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Olney's Latest: Bruce, Draft Strategies, Young

By Shannon McKeown [June 1, 2008 at 5:05pm CST]

Here's Buster Olney's latest blog entry.

Olney takes a look back at last winter's rumored Erik Bedard for Jay Bruce trade. Bruce has been living up to his untouchable tag. The Reds have to be happy with the way their young players are developing, but a rotation of Bedard, Aaron Harang, Edinson Volquez, Johnny Cueto and Homer Bailey could rival the Braves of the early 90's. That said, Bruce won't be traded anytime soon.
Numerous reports are coming out regarding draft strategies. Here are a few links - Astros, Athletics, Brewers, Pirates, Rangers, Rays and Yankees.
Olney also touches base on the seemingly lopsided Delmon Young trade from the past offseason between the Rays and Twins. The Rays are in first place and have benefitted since receiving Matt Garza and Jason Bartlett in the deal. Garza is pitching well, while Young is still homerless on the season. Young is only 22-years old and is bound to fulfill at least some of what was once limitless potential.

Posted by Shannon McKeown

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Comments

Yeah the Reds would also not have any OF for the future with Hamilton and then Bruce gone.

Posted by: redhawk61 | June 01, 2008 at 06:10 PM

A little Sunday proofreading never hurt anybody.

Posted by: helloelan | June 01, 2008 at 06:55 PM

I hope that comparing the Reds rotation to the early-90's Braves rotation was a joke. Bedard is a flash in the pan, Volquez has pitched well for a third of a season and Harang while a solid number one, is nothing to get excited about. Meanwhile, the Braves had three future first-ballot HoF'ers. That editorial comment just reeks of ignorance.

Posted by: uni2006 | June 02, 2008 at 12:04 AM

While Delmon Young hasn't hit a homerun yet, he is walking about twice as often as last year while striking out less. Alex Rios wasn't awesome in his first couple of seasons either, and he had longer in the minors than Young.

Posted by: wihargo | June 02, 2008 at 08:12 AM

u, a 'could rival' comment has already been qualified. No need for the aspersions: it could. It probably wouldn't. Pitching is always a dicey bet, or have you forgotten the names that have graced Braves rotations since?

The note about the Young/Garza trade is also qualified with 'seemingly', and rightly so. Garza has an adequate ERA and mediocre peripherals. 13%-K-rate pitchers are not great bets for long-term success. 22-year-old hitters surviving the majors are, especially if they already did the same at ages 20 and 21. And even a shortstop needs to hit better than .250/.300/.300 to be much use.

Give me Young any day.

Posted by: wcw | June 02, 2008 at 08:58 AM

Agree with Young over Garza; I thought it was a dumb deal at the time, considering the insane quantity and quality of pitching on the farm. It only looked worse after Rocco's latest medical malady. Delmon may never live up to his ridiculous promise, but I'd certainly argue that he's more likely to have a long and successful career than Garza. We'll see.

And uni- while I tend to agree with your assessment of the Braves rotation talk, 'Bedard is just a flash in the pan?!' Are you serious? You might need to rethink that one. It would be a helluva rotation, just not Braves-good. Like you said, there were 3 first ballot HOFers in Atlanta's five; the hypothetical Cincy crew has no such hurler...at least yet identifiable.

Still...it WOULD be pretty friggin' good, dude.

Finally...as an O's fan, I love Adam Jones and will confidently predict stardom for our CF'er; I'm absolutely pumped for the Chris Tillman era. Still, if we could have gotten Bruce and one of the Reds trio of young pitchers...? I know, I know, be thankful for what you got, but...this is the SECOND time we missed out on Bruce. It's getting old. Hell, we should have Jones AND Bruce now. God...think of THAT OF! Markakis, Jones, and Bruce!!!

If we had just lost a couple more games and gone ONE pick earlier in the 2005 draft! It's a fact that Joe Jordan LOVED Bruce and was all ready to snap him up before the Reds took him at #12. With the 13th pick, we got Brandon Snyder. Ugh. That draft would've been incredible had we gotten Bruce; imagine: Jay Bruce, Garrett Olson, Nolan Reimold, Brandon Erbe, Chorye Spoone, and David Hernandez. Maybe not Tampa's 2004 draft, but pretty darned close. I will now pour boiling hot coffee onto my eyeballs.

Posted by: milehigh78 | June 02, 2008 at 11:12 AM

Young may not have gotten into a ball for a home run yet, but he has improved significantly in other areas. His walk rate is so much higher that, despite hitting more than 20 points below last year his OBP is 6 points higher. Further, that he hasn't hit home runs isn't really an indication that he isn't hitting for power. He has already hit 4 triples this year. Further, his 9 steals in 11 attempts show that he has figured out how to use his excellent speed to help his team. Also, we all know what kind of defensive player he is and why the Twinkies are wasting him in left is a good question.

Posted by: AA | June 02, 2008 at 04:28 PM

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