LeBron and the Red Hot Reds
The sporting world is going crazy these days and it can all be summed up with one word, LeBron. ESPN’s non-stop coverage of where LeBron might end up is starting to get old. Every minute it changes, he is staying in Cleveland, no he’s going to New York, no a source close to a source of LeBron’s mom says he is going to Miami. It’s like last summer when every SportsCenter featured a Brett Favre update, or during college football season Tim Tebow was talked about 10 times every hour on the Worldwide Leader in Sports. Lots of people hate Tim Tebow and Brett Favre because they are in the news non-stop and if ESPN and the media are not careful, people might just start to hate The King. I mean they even had a one hour special so he could announce where he was going, which just happens to be Miami. LeBron James, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade all on the same team is pretty scary and it would be a shocker if they did not at least make the NBA Finals. I still like my Lakers in a seven game series because Kobe is still the man.
While ESPN has been trying to figure out where LeBron will end up, there’s a baseball team in the city of Cincinnati that is, well, Red Hot. The Reds are 7-3 in their last 10 games and are 49-37 overall. Their best record at this point in the season since 2006 and they have a full 3 game lead on the St. Louis Cardinals. I thought the Reds bullpen was in trouble, but the Cardinals were swept by the Rockies including back-to-back game walk-off home runs, and including a 9 run 9th inning on Tuesday. Everyone has been waiting for the Reds to fall or the Cardinals to make a run, but the fact of the matter is, it just hasn’t happened. With every day and game that goes by it looks like the Reds are going to the postseason. God that feels nice to say.
The Reds continue to have the best offense in the National League. The Reds continue to lead the NL in runs (427), hits (809), HR (106), total bases (1322), RBI ( 414), batting average (.274), slugging percentage (.448) and OPS (.787), just to name a few. All-star snub Joey Votto continues to lead the team in almost every offense category and is 5th in the NL in batting average, 1st in HR and tied for 5th in RBI, and 1st in slugging, on-base percentage and OPS. And he didn’t make the All-star team. One of the biggest jokes I have ever seen and even though he won the Final Man Vote it should never had come to this.
Votto made the All-Star team along with Scott Rolen, Brandon Phillips, and Arthur Rhodes. First time in I don’t know how long that the Reds had more than one all-star. Besides these guys the rest of the team has been solid. Jay Bruce, Drew Stubbs, Jonny Gomes, Ramon Hernandez, Orlando Cabrera have all played well. The pitching has gotten better, Mike Leake, Bronson Arroyo, and Johnny Cueto lead the rotation and Travis Wood looked great against the Cubs, but struggled against the Mets, but that was on three days’ rest. Cordero has gotten a little better out of the bullpen and he leads the NL with 24 saves. The rest of the bullpen is getting better and with Chapman and Volquez probably coming up after the All-Star break next week, things can only get better.
July 31st is the trading deadline and the Reds are usually out of it by now and they trade away some of their better players to get prospects and dump large contracts. This season the Reds are buyers and one large acquisition might really make the difference the team needs to get to the playoffs. That player is pitcher Cliff Lee. The Reds do not have an Ace on their staff and trading for Cliff Lee gives them just that. They will have to give up some good prospects, but it would be worth it. Winning is not that easy and when you have a winning team you have to do everything possible to win it all. This season might be the only chance the Reds have of winning it all, so why not go for it all and trade for Lee. I would make the trade, just hope GM Walt Jocketty does the same. Sports this summer have been pretty damn good and will only get better.
While ESPN has been trying to figure out where LeBron will end up, there’s a baseball team in the city of Cincinnati that is, well, Red Hot. The Reds are 7-3 in their last 10 games and are 49-37 overall. Their best record at this point in the season since 2006 and they have a full 3 game lead on the St. Louis Cardinals. I thought the Reds bullpen was in trouble, but the Cardinals were swept by the Rockies including back-to-back game walk-off home runs, and including a 9 run 9th inning on Tuesday. Everyone has been waiting for the Reds to fall or the Cardinals to make a run, but the fact of the matter is, it just hasn’t happened. With every day and game that goes by it looks like the Reds are going to the postseason. God that feels nice to say.
The Reds continue to have the best offense in the National League. The Reds continue to lead the NL in runs (427), hits (809), HR (106), total bases (1322), RBI ( 414), batting average (.274), slugging percentage (.448) and OPS (.787), just to name a few. All-star snub Joey Votto continues to lead the team in almost every offense category and is 5th in the NL in batting average, 1st in HR and tied for 5th in RBI, and 1st in slugging, on-base percentage and OPS. And he didn’t make the All-star team. One of the biggest jokes I have ever seen and even though he won the Final Man Vote it should never had come to this.
Votto made the All-Star team along with Scott Rolen, Brandon Phillips, and Arthur Rhodes. First time in I don’t know how long that the Reds had more than one all-star. Besides these guys the rest of the team has been solid. Jay Bruce, Drew Stubbs, Jonny Gomes, Ramon Hernandez, Orlando Cabrera have all played well. The pitching has gotten better, Mike Leake, Bronson Arroyo, and Johnny Cueto lead the rotation and Travis Wood looked great against the Cubs, but struggled against the Mets, but that was on three days’ rest. Cordero has gotten a little better out of the bullpen and he leads the NL with 24 saves. The rest of the bullpen is getting better and with Chapman and Volquez probably coming up after the All-Star break next week, things can only get better.
July 31st is the trading deadline and the Reds are usually out of it by now and they trade away some of their better players to get prospects and dump large contracts. This season the Reds are buyers and one large acquisition might really make the difference the team needs to get to the playoffs. That player is pitcher Cliff Lee. The Reds do not have an Ace on their staff and trading for Cliff Lee gives them just that. They will have to give up some good prospects, but it would be worth it. Winning is not that easy and when you have a winning team you have to do everything possible to win it all. This season might be the only chance the Reds have of winning it all, so why not go for it all and trade for Lee. I would make the trade, just hope GM Walt Jocketty does the same. Sports this summer have been pretty damn good and will only get better.
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