When you are rebuilding your team you must sometimes take chances on some players that may have previously stumbled with other teams.
That is exactly where the Cincinnati Reds find themselves in 2017.
Two perfect examples of this philosophy are former Tampa Ray OF Desmond Jennings and former Detroit Tiger Ryan Raburn, both whom the Reds have signed to minor league contracts with a Major League spring training invite.
Jennings
was once a highly touted rookie for Tampa who ranked in the top 20 list
of MLB prospects in both 2009 and even started in the 2010 All-Star
Futures Game.
Unfortunately Jennings was never able to find his feet in the majors as was released from Tampa in August of 2016.
Desmond
is the kind of player that could thrive in a change of scenery and
moving from the American League to the National League.
Ryan Raburn, an 11 year MLB veteran, bring a career .253 average to Cincinnati with him to go along with 91 HRs and 352 RBI. After struggling last season in Colorado Raburn is looking for a chance to continue his career and the Reds are happy to take a flyer on him.
Colorado can be a fickle place as a hitter. Players that go there and play for several years tend to thrive due to the thin air, but on the flip side of that coin, some go there and attempt to change their game to become sluggers and take advantage of the great hitting environment. It is worth a shot to see if Raburn can re-discover the form that lead him to a .301 batting average for 82 games in Cleveland just two years ago.
Neither of these guys may make a huge impact on the team, but both are worth a minor league look to help give the Reds some OF depth and gives them a veteran presence to help the young guys continue to learn and grow.
Another veteran piece that Cincinnati has added is none other than former Red Bronson Arroyo.
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not foolish enough to think that Bronson
will come in and give the Reds 200+ innings or win double digit games
but, more importantly, he will give them a veteran presence to help
bring along some of the young core of a rotation with a bright future.
In
2013, which seems like forever ago, Arroyo was finishing off a stretch
in which he gave the Reds 200 or more innings pitched in seven of eight
seasons and the one year he didn’t reach that milestone he was just a
single inning short.
One can only assume that he will not be
called upon to handle such a heavy load this year if he does make the
big league club out of spring training. Instead, I believe he will
mentor the likes of Amir Garrett, Robert Stephenson, Cody Reed, Luis
Castillo and Lisalverto Bonilla.
With Homer Bailey starting the year on the DL while he recovers from surgery on his right elbow Arroyo could find himself as a bit of a player coach and getting his chance on the back-end of the pitching rotation for the first month of the season. This could allow some of the young guys to either start in the bullpen or getting their time down in Louisville pitching in AAA until they are needed with the big club.
The Cincinnati Reds are not expected to compete for the National League Central pennant this year and likely will not threaten in the Wild Card standings for another season or two, but what they will do is play some great baseball in spurts and give their fans something to cheer for.
Saturday, February 18, 2017
FireLake PBA Tournament of Champions
UPDATE: Tom Smallwood bowled a huge 258 in the final game to go around Jason Belmonte, who left a 2-4-8-10 in the 8th on a shot he looked like he really liked, to steal the final spot. PDW bowls a clutch 211 game on a pair he struggled on today to lock himself into the show. Here are your final standings:
1) EJ Tackett (Motiv)
2) Tommy Jones (Ebonite)
3) Dom Barrett (Track)
4) Tom Smallwood (Radical)
5) Pete Weber (Storm)
What an exciting finish to qualifying and this is exactly why XtraFrame is such a great feature. Be sure to tune in tomorrow at 1pm ET to ESPN for the live stepladder finals.
__________________________________________________________________________________
UPDATE: Down to the final game. EJ Tackett remains your leader with Tommy Jones sitting second 34 pins ahead of Dom Barrett in third. Dom is 50 pins ahead of PDW who is sitting 4th while 27 pins away from Pete is Jason Belmonte, who is putting on quite a display of bowling this morning. Only 4 pins away from Belmo sits Tom Smallwood in 6th with Mitch Beasley and Norm Duke tied for 7th only 17 pins off the show. Brad Angelo is in 9th 28 pins away from 5th and Marshall Kent is in 10th just 39 pins out.
Last game to go and this is going to be an exciting finish. Get to your XtraFrame now ... or come back here for more updates.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
UPDATE: Just about to head to position round. Tom Smallwood (6)2 in the 10th bowling 256 to end with 218. Huge 10th frame for our 5th seed. Dom Barrett is about to bowl 290 to all but lock himself onto the show.
Scores coming up soon and down to just the position round remaining.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
UPDATE: Big shake up in the standings! Dom Barrett has moved up to 4th place while Tom Smallwood bowls his way into the 5th slot. PBA Hall of Famer Norm Duke has dropped all of the way down to 6th just 2 pins out of 5th. Mitch Beasley remains 29 pins off the while while Belmonte is just 33 out. Brad Angelo is in 10th place but only 48 off the show.
These last two games are going to be on fire. The position round will be must see TV!!
Get to your XtraFrame right now.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
UPDATE: And we have some serious action going into the last couple games. Dom Barrett had 197 game 5 and remains in 5th, but just barely. Belmonte continued his hot day by shooting 245 to climb within 5 pins of the show. Meanwhile PDW has dropped down to 4th, only 75 ahead of Belmo now. Tom Smallwood is only 9 pins out of 5th while Mitch Beasley and Marshall Kent are just 35 off the show.
