Burnes Provides Bulletin Board Material for Cincinnati?

[Jim Goulart]

From the article:

Bottom line for the Reds, it would seem, is that what they do with the one-game lead as they head into their final 71 games of the season is up to them – and maybe general manager Nick Krall as much as any of them.

“I don’t know which teams are going to sell and which are going to buy,” Burnes said, speculating that the Cards are obvious sellers and the Pirates might be right behind the. “The Cubs are four or five games behind us, but that’s one good week and one bad week from someone at the top from switching around.

“Obviously, I think us and the Reds at the top of the division will look to add,” he added. “But the kind of teams that we are, you can get some help and maybe get a little bit of incremental advantage, but I don’t think either team in the division is going to have that much of a drastic change.”

Of course, if the Reds – with that 5.69 starting-rotation ERA – were to add a starter, there’s a difference maker, right?

“It could help,” Burnes said. “But I think they need a lot more pitching than maybe one starter.”

If those aren’t fighting words for the Reds on the field, maybe they’d at least make a decent memo to Krall.

“We’ll see how it plays out,” (Devin) Williams said.

[KeithStone53151]

Imagine if the Reds were like "The Brewers need a lot more than just one hitter". It's probably great motivation for the guys in the clubhouse, but it's a factual statement and deep down...the guys in the clubhouse know it. I personally am just not concerned it's going to have the effect this Reds fansite wants it to have. It's not like Luke Weaver is going to show up extra motivated and blow us away with his 7 ERA stuff.

[Outlander]

I don't know if I like the comment that much because if he said something about their hitters he could back it up with a solid outing on Friday. Here, he is putting extra pressure on the Brewers offense, which has received a ton of criticism already. It's certainly not out of the question that the Reds pitching could shut down the Brewers this weekend.

[Playing Catch]

Burnes is nothing if not transparent. I also think that anyone that has questioned his dedication and professionalism in light of his comments about the arbitration hearing were misjudging his comments. I think he's one competitive SOB. If I'm correct, he probably rubs people the wrong way from time to time, but he wants to win.

[jerichoholicninja]

2 hours ago, KeithStone53151 said:

It's not like Luke Weaver is going to show up extra motivated and blow us away with his 7 ERA stuff.

Have you been watching this team at all? Any random dude with 7 ERA is just as likely to dominate as anyone else.

[KeithStone53151]

2 minutes ago, jerichoholicninja said:

Have you been watching this team at all? Any random dude with 7 ERA is just as likely to dominate as anyone else.

I'll stick with the stuff/statistics combo in this case. Luke Weaver has made 1 quality start out of 15 tries in 2023, with 2 other starts you might consider decent. The rest were varying degrees of bad. He also has arguably the worst stuff of anybody that has started more than a couple games in the majors this year. I wouldn't say it is likely that Luke Weaver dominates anyone above AA again. Now if he was left handed, I'd be terrified...but he's not.

[Fear The Chorizo]

Burnes' actual honest answer would be "Look, we play in a terrible division and both us and the Reds have major warts.  We currently don't hit enough and the Reds don't pitch well enough to be considered postseason threats besides the fact one of us will likely wind up winning the division.  We aren't huge market teams and are unlikely to trade impact prospects away for the quality and quantity of hitting/pitching rentals to significantly upgrade our weaknesses, so it's likely going to be a grind down to the wire to see who winds up winning the division."  Frankly, what he did say shouldn't be considered bulletin board material, it's just stating the obvious.

The Reds have been on fire lately, but they also racked up a good percentage of those wins against dreg teams or teams that were scuffling in general when they played them.  With the exception of other NL Central opponents, Cincy's 2nd half schedule is pretty rough.  Their out of division opponent series include SF, Dbacks, Dodgers, nats, marlins, Cleveland, Blue Jays, Angels, Dbacks, SF, Mariners, Tigers, Mets, Twins, and Cleveland in that order, so there aren't many scrub teams they'll be facing.  If the Brewers do well against the Reds over their last 6 head to head matchups and get them started on a bit of a slump, I think the Cubs still pose a bigger risk to take the division because they have better pitching, a much softer 2nd half schedule, ammo/budget to be buyers at the deadline, and 6 more games against the Brewers themselves.  

[jerichoholicninja]

I think if you combine the two rosters you've got a pretty good ballclub - the Milwaukinanni Red Brews.

[Samurai Bucky]

1 minute ago, jerichoholicninja said:

I think if you combine the two rosters you've got a pretty good ballclub - the Milwaukinanni Red Brews.

Their mascot would be named Killian?

[Jopal78]

I don’t understand why it would be “bulletin board material”.  He didn’t diss anyone, and the Reds pitchers who aren’t hurt have pitched poorly outside of Abbott. 
 

Abbott has thrown 95 innings already and has never topped 118 in a season, they’ll probably have to move him to the pen before the season is over to protect his arm. 

[BruisedCrew]

1 hour ago, KeithStone53151 said:

I'll stick with the stuff/statistics combo in this case. Luke Weaver has made 1 quality start out of 15 tries in 2023, with 2 other starts you might consider decent. The rest were varying degrees of bad. He also has arguably the worst stuff of anybody that has started more than a couple games in the majors this year. I wouldn't say it is likely that Luke Weaver dominates anyone above AA again. Now if he was left handed, I'd be terrified...but he's not.

I didn’t see Weaver listed as one of the Reds’ probable starters for this weekend. 

Regardless, I’m not concerned that what Burnes said will have any impact on the games. If the Reds can’t be motivated by playing the team that is one game behind them in the division race they’re in the wrong business. 
 

[CheezWizHed]

I'm sure if Tony LaRussa was coaching the Reds, they would be throwing balls at us for this... and/or any other perceived slight like having a hat on crooked, not wearing stirrups, smiling in the dugout, using blue as a primary color, or wearing stirrups.  

But I can't see anyone pinning this to a bulletin board... kind of a "meh" comment at most. Granted, Corbin himself could use an upgrade this second half of the season too. All-Star or not...