Moose Migration

 

The season hasn't even started yet, and strange, unsettling things are going on in Cincinnati. 

Simply removing Freddy Galvis from the infield schematic has put the entire thing into question. Now what the Reds want to do is move Eugenio Suarez to shortstop, then move Mike Moustakas to third [where, arguably, he belongs], and then use Kyle Farmer at 2nd for a bit before bringing up mega-prospect Jonathan India [who seems to be ready for the bigs]. The only infielder who would not move is Joey Votto, and judging by his shakiness over the last few seasons, he's the only one that should.

Then you have to think about the injuries hitting this team. Sonny Gray is gonna be out for a little bit, meaning the once-stacked rotation is gonna look kinda thin on opening day. Shogo Akiyama is also gonna be on the IL for the first portion of the season, meaning that while the outfield combination of Winker-Castellanos-Senzel seems to be set, the cabal of non-roster-invite backups might need to be utilized. And the glory of the Reds right now is that they could get through everybody, including Dee Gordon, Mike Freeman, Tyler Naquin and Dwight Smith, and still not even begin to think about reinstating Aristedes Aquino, the power-hitting heir apparent from 2019. 

Like, even Tyler Stephenson has a chance of eventually getting a shot at the catching spot, as this is the last year of Tucker Barnhart's contract, and he'll likely be dealt at the deadline. So one of the people I was yelling at the Reds to use more last season might get his shot this year...but not Aquino, it seems. I dunno, man, he seemed like he was pretty legit in August 2019. I don't think that refusing to his for average every time you yank him onto the roster during a pandemic year should be an excuse not to go forward with him. He could be starting in Pittsburgh if y'all weren't such cowards.

Right. Anyway. Optimism. 

Look, the Reds are gonna be the best Cincinnati Reds they can be, and there's still a lot of parts of this roster that works [Winker, Luis Castillo and Tyler Mahle]. But enough of the moves this year seem to indicate that they're not exactly thrilled with the team that got trounced last year in Atlanta, and they're trying to fix that before attempting to compete. I don't think they have enough to take on the top 3 in the Central, and I hope they have enough to hit .500 but I'm not even sure about that. 

Hopefully this new infield works. Then maybe you can see some real change.

Coming Tonight: What's better, being an unused backup for the hottest team in the NL, or being the starting DH for one of the worst teams in baseball?