Red Reposter - Everything is dark and brutal

It’s the height of summer but things are pretty dark around here

The first thing I learned about blogging when I started here at the Red Reporter offices as an intern back in the early summer of ‘87 is the headlines and the SEO don’t hafta mean shit. Alls they do is hook in the fattest, dumbest fish in the pond. Them fish is what we eat on. Your readers, the little fishes, never read the headlines or the articles or any of that anyway. They came here to argue in the comments and entertain themselves with our generous portions of greasy spam ads that look like they smell like a Maxim magazine.

Alls that matters here, in the blogtogon, is your own public self-gratification and I feel like throwing some trashcans down the stairwell. So let’s get to it.

The Reds lost another three-game set to the Pirates. The good news is that they scored some runs this time. The bad news is the pitching barfed all over the mound.

I remarked last week that it didn’t feel especially bad losing two of three to the Pirates then, because I could kinda sorta see things maybe halfway thinking about leaning in the Reds’ direction for a change, however slight the probability was. I should know better than to entertain silly thoughts like that. I’m such a foolish little boy sometimes. Since then, TJ Friedl, Charlie Scrabbles’ Favorite Baseball Player, landed on the IL in exactly the way I predicted. Then they told us that Christian Encarnacion-Strand will have wrist surgery and his season is over, which unfolded in exactly the way I predicted. AND THEN Nicky LoDown developed another blister and got himself a stint on the IL. AND THEN they told us Jammer Candy’s knee is maybe turning into gooey nougat but they don’t know for sure so they’ll keep an eye on it and maybe let him DH more. I don’t predict that will turn out well for anyone involved.

Yesterday on BlueSky Red Reporter’s Pope Emeritus Joel Luckhaupt made a fair and sober point:

Given my current mood, I’m deeply sympathetic. Sometimes, nothing works out. Sometimes, everybody gets hurt. Baseball is governed by gods and forces much older and uncaring than many of us realize. Sometimes you get a storybook season, and sometimes you get a season as written by Cormac McCarthy. It is a cold merciless reality, but look around, man. What did you expect?

The only quibble I have is that the Reds don’t have a lot of guys that are both valuable and expendable. It wouldn’t make a ton of sense to trade off veterans they are planning to have around when they try for the pennant next season, like Tyler Stephenson. But it does depend on the return I suppose. Jonny India has recovered a good deal of his value over the last month, posting an OPS north of 1.000. He’s got his on-base percentage up to .376 for the season, which is excellent considering where the league average is these days. His glove hasn’t been an unbearable liability at 2B either, so he could certainly draw some interest on the trade market. Slyder also mentions Frankie Montas and some bullpen arms, but them guys aren’t gonna bring back much of consequence.

So maybe the Reds finally do trade away Jonny India here before the deadline. I guess it depends on where everything stands a month from now, which I mean duh doy. The way the whole National League is going, I doubt our Redboys will be out of it though. But Nick Krall has proven himself to be a pretty calculating guy, in my estimation.

In more positive (heh) news, Noelvi Marte has completed his 80-game suspension and is expected to be in the lineup this evening in St Louis. He still ranks as the Reds’ #2 prospect and is still riding a 16-game hit streak, so it’s appropriate to be excited. With his return, Jammer Candy can spend less time at 3B and more time at 1B and DH, and Skid Steer can return to the OF where Will Benson and Jake Fraley have both underwhelmed. To the legions of intelligent young baseball brains preparing for careers in the front office reading my work, take note: depth is important!

NEWS FROM HELL

Did you see the news? I mean, come ON! This kind of thing keeps happening and yet I keep being shocked by it. What is the world even coming to?