A: Just like there is no crying in baseball, there are no guarantees in baseball. The new basic agreement is for five years, so there should be no labor disputes. There are always disputes of a different nature that could cause the players to stage a walkout if management reneges on something, but that has never happened. So there should be peace in the valley for five years.
Q: I keep hearing people say they should leave the game alone and keep it the way it was, so when should the game have stopped changing? — Stocc, Miamisburg.
A: I’ll go back to 1972 when my hair was still brown, and my belt size was 32. That was the year before they implemented the specialist, the DH. Since then, they’ve added interleague play, multi-levels of the playoffs and all the goofy rules added during the commissioner Rob Manfred regime. Thankfully, under the new basic agreement, the game is back to nine-inning doubleheaders and no ghost runners to start extra-innings.
Q: With the designated hitter coming to the National League, what was the best performance by a Cincinnati Reds player as a DH? — RON, Vandalia.
A: The first was the best. Dan Driessen was the first National League player to perform as a DH and it was in the 1976 World Series sweep of the New York Yankees. The DH was used in all four games. After going 0-for-4 in the first game, Driessen ended up 5 for 14 (.357) with two doubles, four runs scored and his name etched into the record books. And then there was Skip Schumaker, remember him? Manager Bryan Price used him as a DH in 2015 and he hit .375 with an .875 OPS. That was quite a shock because his season marks as a DH, pinch-hitter and starter were .242 and .642. Some guys are just born DHers.
Q: As a small-market team, are the Reds supposed to leave top prospects like Hunter Greene and Nick Lodolo at Triple-A or do they hope to get top draft picks as quickly as possible? — MATTHEW, New Miami.
A: Small market, big market, middle market, it doesn’t matter. A player needs to stay in the minors until he is deemed ready for The Show. The worst thing is to rush a player to the bigs only to see him fail and lose confidence. When the Reds deem Greene and Lodolo ready for prime time, they’ll be with the team. And with the Reds getting rid of pitchers Wade Miley and Sonny Gray, it may be Greene Time and Lodolo Time. Fans keep screaming for Greene’s arrival because he has spent five years in the minors, but he was drafted out of high school, requiring more experience than a college draftee, and he has suffered some injuries.
Q: Do you think the Reds will trade Luis Castillo and Tyler Mahle? — GEORGE, Port Jefferson Station, N.Y.
A: What I think doesn’t matter, it’s what GM Nick Krall and CEO Bob Castellini think. Castillo’s name kept popping up in trade rumors before the lockout and one scout called me shortly after last season asking questions about Mahle. Both pitchers are under contract control (inexpensive) and both show promise. To me, it would be absurd for the Reds to trade either one but ask Jesse Winker and Eugenio Suarez if they expected to be traded.
Q: If the players prove they can get ready for the season with a shortened spring training, is it in the new agreement to shorten it forever? — GREG, Beavercreek
A: What? Take away six weeks of winter under the Arizona and Florida sun? Sportswriters would scream until laryngitis set in. Way, way back, players showed up out of shape and needed six weeks to shed poundage. Players stay in shape over the winter now and need a couple of weeks to adjust their timing. The six weeks is for pitching, but even they throw during the winter before reporting. The six weeks nowadays is for the tourists and for the hotel and restaurant industries. And for sportswriters to work on their tans and write optimistic stories about the teams they cover … even the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Q: In your years covering the Reds, is this an all-time low as far as fan excitement and optimism heading into a season? — BRIAN, Wheelersburg.
A: The fans were down on MLB during the 99-day lockout, and many said they were done with baseball. Now that the Reds are in a four-alarm fire sale, it is centralized. I have never heard such outrage from fans since they traded Tony Perez and then when they fired Perez 44 days into his cameo managerial stint. Yes, pessimism rules right now with what fans the Reds have left.
Q: Which side, management or the players, won the lockout battle? — TODD, Huntington, W.Va.
A: I can tell you who lost? The fans. They lost the winter Hot Stove League when under peaceful times trades are made and free agents are signed. To me, it looks as if the players won the Lockout Sweepstakes. They wanted the DH and got it. They wanted a big boost in minimum salary and got it ($700,000). They wanted a big hike in the luxury tax limit and got it ($236 million). And the rich get richer.
QUESTION OF THE WEEK
Q: Under the designated hitter rule, can a team choose to allow the pitcher to hit because there are some pitchers that can hit? — DENNIS, Beavercreek.
A: If a manager so chooses, at his own peril and the consent from the analytics folks upstairs, a team can permit the pitcher to hit and not use the DH. But if he does that, he loses the DH for the entire game. Maybe a team has a good-hitting pitcher, Michael Lorenzen comes to mind, better than anybody on his bench. He can permit the pitcher to hit. But if he is taken out of the game, the relief pitcher must hit or be taken down for a pinch-hitter. No DH.
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