Undervalued – 1B/3B/DH Mark Reynolds: The Indians should be called the One Trick Ponies, because their lineup is chock full of guys who bring only one skill to the table. Reynolds will knock the ball out of the yard. He’s good for 20-30 HR and around 80 RBI. After that, he will kill your team. But as a bench player or a cheap source of power, you actually could do worse. His consistent power can actually help your squad. Just know his limitations.

Overvalued – CF/RF Drew Stubbs and CF Michael Bourn: Both of these guys are one-trick ponies. In 4x4 or 5x5 leagues they’ll definitely get you a ton of steals, but will contribute next to nothing else for your fantasy squad. Don’t overpay for one category.

Sleeper – 3B Lonnie Chisenhall:  At a shallow fantasy position, you could do worse than this youngster, with tremendous upside. With the full-time gig at the hot corner his, Chisenhall can put up 20-plus homers and can even be counted on for double digit steals.

Bust – 1B Nick Swisher: Swisher has been consistent, something that’s usually a fantasy asset. The veteran has averaged 25.8 HRs during his entire career. So, why is he listed here under bust? This is the least talented team that Swisher has played on, and he’s hitting cleanup. Some of his career numbers are a result of having so much other talent and offensive weapons around him. Not the case in Cleveland where he’ll need the likes of Stubbs and Bourn to get on for him in order to have those same quality numbers. You could do worse than Swisher, but a decline is likely, so draft accordingly.

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As good as the Reds offense has looked lately, the struggles at the top continue to hold down the team
(from Lance McAlister):

Reds are hitting .166 in leadoff spot....30th in MLB.
A's are 29th hitting .199.
Reds OBP from leadoff spot is .200. Orioles are 29th at .258.
Reds have 52 K, 9 BB, 1 SB from leadoff spot

From leadoff this year
29 starts: Cozart 25 for 127 .197/.233, 6 BB, 30 K
8 starts: Stubbs 3 for 36 .083/.215, 2 BB, 13 K
6 starts: Phillips 5 for 24 .208/.240, 1 BB, 4 K
3 starts: Heisey 2 for 14, .143/.143, 0 BB, 4 K
2 starts: Harris 0 for 8, .000/.000, 0 BB, 1 K

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The Cincinnati Reds defeated the Atlanta Braves on Monday behind of back-to-back-to-back homeruns by Mike Leake, Zach Cozart and Drew Stubbs.

As a rare of a feat as it is to see a team go yard three straight times, what made these homeruns even more special was the first two of them were caught by the same fan.

Caleb Lloyd, a 20-year old junior at Thomas More College, became the talk of the sports world after grabbing both Leake and Cozart’s longballs from his outfield seat at Great American Ballpark.

Leake’s homerun, his first-ever in his career, came right to Lloyd.  Cozart’s ball came to him on a bounce and landed right in his lap. In just three pitches Lloyd had two balls. I’ve been to easily 300-400 baseball games in my life and have a single foul ball to show for it. To catch two homeruns on consecutive batters is unprecedented. There is no way to track it, but you would have to think of off sheer probability alone that is likely the first time that’s ever happened in baseball history.

Lloyd may have caught two balls, but he left the stadium with neither of them. He gave Leake his ball since it was his first career dinger and gave the other to his friend, who talked him in to going to the game rather than staying home and playing video games all night.

MIKE & MIKE TALKING ABOUT IT (ESPN.com)

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Cincinnati Reds' outfielder Drew Stubbs struck out for the 200th time, joining Mark Reynolds as the only major leaguers to strike out 200 times in a season. Reynolds has accomplished the dubious feat three times, including a record 223 times in 2009.

“It’s something he has to work on in the winter,” Reds manger Dusty Baker told the Cincinnati Enquirer. “We’ll give him a plan. You don’t sit him down to prevent. You’ve got to play through it. It’s been tough on him for the last month to six weeks.”

Some perspective from 700 WLW's Lance McAlister..

From 1936-'42 Joe DiMaggio played in 976 games w/ 4,417 plate appearances:
He struck out 196 times

From 1990-'01 Tony Gwynn played in 1,380 games w/ 5,705 plate appearances:
He struck out 201 times

In 1976 Rose, Morgan and Concepcion combined for 1,934 plate appearances:
They struck out 163 times

From 1947-'53 Ted Kluszewski played in 830 games w/ 3,132 plate appearances:
He struck out 181 times

From 1953-'60 Ted Kluszweski played in 930 games w/ 3,457 plate appeearances:
He struck out 195 times

STUBBS PROFILE (Baseball-Reference.com)

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After watching the Reds complete the sweep of the Brewers and seeing the Cardinals get out to a slow start it’s hard not to start thinking Wire to Wire.

Of course, the 1990 Cincinnati Reds were the first team to accomplish that feat over a 162-game schedule so we all know it has been done before.

I’m not sold on the Brewers as being a true contender.  Despite their poor start and a mounting list of injuries, the Cardinals will remain the top contention for the Reds inside the division until proven otherwise.

