2016 will be a year of transition for the Cincinnati Reds. That is baseball speak for “Don’t expect much. We will try harder next year or the year after that.”
Everyone realizes that the Reds are trying to rebuild, but they cannot go all out rebuild because they have to honor long term commitments made by front office management that they cannot escape apparently, most ridiculously made known by Brandon Phillips exercising his well-earned no trade clause.
People here in Cincinnati believe Phillips is being selfish and greedy by requesting more money and/or a contract extension for him to waive that clause. I strongly disagree. When management gave him most recent contract extension, they had to realize his 10/5 rights ( 10 years in league/5 with same) would kick in. The fault lies with the Reds for not moving him sooner or more importantly signing him long term to begin with.
The Reds did acquire Jose Peraza in the Todd Frazier deal. The original plan was for Peraza to play 2B in the present and in the future, and then move Phillips to the Nationals for more minor league depth-like players. That fell through of course which has left Peraza in limbo for 2016 currently. If Phillips remains on the squad, both Peraza and the Reds are best served to send Peraza back to the minors in 2016 so that he gets regular at bats.
When Peraza does get the starting nod with the Reds, where will they choose to bat him in their lineup? In the majority of his minor league starts in 2015, Peraza batted 2nd in the lineup managing a .320 on base percentage with 24 SB. The Reds have a history of mismanaging speed, no matter who their manager is. If they can run, they bat lead off no matter what. There is that guy named Billy Hamilton that pretty much proves my point. If the Reds do make their common mistake of making Peraza their leadoff guy, I will be wanting them to make Hamilton their 9-hole hitter so that they may roll over the lineup later in games. Batting Peraza-Hamilton or Hamilton-Peraza 1-2 to start a game does not lead to solid starts to a game offensively, but as games progress, with a Hamilton-Peraza combo in the 9 and 1 holes of the lineup, their speed on the base paths may ignite some rallies with hitters like Joey Votto and Devin Mesoraco to potentially knock them in. This is all dependent on them reaching first base of course.
2 other acquisitions have been made since July that will impact the Reds 2016 lineup. Adam Duvall, a right handed power hitting outfielder, was acquired in the Mike Leake deal with the Giants. Between the majors and the minors he hit 35 HR in 561 total at bats. That would be impressive if we did not know most of those HR came in the hitter friendly Pacific Coast League. Scott Schebler, also acquired in the Frazier deal, is a left handed hitting outfielder who has struck out 557 times vs 167 walks in his minor league career + his brief MLB career. He has an uppercut swing that the reds hope can ooh and awe the crowd by hitting homeruns in right field moon deck of Great American Ball Park. Here is what Reds management does not want you to know. Duvall will be 28 and Schebler will be 26 in 2016. What you see is what you are going to get. Neither player has much upside for the future, but they do serve as roster fillers to save the organization money. That is the bottom line. On good teams, Duvall and Schebler make for good bench depth, nothing more. On this 2016 Reds team, they may each get close to 600 total at bats between them if not more.
Next Reds Beat: JJ Hoover, really? No, really?