Posted by basebal5 on Wednesday, February 6, 2008 at 3:11 pm

This is simple: we invite bloggers from a specific team to answer and
debate a set of five questions I have previously sent them.  Their
answers are below.  Readers are invited to debate the answers with the
bloggers themselves in the Comments section below.

The goal is
to provide a platform for bloggers to debate their team and
philosophies in one place and have fun while doing that.  We plan on
publishing two Bloggers Roundtable every week, in order to give readers a
regular look at news and opinions from their respective teams' bloggers
community.

All the previous Roundtables can be found on this page.

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The Bloggers today:

Nick Kendall -  Bugs&Cranks – Reds
Chris – Redleg Nation

Question 1: How will Dusty Baker be better than his predecessor? Do you agree with the choice?

Nick: Managers' on-field decisions, for the most part, are not what set them apart from other managers.  The great equalizer is maintaining team continuity and keeping clubhouse morale positive.  Baker is a player's manager.  He knows how to keep players happy and keep his team having fun, which is very important.  He also brings some “star power” to the position in Cincinnati which tells the players that management will spend money when needed.  For those reasons. Baker is the right choice and is better than his predecessor.

Chris: I'm deeply skeptical of this choice. Dusty Baker has a well-earned reputation as a guy who prefers veteran players, and who prefers AVG to OBP. It just so happens that the Reds have several young players who need patience, as well as a few tempting “Dusty (type) Guys,” like Norris Hopper and Ryan Freel.  It just doesn't sound like a good match, to me. That said, Dusty's said all the right things, and his players all seem to love him.  I'm keeping an open mind, I guess.

Question 2: If you were the GM, how would you handle the Adam Dunn and Ken Griffey
situations (trade, re-sign, let go, etc..)?  Why?

Nick: This is an easy one.  First, I would keep Griffey around for number 600 to benefit from the marketing (this is a business).  I would then send him to an American League team for some prospects so he can extend his career as a DH.  Not having his salary next season will be huge.  And the Reds have plenty of young talent needing that spot.

With Dunn, I think he needs to stay around as long as Cincinnati can keep him.  He struggles a little defensively, but has improved, and more to the business end, he's a face for the franchise.  He's the only player in Reds history (a history longer than any other team) with as many back-to-back 40 home run seasons.  He benefits from playing at GABP and should be in
left field as long as the Reds can afford him.  If he can't be signed to a long-term contract, Cincinnati needs to get rid of him in a contract year for the best deal available. By the way, no team would take him in a trade and give us a top-tier starter, if they would, I'd pull the trigger, but they won't.

Chris: Junior is an easy one – thank him for his service and say goodbye after this year.  Dunn's a lot more tricky. I love the guy, but I don't think he's going to age particularly well.  But if he's interested in another 2-3 years, at a fair-to-below price, sure. I just don't see why he would be – the guy takes an inordinate amount of grief from Reds fans and broadcasters.

Question 3: If you were the owner and could apply one change to the organization (any aspects of it), what would it be?

Nick: The Cincinnati fans are such fickle animals.  We bandwagon when the team is winning or a record is about to be broken, but the Reds struggle to fill the stadium to capacity more than a few times a season.  I would offer more discounted ticket packages, more fan promotions and definitely bring back the $1.00 hot dog. We were the last franchise to abandon it and it was a great selling point for a family to come out to the ball park.  I feel 42,000+ discounted price fans with tickets to 5 games are better than 19,000 fans paying full price to one game.  Cincinnati is not a top-tier income city and shouldn't be charged that way.

Chris: I wouldn't make any huge structural or philosophical change at this point. They may or may not have it figured out, but there's a lot of promising young talent in the system, and I'm willing to see how it pans out. If I could wave a magic wand, I'd use it to change Marty Brennaman's attitude.That guy is a remarkably good broadcaster (when he's motivated),
and is the public face of the organization, but he seems utterly miserable, and it carries over to the broadcasts. There's a difference between candor and negativity.

Question 4: How do you see the rotation and lineup shaping up 5 years from now?

Nick: This is such a tough question.  5 years is a lifetime for a MLB team.  For example, in 2003 the Reds most often used starters were Jason Larue, Sean Casey, D'Angelo Jimenez, Aaron Boone, Barry Larkin, Adam Dunn, Reggie Taylor and Jose Guillen.  Dunn being the only one still around.  The most used pitchers were, Ryan Dempster, Danny Graves, Jimmy Haynes, Paul Wilson, Felix Heredia, Kent Mercker, Brian Reith, Chris Reitsma, John Reidling, Scott Sullivan, Gabe White, and Scott Williamson.  None still around. The Reds did acquire Aaron Harang that season.

With so few players still around after 5 years, it is hard to look into a crystal ball for a forecast. I would hope the Reds still have a 34 year-old Harang anchoring the staff with Bailey, Belisle, Cueto and Maloney going strong.  I'd like to see Dunn, Bruce and Hopper in the outfield.  Encarnacion, Keppinger, Phillips and Votto in the infield.  Hopefully by then, we will have a hitting catcher.

The only problem is, by history, most of these players will be gone and a new crop will be around.

Chris: Oh geez, that's too far out.  I just looked at the 2003 roster, and Griffey, Dunn, and Harang are the only holdovers. Rotation-wise, I'd say Johnny Cueto and four guys not currently in the organization. In the lineup, I guess you'll have Jay Bruce, and that's probably the only face I'd recognize. Maybe Joey Votto and Todd Frazier. I'd love to see Edwin Encarnacion still around, but someone's going to lose patience and trade him. I think they'll still be paying Brandon Phillips.

Question 5: Present a prospect you feel is under the radar in the Reds organization.

Nick: I don't know how under the radar he is, but I think Matt Maloney is going to be a star.  last season he won 16 games, posted a 2.03 era, a 1.15 whip, and struck out 180 batters in 168 innings.  He also only gave up 5 home runs, something very useful in Cincinnati.  I think he starts the season in AAA but could be the first call up (yes, even before Cueto) if Belisle, Bailey of Volquez slip up.

Chris: I'm not a prospect guru, by any means, but I'm intrigued by what I've read about reliever Josh Roenicke. His dad and uncle played major league ball, and Josh was primarily an OF at UCLA.  He pitched 27.2 IP at A Sarasota, with a 3.25 ERA 41 Ks and 15 BB, then moved to AA Chattanooga, where he went 0.95, 15, 6, in 19 IP.