Things are going to be fun these last few games.
Current top 5:
EJ Tackett
Tommy Jones
Norm Duke
PDW
Dom Barrett
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dom Barrett tosses 243 game 4 to extend his lead to 28 pins over the two players tied for 6th in Marshall Kent and Tom Smallwood. Meanwhile, Jason Belmonte shot 256 game 4 to pick up a few pins on Dom with just 4 games remaining.
Inside the top 5 Pete Weber jumps Tommy Jones to move into the #2 slot behind EJ Tackett. The top 5 bowlers remain the same guys but the position has jumbled a bit.
Current standings after 4:
EJ Tackett (Motiv)
Pete Weber (Storm)
Tommy Jones (Ebonite)
Norm Duke (Storm)
Dom Barrett (Track)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Things are starting to tighten up at the FireLake PBA Tournament of Champions as Dom Barrett is sitting just two pins ahead of Tom Smallwood for the final position for Sunday's ESPN telecast.
Smallwood, who just put up 280 game three today, is part of a pack that is making a charge towards the telecast.
Marshall Kent struggled game 2 but bounced back with 241 game three to get within 23 of the 5th spot while Jason Belmonte has put up games of 237, 246 and 247 this morning to pull himself closer to the stepladder as he now sits just 66 pins out.
Mitch Beasley and Sean Rash are both also within 70 pins of Barrett with 5 games left to go.
Who will we see on Sunday's telecast? Tune into XtraFrame to find out.
Current top five:
EJ Tackett
Tommy Jones
Pete Weber
Norm Duke
Dom Barrett
1) EJ Tackett (Motiv)
2) Tommy Jones (Ebonite)
3) Dom Barrett (Track)
4) Tom Smallwood (Radical)
5) Pete Weber (Storm)
What an exciting finish to qualifying and this is exactly why XtraFrame is such a great feature. Be sure to tune in tomorrow at 1pm ET to ESPN for the live stepladder finals.
__________________________________________________________________________________
UPDATE: Down to the final game. EJ Tackett remains your leader with Tommy Jones sitting second 34 pins ahead of Dom Barrett in third. Dom is 50 pins ahead of PDW who is sitting 4th while 27 pins away from Pete is Jason Belmonte, who is putting on quite a display of bowling this morning. Only 4 pins away from Belmo sits Tom Smallwood in 6th with Mitch Beasley and Norm Duke tied for 7th only 17 pins off the show. Brad Angelo is in 9th 28 pins away from 5th and Marshall Kent is in 10th just 39 pins out.
Last game to go and this is going to be an exciting finish. Get to your XtraFrame now ... or come back here for more updates.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
UPDATE: Just about to head to position round. Tom Smallwood (6)2 in the 10th bowling 256 to end with 218. Huge 10th frame for our 5th seed. Dom Barrett is about to bowl 290 to all but lock himself onto the show.
Scores coming up soon and down to just the position round remaining.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
UPDATE: Big shake up in the standings! Dom Barrett has moved up to 4th place while Tom Smallwood bowls his way into the 5th slot. PBA Hall of Famer Norm Duke has dropped all of the way down to 6th just 2 pins out of 5th. Mitch Beasley remains 29 pins off the while while Belmonte is just 33 out. Brad Angelo is in 10th place but only 48 off the show.
These last two games are going to be on fire. The position round will be must see TV!!
Get to your XtraFrame right now.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
UPDATE: And we have some serious action going into the last couple games. Dom Barrett had 197 game 5 and remains in 5th, but just barely. Belmonte continued his hot day by shooting 245 to climb within 5 pins of the show. Meanwhile PDW has dropped down to 4th, only 75 ahead of Belmo now. Tom Smallwood is only 9 pins out of 5th while Mitch Beasley and Marshall Kent are just 35 off the show.
Things are going to be fun these last few games.
Current top 5:
EJ Tackett
Tommy Jones
Norm Duke
PDW
Dom Barrett
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dom Barrett tosses 243 game 4 to extend his lead to 28 pins over the two players tied for 6th in Marshall Kent and Tom Smallwood. Meanwhile, Jason Belmonte shot 256 game 4 to pick up a few pins on Dom with just 4 games remaining.
Inside the top 5 Pete Weber jumps Tommy Jones to move into the #2 slot behind EJ Tackett. The top 5 bowlers remain the same guys but the position has jumbled a bit.
Current standings after 4:
EJ Tackett (Motiv)
Pete Weber (Storm)
Tommy Jones (Ebonite)
Norm Duke (Storm)
Dom Barrett (Track)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Things are starting to tighten up at the FireLake PBA Tournament of Champions as Dom Barrett is sitting just two pins ahead of Tom Smallwood for the final position for Sunday's ESPN telecast.
Smallwood, who just put up 280 game three today, is part of a pack that is making a charge towards the telecast.
Marshall Kent struggled game 2 but bounced back with 241 game three to get within 23 of the 5th spot while Jason Belmonte has put up games of 237, 246 and 247 this morning to pull himself closer to the stepladder as he now sits just 66 pins out.
Mitch Beasley and Sean Rash are both also within 70 pins of Barrett with 5 games left to go.
Who will we see on Sunday's telecast? Tune into XtraFrame to find out.
Current top five:
EJ Tackett
Tommy Jones
Pete Weber
Norm Duke
Dom Barrett
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