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GOODYEAR, Arizona – The next time Cincinnati Reds closer Alexis Diaz pitches in a spring training game, it’ll be in a minor-league game “so we can kind of manage it a little bit better” as Diaz tries to “sync up his delivery a little more,” manager Terry Francona said.
Who knows what exactly all that means?
But what it should mean is this: When Diaz gets to the minor-league side of camp for that game, the Reds should leave him there.
For his sake. And theirs.
Reds injuries catcher Jose Trevino 'I could play today': Cincinnati Reds catcher Jose Trevino confident he'll avoid IL
Make no mistake: Diaz can be dominant – so talented that he rightfully earned an All-Star selection in 2023.
The problem is that since then he’s pitched more like a guy who believes that entitles him to a big-league job than a guy who wants to be an All-Star again.
For the second consecutive spring he showed up looking unprepared for what it takes to be a championship-caliber reliever for a playoff-minded team over the span of a big-league season, despite as much ability as any reliever the Reds brought to camp this spring.
Don’t be surprised if the Reds option him to the minors to start the season. They already shopped his name in trade talks over the winter with no takers.
But they shouldn’t wait until the end of camp.
They should do it now. They should do it yesterday.
It might be a wakeup call for Diaz.
It would almost certainly send a message to anyone else in the clubhouse who hasn’t been paying attention to the new way of doing things around this team under new management.
Most of all it would make the team better.
His last outing, Saturday against the Royals, was his worst, with six of the seven batters he faced reaching base, including three walks – two of which forced in runs. He recorded just one out, was charged with five runs, and his manager refused to blame a small cut/scratch on the top of his thumb for the issues.
“I don’t think that had anything to do with it,” Francona said after that game. “We’ve got about a week to go. We’ve got to get it locked in.”
What if Diaz doesn’t get it locked in?
“I don’t do those (questions). We’ve got to get it locked in,” Francona said.
Asked about Diaz again the next morning, Francona mentioned that “what if” postgame question.
“I was thinking about it when I went home,” he said. “I woke up at 3.”
Francona admittedly loses sleep over a lot of baseball decisions and plays during the season and spring training with one of the most active baseball minds in the game rarely taking a break once the work starts.
Diaz, whose early work in camp was “slow-played” as a precaution because of a hamstring tug during a drill that never reached the level of injury, has failed to pitch a clean inning in four tries this spring.
But the Diaz issue threatened the sleep patterns of others in the organization long before Francona signed as the new manager in October.
That’s why Diaz was made available over the winter. And a big part of why former closers Taylor Rogers and Scott Barlow were added to the roster.
The fact is, the Reds probably have at least five relievers Francona could trust more with a ninth-inning lead than Diaz as the season opener looms in less than two weeks. Put veteran Emilio Pagán and Tony Santillan near the top of that list with Barlow and Rogers. And maybe lefty veteran Brent Suter.
Maybe even Graham Ashcraft, the starter who has the fastball-slider combo and demeanor to project as an effective late-inning leverage pitcher.
The bottom line is Diaz hasn’t looked like an All-Star closer since the month after he made that midsummer appearance. He looks more like the weak link among the experienced relievers still in camp. And it’s not particularly close.
He certainly hasn’t shown he’s entitled to much benefit of the doubt as most of the team approaches a promising 2025 opener with a look of urgency to bury last year’s disappointing season along with this year’s NL Central field.
What he has earned is the opportunity to prove he can rediscover his own urgency and pitch his way back to the high-leverage end of the Reds’ bullpen.
From Louisville.
Don’t expect the Reds to have a locked in lineup top to bottom every day. There’s too many moving parts at the outfield and infield corners for that.
But Francona said, “I like where the first four are right now.”
In other words, the manager seems to be leaning toward a stable top of the order that starts with lefty-hitting center fielder TJ Friedl, then righty second baseman Matt McLain, switch-hitting shortstop Elly De La Cruz and righty outfielder Austin Hays.
“But we’ll see,” Francona said. “There might be some movement.”
“I don’t know when it’s going to be, but this kid is going to be a good major-league hitter. Again, I don’t know when, but mark my words.”
*Francona on slugging third base prospect Sal Stewart, the MLB Pipeline top-100 prospect who was cut from his first big-league camp last week and is likely to open the season at High-A Dayton or AA Chattanooga.
Enough already with all the alternate merch crap.
MLB’s latest iteration of alternate uniform marketing resulted in unintentional obscenity(ies) and embarrassment that resulted in pulling four teams’ newly created products off the shelves.
