Cincinnati Reds
Press Clippings
February 4, 2016
THIS DAY IN REDS HISTORY
1934-Radio tycoon, Powel Crosley, Jr., buys the Reds and assures fans the team will stay in Cincinnati
MLB.COM
Reds run 'pitching summit' to prepare prospects
Cincinnati assembles to better equip young arms for 2016
By Mark Sheldon / MLB.com | @m_sheldon | February 3rd, 2016 + 38 COMMENTS
CINCINNATI -- No matter who makes up the Reds' pitching staff this season, it will be comprised of many young pitchers with
high ceilings and unfinished development.
Reds manager Bryan Price, his pitching coaches and the front office wanted the team's young pitchers to be as prepared as possible
heading into 2016, so for a few days in mid-January, the club assembled several of its prospects at the team complex in Goodyear,
Ariz., for what was called a "pitching summit."
"It was a handful of guys. They said you've got a shot at making it sometime in 2016," said lefty Cody Reed, who was one of three
left-handers acquired from the Royals for ace Johnny Cueto in July. "They wanted to get these guys out there, get a good look at
them, talk to them, and we had a good time. We went to an ASU basketball game and saw a movie. It wasn't all baseball, and it was
a really good time."
Injuries and trades decimated the depth of the Reds' pitching staff last season, particularly the rotation. Young pitchers were pressed
into service, learned under duress and took some lumps for the first time in the big leagues.
Rookie pitchers started a Major League record 64 straight games to end the season, following Mike Leake's trade on July 28. The
starting staff's record was 20-44 with a 4.62 ERA.
"We didn't pitch as well as I had hoped with that group of young guys," Price said.
Price, pitching coach Mark Riggins and assistant pitching coach Mack Jenkins were on hand at the summit, as was veteran starting
pitcher Homer Bailey. The young pitchers included Anthony DeSclafani, Raisel Iglesias, Michael Lorenzen, John Lamb, Keyvius
Sampson, Reed, Robert Stephenson, Brandon Finnegan and Rookie Davis.
"We need to get them up to speed with the expectations, how we're going to get there, how to prepare and what we're about with the
Reds at the big league level," Price said. "It was really intensive discussions about what is greatness, how do we achieve it, how do
we gain consistency and unity, how do we connect as a group and push each other towards the ultimate goal of winning a World
Series."
Since it was still mid-January, it was too early for bullpen mound sessions during the summit. The pitchers threw off flat ground,
did their workouts and lifted weights. A couple of the meetings were led by Bailey, who will be the rotation's most-tenured starter
when he returns from Tommy John surgery rehabilitation in May.
"It was awesome," said Davis, who was acquired from the Yankees in December's trade for closer Aroldis Chapman. "It was the
first time I've met some of those guys and seen some of them play. I met [president of baseball operations] Walt Jocketty and was
around Homer and some of the guys that played in the big leagues last year, the pitching coaches and everyone. The talent in the
room was unquestionable."
Davis received his invitation to the summit a few days after being traded. He accepted immediately, and he was glad to attend.
"You could sense in the room the confidence with the process we're in," Davis said. "Guys are all on the same page, and ultimately,
it's to win a championship and bring a trophy to Cincinnati. Every guy in that room was on board with it.
"Leaving there, I'm more fired up now than I was before. I worked with guys, saw their intensity and the passion for the game. And
for the guys that have been there, you could see the passion for the city they play for. I've never experienced anything like that."
#TBT: Deion's days on the diamond
Former teammates recall Prime Time's baseball buzz
By Doug Miller / MLB.com | 12:00 AM ET + 0 COMMENTS
He was "Neon Deion." He was "Prime Time." He was the flashy star of the National Football League who picked off passes, blazed
downfield and sometimes strutted with the flair of a movie star.
But when Hall of Famer John Smoltz recalls his former Braves teammate Deion Sanders' foray in the world of baseball, he pictures
a much different guy.
"I had a blast being around Deion," Smoltz said. "He was a great teammate, and ultimately he was able to help us and put a dynamic
skill set to use and help us win."
Sanders also became the only man to play in a Super Bowl and a World Series, which is why he's on our minds this Throwback
Thursday as we look ahead to Denver vs. Carolina in Super Bowl 50 on Sunday while looking back at one of the most talented allaround athletes to play in the big leagues.
