management of a crowded outfield. (Good article here)

[redsrbetter]

Crowded outfield really no problem


Forget that he's 24. That's what Austin Kearns' instant critics would do. They would forget that he would have been Rookie of the Year in 2002 if he hadn't been hurt, but remember the hurt.

For the past three years, Kearns has been hurt. The last two, he has averaged 73 games, less than half a season. He has played with a bum shoulder. They forget the shoulder and leave it at bum.

Baseball people - you know, the guys that Marge Schott had no use for because all they do is watch games - will tell you Kearns is the most solid player on the Reds roster. For the first two weeks of the season, though, the young Kentuckian has encountered a litany of problems.

His short-term difficulties are well-known and bear specific names. Pedro Martinez. Tom Glavine. Roger Clemens. Roy Oswalt.

"I missed (Brandon) Duckworth," noted Kearns, smiling through the irony.

It so happens that the Reds, in the early throes of 2005, have found themselves trapped in a family reunion of Cy Young's indirect descendants. Cincinnati's pitching opponents have won a dozen of Uncle Cy's annual awards. They've been selected 31 times to All-Star games. They've had almost as many 20-win seasons as Mike Krzyzewski.

They're the kind of hurlers who, when heaped upon each other, might temporarily reduce a good hitter to, say, .212. Ironically, that's what Kearns was hitting when he was excused from right-field duty for a couple days.

He was beginning to bat better, actually - he had a home run against Cardinals ace Matt Mulder last week - but this other guy, a 23-year-old masher of fastballs named Wily Mo Pena, has been in a zone: the ozone, when contact is square. Sunday, Pena hit a ball that cleared two rivers and gave the Reds the lead, then won the game with a piddling double off the wall.

Monday, manager Dave Miley did what any sensible skipper would. He started Wily Mo again.

The night before, when Miley surely wasn't listening, fans across the Tri-State had implored him to do just that on a regular basis. Urged by men with microphones - there was more polling going on than you'd find in a Chicago graveyard - they were all for settling this thing right here, right now.

Baseball, however, is no sport for the hasty. If players were to be forsaken after 10 mediocre games, Cooperstown would still be just a pretty little place with a lake. Pete Rose wouldn't have been in baseball long enough to place a phone call from the clubhouse. Nobody would care what Barry Bonds rubbed on himself inadvertently.

Fortunately, Miley realizes this. "Nobody," he said Monday, "is going to be put on the shelf, by any means."

Dan O'Brien, the Reds' general manager, realizes it, too, which is why he hasn't traded one of his four dashing, bashing outfielders. Adam Dunn and Pena have too much power for that. Ken Griffey Jr. has too much contract. Kearns has too much all-around upside and, at .206 after Monday night's pinch-hitting appearance, too little barter value at the moment.

For all of the electronic hand-wringing over the weekend, no solution is necessary in this pleasant predicament. Like a leg cramp - not to be mistaken, now, with a hamstring pull - it will work itself out.

http://news.cincypost.com/apps/pbcs....504190311/1035

[CincyRedsFan30]

Good article about what Kearns can do when healthy and playing like he CAN.

However, I have to point out this mistake:

"He was beginning to bat better, actually - he had a home run against Cardinals ace Matt Mulder..."

It looks like Matt Morris and Mark Mulder were confused here.

[missionhockey21]

It's a nice problem to have. I really hope we can keep all three around in some way, they can all be all-stars one year in the future.