Duvall’s cost fits budget-conscious Reds
This falls into the category of teaching an old dog new tricks. He is in his sixth major league season and they’ve tried, unsuccessfully, to teach him to bunt for hits. What they need to do is have him spend an entire offseason with Ichiro Suzuki to learn now to slap-and-run, hit those little line drives that fall in front of the outfielders. And Reds manager Bryan Price should do what mythical manager Lou Brown of the Cleveland Indians did in the movie “Major League” with Willie Mays Hayes. Every time Hamilton hits the ball in the air make him drop to the ground and do 10 push-ups.
There is no disabled list for umpires, but if they are injured they can take as long as they need to recover and they still get paid. They should also get hazardous duty pay on days they work home plate because they are like human backstops. Most umpires are injured by foul balls off their heads and even masks can’t stop the pain. The inflatable chest protectors were too cumbersome and blocked umpires from seeing low strikes. As a kid, when I wanted to ‘play’ umpire I strapped a cushion from my mom’s couch on my chest. Uh, I only did that once.
Fans are supposed to believe the Reds will have a five-man rotation by the end of the season but there are huge question marks everywhere and I am just not seeing all of this promise they talk about, so how do you come down on this? — RON, Clemmons, N.C.
I stand right next to you. I see a lot of good arms with very little command and control of the strike zone, which is what pitching is all about. You can throw 98, but you better locate it and command it and you better have at least two other pitches to go with it, including a workable change-up. Too many teams these days scout velocity and nothing else. Too often teams sign those who throw 98, but discover too late that their pitching IQ never rises above 68. Depending on the health next year of Homer Bailey and Anthony DeSclafani I remain a skeptic about the so-called young guns.