Sanders was already a well-known cornerback at Florida State when the Yankees took a flier on him, drafting him after his junior
year of college. Sanders had dabbled in baseball during his freshman year, but that was the extent, until he surprisingly signed and
finished his first professional season at the Triple-A level.
He made his Major League debut for the Bronx Bombers in 1989 at the age of 21.
By the time he got to the Braves, he was a burgeoning NFL icon for the hometown Falcons, he was the reason Braves fans adopted
the Tomahawk Chop chant that originated at Florida State, and he was a constant multimedia presence, literally helicoptering from
one stadium to the other to play games.
Make no mistake: He loved all the attention that went along with it, too.
"There was quite a buzz in the clubhouse, waiting for him to get there," said former Braves outfielder and teammate Ron Gant. "But
once he came in, it was like he had been playing there his entire career. It was almost like he was on the team already.
"One thing about Deion was that despite all the flash from football, when he got in the locker room, he wanted to do whatever he
could to fit in. But he also would not let anyone show him up or make him feel awkward."
It didn't hurt that he was the real deal on a baseball field.
Sanders slashed .304/.346/.495 with eight home runs, 14 triples and 26 stolen bases in 303 at-bats in 1992, then hit .533 and stole
five bags in that year's Fall Classic loss to the Blue Jays.
He would go on to play for the Reds and Giants, and in total stole 186 bases (56 for Cincinnati in 1997) and scored 308 runs, all
while focusing most of his energy on what would become a Hall of Fame football career.
Sanders won a Super Bowl with the Cowboys, another with the 49ers, and recorded 53 interceptions on his way to gridiron
immortality in Canton, Ohio, in 2011.
"Baseball was truly a hobby and a part-time situation for one of the greatest athletes I've been around," Smoltz said.
"Let's just say he did away with football. I think he could have been one of the greatest leadoff hitters, along with Rickey
Henderson, with what he possessed. He was raw and hadn't put in enough time to really get the most out of his ability."
Smoltz recalls the brilliant tools on the field but also the qualities away from the game that made Sanders so likeable. The two
played one-on-one basketball (Smoltz won), they played a lot of Tetris on their Game Boys, and they partook in Sanders' other
favorite sport: fishing.
"One thing I remember about Deion is how he and Otis Nixon were deathly afraid of dogs," Smoltz said with a laugh.
"We'd meet at Kent Mercker's [Spring Training] apartment to go fishing, and Kent had this chocolate lab. As soon as Kent came to
the door, the dog would bark, and Deion and Otis would be back over the car hood as fast as you could imagine."
It was that world-class speed that set Sanders apart in both sports, and it's what most remembered in addition to the "Prime Time"
persona.
"You know when you go down the street so fast riding your bicycle, and you get too close to a mailbox, and the mailbox goes by
your ear?" said Barry Larkin, a baseball Hall of Famer and former Reds teammate of Sanders.
"I remember having the same sensation when Deion was running. ... I had conversations with him about trying to get better as a
hitter. Those conversations ended after the baseball season did. When it was the offseason for most of us, he was talking about
picking off Jeff George and taking it to the house."
Sanders has said he slightly regrets never pursuing his full potential in baseball. He spoke about it on MLB Network's "Intentional
Talk" program in 2012 upon hearing that his old buddy Larkin was being enshrined in Cooperstown.
"I felt like I did give [baseball] my all, but I felt like football ... was my true wife and baseball was a lover, someone I was seeing,"
Sanders said.
"You always think [about] what you could have done, what you would have done and what you should have done, but honestly I
think football turned out pretty darn good."
WCPO - Channel 9
From The Vault: Ken Griffey Jr., Christmas came to Cincinnati on Feb. 10, 2000
Greg Noble
8:24 AM, Feb 4, 2016
2 mins ago
CINCINNATI – It was like Christmas on Feb. 10, 2000, when Ken Griffey Jr. came home.
Excited Reds fans gathered at Lunken Airport to greet him when he arrived on team owner Carl Lindner's private jet. They cheered
and waved as Lindner drove his white Rolls Royce, with Griffey in the front seat, through the gates. Then police led a motorcade,
followed by limousines carrying Griffey's family and Reds officials, to Cinergy Field for a news conference.
