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100 percent. The oline improvements are significant and notable. The coaching is noticeable too - but Burden, Loveland, Monagai and Trapilo are also nothing to sneeze at. All of them have been meaningful contributors - two of which (Burden and Loveland) have been top 5 at their respective positions when on the field after adjusting for first few games. Defensively they have had injuries to some key players. JJ is still getting up to speed from a serious injury and Kyler is a very good nickel when healthy - and yes - they missed Edward’s and Edmunds and had some injuries on the line - but this defense is just not very good. It’s real knock I have for Poles is the fact he has made heavy investments in dline - very few have panned out. Hopefully Shamar Turner ends up being a piece and Booker at worse looks like a rotational end. Dexter has flashed at times, but clearly not good enough to be a difference maker.

Oh wait, that's the one of 3 rehabbing arms, right?

Okamoto is in the US this week for final in-person meetings. He has meetings set up with the Blue Jays, Cubs, Red Sox, Diamondbacks, Padres, Angels, and Pirates. No mention of the White Sox. https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/b15139f58e9e44f3d810871e2b180ac211726231

It's probably the most tantalizing off-season trade rumor, so everybody keeps publishing teaser articles about teams kicking the tires on him. I'm settling on "Getz really saw Robert as the strongest ceiling of the CF options out there, so kept him for $20M. If somebody wants to suffocate him with prospects, he's all for it, but otherwise, he's got other targets."

I must have missed that. How bad?

Yep. I don’t see the Reds happening.

Just take guys in the trenches and rebuild from the inside out. The O line is really expensive and will need new blood once the cap problems get bad here in a few years.

I am surprised we have gotten the Merkin piece about how bad the Reds offer actually is to counter the Cincy narrative TBH.

Yeah. A team in a competitive window shouldn’t be gambling on guys like Bleday. But the 2 OF additions probably make up a platoon in one of the spots.

That's my thought too. Unless he is hitting .350, pitch to him.

Let's be honest, the guys they got are filler for a good team

I'm surprised Sosa and Robert are still on this team to be honest, I figured they would both be gone before January

Which means, "If Getz gets himself into meth rehab and comes down off his lofty asking price, the Reds could take Robert and $15M off his hands in exchange for an A-ball arm who's already passed his real estate licensing exam."

Here’s the blurb from Wittenmeyer’s 12/27 article: ”The Bleday trade offers at least a platoon option and potential upside play for the Reds, who continue to look for reliable pop for the middle of the lineup (including staying in contact with the White Sox on a possible Robert trade).”

Antonacci is bigger than Meidroth and has at least avg raw power. Whether he gets to it is another matter entirely. They are shockingly similar. I think there’s room for both in a roster. Maybe neither get 500 PA, though.

Just another demonstration that you can’t trust what you see online.

Doesn’t seem like they have room with the recent additions but I guess there could be a scenario where they move Steer (or Lux even) and Marte finds his way back into the IF mix at 1B/DH (hasn’t played 1B at any level…yet)

Cincinnati Inquirer

Where did you see that?

Wittenmeyer won’t give up on this rumor.

Antonacci was hit by pitch an incredible 35 times last year, driving his OBP to Meidrothian levels

Yeah, comparing similar levels, Meidroth has always walked more. They only disparity is comparing Antonacci's 13.3% walk rate across 3 levels (low A to AA) to Meidroth's major league rate of 8.9%. Apples and oranges.

Nope, was wrong about that.

It also helps that it seems like Ben Johnson has seemingly been the perfect coach for him. God bless our crazy man.