Cincinnati Reds SCHOTT IN THE FOOT
CLUELESS/NL CENTRAL
"We're more of an expansion team than Tampa Bay or Arizona,"
Reds general manager Jim Bowden says with a straight face. "I'm
not kidding." So this is what baseball in the '90s has come to?
The Devils Rays and the Diamondbacks have not played a single
major league game and both are the envy of Cincinnati, a
franchise that began perfecting this baseball thing 129 years
ago. Bowden states his case with simple economics: Tampa Bay has
three players on its roster with long-term contracts averaging
at least $5 million per season, Arizona has three and the Reds
have had only one, shortstop Barry Larkin, in franchise history.
The current buzzword in the organization is downsizing. Just
three seasons ago Cincinnati had one of the top five payrolls in
baseball; in '98 the Reds are among the five lowest, at $24
million. The franchise is unique in baseball because it has
nosedived almost overnight from being a large-market team to
being a large-market team with a small-market mentality. The
shrinking budget has led to the loss of Benito Santiago, Ron
Gant and David Wells in '95; Eric Davis and Mark Portugal in
'96; and Jeff Brantley, Kent Mercker, Joe Oliver and John Smiley
in '97. Not surprisingly, Cincinnati's victory totals have
decreased, from 85 in 1995 (when they won the division) to 76
last year. Attendance has shown a similar trend, going from 2.45
million in '93 to 1.79 million last year.
Each of those years the Reds attempted to patch the holes by
signing aging veterans. "The last two years have been difficult
because you know you need to add just one or two players to win
the division, but you can't pay them," Bowden says. "It's like
there's no light at the end of the tunnel. Sometimes you have to
take chances on players you don't really like or drag guys out
of retirement because those are the only guys you can afford."
Poverty isn't Cincinnati's only cross to bear. Let's just say
that if all the major league teams went out to dinner, the Reds
would be the last to reach for their wallet. This is a team
whose skinflint owner, Marge Schott, once gave out handfuls of
recycled candy as Christmas bonuses. One reason Cincinnati
continued to patch with free agents was that the farm system lay
fallow after operating for years with the lowest scouting budget
in the big leagues.
Finally, in '97 the Reds committed to rebuilding with youth.
Midway through last season the team began hoarding inexperienced
players and conducting open auditions. Twelve guys started in
leftfield, nine in right, nine at third base, six at first base,
seven at second and four at shortstop. This year Larkin will be
the only starting position player older than 30. "I came to
spring training a year older, but everybody around me got a year
younger," he says. "If this keeps up, pretty soon there's going
to be a generation gap."
Manager Jack McKeon considers himself a scout in the dugout,
constantly evaluating young talent. McKeon, who earned the
nickname Trader Jack for his many blockbuster deals in the '80s
as the Padres general manager, has found a kindred spirit in
Bowden. "Jim spends 23 hours a day dreaming up ways to improve
this team," McKeon says. "He's aggressive and fearless, and
that's the recipe to get better quickly."
It is a testament to the Cincinnati's thrift and Bowden's
creativity that no position player in the projected Opening Day
lineup was signed as a free agent. Bowden has acquired six of
the eight through trades, and many of them were pulled off the
scrap heap of other organizations. Bowden is an innovator who
makes up for his financial constraints by scouting the inner
cities and by targeting 16-year-old international talent that
has yet to blossom. Only Bowden had the foresight to arrange
pre-expansion draft trades with both new teams, making deals
that returned to his roster players snatched in the draft.
There are also some encouraging off-the-field signs for the
franchise. Schott, who claims losses of $10 million in '97 and
more than $30 million since the strike in '94, may soon sell her
share of the team, which would improve the Reds' image
dramatically. Also, the team is anticipating a revenue boost
from a new stadium, which it hopes will be ready by 2001. Until
then, Bowden will keep exploring ideas to improve the club on a
shoestring budget. "We have to find ways to beat the system,"
Bowden says. "We simply can't play with the big boys on their
terms. They have enough money for eight more Barry Larkins than
we have."
--T.C.
COLOR PHOTO: DAVID LIAM KYLE FEAST OR FAMINE Like so many of the Reds' better players, third baseman Willie Greene is green and inconsistent.
COLOR PHOTO: CHUCK SOLOMON [Bret Boone]
BY THE NUMBERS
1997 Team Statistics (NL Rank)
1997 record: 76-86 (third in NL Central)
BATTING AVERAGE .253(14) OPP. BATTING AVG. .256(6)
RUNS SCORED 651(14) ERA 4.41(10)
HOME RUNS 142(9) FIELDING PCT. .982(2)
OFF-SEASON MOVES
WHAT THEY NEEDED: They lost first baseman Hal Morris, outfielder
Mike Kelly, pitchers Pete Schourek, Mike Morgan and Jeff
Brantley. What do they need? You name it.
WHAT THEY GOT: Pitchers Pete Harnisch, Mark Hutton and David
Weathers, outfielder Melvin Nieves and first baseman-outfielder
Dmitri Young.
WHAT IT ALL MEANS: The Reds are Titanic without the sappy
ending. They lost 15 players from last year's roster but didn't
make much of an effort to replace them. Harnisch has very good
stuff, but he's undependable; Young could fill in for Morris but
looks more like a once-promising player who never panned out,
much like Nieves.
THE X-FACTOR
Lost amid the ashes of a heinous offensive season in '97 (.223,
seven homers) was the fact that Bret Boone set a major league
record for fielding percentage by a second baseman. But while
his .997 glovework earned him a place in the record books, his
bat could land him on the bench. Boone, 28, must hit at least
.280 this year for a lineup that has little more for pitchers to
fear than Barry Larkin and Reggie Sanders. Before '97, Boone was
a career .261 hitter with some pop (55 homers in six seasons).
If he can regain that touch, the Reds suddenly become dangerous.
Well, a little.
Projected Roster With 1997 Statistics
Manager: Jack McKeon (second season with Cincinnati)
BATTING ORDER B/T BA HRs RBIs SBs
LF Chris Stynes R .348 6 28 11
RF Jon Nunnally* L/R .309 14 39 7
3B Willie Greene L/R .253 26 91 6
CF Reggie Sanders R .253 19 56 13
1B Eduardo Perez R .253 16 52 5
C Eddie Taubensee L/R .268 10 34 0
SS Pokey Reese R .219 4 26 25
2B Bret Boone R .223 7 46 5
BENCH
1B Dmitri Young[***] S/R .258 5 34 6
OF Lenny Harris L/R .273 3 28 4
SS Barry Larkin** R .317 4 20 14
OF Melvin Nieves S/R .228 20 64 1
C Brook Fordyce R .208 1 8 2
STARTERS W L IPS BR ERA
RH Dave Burba 11 10 5.8 1.49 4.73
RH Brett Tomko 11 7 6.2 1.25 3.43
LH Mike Remlinger 8 8 6.1 1.35 4.14
RH Pete Harnisch*[***] 1 2 5.0 1.82 7.03
RH Mark Hutton[***] 3 2 5.3 1.72 4.48
RELIEVERS W L S BR ERA
RH Jeff Shaw 4 2 42 0.97 2.38
RH Scott Sullivan 5 3 1 1.19 3.24
RH Stan Belinda 1 5 1 1.27 3.71
LH Gabe White 2 2 1 1.17 4.39
RH David Weathers[***] 1 3 0 2.10 8.42
LH Steve Cooke 9 15 0 1.61 4.30
[***]New acquisition (R) Rookie B/T: Bats/throws
IPS: Innings pitched per start BR: Base runners per inning
pitched
*Combined AL and NL stats **Will begin season on DL