For those who haven’t heard, this was the New Era Overlap Hat concept unveiled this spring, in in which the team’s cap logo was overlaid onto the middle of the scripted team or city name on the front of a cap.
The most egregious result was that it turned the word “Texas” on the Rangers’ hat into TeTas (tetas being a Spanish word for, well, something we shouldn’t print).
It also turned the Phillies into the PhiPies, the Astros into the AsHos and the Angels into the AnAels — all of which were subsequently pulled from shelves and websites after the Rangers caps were pulled.
It hasn’t stopped the secondary markets from cleaning up on the ones that already reached the public.
The Reds version created no such cash cow, or any stir at all. The larger “C” pretty much just covers up a smaller “C” in the middle of “Cincinnati.”
Better luck next time.
Of the 61 player the Reds brought to spring training this year, one has won a Gold Glove in his career.
In fact, catcher Jose Trevino won the Platinum Glove in the American League in 2022 for best defensive player at any position, during an All-Star season for the New York Yankees. He’ll open the season as the Reds’ starting catcher with Tyler Stephenson sidelined for the first month or so because of an oblique injury.
That’s how many former Gold Glove winners the defending division-champion Brewers and division-favorite Cubs have in their combined lineups.
The Brewers return three Gold Glove winners this year, including two 2024 winners (second baseman Brice Turang and right fielder Sal Frelick) plus left fielder Christian Yelich.
The Cubs have four, including three-time winners Ian Happ in left field and Kyle Tucker in right; two-time winner Dansby Swanson at shortstop and 2023 winner Nico Hoerner at second.
Francona has won three BBWAA Manager of the Year awards, all with Cleveland, in 2013, 2016 and 2022. OK, you probably knew that.
But did you know that only one Reds manager has ever won the award (given annually since 1983)? And it wasn’t future Hall of Famer Dusty Baker (he won three with the Giants).
It was Jack McKeon in 1999, after a 96-win season that fell short of the playoffs when the Reds lost a Game 163 tiebreaker to the Mets 5-0.
Incidentally, Hall of Fame Reds manager Sparky Anderson, who won two BBWAA awards with the Tigers later in his career, did not win The Sporting News manager award while managing any of those Big Red Machine teams (The TSN award was the premier award for managers before the BBWAA established its award).
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati Reds should send closer Alexis Díaz to minors
Continue reading...
Who knows what exactly all that means?
You must be registered for see images attach
But what it should mean is this: When Diaz gets to the minor-league side of camp for that game, the Reds should leave him there.
For his sake. And theirs.
Reds injuries catcher Jose Trevino 'I could play today': Cincinnati Reds catcher Jose Trevino confident he'll avoid IL
Make no mistake: Diaz can be dominant – so talented that he rightfully earned an All-Star selection in 2023.
The problem is that since then he’s pitched more like a guy who believes that entitles him to a big-league job than a guy who wants to be an All-Star again.
For the second consecutive spring he showed up looking unprepared for what it takes to be a championship-caliber reliever for a playoff-minded team over the span of a big-league season, despite as much ability as any reliever the Reds brought to camp this spring.
Don’t be surprised if the Reds option him to the minors to start the season. They already shopped his name in trade talks over the winter with no takers.
But they shouldn’t wait until the end of camp.
They should do it now. They should do it yesterday.
It might be a wakeup call for Diaz.
It would almost certainly send a message to anyone else in the clubhouse who hasn’t been paying attention to the new way of doing things around this team under new management.
Most of all it would make the team better.
You must be registered for see images attach
His last outing, Saturday against the Royals, was his worst, with six of the seven batters he faced reaching base, including three walks – two of which forced in runs. He recorded just one out, was charged with five runs, and his manager refused to blame a small cut/scratch on the top of his thumb for the issues.
“I don’t think that had anything to do with it,” Francona said after that game. “We’ve got about a week to go. We’ve got to get it locked in.”
What if Diaz doesn’t get it locked in?
“I don’t do those (questions). We’ve got to get it locked in,” Francona said.
Asked about Diaz again the next morning, Francona mentioned that “what if” postgame question.
“I was thinking about it when I went home,” he said. “I woke up at 3.”
Francona admittedly loses sleep over a lot of baseball decisions and plays during the season and spring training with one of the most active baseball minds in the game rarely taking a break once the work starts.
Diaz, whose early work in camp was “slow-played” as a precaution because of a hamstring tug during a drill that never reached the level of injury, has failed to pitch a clean inning in four tries this spring.
But the Diaz issue threatened the sleep patterns of others in the organization long before Francona signed as the new manager in October.
