Day 24: Cincinnati Reds

The entire schedule of when team recaps will be.

Team: Cincinnati Reds

2007 Regular Season Record: 72-90

Cost per Win: $68,904,980 / 72 = $957,013 per win

2007 Season Recap: The Reds haven’t reached the playoffs since 1995 and they didn’t change that trend in 2007. They finished the season with 72 wins which was their lowest win total since 2003 when they had only 69 wins. In 2007 they finished the season 13 games behind the Cubs in the NL Central but they did learn some things about the young talent on their team. As a team they did fairly good on offense averaging a .267 batting average as a team which ranked 9th in the NL and their 783 runs scored ranked 7th in the NL. The pitching didn’t do quite as well and helps to explain their record. As a pitching staff they earned a 4.94 ERA which ranked 15th in the National League and their starters earned only 47 of their wins which put a lot of pressure on the bullpen the entire season.

The Reds had several good offensive performances in 2007. Adam Dunn led the team in several statistical categories including home runs with 40. One feel good story was that of Josh Hamilton who came back from drug and alcohol problems to rediscover his talent. He played in 90 games, hit .292, and hit 19 home runs. One guy for the Reds that you never heard anything about was Norris Hopper who served as a fill-in in all three outfield positions and also had several pinch hit opportunities. In total he played in 121 games and earned himself a .329 batting average. Somehow though he only managed 14 RBIs which seems a bit low for someone that had 101 hits on the season. That usually signals that their weren’t runners on base when he came up to bat but he also only had 16 extra base hits so the runners would have had to been on at least 2nd if not 3rd to score, maybe that explains it but I’m not all that sure.

The Reds only had one pitcher with more than 9 wins in 2007. This was starter Aaron Harang who finished with a record of 16-6. In addition Harang had a 3.73 ERA and averaged 8.47 strikeouts per 9 innings which is a pretty good number. The pitching started to fall off after Harang though. Bronson Arroyo had an ok season and had 9 wins in 34 starts. Another good pitching performance was by closer David Weathers who finished the season with 33 saves and only 6 blown saves. The majority of the rest of the bullpen didn’t perform all too well and most had ERAs over 4.90 with one closer, Phil Dumatrait, having an ERA of 15 in 18 innings pitched.

Key Free Agents: RP Eddie Guardado, SP Eric Milton; Neither pitcher had an excellent season but in Milton’s defense he was injured for most of the season and only had 6 starts before being put on the 60 day disabled list for the rest of the season. Both are losses in terms of depth though.

Offseason Needs: The Reds are pretty solid in terms of offense. They did trade Josh Hamilton in the off-season though but that does open the door for Norris Hopper to step into the starting lineup and hopefully he can repeat his performance from 2007. The Reds however could use some quality pitching. A lot of this is already in the organization it is just a matter of fixing some problems and developing some youth. The Reds shouldn’t really need to spend a lot of money on pitching since they do have a good farm system it’s just a matter of finding the right mix of guys.

Prediction for the 2008 season: I think the Reds can improve in 2008. By this I mean I think they will get closer to .500 but I don’t think they will be breaking their streak of missing the playoffs. They are a team that could surprise some people though especially in the NL Central which has been weak the past few years and hasn’t improved all that much this off-season so from that view they do have the right conditions to make some real improvements to their record in 2008. At the very least they should be an exciting team to watch next season.