| 08 May 2010
Glad to see the Reds finally taking my (and everyone's) advice to get Drew Stubbs out of the leadoff spot. I've wanted Orlando Cabrera there since the beginning of the season and Dusty finally made the move.
Curiously, he dropped Stubbs to seventh and not eighth though. If it finally became clear that Stubbs was the weak link in the entire order, why not drop him all the way to eighth? Let's say there is a nice rally forming and there are men on base and seventh hitter steps to the plate. Who would you rather that be? Ramon Hernandez/Ryan Hanigan, or Drew Stubbs? Yeah, I thought so. So, even when Dusty finally "gets it" he doesn't get it all the way.
Regardless, the good news here is Stubbs will no longer be batting leadoff (at least for now) which is a big step in the right direction.
Something else that probably needs to eventually happen on this team is Micah Owings moving to the rotation and Homer Bailey being demoted to the pen. I would give Bailey another start or two just to make sure, but the inconsistent, yet talented hurler is mired in a slump right now.
Looking at his long-term career, Bailey will still be a starter. However, this year, get Owings in there as a starter and use Bailey (and his good fastball) out of the pen. Plus, this would get Owings more at-bats. You could even pull a Tony LaRussa (no, not constructing an HGH lab in your basement) and bat Stubbs ninth on the days when Owings pitches. Owings could bat eighth or even higher. He's that good of a hitter. He's not just a "good hitter for a pitcher." He's a good hitter, period.
In addition, not only is he pitching better than Bailey right now, but Owings would get more at-bats as a starting pitcher than a reliever because he's bound to get three at-bats on average the games he pitches. As a reliever, he was hardly ever getting at-bats because they didn't want to use him as a pinch hitter and have him not be available to pitch since he's been so valuable to the bullpen.
And that would be the one problem with this move if they made it: Owings has been extremely solid in the bullpen and that's where I wanted him to be when the season began. But it's become obvious to me that Owings should be in the rotation and Bailey should be in the bullpen (or sent down to AAA). Starters pitch far more innings than relievers and if Owings is clearly pitching better than Bailey this year (and he is) soon it will be time to make the switch. Not just yet, but soon (if Bailey's swoon continues).
The good news is all of this will take care of itself when Aroldis Chapman is called up and makes his Major League debut. But we're probably a little less than a month away from that happening. The 22-year-old Cuban defector had a rough outing his last time taking the mound, but after five starts he is still 2-1 with a 3.12 ERA (was in the 1's before his last outing when he gave up six earned in five innings). The really good news is that he has 30 strikeouts to just 13 walks over 26 innings (23 hits-allowed).
Leake, Chapman, Volquez, Cueto, Bailey. How does that sound for the starting rotation for the next decade or so? Pretty damn good if you ask me.
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