That’s why Diaz was made available over the winter. And a big part of why former closers Taylor Rogers and Scott Barlow were added to the roster.
You must be registered for see images attach
The fact is, the Reds probably have at least five relievers Francona could trust more with a ninth-inning lead than Diaz as the season opener looms in less than two weeks. Put veteran Emilio Pagán and Tony Santillan near the top of that list with Barlow and Rogers. And maybe lefty veteran Brent Suter.
Maybe even Graham Ashcraft, the starter who has the fastball-slider combo and demeanor to project as an effective late-inning leverage pitcher.
The bottom line is Diaz hasn’t looked like an All-Star closer since the month after he made that midsummer appearance. He looks more like the weak link among the experienced relievers still in camp. And it’s not particularly close.
He certainly hasn’t shown he’s entitled to much benefit of the doubt as most of the team approaches a promising 2025 opener with a look of urgency to bury last year’s disappointing season along with this year’s NL Central field.
What he has earned is the opportunity to prove he can rediscover his own urgency and pitch his way back to the high-leverage end of the Reds’ bullpen.
From Louisville.
Cincinnati Reds lineup core four?
Don’t expect the Reds to have a locked in lineup top to bottom every day. There’s too many moving parts at the outfield and infield corners for that.
But Francona said, “I like where the first four are right now.”
In other words, the manager seems to be leaning toward a stable top of the order that starts with lefty-hitting center fielder TJ Friedl, then righty second baseman Matt McLain, switch-hitting shortstop Elly De La Cruz and righty outfielder Austin Hays.
“But we’ll see,” Francona said. “There might be some movement.”
He said it
“I don’t know when it’s going to be, but this kid is going to be a good major-league hitter. Again, I don’t know when, but mark my words.”
*Francona on slugging third base prospect Sal Stewart, the MLB Pipeline top-100 prospect who was cut from his first big-league camp last week and is likely to open the season at High-A Dayton or AA Chattanooga.
Alternative merch a bad idea once again
Enough already with all the alternate merch crap.
MLB’s latest iteration of alternate uniform marketing resulted in unintentional obscenity(ies) and embarrassment that resulted in pulling four teams’ newly created products off the shelves.
For those who haven’t heard, this was the New Era Overlap Hat concept unveiled this spring, in in which the team’s cap logo was overlaid onto the middle of the scripted team or city name on the front of a cap.
The most egregious result was that it turned the word “Texas” on the Rangers’ hat into TeTas (tetas being a Spanish word for, well, something we shouldn’t print).
It also turned the Phillies into the PhiPies, the Astros into the AsHos and the Angels into the AnAels — all of which were subsequently pulled from shelves and websites after the Rangers caps were pulled.
It hasn’t stopped the secondary markets from cleaning up on the ones that already reached the public.
The Reds version created no such cash cow, or any stir at all. The larger “C” pretty much just covers up a smaller “C” in the middle of “Cincinnati.”
Better luck next time.
The number: 1
Of the 61 player the Reds brought to spring training this year, one has won a Gold Glove in his career.
In fact, catcher Jose Trevino won the Platinum Glove in the American League in 2022 for best defensive player at any position, during an All-Star season for the New York Yankees. He’ll open the season as the Reds’ starting catcher with Tyler Stephenson sidelined for the first month or so because of an oblique injury.
The Bigger Number: 7
That’s how many former Gold Glove winners the defending division-champion Brewers and division-favorite Cubs have in their combined lineups.
The Brewers return three Gold Glove winners this year, including two 2024 winners (second baseman Brice Turang and right fielder Sal Frelick) plus left fielder Christian Yelich.
The Cubs have four, including three-time winners Ian Happ in left field and Kyle Tucker in right; two-time winner Dansby Swanson at shortstop and 2023 winner Nico Hoerner at second.
Did you know
Francona has won three BBWAA Manager of the Year awards, all with Cleveland, in 2013, 2016 and 2022. OK, you probably knew that.
But did you know that only one Reds manager has ever won the award (given annually since 1983)? And it wasn’t future Hall of Famer Dusty Baker (he won three with the Giants).
It was Jack McKeon in 1999, after a 96-win season that fell short of the playoffs when the Reds lost a Game 163 tiebreaker to the Mets 5-0.
Incidentally, Hall of Fame Reds manager Sparky Anderson, who won two BBWAA awards with the Tigers later in his career, did not win The Sporting News manager award while managing any of those Big Red Machine teams (The TSN award was the premier award for managers before the BBWAA established its award).
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati Reds should send closer Alexis Díaz to minors
Continue reading...
