Feels like a lifetime’s supply of Rice a Roni
By
Amanda
Posted at 9:33 pm
As Bronson Arroyo was leaving the game in the sixth, having been smacked around to the tune of six runs, including a homer by the pitcher, Chris Welsh commented something about this not being the Arroyo we’re used to seeing?
It’s not? What the hell Arroyo has he been watching? This guy’s been the suck for half of the season-so-far.
Not that I can blame the entirety of the Reds woes on Bronson Arroyo. He only goes out there every five days. I quibble with the roster construction, since I don’t much see where the offense is supposed to come from. I quibble with the batting order and the entire premise that speed alone is adequate reason to give Willy Taveras a spot on the 25-man. (Speed paired with a low salary and a Ryan Freel-like disregard for your own body when chasing down balls–that’s a different story.) I quibble with the manager on the field.
And oddly, I’m mad that the Reds of the freaking division is losing so badly, making the Reds record not look so bad by comparison. I know that ought to make me happy, but it feels like a consolation prize, like a copy of the home game and a year’s supply of Rice-a-Roni for the guy not proceeding to final Jeopardy.
At least they get to come back again tomorrow.
Freel, who was hitting .143, was DFA’ed by the Cubs on Thursday. His 2009 base salary was $4 million. Taveras’ 2009 base salary is $2.25 million.
Just sayin’.
Not that I was advocating Freel himself, just saying that at least Freel was fun to watch, making the speed argument at least *a little* worthwhile.
But since you bring it up, I might also mention that Freel is also 33, while Taveras is 27. At Taveras’s age, Freel’s OBP was .344 compared to Taveras’s .277.
You have a point, as usual, RHM. For a while when he was here, Freel was one of the few sources of entertainment on a team that was not all that entertaining most of the time.
At least Taveras is young enough to have hope for improvement. I don’t think he’s a .230 something hitter any more than I think Jay Bruce is a .213 hitter. With his speed, Taveras ought to be able to bunt every time up and do better than .230 (Hey, don’t laugh, it worked for Norris Hopper).
Maybe he’s over-tired. Baker’s put an awful lot of pressure on him.
Taveras is one of the fastest guys in the game. I remember a play in a game against the Astros where he didn’t even hit hit the ball halfway up the line to first base. He should’ve been out, but the Astros threw the ball away, into right field. So on a ball that maybe went all of 15 feet from the plate, he ended up on third base and it didn’t even look like he was running that hard.
And therein lies the problem…you can’t steal first base. 🙁
Perhaps he should take a new tack: saying surprising things as he performs swinging strike three in order to make the catcher drop the ball. That would really be a test of those legs!