Brandon Finnegan, the left-handed pitcher who served as the centerpiece for the Reds in their trade of Johnny Cueto to the Royals, had some harsh words for his former team in an interview with Jonathan Lintner of the Louisville Courier-Journal. “The Royals kind of screwed me over this year,” said Finnegan of his time bouncing back and forth between the rotation and the bullpen. “I wouldn’t have done what I did if it wasn’t for them last year. But you could tell they just didn’t have a clue what to do with me.” (In a series of tweets from his Twitter account, Finnegan said he did not intend his words to express displeasure with his prior employer.) A starter in his college days at TCU, Finnegan was fast-tracked to the Majors to serve as a bullpen weapon in last year’s playoff push for the Royals. However, he believes himself to be a starter long-term and clearly feels that lack of a defined role with the Royals has contributed to his struggles since converting back to a starter with Cincinnati: “I like starting. … Getting back into it has been tough, but I’ve got a great team to do it with. These guys have been very welcoming.” Manager Bryan Price spoke highly of Finnegan’s stuff, though interestingly, his Triple-A manager, Delino DeShields, told Lintner that he believes Finnegan’s best role is in the bullpen.
Here’s more from the NL Central…
- Fangraphs’ Neil Weinberg examines the second-half collapse of Todd Frazier. As Weinberg notes, it’s a fairly common narrative that the Home Run Derby has impacted Frazier’s performance, but there’s historically little evidence to prove that the Derby can have that type of lasting impact. Looking for the reason behind the slump, Weinberg notes a drastic increase in inner-third pitches thrown to Frazier as well as a large increase in fastballs. Pitchers have begun to bust Frazier in on the inner third far more often, and Frazier is making less contact in general and hitting the ball into the ground much more frequently when he does connect. Weinberg concludes by noting that while breakouts make for fun stories, they’re often notable because they’re difficult to sustain. “…Frazier is a good reminder that judging a player by their best or worst stretches is a good way to misjudge a player,” writes Weinberg.
- Shortstop Zach Cozart says that his rehab from season-ending knee surgery has gone well, MLB.com’s Mark Sheldon reports. He is only now nearing the point where he’ll begin running and performing agility exercises, but that still represents a big gain after having torn both the anterior cruciate and lateral collateral ligaments of his right knee. Cozart says he “anticipate[s] being stronger than ever at Spring Training.” Certainly, Cincinnati will hope that he can pick up where he left off: a .258/.310/.459 slash with nine home runs in 214 plate appearances.
- Of course, fellow shortstop Eugenio Suarez — acquired in last winter’s Alfredo Simon deal — has performed admirably since taking over for Cozart, slashing a robust .291/.328/.476 with 11 long balls and four stolen bases over 296 turns at the plate. Suarez won’t even reach arbitration eligibility until 2018, while Cozart has two more years of arb control. As noted in today’s Mailbag, it’s certainly possible to imagine the Reds aiming to open the year with that pair playing up the middle in the infield, possibly by looking to deal veteran Brandon Phillips.
The Reds have been “looking to deal” Brandon Phillips since the Bush Administration … Does his contract ever run out?
Hes a fan favorite even though the Cincy media hates him. The reds would probably like to deal him at this point but not for a nothing return given his popularity among the fanbase.
Just trade him to the Yankees in the offseason !
Starters are more valuable than relievers, but Finnegan has been bad as a starter in the minors, and good as a reliever in the majors. Obviously the Royals had a hard time knowing what to do with him. Getting so tired of entitled players complaining about how their teams were handling them incorrectly where it was due to their own performance
While I agree, you still can’t continue to switch a guy back and forth between 2 roles while you continue to switch him back and forth between levels.
Hes pitched on 5 different levels for in 6 different cities for 3 different organizations/colleges. Of course their are going to be struggles to adjust.
Switching his roles isn’t a problem, but starting in college to starting in the minors to relieving in the majors to relieving in the minors to starting in the minors, etc is a problem.
The same indecision seems to have taken a negative toll on Gausman in Baltimore as well, I remember seeing his first start back in the rotation on TV this year and he was still throwing 99 MPH by the 3rd Inning he was completely gassed, it has to take a pitcher a little to find his spot for starting even when the pitcher has a history as a starter the back and forth is going to be problematic.
Wade Davis…..
You see, it’s easily explained though. Very good in the bullpen including in the playoffs, planned on being a starter. Sent to AAA to start the year as a starter, sucked as a starter. We did not know Madson was going to become dominant so we needed another bullpen arm. Madson became dominant. Sent back to AAA to resume being a starter. Still sucked. Traded. The guy as a starter has never gone more than 3 innings. And it’s not only because of trying to stretch him out. His fastball flattens out and loses velocity. The guy should be happy the royals found a way for him to be effective. They were smart and sold him while he still had value as a potential starter.
The Reds are Making the Same Mistake that Phillies Management did a couple of Years ago by hanging on to Expensive, Aging Players. “ALL” need to be traded this Off season , that includes Votto, Bruce and Phillips, Get what you can for them , Reds didn’t win with them !
The idea of trading Votto is ludicrous. Hes one of the top 5-10 best position players in baseball.
We are a small market team in market share, not in payroll. We can afford one superstar. Now Bailey, thats a contract that needs to go ASAP.
The only person that would consider trading for Bailey would be Dr. James Andrews. And that would just be for parts.
Aging expensive players like…..Jay Bruce? The 28 year old OF who is signed for the next two years for a more than reasonable rate?