LOCAL 12 Sports - Zach's Blog

May 24th Blog

Fri, 24 May 2013 23:03:49 -0400

NOT CONVINCED YET:

The last thing I want to do is be "that guy", annoying for the sake of being annoying. Disagreeing to be difficult. Flirting with pessimism for no other reason than to be different. And I assure you this is not the case. I'm just not sold yet on the Cincinnati Reds.

And the evidence is starting to mount that I should be. This team has moved to a season-high 12 games over .500, the fastest of any Reds team since Davey Johnson's 1995 club that, yes, won the last playoff series in franchise history. Dusty's team is 17-6 at home. The starting pitching has been so solid, a key ingredient in any deep run. Brandon Phillips leads the National League with 42 RBI. Joey Votto has hit 4 HRs this week. The combination of the 2010 NL MVP and Mr. Choo at the top of the lineup has made it headline news in 2013 if they fail to get on-base.

The problem?

The Marlins, Mets and Cubs aren't going anywhere this year except the golf course in mid-October. This damage is coming largely against bad teams. And, to the Reds' credit, that has to happen to make the playoffs. But a 6-and-13 start against teams with above-.500 records? That must improve for me to be a believer.

The St. Louis Cardinals are going to be relevant for the rest of the summer. So far, the Reds are 2-and-4 against Mike Matheny's team, meaning if it were a 7-game playoff series, the Reds would've been dispatched fairly easily (although you have to account for the fact that each game has been played at Busch Stadium so far).

The cliffnotes version? Beat good teams and I'll be a believer.

Follow me on Twitter. @WellsZach Have a great one!!

Zach's May 23rd Blog

Thu, 23 May 2013 22:46:37 -0400

INKING THE SECOND PICK FOR CARSON:

The Bengals on Thursday signed the last of two draft picks that came over from Oakland in the trade for Carson Palmer. RB Giovani Bernard of North Carolina, the first running back off the board in the 2013 draft, also said he plans to pay for part of his brother's wedding in June with his signing bonus. I asked the question today on Twitter, "What are your thoughts on Carson going to the Raiders for Dre Kirkpatrick and Giovani Bernard?" Now, it's virtually impossible to grade the trade considering Kirkpatrick suffered an injury-filled rookie year and Bernard hasn't played a snap. But are you pleased with how Mike Brown and Marvin Lewis invested the picks?

In my opinion, it further enforced that this wasn't a trade. It was a heist. I have concerns about Kirkpatrick's durability given his knee and concussion-related issues in 2012. Maybe it's a fluke. Maybe it's a trend. But if Bernard blossoms into anywhere near the player he's capable of becoming, I think Bengals Nation would be more than happy with just Carson-for-Gio swap, with anything that Kirkpatrick does viewed as a bonus in the secondary.

Bengals Offensive Coordinator said that going into 2013, BenJarvus Green-Ellis is still the guy on first and second downs, but it's when the Chain has a Big Orange "3" on it that Bernard opens the door to all kinds of possibilities in the playbook: running the ball, catching the ball out of the backfield, lining up as a slot receiver. He's shifty and serves as a great complement to Green-Ellis.

And just how ironic is this whole situation? Mike Brown negotiated what turned out to be a 1st Round and 2nd Round pick from Oakland in back-to-back seasons, and on the other end of that deal, lobbying for it to happen was whom? Hue Jackson, who coached Palmer-led teams at USC and with the Bengals, and who will be Giovani Bernard's position coach in Cincinnati. It's a small league.

THE MANTI TE'O BOBBLEHEAD GIVEAWAY:

The Florence Freedom are in a constant battle to extract every dollar from your wallet. In the fray are the Bengals, the Reds, Kings Island, UC, Xavier, a new Horseshoe Casino, the Aronoff Theater...the list goes on and on. And the minor league baseball team used the Manti Te'o girlfriend hoax to generate a game-day promotion to make light of the international story. Up to 1,000 fans waited in line on the concourse at the stadium for Manti Te'o's girlfriend bobblehead night. The giveaway? An empty box. As you can imagine, the reaction ranges anywhere from "this is hilarious" to "this is outrageous". But even somebody in a Notre Dame Te'o jersey showed up, with a #5 on his back, to take part.

What you can't argue? This worked.

Whether you agree or disagree, people linked the promotion to the Freedom and talked about the Freedom. And simply discussing the Florence Freedom is mission accomplished, especially since they play 20 minutes south of a media market such as Cincinnati.

Please follow me on Twitter. @WellsZach Have a great one!

Zach's May 18th Blog

Sat, 18 May 2013 23:18:45 -0400

HOW MUCH LONGER?

Back in Spring Training, Bronson Arroyo sat down in the Arizona sunshine reflecting on his time in Cincinnati and saying he's fully prepared for this to be his last season in the home clubhouse at Great American Ball Park. For good reason: it's the last year of his 3-year extension, he makes $11 million to pitch, he's 36 years old and maybe Tony Cingrani will perfect enough secondary pitches to take his place in the rotation. But is it wise to let Arroyo go if he can come back at a value price tag?

This guy is just a joy to watch because he's a junkballer. The last thing Arroyo fools any batter with is his velocity. Working in tandem with his unofficial personal catcher Ryan Hanigan, Arroyo more often than not turns in a clinic in arm angles, deception, and location. With a second straight outstanding outing in Philadelphia, Arroyo has bumped up his scoreless streak to 14 1/3 innings.

