The Day the Cincinnati Reds Protection Died

F.or many, the two most memorable days Homer Bailey ever spent for the Cincinnati Reds were a September night at PNC Park in 2012 and a July evening 10 months later at the Great American Ballpark. And yet his biggest day was probably stuck in between on a cool October afternoon in 2012 against the San Francisco Giants in the NLDS pocket. Those first five no-hit innings and Bailey’s last line of the day: 7 innings, 1 hit, 1 run, 1 walk, and 10 strikeouts were the defining moment of his tenure as Red. It was a brave feat meant to be to hit the final nail in the sad tale that was the Reds’ post-season triumph that dates back to 1995. As the post-season pitching matchups were scheduled, I vividly remember Homer saying it was more enjoyable to walk away from GABP and his performance that day on the river sticks with me even more burned.

In the end, what would happen in the 10th inning made Homer’s day a footnote in the Reds’ history. Always trustworthy Scott Rolen would misplay a ground ball for the starting gun to cross the plate, and without anyone knowing it would mark the beginning of the end of the 2012 season for the Reds.

Game 5 is infamous for many reasons, most of which revolved around the fifth inning when Mat Latos, he bobble watched rookie shortstop Zack Cozart of the famous temper that made him look like an irritable, sugar-coated kid on the hill a simple chopper so that the first run of the game from third place can score. Latos, hereafter known as Mat Vesuvius, had already fallen to one knee to avoid Cozart’s throwing home, but then decided to accentuate his internal argument by holding the pose dramatically, placing one arm over the other, and bowed his head as if to say, “Why is this happening to me?”

There are many reasons the Reds haven’t left NLDS 2012 behind, not least of all is Johnny Cueto’s soul-wrecking oblique injury that occurred before the last of the national anthem’s tribes wandered across the bay. Of course, Dusty Baker’s laissez-faire approach to the series in general has given the process a special patina. Thanks for that, Dusty.

But those two mistakes at critical moments stayed with me, and maybe with you too. Why? Because defense is expected. When additional outs are awarded it feels like the fabric of the game is torn apart. “Four outs? This is certainly not how the game is played. “

Now that the owners decide that shortstop isn’t strictly necessary to let Derek Johnson’s guys take the load instead and hope that last season’s free agent transport can find their feet from 2019, it might be time be helping the pitching staff and improving the defenses behind Sonny Gray, Luis Castillo and Co. who have been – let’s just say – less than stellar lately.

Our Redlegs particularly enjoyed playing players who have recently been out of position. You seem to have fallen in love with the Ben Zobrist approach, multi-role players, utility men on top.

When the Reds announced that Eugenio Suárez was the newest contestant on Cincinnati’s top-rated show WHO WANTS TO PORTY SHORTSTOP? Had been, I had already displaced Geno, like his cautious, shy chess player, from his third place. But where? Moving him up one space to the left was a non-runner. Jesse Winker, and to a lesser extent Shogo Akiyama, already owned this room, and the outskirts, as crowded as Thanksgiving at O’Hare, could not accommodate another visitor.

In my opinion, two things need to be achieved immediately: (1) improve defense as much as possible with the current roster; and (2) bring Nick Senzel into the infield he belongs in.

Senzel embodies the new trend towards zobristing the game. Some would suggest that its value be increased by its ability to play multiple positions. In reality, Nick was sentenced to midfield servitude because – similar to Shortstop – he doesn’t have a real midfielder and Senzel’s considerable athletic skills have made him an obvious stopgap. Likewise, Mike Moustakas, third baseman by trade, was moved from position to position because a more valuable tenant lives on the corner.

Falling short on Suárez and moving Moustakas into his more natural position in third place begins to solve several problems. Most importantly, moving Senzel onto the keystone improves infield defense and may even help Suárez transition to a position where he will never play more than appropriate. If he pushes Akiyama into midfield, he gets more bats without sacrificing too much of Senzel’s defensive skills there. And with the news that Aristides Aquino has run out of options, can the case be cited that Infield Nick would mean more space for Outfield Aquino?

Shoehorning players who are unable to bring more kick-start to the line-up have their own drawbacks. Nobody enjoys the nostalgia of Pete Rose’s generous offer to take third place for George Foster more than I do. But this isn’t the 1970s, Linda Ronstadt posters are no longer adorning my bedroom walls, and well, you get the picture.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to be about Senzel, but about Jonathan India. The Florida Gator has been chewing the spring training pitching so far. It feels like the Reds are taking these steps all with the intention of possibly installing India on the second base. It feels like a mistake.