Here were five things that stuck out from the team’s opening weekend to me...

DEFENSE - The Reds had it and the Brewers didn’t. The box scores will only show that Milwaukee made two errors to the Reds’ one miscue, but while Cincinnati’s infield fields the ball as smooth as silk the Brewers struggled mightily. How many runs did Casey McGehee cost his team in this series? Scott Rolen may have more than a decade on him, but his glove is far superior.

CATCHER PLAY – Not even the great Johnny Bench ever produced a three-game series stat line that the Reds’ backstops delivered in the opening weekend. Ryan Hannigan followed up Ramon Hernandez 4-for-5, walkoff homerun performance in the first game by 5-for-7 with a pair of homeruns (both on Sunday) and 4 RBI over the next two.

STUBBS PRIMED – Early on Drew Stubbs is living up to some of his off-season hype.  The centerfielder kicked off his sophomore campaign by finishing the weekend with a .455 average, 1 HR, 3 RBI, and 1.538 OPS. He has struck out once in each game, but has drawn a pair of walks. If he can produce like that at the top of the order there’s no telling how many runs this team is capable of scoring.

WOOD IS THE ACE – Edinson Volquez may have gotten the Opening Day start and Bronson Arroyo the big new contract, but rest assured Travis Wood is the ace of this staff. His performance Saturday night was nothing short of brilliant as he went seven innings while allowing just one run on four hits while striking out seven and not walking a batter. He retired the first 11 batters and used just 83 pitches (66 strikes) to get thru seven.

CRAZY CORDERO – After blowing eight saves a year ago and finishing the season shaky, veteran closer Francisco Cordero didn’t do much to evoke confidence. He picked up his first save of the year on Saturday night, ceding one run on two hits before finishing out the ninth inning. With Aroldis Chapman and his 105 MPH fastball waiting in the wings, Cordero will be on a short leash.

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In a one swift Jay Bruce swing of the bat the Cincinnati Reds did something they’ve never done before, clinched the N.L. Central.

It has been 15 years since the Reds last appeared in the post-season and the team and fans enjoyed every minute of celebrating on Tuesday night at Great American Ballpark.

The game epitomized the essence of the 2010 Reds. It featured late-game heroics, a comeback effort.

One of the team’s young arms, Aroldis Chapman, picked up the win and the team was aided by great defense with Drew Stubbs pulling a would-be-homerun Astros’ backup.

It was an end not even Hollywood’s finest writers could’ve of scripted any better.

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Most people don't realize that the Cincinnati at one time had two major league teams...

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The Reds were 7-11 before Dusty shook up the line-up (from Homer247.com)…

Brandon Phillips
Batting 2nd: 94 AB, .298 BA, .371 OBP, 2 HR, 3 RBI, 21 R
Batting 4th: 78 AB, .231 BA, .294 OBP, 3 HR, 10 RBI, 10 R

Drew Stubbs
Batting 7th: 51 AB, .333 BA, .393 OBP, 3 HR, 15 RBI, 9 R
Batting 1st: 83 AB, .145 BA, .242 OBP, 2 HR, 6 RBI, 13 R

Orlando Cabrera
Batting 1st: 63 AB, .302 BA, .343 OBP, 0 HR, 4 RBI, 7 R
Batting 2nd:72 AB, .264 BA, .288 OBP, 3 HR, 15 RBI, 8 R

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While most Reds' fans have moved on to football or whatever else occupies their time in September as their team falls out of it, there have been a few things of interest.

One of those, has been the play of former first-round pick Drew Stubbs.

Lance McAlsiter of 1530Homer and 700WLW compared the early part of his MLB career compared to that of fellow first-round selection Jay Bruce on his blog.

Drew Stubbs vs Jay Bruce
first 132 plate appearances

Stubbs: .252-.303-.455-.758, 7 HR, 13 RBI, 9 BB, 37 K
Bruce : .284-.355-.435-.786, 4 HR, 14 RBI, 13 BB, 31 K

It is going to be interesting to see how the depth chart plays out heading into next season.

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How about the Reds' bats today. OK it is tough to argue after the team rolled off five straight earlier in the week, but they struck out 20 times on Sunday before losing 3-2 in extra innings to the Dodgers.

Joey Votto whiffed four times and Drew Stubbs and Darnell McDonald struck out three times each.

Dodgers' starter Clayton Kershaw accounted for 11 K's in his seven innings of work before turning things over to the bullpen.

The good news is that the Reds welcome the Pirates for a double-header on Monday. I stilll have my side bet with my buddy from Pittsburgh on which team wins 5th place (pathetic - the team and my gambling problem...LOL).

The Pirates and Reds last played a doubleheader in Cincinnati on July 2, 1993 at Riverfront Stadium, splitting the two games. Double headers are a lost part of the game (thankfully). The Reds played nine in 1975, but they are far and few between these days.

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