When things fall apart for Arroyo, they fall apart quickly. But if you see Jamie Moyer pitching effectively until almost his 50th birthday, it makes any baseball fan wonder how much Arroyo has left in the tank. It appears like he has quite a bit.

LIKE FATHER-LIKE SON

Every May, Marvin Lewis works the contact list on his cell phone, asking his friends to come to Cincinnati to play some golf and raise money to send more high school students to college. The largest fundraiser of the year for his Foundation has raised $1.1 million and counting, sending 5 more students to college this year.

At the night-before party at El Coyote downtown, I met Adam Zimmer for the first time. He's an assistant coach working with the secondary and if the name sounds familiar, it's because he's working under his father, Defensive Coordinator Mike Zimmer.

The elder Zim said he tried to talk his son out of coaching. But it runs in the Zimmer DNA. Mike's dad was a coach. So is Mike. And so is Adam. And Adam sees this as an opportunity to be a sponge, because he says nobody in the NFL works harder than his father. It's also a time to be together after their wife and mother, Vikki, died unexpectedly in 2009.

"It's an adjustment for sure, but it's been a good adjustment," Adam Zimmer said.

WHAT A GIFT:

Did you hear about what Andrew Whitworth did for a grieving family in Louisiana?

Whit grew up in West Monroe, some 30 miles from Farmerville, LA. The town of Farmerville is reeling from the tragic loss of Running Back Jaleel Gipson, who broke his neck in a practice drill and died this week, taken off of life support after a 3-day period in which his family decided to donate his organs.

Whitworth decided to pay $7,000 to cover funeral costs for Gipson. The family wrote on Facebook in addition to the grief, coming up with the money was an added stress.

"I saw the story. Once I heard they had to take him off of life support, I was devastated. I called my wife. I was in tears. I never cry, at least not that often," said Whitworth, "That's anybody's little boy. I mean it could be our little son. And it crushed me."

The amazing part? Whitworth wanted nobody to know about it outside of the people involved. It was only after the family insisted on recognizing him publicly that he decided to speak about it.

"I wanted to do whatever I could to take some pain or some grief away from that family or that community," Whitworth said.

Follow me on Twitter. @WellsZach Have a great one!

Zach's May 15th Blog

Wed, 15 May 2013 21:06:22 -0400

WALT JOCKETTY'S INSOMNIA:

I don't sleep nearly as much as I used to, not with the two "alarm clocks" at my house who always go off early in the morning (one is Noah, the other Maya). So I hope Reds GM Walt Jocketty can work in a nice slumber after a full day presiding over the baseball team in Cincinnati. But if--if he has a hard time falling asleep at night with the big decisions facing the franchise in the near-term, I'm guessing they line up something like this:

1) Who is the odd man out when Cueto comes back? The Reds ace has missed a month with a strained lat muscle, and pitched in two rehab outings with the Dayton Dragons (the first was three innings, the last 5 innings). It will likely come down to Tony Cingrani or Mike Leake landing a car trip down I-71 to the home clubhouse in Louisville. My vote is to send Leake down to Triple-A. Nothing against him. A very good pitcher who was dealing in the middle game of the series with the Marlins, we know what we're gonna get from Leake. Good outing, not so good outing, so-so outing, and so it goes. With Cingrani, I think it's worth seeing if the upside can play out. By no means has Cingrani been perfect, but he's a lefty in what's been a righty-dominated rotation and a guy who can pile up strikeouts. As we know, missing bats can be key to pitching in Great American Ball Park. What do I think the Reds will do? Option Cingrani to Louisville for more seasoning. They'll go with experience and Leake has the clear edge there.

UPDATE: Baker told the writers covering the team in Miami that he's unsure why this has become a Leake vs. Cingrani debate. Leake is his guy, his 5th starter.

2) How on EARTH do I afford Shin-Soo Choo long-term? The guy must be a part of the core for this team to win a World Series. He is a winning player with a winning work ethic who has adapted masterfully to his new role as a leadoff hitter in Cincinnati. Keep in mind--he is switching positions (from RF to CF). There have been occasional bumps defensively, but those have been sporadic. And Choo is on pace for a career-year offensively in hits, walks, HRs and On-Base Percentage. Here's the deal: Choo is only under contract through 2013. Then he becomes a free agent. Scott Boras is his agent. How do the Reds afford him? For Cincinnati to make it work, ownership will likely have to sign off on moving an "untouchable" to free up the room on the payroll. (It's already at an uncharted $100 million).

3) Is Heisey guaranteed a spot on the 25 when he returns? Or does Heisey get sent down to continue the Xavier Paul/Derrick Robinson/Donald Lutz rotation in the outfield? Keep in mind--one of the four will be very important insurance if/when Ryan Ludwick returns to the team (which is supposed to be sometime near the All-Star Break). We have no idea how much Ludwick will resemble his old self, and his old productivity.

4) Will Jocketty get any sympathy cards from fellow GMs? Nope! These are great problems to have, and symptoms of a talented and deep team, and problems about 24 GMs around the league would trade anything to have.

Follow me on Twitter. @WellsZach Have a great one!