CINconsistency

 

The NL Central has the energy of a frigging abacus. The top and the bottom team stays the same, but the ones in the middle keep flailing about in all directions. The Cardinals, Reds and Brewers have all ebbed and flowed frequently this season, with all three bouncing around the middle positions. It is equal parts impressive and infuriating. This weekend the Cardinals and Reds played each other, and as you might expect it was relatively even. The Cards took two, then the Reds responded with a gem courtesy of Andrew Abbott, who just has to stay healthy and maybe will soak up some of Paul Skenes's Cy Young votes. 

In a division of sporadic teams, the Reds might be the most sporadic thought. They will follow a stretch where they look unbeatable with a stretch where they lose 4 and head to fourth place. A lot like the Twins, but on a much smaller scale, the Reds will never let something impressive go without an immediate drawback. Just look at Elly de la Cruz, who has 17 homers, 21 steals and 52 RBIs yet strikes out far too much to be taken seriously as an MVP candidate. Clearly de la Cruz is the face of this team, but he's not as immaculate as prime Acuña. He's got flaws, like so many other players, and only so many big games can mask that. 

This team also just has so many players who will get off to a great start and immediately get hurt. Every year. Once again, Hunter Greene and Graham Ashcraft are missing time, as is Brandon Williamson. At the very least, the Reds have prepared a little more so they're not completely without backup plans as starters start going down, but so far Carson Spiers, Chase Petty and Wade Miley have failed as the fifth option. Meaning they have to go with mega-prospect Chase Burns in a forthcoming start against the Yankees. If it works, they've got a 5th option that works, one that looks MLB-ready. But again, there's so many options that didn't, and even more like Williamson, Julian Aguiar and Rhett Lowder, who weren't even healthy enough to factor into this season to begin with. You think they've finally happened upon a working formula and then even that sinks. So I'm counting on Burns to at least add some stability, because if not then I'll just choose to believe that this rotation is cursed.

Something that's been frustrating me about this team has been how many trusted starters are not being trusted at their own positions anymore. The Reds are afraid to play Gavin Lux at second, they're afraid to start Tyler Stephenson at catcher, and they're still not sure about where they're supposed to play McLain or Steer. This is not a great defensive team, and only Steer is a true above-average fielder right now. And even then you have defensive subs, like Santiago Espinal and Will Benson, that aren't very good either. 

I'm trying to give this team the benefit of the doubt, but the same factors are failing them, even with Francona's help. Unless something turns around we're gonna be cycling through this several more times and no one will be any wiser.

Coming Tonight: Arguably a future Hall of Famer, and someone who may have an impact on the big picture of this season before he knows it.