In 2019, the Reds added Sonny Gray, Trevor Bauer, Alex Wood, Tanner Roark, and Wade Miley to their team

[mmc]

The Reds added several quality SPs to their team over the course of a year, some of who are borderline aces.  I think this is a good reminder to anyone who acts there’s any excuse for our failure to acquire good starters over Eppler’s tenure.  It can be done, and it can be done fast.  We need to be much more aggressive.

[Pancake Bear]

Borderline ace?

[beatlesrule]

25 minutes ago, Pancake Bear said:

Borderline ace?

Sonny Gray was really good in 2019.

OT, Eppler didn't do it so it doesn't count. Eppler doesn't put too much stock in SP. We will see if this works out in 2020.

[Chuck]

23 minutes ago, Pancake Bear said:

Borderline ace?

Luis Castillo, Sonny Gray and Trevor Bauer are all borderline aces. Overall they're #2's, but show flashes of that #1 ace a team needs to have to go far.

Ohtani is our guy and Canning could easily become a Gray or Bauer type if he can stay healthy and log 180-200 innings.

But yeah, we need another guy like those mentioned and if we acquire one I believe we'll have a very good rotation going forward.

[Pancake Bear]

42 minutes ago, beatlesrule said:

Sonny Gray was really good in 2019.

OT, Eppler didn't do it so it doesn't count. Eppler doesn't put too much stock in SP. We will see if this works out in 2020.

Eppler doesn't put too much stock in SP so he offered the most money ever to an SP that happened to be outbid by another team. Seriously, this is the laziest take. 

42 minutes ago, Chuckster70 said:

Luis Castillo, Sonny Gray and Trevor Bauer are all borderline aces. Overall they're #2's, but show flashes of that #1 ace a team needs to have to go far.

Ohtani is our guy and Canning could easily become a Gray or Bauer type if he can stay healthy and log 180-200 innings.

But yeah, we need another guy like those mentioned and if we acquire one I believe we'll have a very good rotation going forward.

I guess I have a more narrow definition of an ace. I'd put an ace as top 5 to maybe 10. Some people put it more like top 30, I guess, if you assume it's just the top pitcher on each staff or the equivalent to that league-wide. 

I wouldn't consider any of those guys a top ten pitcher. Bauer was in 2018, but he wasn't in 2019. Gray wasn't too far off that in 2019, though. Top 20. But that was in the NL. He was much worse in the AL. 

[Second Base]

You're absolutely right. 

I love what Billy's done with the farm, but at some point you've got to contend. You need to take the outcome into your own hands and be intentional, aggressive even.

It's like the people that save money and work all those years and put off all the things they want to do until they're retired. Investing in your future is great, it's exactly what you're supposed to do. But putting off "life" until an uncertain future comes... Not a good idea. You have to have balance. 

Billy needs to get aggressive and open that window of contention. It's time.

[Lou]

Castillo is a borderline ace now? holy crap 

[DMVol]

And the Reds won 75 games....

[Lou]

15 minutes ago, DMVol said:

And the Reds won 75 games....

with several borderline aces?

that just doesn't add up. 

[Glen]

Can somebody tell me how this is a borderline ace?

 

 

[Lou]

3 minutes ago, Glen said:

Can somebody tell me how this is a borderline ace?

Bruin?

[zenmaster]

So they acquired these 5 "borderline aces" and could still only manage 3 more wins than us?

[mmc]

1 minute ago, zenmaster said:

So they acquired these 5 "borderline aces" and could still only manage 3 more wins than us?

Reading not your strong suit?  I said “some of who are borderline aces”

[zenmaster]

4 minutes ago, mymerlincat said:

Reading not your strong suit?  I said “some of who are borderline aces”

Resorting to personal attacks so quickly? You must have an excellent argument. Ok, so "some borderline aces" gave them 3 more wins than us.

[mmc]

10 minutes ago, zenmaster said:

Resorting to personal attacks so quickly? You must have an excellent argument. Ok, so "some borderline aces" gave them 3 more wins than us.

Your argument is completely irrelevant.  I don’t give a damn what the Reds record was, their rotation was ranked top 10 last season, and that was with Wood missing most of the season and Bauer only being there for a couple of months.  Pitching wasn’t the reason they weren’t good.  I’m merely pointing out that it’s possible to bring in several good starting pitchers in the course of a year.

[kevinb]

Bundy Teheran and Ohtani are going to do great in Anaheim with this defense behind them and the new found offense. It’s time to take back the AL West crown. 

[totdprods]

16 minutes ago, mymerlincat said:

their rotation was ranked top 10 last season, and that was with Wood missing most of the season and Bauer only being there for a couple of months.

Bauer and Wood weren't very good...

Wood: 5.80 ERA in 7 starts, 1.40 WHIP
Bauer: 6.39 ERA in 10 starts, 1.35 WHIP

[mmc]

11 minutes ago, totdprods said:

Bauer and Wood weren't very good...

Wood: 5.80 ERA in 7 starts, 1.40 WHIP
Bauer: 6.39 ERA in 10 starts, 1.35 WHIP

Wood battled back problems all season and Bauer had a much better September after a rough August adjusting to being on a new team.

[Lou]

Castillo had an ERA of 4.78 after the ASB

[Jay]

1 hour ago, Glen said:

Can somebody tell me how this is a borderline ace?

He might turn out to be a better filmmaker than a pitcher.

 

[Lou]

6 minutes ago, mymerlincat said:

Wood battled back problems all season and Bauer had a much better September after a rough August adjusting to being on a new team.

Bauer had 2 good starts in September (out of 4). His September era was 4.10

 

[mmc]

5 minutes ago, Lou said:

Bauer had 2 good starts in September (out of 4). His September era was 4.10

 

Which is much improved from an August ERA that was higher than 8.00

[Lou]

hardly a borderline ace. 

[totdprods]

17 minutes ago, mymerlincat said:

Wood battled back problems all season and Bauer had a much better September after a rough August adjusting to being on a new team.

Right, but you implied that their rotation was good and would've been even better if those two had made more starts, when both were frankly pretty terrible. 

I still think the Angels should try and pry away one of their catchers, either Casali, who we had before on a minor league deal, or Barnhart, as well as pending FA DeSclafani to round out the rotation. 

I don't think either would cost that much, but the Reds likely have bigger plans. 

[Jay]

8 hours ago, Chuckster70 said:

Luis Castillo, Sonny Gray and Trevor Bauer are all borderline aces. Overall they're #2's, but show flashes of that #1 ace a team needs to have to go far.

Ohtani is our guy and Canning could easily become a Gray or Bauer type if he can stay healthy and log 180-200 innings.

But yeah, we need another guy like those mentioned and if we acquire one I believe we'll have a very good rotation going forward.

We can argue about the "borderline ace" thing but I would be pleased if Eppler brought in a couple of #2's