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Hall of Fame baseball writer Hal McCoy is in his 36th year of covering the Cincinnati Reds, the longest tenure for any active writer covering one team. Counting spring training and postseason games, McCoy has covered more than 7,000 major-league baseball games, written close to 18,000 baseball stories and eaten enough hot dogs to give Babe Ruth indigestion.Home > Blogs > The Real McCoy | Cincinnati Reds baseball news > Archives > 2009 > February > 15 > Entry
Bailey once again focus of attention
The list of candidates for the fifth starting spot on the Cincinnati Reds reads like my wife’grocery list - long and varied, with some recognizable and some in undisclosed packages.
Even manager Dusty Baker had to ask a writer to move from in front of a roster listed on the wall so he could run down the names so as not to miss any.
Oh, we know about Michah Owings. And we know about Homer Bailey. And we know about Daryl Thompson. We know about Ramon Ramirez (a little bit).
“We have a lot of guys,” said Baker. “We even have guys we’re going to stretch out (guys who have worked in the bullpen like Nick Masset). We’ll get some extended looks at Matt Maloney and Sam Lecure, James Avery, Ben Jukich and Jordan Smith.
Who?
“I say there are one or two surpises in there,” said Baker.
Because of the World Baseball Classic, spring training is longer than normal this year and because some players will leave camp to play for their countries (Edinson Volquez? Johnny Cueto?) there will be innings available for pitchers while the others are gone - a chance to prove something.
“While I’m no longer new around here, there are still a lot of guys I don’t know and haven’t seen,” said Baker. “I can look at scouting reports and video, but there is nothing like seeing people in person.”
Bailey? Is he the front-runner for No. 5? This is his fourth major-league camp and everyone continues to await his emergence. He was the anointed one in camp last spring, but fizzled and ended up going 0-6 with a 7.93 ERA in eight major-league starts and was 4-7 in 18 starts at Class AAA Louisville.
“Hope put the big name in camp on him because he happens to be a No. 1 draft choice (2004),” said Baker. “Here’s the ball, Homer. I’m not going to put any pressure on him other than what he puts on himself. I’m pulling for him, big-time. He is one of the guys in the mix.
“He’s had some opportunity, but he is still so young,” Baker added. “He’s not close to having his opportunities exhausted. He’s 22. We’ve just heard about him forever. You’d think he was 30 years old. We’ll keep trying to instruct him. The ball is in his hand.”
And that’s fine with Bailey.
“I had a pretty good off-season and that always helps,” he said. “I feel good physically. Just another year of opportunity.
“I took November off, then in December I started working out Monday through Friday, then went hunting on the weekends,” he said.
Somebody asked if Bailey had put on weight, but he said to the contrary, he lost weight. “I ended the season at 215 and now I’m at 205. They said gaining weight wouldn’t hurt me, but I feel better than I ever felt.”
A spot in the rotation and some success would make him feel even better.
And if not, Baker even mentioned some guys who in rotation consideration could move to long relief, where a couple of spots are up for determination. And he said Bailey7 cold be one of those.
“I’ve never pitched in relief,” said Bailey. “But whatever Dusty wants, whatever he asks, I’m willing to do. I’ll play first base if he asks - although I’m sure it’ll never come to that.”
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Comments
By Boxter
February 21, 2009 9:56 AM | Link to this
How long does a team have to wait for a player to preform? Trade this guy for anything you can get. Another BUST year for this guy. Problem is you can’t be a bust until you do something god and he hasn’t.By MAC
February 18, 2009 3:21 AM | Link to this
I’d really like to see Homer make it, but he simply hasn’t shown ML talent thus far, and he has lost velocity on his FB. More importantly, he has little or no movement on his FB and has a hard time locating all his pitches…he’s either right down the heart or misses completely. If he can get his velocity back and learn to locate his FB well, I think he could be a very good BP guy; he doesn’t have the pitches (breaking ball & change up) needed to be an effective SP IMO. Best thing about HB..he adjusts his hat like he’s wearing a cowboy hat!By James Brown
February 17, 2009 10:51 PM | Link to this
Please! Please! Please! I puh-lezee want a bag of whatever that stuff that Ryan’s smokin’!!!!!!!By Ryan K. Madison, IN
February 16, 2009 10:47 PM | Link to this
Watch and see if the Reds dont win the wild card this year…if not the division. Look at their 1-4 rotation, seriously. It could be on!By Shawn in the ATL
February 16, 2009 9:13 PM | Link to this
Honer’s pitching skills remain in question, but his grammar appears superb.By Softball
February 16, 2009 4:10 PM | Link to this
