THE BROO VIEW with Ken Broo

Good Monday Morning!

Amazingly, the Reds won again Sunday. I say amazingly, because for the first two weeks of the season, the Reds offensive hasn't just been anemic, it's gone missing.

If you can’t score, you can’t win. Pick the sport, any sport. No team has ever won without a run, point, goal or birdie. Plain, simple, end of story.

The Reds can’t score, at least they can’t score when they need to score. We saw it again last night. We almost saw it Friday night. But Ramon Hernandez saved the night with his two run home run. Saturday night, the Reds got a grand total of two hits. They would have each had to have been grand slam homer for the the Reds to win. They lost, 7-0. Harang wasn’t sharp. The Astros got lucky with a couple of early “seeing eye” singles and Jared Burton was smacked around again.

Here’s the problem. And it’s been the problem ever since the Reds took a pass on adding a free agent bat this off season: the starting pitching has be lights out every game for this team to have a chance to win. OK, sure, we’ve seen games where the Reds have put six, eight runs up. But look at the run production through ten games. In six of those ten games, the Reds have put up three or fewer runs. And if it wasn’t for Joey Votto, it’d be a lot worse. Votto has driven in ten of the 38-runs the Reds have scored so far this season.

The bottom of the batting order is non existant. Gonzalez, Hernandez and the pitcher, all stuck below the Mendoza line. Gonzalez has exactly three hits in eight games. Jay Bruce has been to bat 34 times, he has six hits. Everybody I talk to says ‘he’ll come around’. Really? Have you seen the numbers Bruce has put up since his first two weeks in the majors? They’re pretty horrid. He’s hitting .226, just 19 home runs in just under 400 at bats and he’s whiffed over 100 times…once every four at bats, actually.

I told you last week, don’t make any hard evaluations until the season is six weeks old. By the sixth week, you’ll know exactly what this team is going to do the rest of this season. You’re smart, you follow the game. You’ll know.
But the first ten games have given us warning signs. Starting pitching has to be lights out every night for this team to have a chance at winning. Bullpen can’t afford too many Burton like performances. The base running and the defense have to be beyond good. Have we seen any of that so far this season?

As a guy I once worked for said, “There’s no calvary coming over the hill”. What you got is what you got. Maybe you platoon Janish at short with Gonzalez and hope you find offense there. Maybe Hanigan plays a little more until Hernandez hits his way out of it. Dickerson is hitting .263, Hairston .167. Do you keep running that tandem out there? Jonny Gomes is hitting .192 in Louisville.

Who didn’t see this coming?

Look, I like the $10 million scoreboard in left field. I would’ve loved a $10 million player in left field.

So here’s the question today: should the Reds now do what they didn’t do this winter, shop for a bat? Geoff Jenkins is sitting at home. It’ll cost the Reds about $400 grand to get him. Luis Gonzalez is sitting at home. Dollar figure on Gonzalez is about the same. Jim Edmonds is mowing his lawn today. What did he do to Walt Jocketty when they were both with the Cardinals? Shoe polish Walt’s car door handle?

My point is, it’s not too late and this division is not that great. If you’re proactive now, you might be able to save the strengths of this team, and save a season in the process. A baseball roster is a fluid thing, most seasons. Injuries, demotions trades and releases happen even on championship teams. They’re about ready for all of that in the land of the Yankees today.

Don’t make Harang and Arroyo sweat every pitch that they throw. Don’t yank Volquez and Cueto early, because you’re afraid leaving them in a game will result in a run or two you know you won’t be able to match. I hope some smart guy in Redsland is thinking about this, thinking that this season may only be a couple of weeks old but the warning signs are there. I hope somebody is sending a scout out to the batting cages or high school fields where an out of work major leaguer is staying in shape.

A lot of people got on Wayne Krivsky three years ago when he made that deal with the Nationals for relief pitching. It didn’t turn out so hot, but at least he tried. It was later in that season than it is now. But it’s later than you think.