The Return Of The Big Red Machine

If you were born in Kentucky like me--and had any love for baseball--then the Cincinnati Reds are your team. With the Ohio River being the only thing that separates Great American Ballpark from the commonwealth, the Reds are a staple on television throughout the blue grass state.

During the 70's, this was a pretty good deal. The Reds were the team of the polyester decade. From 1970-79, The Reds won their division 6 times, captured 4 pennants, and took back to back World Series titles in 1975-76. Lead by Pete Rose, Johnny Bench, Tony Perez, George Foster, Joe Morgan, Dave Concepcion, and Ken Griffey Sr., they were known as The Big Red Machine. Powerful at the plate, fleet on the base paths, slick in the field, with solid hurlers, and skippered by the genius, Sparky Anderson, The Reds were the gold standard in Major League Baseball.

It was a great time to be a fan. Of course, such a run is unsustainable (unless your The Yankees), and the following decade was far less successful. The Reds came in second in their division 4 times in the 80's and were robbed of a playoff berth by the strike of 1981. Too many of their great players from the 70's either moved on or started to decline in performance to maintain the extraordinary levels of the previous decade. The firing of Sparky Anderson in 1978 precipitated this fall from grace. How the front office could let go of one of the greatest managers in the history of baseball is a complete mystery. The price paid for this folly was steep.

But in 1990, The Reds enjoyed a storybook season. Never out of first place for a single day in the regular season, The Reds beat Barry Bonds and the Pittsburgh Pirates for the right to face the heavily favored Oakland A's for the World Series title. That A's team had the most powerfully assembled roster in baseball. Chock full of big name players like Mark McGwire, Jose Canseco, Rickey Henderson, Dave Stewart, and Dennis Eckersley, The A's finished the regular season with an MLB leading 103 wins (12 more than The Reds), and swept through the Boston Red Sox in the ALCS like a runaway locomotive. The Reds however, struggled down the stretch and "backed in" to the playoffs thanks to the poor performance of their division rivals.

No one gave The Reds much of a chance.

Sure, The Redlegs had a great shortstop in Barry Larkin, an oft-injured star outfielder in Eric Davis, two fine starting pitchers (Jose Rijo and Tom Browning), and a trio of hard throwing relievers known as "The Nasty Boys" (Rob Dibble, Randy Meyers, and Norm Charlton), as well as a fiery manager in Lou Piniella. Still, on paper The Reds were no match for the vaunted Athletics.

But games aren't played on paper, and when Eric Davis took the A's ace, Dave Stewart, deep in the first inning of game one, the tone was set. The Reds batted .317 in the series, with third baseman Chris Sabo hitting .563, and outfielder Billy Hatcher stroking a ridiculous .750. World Series MVP, Jose Rijo won two games, giving up only a single run, while "The Nasty Boys" provided shut down relief.

I don't mind telling you that even when we were up 3 games to 0, I still had my doubts. And when both Eric Davis and Billy Hatcher were injured in game 4, I thought the sun might fall from the sky. But with Jose Rijo tossing a gem and Randy Meyers coming in to get the save, The Reds took down the mighty Athletics 2-1 and hoisted the World Series trophy with a cascade of champagne soaking their locker room.

That was the last bit of joy The Reds would provide me for a long time.

That's not to say that The Reds didn't have other good teams in the 90's. They were leading the division in 1994 when the baseball strike ended the season prematurely. The 1995 team won the division but went out meekly, being swept by one of those great Atlanta Braves teams of that era. And the 1999 team lost to The Mets in a one game playoff after winning 96 games in the regular season (their most in 20 years!).

The Reds were poised to build on that success when they traded for hometown boy, Ken Griffey Jr. prior to the 2000 campaign. Griffey was in the prime of his career when The Reds stole him from The Mariners, and along with Barry Bonds was considered the best player in baseball. He made The Reds one of the favorites to make the playoffs.

But once again, games aren't played on paper. Griffey slugged 40 homers that year, but ended the season on the disabled list and The Reds struggled to a second place finish, 10 games behind The Saint Louis Cardinals.

Little did anyone know that the worst was yet to come.

In 9 star crossed seasons with the team, Griffey missed 450 games before The Reds traded him to The White Sox for a middle reliever in 2008. His first season was the only year the team posted a winning record. With their best player seemingly always on the disabled list and carrying a $14 million salary, The Reds lacked the financial flexibility to offset Griffey's injuries. A small market team like The Reds simply can't afford to miss on a big salaried player like Griffey and hope to compete.

During the aughts, The Reds did occasionally tease the faithful. Over the last 10 years, the team often started out well only to crash and burn down the stretch. In 2004, The Reds were in first place after the all star break before a disastrous 0-9 west coast road trip did them in. In 2006, The Reds finished just 3 1/2 games back of the eventual World Series Champion, Saint Louis Cardinals.

