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The Opposing Viewpoint: Cincinnati Reds (Part 2)

Welcome back to The Opposing Viewpoint, the place to learn more about the Mets’ opponents from the bloggers who write about them. The All-Star Break is over, and the Mets start back up with a trip out to Cincinnati for four games against the Reds. An offense that has not performed up to expectations has landed the Reds four games below .500 and 11 1/2 games back in a tough division, but they have some promising young talent (Jay Bruce, Joey Votto, Johnny Cueto) that should help them in the future and one of the game’s most impressive young pitchers (Edinson Volquez). Joining us today are Andrew Kappes and Jeff Gentil of MVN’s Redlegs Rundown. Read on for their thoughts on Adam Dunn, Aaron Harang, and the issue of a team repeatedly being hit with injuries at the same position (Andrew’s responses are in italics, Jeff’s in plain text):

Five different players have started at shortstop for the Reds this year, and four of them have spent time on the disabled list. How has the team coped with an overwhelming wave of injuries concentrated at one position?

This team has had a revolving door at the position. Alex Gonzalez is done for the year, which didn’t surprise me since I thought that was the case in Spring Training. This somehow set the tone, and our best offensive shortstop, Jeff Keppinger, went down as well. They have made do by calling up rookies (Paul Janish), and using veterans (Jerry Hairston). Janish has struggled, while Jerry has struggled to stay in the lineup. I think everyone would prefer to see Kepp playing short.

The Reds have many problems, and one of them is a “shortstop-of-the-future”.  However, despite going through so many shortstops this season, I can say that’s not the reason the team has struggled to win games.  From Jeff Keppinger to Jerry Hairston Jr to Paul Janish to Jolbert Cabrera, they have done an outstanding job filling in for each other.  Each player brings something completely different to the position.  Keppinger, a guy who was labeled as an “all hit, no glove” guy has been solid on the defensive end.  Hairston Jr has been a true catalyst for this team and is vying for an everyday job for next year already.  Janish still has to work on his bat, but his glove is Major League caliber.  And Jolbert Cabrera in the limited time he’s been up, has really opened some eyes.  He almost made the club out of spring training and people can see why.

Adam Dunn is one of the more polarizing players in baseball - it’s rare to find someone who doesn’t hold a strong opinion about him. What are your thoughts on Dunn, and how would you like to see the Reds handle his impending free agency?

There are times I love to see him play, but other times I find myself screaming at him for playing like he has 1,000 pounds on his feet. He can’t field in left, and his head isn’t screwed on at all times. I think he’s more suited at first base, where his power bat belongs.

There are some in this town who want Dunn re-signed and just as many who want him gone.  He is as consistent as I’ve ever seen in a Reds uniform.  He’ll hit 40 homers, drive in 100 runs, score 100 runs, walk 100 times, but strike out 150 times every season.  He’ll also play pretty bad defense and isn’t the greatest in the clutch.  I have argued that it’s difficult to replace the power supplied by Dunn, but it’s becoming clear to me that the Reds are going to let Adam walk after this season and try to get a free-agent left fielder who fits the mold better (good glove, decent bat).  I think this team is going to center around pitching and defense in the years to come with a rotation of young kids like Volquez, Cueto, Thompson, and Bailey to go along with Aaron Harang.

With Aaron Harang recently being placed on the disabled list, a lot has been made of how he has struggled (7.71 ERA and ten home runs allowed in 44 1/3 innings) since being used in relief during a long extra-inning game in late May. As someone who gets to watch Harang pitch a lot more often than I do, what have you seen from him recently that either concerns or reassures you?

His loss of velocity and movement concerns me. I noticed these scary trends a few starts after his extra inning relief appearance. However, I do believe this can be fixed with some rest, and we will see the return of the old Aaron Harang.

I believe this year is just a blip on the page for the Reds’ ace.  An MRI was clean last week, so there is no structural damage.  That’s actually making this season more puzzling for Harang.  If there was a health issue, you could point to that being the reason he’s not performing.  On the other hand, you don’t want a Cy Young candidate like Harang to be out for a long stretch with any injury. You can certainly point to his relief stint in San Diego for a reason why’s he’s struggled, but honestly he’d been struggling before then.  I’m not concerned about his amount of home runs allowed because he’s always surrendered them at a higher total.  All Reds fans are hoping the second half of the season is a much better one for Aaron and hopefully this rest on the disabled list will help immensely.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 17th, 2008 at 3:03 am and is filed under Aaron Harang, The Opposing Viewpoint, Jeff Keppinger, Paul Janish, Jerry Hairston, Adam Dunn, Cincinnati Reds, Alex Gonzalez, Jolbert Cabrera, 7 Train. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.