLCS.

So the Phillies are in the World Series for the first time since 1993.

After the game, in the Phillies celebratory clubhouse, general manager Pat Gillick said something that showed complete class.

After the 2005 season, Ed Wade was fired as GM of the Phillies and three years later, Gillick stood in the clubhouse and on national television said, “A lot of the credit for this team must go to Ed Wade, who put most of it together.”

Is that class, or is that class?

It was Wade who was in charge when the Phillies signed players like Rollins and Hamels and Ryan Howard (three hits Wednesday) and Chase Utley and Shane Victorino.

For Gillick to aim credit at a GM fired three years ago showed not only a basket full of class, but supreme confidence in his own status.

OK, can the Cincinnati Reds be the 2009 version of the Phillies? Why not?

Can Edison Volquez be Cole Hamels? Why not?

Can Brandon Phillips be Chase Utley? Why not?

Can Joey Votto be Ryan Howard. Why not?

Can Jay Bruce be Shane Victorino. Why not?

Can Francisco Cordero be Brad Lidge? Why not?

Can Alex Gonzalez be Jimmy Rollins? Why not?

The Reds had their own Pat Burrell in Adam Dunn, but traded him. And the Phillies probably will lose Burrell, too. So both the Reds and Phillies will need a power-hitting righthanded bat in the lineup.

What the Reds don’t have is a catcher like Carlos Ruiz. Can Ryan Hanigan be that guy? Maybe. But most likely the Reds need a strong catcher.

Tell me. Am I being silly here. I mean I look at the Phillies and I look at the Reds and say, “Is there really that much difference?”

The Reds were 4-5 in their nine games last season against Philadelphia.

Maybe the Reds, absent from the NLCS since 1995, can get there in 2009.

Or am I dreaming?

Permalink | Comments (107) | Post your comment

Tampa Bay - no ghosts on this roster

By Hal McCoy | Tuesday, October 14, 2008, 11:34 PM

Are you believers yet in the Tampa Bay mystique? I am.

Hey, like everybody else, I was a guy who made fun of the Tampa Bay Rays, right up through last year when they were the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and I called them the Tampa Bay Deviled Eggs.

I mean, why not? This team finished last so often in the American League East that when they decided to eliminate ‘Devil’ from their nickname I thought they might rename them the Tampa Bay Last Placers.

Now they are on the precipice of playing in the World Series, one victory away, one victory over the Boston Red Sox, who are now the Boston Red because the Rays have knocked their Sox off.

Since getting shut out in Game One, the Rays have won three straight, outscoring the Bosox 31-13, getting 39 hits in those three games. They’ve beaten Boston 9-1 and 13-4 in Fenway Park. Talk about a Boston Massacre.

A little bit of history as I remember it.

Tampa Bay begged for a franchise in the late 1980s and 1990s and other franchises played them like an old fiddle.

First it was Seattle. Owner Jeff Smulyan negotiated for at least two years to move his franchise to Tampa Bay. Didn’t happen. He sold out to a Japanese group and the Mariners stayed in Seattle.

The San Francisco Giants wanted out of Candelstick Park, wanted to move from one Bay to another Bay. It was so cold at night in Candlestick in mid-summer that fans who stayed for an entire game were awarded medals of honor. True story.

Well, when it seemed the Giants might move to Tampa Bay, they got themselves that beautiful new park downtown, one of baseball’s best venues. And they stayed, Tampa Bay lost again.

Then it was the Chicago White Sox, talking to Tampa Bay about shifting the White Sox to Florida. Then the White Sox got a new stadium and Tampa Bay was left holding an empty stadium again.

An empty stadium?

Oh, yeah. Tampa Bay took the attitude, “Build it and they will come.” Well, Seattle, San Francisco and Chicago showed them they were wrong.

With the strong backing of former St. Petersburg Times columnist Hubert Mizell, they built a stadium in St. Pete, the ugly monster with the lopsided roof that sits just off I275. Heck, they even built the place in the wrong place, on the wrong side of the bay. The population base is in Tampa, but the stadium was built in St. Petersburg.

For years, I made fun of that, too, as the park sat mostly empty except for some tractor pulls, motorcycle races and a year or two as the home to the NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning while the Ice Palace was built in Tampa.

As a takeoff on the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis, I called the Tampa Bay park the Hubert Mizell Emptydome.

Finally, baseball gave Tampa Bay an expansion franchise and they immediately established squatter’s rights on last place. Fans didn’t come. Would you? To watch a last place team every year?

The only time they drew more than 10,000 fans was when the Red Sox or Yankees were in town and the transplanted snowbirds from New England and the east coast showed up to cheer for Boston and New York.

Sort of like how Cubs fans outnumber Reds fans in Great American Ball Park.

Three years ago, the Reds played in Tampa Bay, a three-game interleague series. The only thing the Reds worried about was that their hotel a few blocks from the ball park, The Vinoy, supposedly is haunted. Pitcher Scott Williamson swears he woke up and saw a ghost standing at the end of his bed - but some folks thought he was dreaming about opposing hitters who knocked him around.