Forget spring training in bats is suspicious for a moment. This is about Senzel.

Jeebus, people. The first-round reward for all the rebuilding woes was # 2 in Tennessee. And make no mistake, the Reds took it on and used the rules for service time to the benefit of the organization. You pushed him out of position. They persuaded him to renew his swing. They used it and then abused it. If the Reds appreciate Nick – and they should – if they want to keep him in the group when the time comes to sign him long term – and it says here they should – they have to start getting Nick Senzel right. That starts with getting him into the infield filth where he belongs.

Yes, he’s the best midfielder the Reds have right now and sorry for the double negative, that’s not nothing. But he feels more comfortable in second place. It improves the infield defense. He has a better chance of staying healthy on the second base. And if the Reds can make an honest contract offer to their best young everyday player, Nick can perhaps become the cornerstone to replace the soon-to-be-departing Votto.

I don’t have metrics to back this up, but if players are free from the fear and extra work of preparing to play out of position, then could this leave them free to focus on their batting? Could these steps not only improve the defense behind that precious pitching stick, but also have the potential to make the offense stronger?

IIf I’ve listened to Reds fans, I haven’t learned anything. We don’t care about defense. It’s a shame because people are working harder than ever to understand the value of catching baseball and then turning that skill into outs. Your father didn’t like the defense because all he had to do was the scorer’s whims and little else. And this week in baseball, Mel Allen scooped the Batting Average and RBI with every bowl of Wheaties on Saturday morning.

Insult has always ruled the day. It’s visual. It’s visceral. It is valuable for its easy measurement. Defense? Not as much. In a way, the new metrics have created a more polarizing view of the game. Defensive runs saved? Ultimate zone rating? Outs above average? They measure the same soil from different angles and at different temperatures. Like political parties, they often agree on very little. Since defense is hard to measure, we throw up our hands on the other side of the rail and tend to underestimate it. For us, a saved run is never synonymous with a run that has been achieved. Cincy Shirts will not be printing t-shirts with the words “Chicks dig the force out” in the foreseeable future.

A few years ago in Oakland, Joey Votto hit a home run that was turned into an out by a nice jump over the fence. A journeyman’s mug named Mike Fiers with a sparkling ERA of 6.81 was helped by an exceptional dive catch from Jurickson Profar, who both helped seal an unlikely no-hitter. The Reds lost 2-0. How much was that defense worth that night? You don’t need a SQL table to find out.

Back-to-back GEMS. ? pic.twitter.com/VENMI3yBz9

– MLB (@MLB) May 8, 2019

It has become fashionable to cite The Shift and the Three True Outcomes as reasons why defense no longer matters. And maybe that’s true, provided your guys can get out of the competition night after night and your back of the rotating pitchers can miss bats every time it’s their turn. But sooner or later in a game, the guys will have to spin a crucial double game even for your # 1 swing-and-miss starter to keep the game in hand. Rose said of the 1976 season: “Our defense is spectacular and that’s what wins many games for us.” But in any case let’s ignore the lessons learned from the Big Red Machine era, the yellowed newsprint, and the faded black and white view of the game that left it behind. That was decades ago. It might as well not have happened. Go ahead, ignore the defense. Put your best players on the line-up map without considering the consequences for the field. Get ready for the chic leather on the horizon.

It’s hard to know how the Reds value defense. Each team has its own internal metrics. According to Eno SarrisAccording to the Outs Above Average, Freddy Galvis was a better defensive shortstop than Francisco Lindor. We all know the Reds hired Freddy because he was cheap, but did we just fire him and his mediocre bat without thinking about his glove contributions? Or was it all just The Shift? Can a team just move out of bad gloves and sluggish players? Rob Arthur from FiveThirtyEight wrote that. It can be relevant to the Cincinnati Reds. It’s not allowed:

Teams can be late to understand the value of a good defense. Mitchel Lichtman, the saber metrician who created the Ultimate Zone Rating defensive metric, told me in an email, “It will likely take a long time for teams to fully understand the correct mathematical role of defense in rating players and making transactions . “

The defense underpins the game and provides the undercurrent for brighter and more profitable endeavors. It too often works under the yoke of ignorance. We ignore it at our risk.