Ron Robinsons Beard

Gotta hang a crooked number here. This Reds bullpen is ripe.

How exactly is Hiura in the OF "cringeworthy"? Based on the one career putout he has in LF? I can only assume he meant that the idea of it would be concerning, as to your point, he's barely played there. Hiura has serious arm strength concerns, so I'd expect a horrifically bad OF arm, like Khris Davis bad, in left, which would be a significant problem. Hiura would have to hit a ton to overcome terrible defense, and there's no indication that's a reasonable expectation at this point. He'd also be limited to playing LF exclusively ... and that spot is seemingly occupied for a little while, unless they eventually move Yelich to a different spot.

Good call. The Reds are inevitable.

He was primarily a 1B in HS. Hasn't played there as a pro, though.

If Garcia gets to the mutual option ABs, I don't see him turning it down and he will be the RF next year. Stearns is going to have to eat the JBJ signing. Maybe MA opens the checkbook up to sign one good FA, but don't count on it. I think Escobar and Anderson are gone and probably Pina too. There just isn't a whole lot of savings that can be had until 2023. I can probably count on one hand how many times in MLB history both sides of a mutual option have been exercised, despite dozens of contracts including them signed every offseason. It seems to happen about once every 5-6 years or so, but mostly with role players on cheap deals.

Who is questioning his work ethic? I'm not sure I've seen anything like that anywhere.

Sold cold taking right there. Nice work.

Dahl is hot. Call him up, and use Jace as your top utility infielder.

If the Brewers continue to take care of their own business, the Reds will soon be irrelevant. The Reds are paying for being mediocre in the first half of the season. Playing well now, but they will need to be pretty close to otherworldly at this point to make a move on the division. They just aren't gaining any ground because ... the Brewers are playing pretty dang good ball too.

Yet another former top prospect along the same lines as Derek Fisher or Billy McKinney. Dahl has at least had some success in the majors, though. Decent enough flyer, especially with the good chance that Garcia will be moving on next year.

This continues to be a pitching and defense-centric team with a maddeningly inconsistent offense.

We do? Yelich is really the only long-term OF in the majors. JBJ is gone after next year, as is Cain. Garcia is likely to decline his mutual option after this year. Taylor is controllable for awhile, but is he a long-term piece? Mitchell may be ready sometime next year, but I still think OF is actually very much a need moving forward.

Starting...been dealing with that all year. Right ... it's major league baseball. Injuries gonna happen. August is when you see which teams have depth and which don't.

It really is a weird obsession. I mean, yeah, the Reds are in 2nd place. But it is a wide cushion. Talk to me when they get it down to four games or so. Otherwise I don't care what they are doing.

Garcia's OPS current sits at .837. Sometimes people show up to whine simply to whine. I think Hopper is likely among that group.

What's your point? Long-term contracts are what they are. Everyone knew the risks. If Cain helps them win 100, and is a stud in the postseason, his nagging injuries and the amount of games he has played this year won't matter in the slightest.

Give it another loss or two. A couple key Debbie downers have mysteriously gone missing recently and I’m sure they’re lurking around ready to pounce once we hit a rough patch. Ah yes, the eminent return of the triple eights. I can hardly wait!

This Cardinals team is annoying. Every player on their team looks like a jacked up high school halfback from a rich suburban high school.

How do you tell if that player you drafted, whether with a top-10 pick or in the 31st round, is developing? Best way I can think of after several years of doing the top 25 ballots is to look at the stats and see how they've produced, and to look at the trends. To me, Ernesto Martinez and Korry Howell have shown breakthroughs this year - huge ones that I am projecting to very productive players - and I ranked them on my ballot accordingly. I also think that both Fry and Wilson have both produced consistently in terms of offense. They've also proven themselves to be versatile defensive players - across five or more positions (Wilson all four IF positions and the corner OF spots; Fry as a C/1B/2B/3B/LF/RF/CF). Hummel offered slightly less versatility (C/LF/RF/1B) but a bat that would have played well. The way I see it, the Crew, as a small-market team needs a regular flow of the bench guys, mid-rotation guys, and bullpen role players as well. As Cooper Hummel showed, their value may not be just on the Brewers 26-man roster, it could be a rental, or maybe we get those lottery tickets from another small-market club. The Yankees and Dodgers can afford to give out a nine-figure contract every year or so, as can the Red Sox, Padres, Angels, the Cubs, and White Sox. The Brewers can only do that once or (if they maximize their revenue) twice a decade. So, they need to develop a lot of their bench help, bullpen assets, etc. in-house whenever possible. That's why Fry and Wilson went 3-4 and Mitchell and Small were 5-6. That doesn't explain whatsoever why you rank Fry and Wilson 3-4 and Mitchell and Small 5-6. I understand the value of developing MLB depth in the system, but that really has nothing to do with ranking future prospect value. Do you honestly believe that Weston Wilson is going to have more future value to the Brewers than Garrett Mitchell? Because that is what you are saying with your rankings.

I'm sure it has something to do with wanting the colors to "pop" on high-def TVs. The shade of their regular green jerseys is actually a tad different than what you can go to the Pro Shop and buy specifically for that reason as well.

You still have to get to the ninth with a lead. Hader's value in a given game evaporates if the one-run lead you want to save him for the ninth evaporates because Boxberger/Sanchez/etc. got lit up in the sixth trying to clean up a jam the starter got in. In that case, you put Hader in to get to the eighth, and you have conventional 8th/9th inning guys take those two. Josh Hader has said, many times now, that he feels more comfortable in the closer role, and he would much prefer to stay in that role, rather than go back to his multi-inning role. I'm not real sure what else needs to be said. Hader is this team's closer, and he's damn good at it. It is long past time for those few fans who are hanging on to the idea of 2017 Hader to wake up and smell the roses.

So we voluntarily did a color rush uniform and made it even uglier than past versions? I think they are trying to emulate the colors the team wore in the early '50s, but didn't quite get the shade right. And for some reason the versions of the jerseys fans can buy are much closer to an accurate color scheme than the ones the players are modeling. http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fN7zAA2lLBU/VdIWqWb39OI/AAAAAAAAU10/Lg-vRLKQ3Xw/s1600/1953GreenBayPackers_close.jpg

Sure, why go out and get a Corvette when you can park a couple perfectly fine used Chevy Malibus in the garage?

Have to say, watching the scant division hopes of the Reds and Cardinals get slowly crushed this week has been nice. I bet being a Reds fan over the last month has been excruciatingly frustrating as they weren't able to gain any ground even while scorching hot, and are getting buried now that they've cooled off considerably.

Also says he can make his next start, though he probably will (and should) not. Yep, good excuse to give Ashby another start or two. Maybe even give Freddy a 10-day IL stint.