It changed this year as the Rays emerged as an outstanding team. No more last. No more Deviled Eggs. No more fans from New England and the east coast outnumbering Rays fans.

All this is another reason I’m a Rays fan this postseason. Their fans were teased and taunted for years, ready to accept the Mariners, ready to accept the Giants, ready to accept the White Sox, only to have it yanked from their grasp at the last moment.

Now I get a kick out of watching noted Red Sox fan\author Stephen King sitting in Fenway watching his team get their pants jerked down around their ankles. No doubt there will be a black-hearted novel come out of this.

Did you see pitcher Edwin Jackson, a 14-game winner this year who is now relegated to the bullpen, finish Tuesday night’s game.

He almost was a Red. A few years ago, when he was the No. 1 prospect for the LA Dodgers, the Reds and LA nearly made a trade. The Dodgers wanted Adam Dunn. The Reds wanted Edwin Jackson. The Dodgers said no.

Permalink | Comments (14) | Post your comment

Tampa Bay gets rid of the devil

By Hal McCoy | Monday, October 13, 2008, 10:54 PM

This isn’t going to be an ‘I told you so’ diatribe.

Well, maybe a little bit.

Back in spring training, I watched the Tampa Bay Rays play three or four exhibition games against the Cincinnati Reds and I said (with Tampa Tribune columnist and good friend Joe Henderson as my witness): “That’s a pretty darn good team. That’s a real good team.”

I said that.

What I didn’t say is that, “Hey, this team might win 97 games and win the American League East.” Wish I had. What I did say was, “Too bad this team is in the American League East with the Red Sox, Yankees and Blue Jays. If they were in any other division, they might contend.”

Well, they not only contended in the AL East, they won it. And guess what? They might win it all.

I hope they do. This is a team with a $43 million payroll, second lowest in baseball. This is a team with no overpriced free agents or alleged superstars.

What I like is that this is a team with youthful exuberance and feistiness. They showed all year they wouldn’t back down to anybody, willing to fight at the drop of a rosin bag. And this is a team that walked into Fenway Park and put a 9-1 hickey on Boston’s neck. No fear.

This appears to be a reverse Damn Yankees. Remember the book and the Broadway show and the movie Damn Yankees, when Joe Hardy of the woebegotten Washington Senators sold his soul to the devil for an American League championship?

Well, this year Tampa Bay, formerly known as the Devil Rays, removed the devil from their nickname and are now just the Tampa Bay Rays. It must have pleased the baseball gods.

AS FOR THE Dodgers-Phillies, let’s hope for Philadelphia’s sake they don’t have to run Jamie Moyer out to the mound again. The Dodgers are zeroed in on him like Annie Oakley on the ace of spades.

I found the near-fight they had Sunday a tad humorous. As with most baseball skirmishes, it was mostly GMA — general milling around.

They were aiming baseballs at each other early and often, mostly playing by accepted etiquette. If you are throwing message pitches at the other team, you throw at their backs or their thighs. You don’t throw at heads, even though heads are helmeted.

So I agreed with Philadelphia’s Shane Victorino when the Dodgers threw at his head and he went berserk.

The amusing thing about the teams squaring off in the infield, mostly to exchange words, not punches, the three loudest and most active participants were three old-school coaches — Philadelphia’s Davey Lopes and LA’s Mariano Duncan and Larry Bowa.

Lopes and Duncan jawed at each other — and they were teammates with the Dodgers at one time.

Lopes being upset reminded me of what he did back in the 70’s against The Big Red Machine that touched off a brawl.

The Dodgers led, 9-0, and had the bases loaded. Lopes was at the plate and had a 3-and-0 count. When the Reds pitcher delivered the 3-0 pitch, the cripple pitch, Lopes swung from the heels, trying for a grand slam.

Other teams don’t think that’s a nice thing to do. When Lopes batted the next time, the Reds pitcher buzzed one under his chin and the fight was on.

Duncan, of course, was a late-season member of the 1995 Cincinnati Reds, the last time they played in the postseason. The only reason he was with the Reds is that Duncan played for the Phillies and they put him on waivers. Reds GM Jim Bowden, fearful that another contender would pick him up, claimed Duncan. He expected when he laid claim to him, the Phillies would withdraw waivers and take him back.

Didn’t happen. The Phillies said, “OK, you can have him. And you can him, too.”

My favorite Larry Bowa story involved him and former Reds shortstop Davey Concepcion. In the mid-70s, Bowa and Concepcion were baseball’s best two shortstops and their rivalry was intense.

One day in Philadelphia, Bowa was in the dugout when the Reds were taking batting practice and spotted Concepcion standing at shortstop.

“Hey, Elmer,” Bowa yelled. Concepcion ignored him.

“Hey, Elmer!” Bowa yelled again. Concepcion ignored him.

“Hey, Elmer. Elmer Concepcion. I’m talking to you,” said Bowa.

Said Concepcion, “Why are you calling me Elmer?”

Bowa laughed and said, “Because every time I look in the paper at a Reds box score, I see, ‘E-Concepcion.’ So I figured your name was Elmer.”

In a box score, ‘E’ stands for errors.

Permalink | Comments (9) | Post your comment