5/24 Minors Roundup

[redsrbetter]

I'd take that rotation over one featuring both Livingston and Dumatrait.

I am still a fan of Belisle, despite a few rough performances recently.

His worst one of all was when Valentin was catching and you know what I have said all year about his pitch calling and ability to keep a rhythm with the pitchers.

Plus he has been slightly BABIP unlucky (.316) and has a DIPS ERA of 3.33 (good for 96th for ALL pitchers...both starters and relievers in MLB).

Great points on Belisle. You were the one who pointed the Valentin problem out far before Narron even thought of it. So yeah, I can agree that elisle should have better numbers right now. I want him to stay in the rotation as well. Good point.

[AtomicDumpling]

I am comfortable with Belisle. He is nothing special, but he is an adequate #4 starter. Lohse scares the hell out of me. I don't trust him at all. He is no better than Milton in my book. I would rather see Dumatrait in the rotation, but like you guys I don't expect great things from him.

Votto is the guy I would bring up as soon as his arbitration clock is guaranteed not to start this year. I would bring him up even if we can't trade Hatteberg. Hatte can be a pinch-hitter. Votto is ready to play in the bigs in my opinion. He needs to get some experience and get used to the big leagues this year so we can count on him next year.

I would rather have Keppinger on the Reds than Juan Castro. Castro serves no purpose. He is a terrible PH option and his defense isn't that great either (despite what George Grande claims).

[missionhockey21]

I am a fan of Dumatrait, mind you I am not expecting the next Clemens, but I think if he works out some kinks that he could be an semi-effective 5th starter. I do agree with CRF that none of his peripherals really induce a ton of confidence, but it is promising that after being just mashed last year in his AAA callup, his hit totals are quite down this year (.301 BAA last season, .232 BAA this season) but then again his strikeout totals are nowhere near where you would like them to be for a walk prone pitcher. You also have to keep in mind though that outside of two starts, he's been effective this year in Louisville, allowing 0 or 1 ER in all other outings (a few appear to be relief outings).

At the very least, I wouldn't mind the Reds giving him Stanton's spot (which won't happen, but a guy could dream) because his limited sample size stats show how effective he has been against lefties.

IP	H	ER	HR	BB	SO
13.0	6	1	0	2	8

It would be a challenge to be much worse than Stanton has been this year (I believe I saw somewhere that lefties are posting an OPS close to 1.000 off of Stanton.)

[missionhockey21]

I am comfortable with Belisle. He is nothing special, but he is an adequate #4 starter. Lohse scares the hell out of me. I don't trust him at all. He is no better than Milton in my book. I would rather see Dumatrait in the rotation, but like you guys I don't expect great things from him.

Votto is the guy I would bring up as soon as his arbitration clock is guaranteed not to start this year. I would bring him up even if we can't trade Hatteberg. Hatte can be a pinch-hitter. Votto is ready to play in the bigs in my opinion. He needs to get some experience and get used to the big leagues this year so we can count on him next year.

I would rather have Keppinger on the Reds than Juan Castro. Castro serves no purpose. He is a terrible PH option and his defense isn't that great either (despite what George Grande claims).

I am also comfortable with Belisle and I still feel like he is a bit of a rotation darkhorse. Nothing more than a #3 possibly, but as he continues to build up his endurance and adjusting to the starting life at the MLB level, I could see continued improvement. He's been up with the team so long that its easy to forget that this is the first time he has had an extended period to learning the ropes of being an MLB starter so it is possible that he is going through the rookie motions on his rocky outings.

I agree on Votto. Giving him a significant chunk of AB's, like 200 at least, would do wonders in hopefully preparing him for the 2008 season. Assuming we keep Dunn and Griffey can maintain, that would be a pretty filthy lineup on paper with Votto and Hamilton both being that much more experienced at the MLB level. Not to mention us for the first time in ages having a legitimate typical power threat at 1B. With Narron though, too many AB's would be diverted to Hatteberg or Conine as we all know and even if one is gone it would still be the same story... so in other words, both would need to go to ensure that Votto actually plays consistently.

Keppinger is a fine bench player, not a starter (as I am sure we all would agree with), and hopefully with this team has it's fill of Manos de Oros, we can replace him with a guy like Keppinger who would do his job better and at a lower rate.

[Newman4]

I am a fan of Dumatrait, mind you I am not expecting the next Clemens, but I think if he works out some kinks that he could be an semi-effective 5th starter. I do agree with CRF that none of his peripherals really induce a ton of confidence, but it is promising that after being just mashed last year in his AAA callup, his hit totals are quite down this year (.301 BAA last season, .232 BAA this season) but then again his strikeout totals are nowhere near where you would like them to be for a walk prone pitcher. You also have to keep in mind though that outside of two starts, he's been effective this year in Louisville, allowing 0 or 1 ER in all other outings (a few appear to be relief outings).

At the very least, I wouldn't mind the Reds giving him Stanton's spot (which won't happen, but a guy could dream) because his limited sample size stats show how effective he has been against lefties.

IP	H	ER	HR	BB	SO
13.0	6	1	0	2	8

It would be a challenge to be much worse than Stanton has been this year (I believe I saw somewhere that lefties are posting an OPS close to 1.000 off of Stanton.)

Righties are hitting .257. Not bad at all. 5-2, 2.64 looks good and he's not Clemens as previosuly mentioned, but K/9 is right at about 6. I think he's earned a shot.

[missionhockey21]

If he could just cut down on that walk rate, he might have a chance of etching himself out a rotation spot for awhile. Because Dumatrait has had the stuff to post respectable K/9 lines but (out of speculation) I would imagine due to his sometimes wildness he misses out way too often of putting runners away with 3-2 counts that result in walks for the opposition.