Results tagged ‘ Yasmani Grandal ’

Reds prospects


RedsMinorLeagues.com posted the Cincinnati Reds new Top 25 Prospect List and I am still very pleased with what they have in the farm system for the future. Doug Gray, @dougdirt24 says, “With the Reds trading away [Yonder] Alonso, [Yasmani] Grandal, [Brad] Boxberger, [Ronald] Torreyes and [Dave] Sappelt the Reds lost 5 of their Top 25 prospects in my rankings.” Even with trading away these players I still think the Reds have a great batch of young talented players ready for the future and I am very confident that Walt Jocketty will get more great prospects when they are needed by trade or draft.

Cincinnati Reds new Top 25 Prospect List includes:
Devin Mesoraco, Daniel Corcino, Yorman Rodriguez, Robert Stephenson, Billy Hamilton, Zack Cozart, Neftali Soto, Didi Gregorius, Henry Rodriguez, Todd Frazier, Gabriel Rosa, Kyle Lotzkar, David Vidal, Tony Cingrani, J.C. Sulbaran, Ryan LaMarre, Donald Lutz, Tucker Barnhart, Sean Buckley, Amir Garrett, Donnie Joseph, Junior Arias, Juan Duran, Pedro Villarreal and Nick Christiani.

The Reds made another move?


After a fun and exciting day yesterday with the trade of Travis Wood, Dave Sappelt and Ronald Torreyes from the Reds for Sean Marshall from Chicago Cubs and the Reds selecting Josh Judy off waivers from Cleveland Indians I have just found out that we might have missed a deal. I am reading that the “Cincinnati Reds signed [catcher] Brian Esposito as a free agent.”

Esposito was drafted in the 5th round of the 2000 amateur draft by Boston Red Sox and has been on six MLB teams, only two of which he actually played in the big leagues. St. Louis Cardinals for one game and Houston Astros for two. (3 AB, 0 hits, 1 SO) He is a minor league catcher who has played 12 seasons. (234 games in AAA and 238 games in AA) He is not much of a hitter (.216 BA in 12 seasons in minors) but his fielding is not to bad with 87 PB, 534 SB, 195 CS, 27% CS% in 655 games. This would mean they would have Corky Miller (35 years old) and Brian Esposito (32 years old) ready to come up if there are any injuries to Reds catchers Ryan Hanigan or Devin Mesoraco. I think having two veteran catchers like this in the farm system is a good move by the Reds.

This move has not been confirmed by Cincinnati Reds on mlb.com but it could be a move to help with the loss of catching prospect Yasmani Grandal to San Diego Padres in the Mat Latos trade. If this is a move that they did make it shows that they are very comfortable with playing Hanigan and Mesoraco in 2012. And it also shows that all of those arm-chair General Managers still wishing for Mesoraco in a trade to their team this offseason will have to wait even longer.

Big trade


I have to take my words back and say I am sorry to Walt Jocketty right now. I really did not think he would pull the trigger and make a deal for a starting pitcher this offseason.

Today the Reds traded Edinson Volquez and three of the club’s top prospects, Yonder Alonso, Brad Boxberger and Yasmani Grandal to San Diego Padres for right-handed Mat Latos. This trade gives the Reds their top of the rotation starter they were looking for and it gives San Diego a bunch of top prospects in the game today. At first, I really thought the Reds overpaid but now that I look more into it, I see that there really was no other way Walt Jocketty was going to get the starter they really needed.

The question that comes up now is, who will play in left field in 2012? Yonder Alonso was prepping all offseason for the chance to play in left field and now the Reds have only Chris Heisey and Dave Sappelt. This move also puts the Reds 40 man roster down to 37 players. After looking at the Cincinnati Reds Depth Chart I see that they have their starting rotation set as;

1. J. Cueto
2. M. Latos
3. B. Arroyo
4. H. Bailey
5. M. Leake
6. A. Chapman

Does this mean the Reds will go shopping now for a closer and other position players through free agency? Or do they have more trading up their sleeves? I guess once again we just have to wait and see what happens. I am very happy to see that they did something at least this offseason and this move will help the club. Some people already think they gave up way to much but with deals like this, you never really know what will happen.

Mat Latos trade


Cincinnati Reds traded Edinson Volquez and prospects Yonder Alonso, Brad Boxberger and Yasmani Grandal to San Diego Padres for right-handed Mat Latos. It is nice to see Walt Jocketty made a deal but after seeing the prospects he had to give up I really hope it was worth it. Mat Latos is a great starter but time will only tell if he is worth as much as they gave up. I really hope the three prospects don’t come back to kill the team now since the Padres are in the National League.

Mat Latos

Year   Age  Tm  Lg  W  L  ERA GS    IP HR  SO  WHIP
2009    21 SDP  NL  4  5 4.62 10  50.2  7  39 1.303
2010    22 SDP  NL 14 10 2.92 31 184.2 16 189 1.083
2011    23 SDP  NL  9 14 3.47 31 194.1 16 185 1.184
3 Seasons          27 29 3.37 72 429.2 39 413 1.154
162 Game Avg.      13 14 3.37 34   203 18 195 1.154

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 12/17/2011.

Another slow day, with many more to come (Kanekoa Texeira)


Cincinnati Reds offseason has been slow and now it sounds like it is not going to get any better. General Manager Walt Jocketty has told reporters that they are happy with what they have and that if they do not get any deals done they will still have a team that will contend in the National League Central. Jocketty has said that other teams are asking way too much for a starting pitcher and that is why no deal has been made yet. Teams are asking for Yonder Alonso, Devin Mesoraco or Yasmani Grandal and one or two more prospects for just one top of the rotation starter.

If the Reds do not make a move to get a starter they have been reported to be looking into signing a free agent closer. I really hope this is not true. I would rather go with the in-house idea (Edinson Volquez, Bill Bray, Nick Masset or Sam LeCure) then have them sign another closer for a lot of money. Save the money and get a top end starter next offseason.

I have just learned that the Reds signed RHP Kanekoa Texeira. Texeira has played for Seattle Mariners (2010) and Kansas City Royals. In 2011 for the Royals, he played 6 games and had a 2.84 ERA with 6.1 innings pitched.

Depth Chart


Cincinnati Reds Depth Chart

Catcher:
Ryan Hanigan
Devin Mesoraco
Yasmani Grandal

1B:
Joey Votto
Yonder Alonso
Miguel Cairo

2B:
Brandon Phillips
Paul Janish
Chris Valaika

SS:
Zack Cozart
Paul Janish
Chris Valaika

3B:
Scott Rolen
Juan Francisco
Miguel Cairo

LF:
Chris Heisey
Yonder Alonso
Dave Sappelt

CF:
Drew Stubbs
Chris Heisey

RF:
Jay Bruce
Chris Heisey

If only the front office could see into the future


When I look over this list it makes me wonder what if the Cincinnati Reds front office could have seen into the future. Would they have picked differently? One thing to note is that Joey Votto was drafted by the Cincinnati Reds in the 2nd round of the 2002 amateur draft.

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