Baseball | "The Boss" Has Arrived

Some quotes on the arrival of Jay Bruce:

ESPN.com's statmeister Rob Neyer: "Has there ever been a more obvious call-up in the history of the sport?"

Cincinnati Enquirer columnist Paul Daugherty:

The Future appears today, and whoever the Reds aspire to be for the next decade will be embodied in his 21 years. Too big a burden to put on Jay Bruce? Of course. But they havent had a difference-making player like this is 24 years. Eric Davis arrived in '84, the center of a fresh wave of talent that eventually brought the Reds a world championship. Bruce is the head of the class that, to now, has also included J. Votto, J. Cueto, E. Volquez and hopefully will feature Josh Roenicke and Darryl Thompson.

Symbolically, it's a definitive move away from the Griffey-Dunn Era of underachieving and lowered expectations. For the Reds to move beyond 75-win seasons, they need to retool. They have to change the way they hit and the way they think. As W. Jocketty put it when he took over, they need to fix the culture. Bruce, Votto et al aren't familiar with the current culture. They can create a culture of their own. Again, nothing against Junior and Dunn. One's a Hall of Famer, the other's a proven power plant. But they've been central to a way of doing things that hasnt worked. An over-reliance on power, a lack of urgency in the clubhouse, a culture of acceptance of losing. Time to change the culture. It starts today.

HOF beat writer Hal McCoy:

Bruce has been rated the best prospect in the minor leagues by Baseball America, Sporting News, most scouts, anybody with good baseball sense and fans of the Reds since last year.

He has spent the season at Louisville, where in 49 games he hit .364 with nine doubles, five triples, 10 HRs, 37 RBIs and eight stolen bases.

He leads the International League in hitting and hits (67) and ranks among the IL leaders in slugging percentage (.630, 3rd), runs scored (34, 4th), extra-base hits (24, T4th) and RBI (T5th).

All that was wasted in the minors. Now it’s time to put those numbers to good use.

To Hal McCoy's credit, he was the only local writer to castigate the team for not bringing their best center fielder north with them out of spring training. It was an obvious move then, but the team wanted to give Corey Patterson a chance to show what he could do . . . oooffff.

Rotoworld's Aaron Gleeman:

Bruce spent the final two months of last season and the first two months of this season at Triple-A, hitting .334/.375/.598 with 21 homers, 49 total extra-base hits, and 10 steals in 99 total games. There's really no way to look at those numbers from a 21-year-old center fielder and avoid seeing future stardom, but Bruce's sub par strikeout-to-walk ratio over that same stretch does suggest that he may not be ready to immediately thrive against big-league pitching.

Rotoworld's baseball coverage has always been a bit too saberific for my taste, so you know they're going to pay extra close attention to the k/bb ratio and sleep on the jaw-dropping ability. Is plate discipline a concern? Not to me, no. I think Bruce will mash big league pitching right off the bat and it's entirely possible that he will battle Adam Dunn to be the the team's best player the rest of the way.

Local writer C. Trent Rosencrans interviewed Pirates beat man Rob Biertempful:

You have Jay Bruce fever, too?

RB: He’d already been snatched up in three of my four fantasy leagues when I went trolling for free agents a few days ago, so he won’t be helping me in that regard. Just like everyone else, I’m curious to see if he’ll live up to the hype – mashing homers, snagging fly balls, curing the common cold, delivering lasting peace in the Mideast and discovering a Democratic candidate who doesn’t want to raise my taxes.

Oh, and speaking of C. Trent, this hat is currently his favorite running joke. Now that the best defensive second baseman in the history of baseball, Pokey Reese, has signed a contract with the Nationals, let's take a look at the crew of castoffs assembled by current Nationals GM and former Reds GM/leather pants wearer Jim Bowden: Jose Rijo is a pitching coach, Barry Larkin and Bob Boone work in the front office, Dmitri Young is playing 1B, Aaron Boone is backing him up, brother Bret Boone just retired again after spending spring training with the Nats, Felipe Lopez is the starting 2B, Wily Mo Pena is playing OF, Charlie Manning is a reliever, Austin Kearns is currently on the D.L., as is fellow former Reds first-round pick Ryan Wagner. With their spate of catching injuries, I'm surprised Bowden hasn't attempted to drag Eddie Taubensee out of retirement. The Nats AAA affiliate, the Columbus Clippers now "boasts" SS Ray Olmedo, INF Pokey Reese, and P Chris Booker. What, no Gookie Dawkins?