Owings shoulder is mush and Ramirez simply isn’t talented. That gives Homer a big leg up. His problems in getting extension which has cost him consistant velocity and his once very good breaking ball he showed in 2005-06(minus the tandom bullpen struggles in 2005). That is the key word with Bailey: Extension. Why hasn’t he had it in 2007-2008? Beats me. I think it is mainly health. If I had to guess, the Reds tried to quicken his mechanics which led to less extension and caused his velocity to drop and lose his 11-5 breaker. It also made him injury prone because he was off balance. I find in interesting after Bailey’s first demotion that he slowed his mechanics way down, back to the 2005-06 speeds and they looked better, but he wasn’t getting the power or leverage needed thus still getting hit. Well the knee injury explained that and his resurrection in the AAA playoffs was fascinating. I don’t think I have ever seen anything happen to a pitcher like Homer Bailey where the guy the Reds drafted looked as I would expect a young power pitcher would in 2005-06, yet morphed into something terrible in 2007-8. If you put 2006 version of Homer Bailey in AAA, he dominates that level too. Literally, the examples aren’t there. Only the Reds………By Pete
February 16, 2009 11:03 AM | Link to this
I don’t believe Homer’s on a short leash just yet. Crap — just look how long the Reds let Belisle go out there! But it’s time for Homer to grow up, shut up & just pitch. Are the Reds better this year than last? No. As always, I hope I’m wrong!By Get Real
February 15, 2009 9:45 PM | Link to this
You know your team is bad when you are counting on a “curse” for your team to win the division. A curse? Nice 12th century thinking there. What’s next? The SI jinx is going to help out or perhaps the other team is praying harder than our guys … maybe we could get some players from Haiti and ask them to bring some magic dust.By Y-City Jim
February 15, 2009 4:15 PM | Link to this
Good luck to Homer. Just relax and throw strikes.By red
February 15, 2009 3:31 PM | Link to this
I don’t agree with Pete, I think the Reds are better. They might have the second best rotation in the national league if, and that’s a big if,but its possible. We won’t miss Griffey, might miss Dunn….but I think Bruce and Votto and Phillips will have huge years. The Reds aren’t as good as the cubs on paper, but they are better than the rest, unless we get hit by injury. Our problem is our margin of error is razor thin, due to our inablity to spend money on some of the free agents. The Reds might surpise everyone and win the division, the cubs have the curse and perennial failure to deal with.By Mike-Cinci
February 15, 2009 3:02 PM | Link to this
This will be the last year the Reds will be able to option Bailey. It will be interesting to see how Yonder Alonso is handled. He is the same age as Bailey but he spent his time in college baseball while Homer was rushing through the minors to have 2 bad partial seasons in the majors. I ponder if Yonder will need 3 years of minor league seasoning or is he ready already for the big time?By michael
February 15, 2009 1:09 PM | Link to this
In Reference to Petes Q&A session. I agree with Pete…nobody to get excited about…team is not better than last season….and we need a Lefty. I only disagree with one thing Pete Rose said….The Big Red Machine is why I still follow the Reds.By Scott
February 15, 2009 12:58 PM | Link to this
sorry for my previous comment…I’m sleepy. However I’m trying to say that leaving players at a certain skill level will be team chemistry and also help them make adjustments while at that level (as opposed to making adjustments to those of a high skill level). Once a player is drafted they should go through a minimum of 3 minor league season (A, AA, AAA) before being “ready” for the big show.By Scott
February 15, 2009 12:55 PM | Link to this
Gary: I agree. I don’t understand why the players, such as those in Dayton, are rushed through the minors when they hit a hot streak or buzz about them is to the point that every fan talks about them. What happened to keeping players are a level for 1 whole year. It would be chemistry and the players would be able to learn by making adjustments vs other players over their same skill level. Sure it takes time, but if they did that we can see their progress (plus be able to know the players more giving someone to go see when they get to Cincy).By Gary Maloy Jr.
February 15, 2009 12:36 PM | Link to this
Who was it that clamored for his first promotion? Certainly not the Reds management. Not the media. It was the all knowing fans (not me, though) who thought he could save the team, the season, the organization. It’s our collective fault. And here we are, still arguing over who should stay and who should go.By Mike-Cinci
February 15, 2009 11:17 AM | Link to this
I see Owings and Ramirez as the current front runners for the #5 starting spot. Bailey could be a factor if somehow he has found a live fastball, a curve he can control, and either a slider or changeup to mix things up. Players are limited be being optioned to the minors over 3 seasons. After that the player has to stay in the majors or if sent to the minors he must go through waivers. Homer is getting close to making it now or his days as a Red could be over. Rushing him 2 years ago might have been a mistake as it puts a lot of pressure on the Reds to make a call on this guy. For the record a team can option a player to the minors an unlimited number of times in any one season but you can only option him over 3 seasons before he either must stay in the majors, be put on waivers, be designated for assignment, or released.