Let me pause for a moment to tell you how much I hate The Cardinals. As a Reds fan, I am so sick of looking up at them in the standings, that the very mention of Manager Tony Larussa's name sets my teeth on edge and all but brings out a twitch in me. Twice this year the execrable Larussa has accused a Reds pitcher (Bronson Arroyo and Aaron Harang) of "doctoring" the ball despite no evidence of such. Charging a pitcher with cheating is one of the nastiest things a manager can do in baseball, and you damn sure better be right if you do. In both cases, Larussa was wrong. Hell, if Harang was scuffing up the ball, I don't know why you would even say anything. The guy hasn't pitched well in three years. So when star second baseman, Brandon Phillips referred to the Cardinals as "whiny little b*****s, precipitating a bench clearing fracas this month in Cincinnati between the two teams, I all but stood up and cheered.

But I digress.

So, back to the main point: my suffering of the Reds futility. It ends now.

Several years among the last 10, I have gotten my hopes up only to see them dashed by a lack of talent, depth, and resources. I have put my stock in players like Jon Nunnally, Pokey Reese, Willie Greene, Jeff Keppinger, Willie Taveras, Elmer Dessens, Ron Villone, and Brandon Claussen. If you don't remember any of those guys, well, there's a good reason.

However, in 2010, things have changed.

This week marks the first time in 6 years (Griffey) that a player for The Reds has graced the cover of Sports Illustrated. With strapping slugger and triple crown threat Joey Votto splashed across the front page, a new era in Reds baseball has been announced.

And it's not just their all-star first baseman and SI cover boy who are worth mentioning. The 2010 version of The Reds is a heady stew of young talent (Votto, Phillips, Bruce, Stubbs, Cueto, Leake) and sterling veterans (Rolen, Cabrera, Rhodes, Arroyo, Hernandez, and Cordero). They lead the National League in hitting, are second in fielding, and a deceptive tenth in pitching. This is the most balanced team The Reds have fielded since the 1999 squad that came up just short.

And the results bare this out. At 73-54, The Reds hold a four game lead in the Central Division over the most despised Cardinals with a very favorable schedule down the stretch. Not many prognosticators had The Reds in this position prior to the start of the season. The popular opinion was that The Reds were "a year away" from contending. Obviously, they were wrong.

Even better still is how The Reds are set up for the next several years. After current owner, Bob Castellini, took over in 2006, he made it clear that he expected the team to win. So far, he has put his money where his mouth is. While The Reds can't spend their dough as freely as The Yankees or Red Sox, they have increased payroll every year since Castellini took the reins. More importantly, The Reds began to focus more intently on their minor league system, and with 13 of the 25 players on their current roster being home grown, it has begun to pay off.

However, no move that Castellini has made has been more significant than the hiring of General Manager, Walt Jocketty. Jocketty, the guru of the Saint Louis Cardinals from 1994-2007 (hey, if you can't beat them, make them join you), produced 7 division winners, 2 pennants, and one World Series title while shepherding the Card's. He was twice named the MLB Executive of the Year (2000 and 2004), and when the Cardinal's foolishly cut him loose in 2007, Castellini did not hesitate.

Since joining The Reds in '07, Jocketty has not only stabilized the club, but has made shrewd moves that have paid off in spades. His free agent signings of outfielder Jonny Gomes, catcher Ramon Hernandez and shortstop Orlando Cabrera have brought punch to the line up as well as veteran leadership. The surprise signing of Cuban phenom Aroldis Chapman and his 102 mph fastball has added excitement. But no other move has been more beneficial to The Reds than the mid season trade for third baseman Scott Rolen last year. Many (including myself) thought the trade of the talented (although wildly inconsistent) Edwin Encarnacion and two solid minor league pitching prospects for a 34 year old veteran with a recent history of shoulder trouble was a bad move. Tack on the $11 million price tag that came with him, and the deal looked even worse.

Well, let me state unequivocally that I was wrong. Way wrong. Jocketty recognized that the team needed a strong veteran presence in the line up and on the field. Although I doubt that even Jocketty would have predicted how productive Rolen has been. Always aces in the field, it's Rolen's regained power stroke that has been the most pleasant surprise. With 19 home runs and 35 games left in the season, Rolen has already surpassed his HR totals in any year since 2006. Top that off with Jocketty's clever restructuring of Rolen's contract (adding two years but reducing the deal to $6.5 million/year), and the move looks like a stroke of genius.

Now I know there are still 35 games left in the season, and The Reds are not a perfect team. They rely perhaps too heavily on young starting pitching, their offense is capable of occasional dips--they've been shut out a league high 12 times--their bullpen has been shaky at times, and an injury to Rolen, Phillips, or Votto would likely do them in. But when I consider what I'm usually thinking about at this time of the year (like thank God for The Pirates being in our division), these are good worries to have.

Best of all, is The Reds appear to be in a good position to compete going forward. They are so loaded with young starting pitching that they are having trouble finding roster spots for all of them, Votto has turned into a star, Phillips is in his prime, outfielders' Stubbs, Bruce, and Heisey are nowhere near their ceilings, the minor league system is stocked, and ownership and the front office are committed to winning. Is this really The Reds!?

After a lost decade, I purchased a cable package that included Fox Sports Ohio, just so I could watch 150+ Reds games this year (yes, my wife is ecstatic). I have been paid back tenfold by this scrappy bunch of veterans and whiz kids.

Oh mama, The Big Red Machine is back, and cranking. Now, let's beat those "whiny little b*****" in Saint Louis.

Sumo-Pop
August 27, 2010