Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Stinging loss to Pirates leaves unanswered questions for Reds

For the third time in four years, the Reds proved they are shrinking violets. When placed in the white-hot spotlight of baseball's big stage, they fail to perform. Tuesday's NL Wild Card loss to Pittsburgh meant that Cincinnati still hasn't won a playoff round since October of 1995.

I don't envy Walt Jocketty. He's faced with questions in which their are no easy answers. But it's what he gets paid to figure out.

Blaming the manager, which it seems many fans have done since Dusty Baker was hired, is too easy and, frankly, unwarranted. Last I checked, Baker can't stop Johnny Cueto from grooving a fastball or Joey Votto & Jay Bruce from swinging at pitches out of the strike zone. Besides, Baker is already signed for next year and my guess is owner Bob Castellini doesn't want to pay someone who doesn't work for him. No, as I said on this blog yesterday, this is on the players.

Each one of those guys need to look themselves in the mirror and figure out why they don't perform when everything is on the line. It's not like this team hasn't risen to the occasion in big spots. They did it in the first two playoff games last year on the road in San Francisco. They did it this year when they began September by taking 6 of 7 from the first place Cardinals and Dodgers. But for some reason, when it's win or go home, this team can't get over the hump.

Here's a quote from Bruce in today's Cincinnati Enquirer following the loss to the Pirates, "Having good regular seasons is fine and dandy. But you play for championships. We haven't been able to get it done. We've got to figure out a way to get it done."

And that's where Jocketty and his staff come in. They're the ones who put the pieces together and must now determine what tweaks need to be made.  Center fielder Shin-Shoo Choo is a free agent, one that the Reds would love to have back but likely will be out of their price range. Same goes for starter Bronson Arroyo who has been the anchor of this young Reds pitching staff for the last 8 years. There are certainly ready-made replacements in youngsters Billy Hamilton and Tony Cingrani. But younger means inexperienced and the Reds would be fool-hearty to believe either is ready to step up and fill the shoes of Choo and Arroyo.

The bottom line is the Reds championship window is still open, but with the Cardinals being perennial  contenders and the Pirates now showing they are a team to be reckoned with, the time is now to capitalize on their opportunity. How they go about doing that, is anybody's guess.

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