Bronson Arroyo Edinson Volquez Johnny Cueto Travis Wood* Homer Bailey -------------- Mike Leake Matt Maloney
Pen Francisco Cordero Nick Masset Aroldis Chapman* Bill Bray* Logan Ondrusek Jared Burton Jose Arredondo ------------- Sam Lecure Carlos Fisher Jordan Smith DR Herrera*
...some OBP this season? On-base percentage is what makes modern offenses go, so let's have a look at some roster candidates for the Reds offense this season that Dustbag will have to choose from. Does this roster as constructed have the OBP skills necessary to get the job done?
Let's start with looking at last year's Team Statistics as a comparison point. Bill James' Pythagorean Formula theorizes if you score as many runs as you give up, you can expect to go .500 over the course of the long baseball season.
Here is how the Reds fared:
* In 2009, the Reds finished 11th out of 16 NL teams in runs scored, scoring 673 runs while giving up 723 runs. * The Reds finished tied for 14th out of 16 teams in the NL last year in On-Base percentage (yikes!).
Infield (6 or 7) Joey Votto Brandon Phillips Orlando Cabrera Scott Rolen Paul Janish Drew Sutton Chris Burke Aaron Miles Miguel Cairo
Outfield (5 or 6) Jay Bruce Drew Stubbs Chris Dickerson Jonny Gomes Laynce Nix Wladimir Balentien (worthless) Chris Heisey Todd Frazier Josh Anderson (white Corey Patterson)
Potential Opening Day Lineup 1. Drew Stubbs 8 (should be batting lower in order) 2. Orlando Cabrera 6 3. Joey Votto 3 4. Brandon Phillips 4 5. Scott Rolen 5 6. Ramon Hernandez 2 7. Jay Bruce 9 8. Chris Dickerson 7 9. Aaron Harang P
Well now, it does appear the Redlegs are starting to buy into the stated objective of this blog! PITCHING, power, on-base percentage...YAY.
* The Reds have signed Cuban import Aroldis Chapman to a five-year, $25M deal, payments spread over 10 years. It may work, it may not work...I just like that Castellini is finally TRYING.
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Now that Pete Carroll has taken Head Coach job at Seattle Seahawks, who will replace him as coach at USC? The article mentions Mike Riley, Jack Del Rio, Jeff Fisher... What a great job coaching the Trojans.
- Let's start with a lil' Gisele Bundchen today. She's checking out the plane, while the guy behind her appears to be checking out something else.
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--The minimum salary for an NFL player is $310,000 the first year, and $460,000 after they've played a couple years. Still, 78% of NFL players go BANKRUPT or are in severe financial distress within two years of retirement. --Where does the money go? Well, some players blow it on drugs and child support. But mostly they get bad investment advice. Starting a record label might be a lifelong dream, but it's not the best way to build a nest egg. --And even though a lot of players are earning mad cash while they're playing, the average NFL career is less than FOUR YEARS. And a little over a million dollars, before taxes, is just not enough to retire on when you're that young.