According to this morning's Enquirer, Dusty denied that he asked the Reds for an extension, but the quote from Dusty isn't that clear. We'll see how it shakes out.
Speaking of Dusty, he's now about half way there. I've been saying for awhile now that BP should be in an on-base role, not a run-producing role. Last night, Dusty put BP in the two hole and moved Rolen into the clean-up spot, with Bruce batting fifth and O-Cab sixth. Dusty alluded to this move earlier when he mentioned O-Cab as an rbi guy (and in fact O-Cab led the team in rbis). I would still rather see BP leading off, with O-Cab second and Stubbs moved to the 8th spot. This would take some pressure off of Stubbs, who is struggling to get on base. BP has struggled, too, but he's now a veteran and we know what he can do over the season. Another worry: Dusty has made some line-up moves (like moving Stubbs down in the order) that made sense, but has then abandonded them right away. I'll be disappointed, but it wouldn't surprise me to see BP back in the clean-up spot almost right away.
I also like that Dusty's playing Hanigan who is hot instead of sticking with Hernandez full-time. This team should be playing the hot guy. Soon enough, that will be Hernandez and he'll get the majority of the starts again.
Harang certainly pitched well enough last night to keep his rotation spot for at least another couple of turns. Stay tuned on that as well.
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2 comments:
Dave - If Harang is cut from the rotation, do you think Chapman will fill his spot? If not, who?
I think it's too early to talk about Harang getting cut from the rotation both in terms of what the Reds are likely to do and what the Reds should do. Harang leads the majors in difference between his actual era and his SIERA (which is a Baseball Prospectus stat designed to measure only those things within the pitcher's control). Harang's main problem right now is the gopher ball. If he can give up fewer home runs, he should be fine with the way he's pitching otherwise.
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