Five Reasons Broxton Makes Sense

As Bob Lemon said, the two most important
things in life are good friends and a strong bullpen.

For the better part of the season, Reds fans have called attention to the lack of production out of the first two spots in the batting order, which are usually occupied by rookie shortstop Zack Cozart and centerfielder Drew Stubbs. Many reasons have been given for the Reds' woeful offense: Dusty Baker's lineups, the inexperience of the rookies, and the fact that Drew Stubbs has looked blind at the plate for much of the season. Given the fact that the Reds, who are currently sitting atop all of baseball with a 62-41 record, have accomplished so much without a good top of the order is both astounding and perplexing. With Tuesday's trade deadline looming, it only made sense for the Reds to pick up some help for their offense, right?

But they didn't. Instead, they went with the hard-throwing right-hander Jonathan Broxton to be the Reds' setup man down the stretch run. He isn't coming in to help with the offense, so clearly the Reds' front office missed something here, right?

Wrong. Here's why.

Winning In Spite of Dusty Baker?

Reds' Manager Dusty Baker has a 380-366
career record with the Cincinnati Reds, but
has only one winning season to his credit.

The Cincinnati Reds have bounced from manager to manager without any success since Jack McKeon took his 291-259 record as a Reds skipper and went down south, capped off by winning the World Series with the Florida Marlins in 2003. Since McKeon left in 2000, Reds managers have turned in losing season after losing season, going a combined 514-620 and losing 90 games in a season three times in the process. Dusty Baker, whose first season was in 2008 for the Reds, didn't change things overnight. He endured two losing campaigns before breaking through in 2010 with a 91-71 record and the Reds' first playoff appearance in fifteen years. It seemed as though Dusty Baker brought his winning ways to the baseball-starved city of Cincinnati.

Dusty brought something else, too: the perpetual criticism of his managerial style.

Before anyone writes me off as a Dusty Baker apologist, I assure you that's not my intention. No, I am as critical of Dusty at times as any other Reds fan. However, I think any critic of Dusty Baker must prove their credibility by giving credit where credit is due.

A Closer Look At the Reds' Offensive Woes

Much of the clamoring of Reds fans has been concerning the lack of offense displayed by their beloved team seemingly each and every night. Most of this has centered around their unproductive play from whoever they put in the first two spots of the order. In this post, I want to take a closer look at the Reds offensive woes in detail.

I will begin by stating the obvious: This Cincinnati team is worse offensively than they were in 2010. They are currently on pace to score over a hundred runs less than the 2010 team. However, if we do a comparison of this year's lineup to the 2010 lineup, we might see some areas of improvement that we hadn't previously considered.

NL Rookie of the Year

Bryce Harper first garnered national attention when he was the second up-and-coming phenom signed by the Nationals in consecutive years, the first of course being Stephen Strasburg. He made national attention again by showing up a team after hitting a home run in a minor league game. In 2012, he was called up to the major leagues and became a productive young outfielder.

Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper has provided
a spark for a very dangerous lineup

The love affair began.

Between making exciting plays in the outfield, taking extra bases with his hustle on the basepaths, getting intentionally beamed by Cole Hamels, stealing home, making the All-Star team, and helping make the Nationals relevant for the first time since... ever, Harper has had an outstanding rookie season.

But there is a rookie in Cincinnati making his case for some national attention of his own.