It was like Santa Claus coming to town in a flashy sleigh, bringing the World Series trophy to Cincinnati.
The Reds had traded for "The Kid."
The city nearly burst with excitement – and pride – much moreso than when the Reds traded for Tom Seaver in 1977 to try to
breathe new life into the end of the Big Red Machine era. It wasn't just because Griffey was baseball's biggest star of the 1990s, just
named to the All-Century team. He had his roots here – his father was part of the Reds' glory days - and Reds fans had watched with
envy as the Moeller High grad, playing fin faraway Seattle, captivated the country with his home-run power, rifle arm, ability to
leap outfield fences in a single bound, and youthful wear-your-cap-backward exuberance.
“Well, I'm finally home,” Griffey said at a Thursday night news conference as excited city officials and Reds execs crowded into
camera's view behind him. “This is my hometown. I grew up here. It doesn't matter how much money you make - it's where you feel
happy. Cincinnati is the place where I thought I would be happy.”
Reds General Manager Jim Bowden, who had tried for years to get Griffey, pumped his fist in the air as Griffey put on his Reds
jersey and cap.
“Feb. 10, 2000 will go down in Reds history - major-league history - when one of the biggest trades in our sport took place, when
the Michael Jordan of baseball came home to Cincinnati,” Bowden said.
Griffey had demanded a trade from Seattle, saying he wanted to be closer to his family now that his oldest son was entering
kindergarten in Florida. Griffey was going to be a free agent after the 2000 season – sound familiar? - so the Mariners' hands were
tied. Due to their proximity, the Atlanta Braves, appeared to have the best chance in the Griffey Derby. But Bowden plugged away.
For a time, Lindner had second thoughts at opening the vault for Griffey, and the Reds backed off. In December, the Mariners
traded Griffey to the Mets, but Griffey had veto power and killed the deal.
With spring training near, Griffey's Cincinnati-based agent, Brian Goldberg, stepped in and got permission from the M's to negotiate
a long-term contract with the Reds. That made the deal.
Griffey took far less money than his market value - about half, some estimated. He got the richest contract in baseball history - nine
years, $112.5 million with a $4 million buyout clause. But the average was the seventh-highest. Even the Mariners had offered
more: $148 million for eight years.
But Griffey got what he wanted – stability - plus a chance to play for his dad's former team, in the town where he grew up, in the
clubhouse where he hung out as a kid, more than 2,000 miles closer to his family.
“As you can see by this contract, it was never about the money," Griffey said. "I didn't want to move around. I didn't want to be here
one year and have to go somewhere else. I wanted to be able to stay put."
"The main thing is, it made him happy," Goldberg said. "That was the key: it made him happy."
The Reds did not have to pay a king's ransom for The Kid. The Mariners had insisted on getting first baseman Sean Casey in a
package deal, but they eventually settled on center fielder Mike Cameron, pitcher Brett Tomko, and two minor leaguers - pitcher
Jake Meyer and infielder Antonio Perez.
As for the Reds, they had won 96 games the previous season, losing a wild-card playoff game to the Mets, and ownership expected
Griffey to help them win championships as they moved into Great American Ball Park, and for years after that.
“We wanted a permanent superstar in our city to open our new stadium,” Bowden said.
But as we know, that didn't happen. The Reds never went to the playoffs in Griffey's eight-plus seasons in Cincinnati. Manager Jack
McKeon, who said the Reds needed pitching more than they needed a superstar center fielder, proved to be right.
"Everybody knows that the Reds' higher-ups above the baseball people misled Junior and I about the team that would be put around
him," Goldberg was quoted in an excellent Bleacher Report article by Scott Miller.
Wayne Krivsky, Reds GM from 2006 to 2008, said: "I wish we could have had a little more pitching. It would have been a real nice
story had he come home and the team went on to win the World Series. But it wasn't to be."
Griffey, who was 30 when he came to the Reds and on the back side of his career, had a few good years in Cincinnati but, not
surprisingly, didn't match the numbers he put up in Seattle. Worse, he didn't live up to owners' or fans' expectations.
Griffey's best year with the Reds was his first year when he had 40 homers, 118 RBI and 100 runs. But injuries hampered him after
that or he might have broken the all-time home run record. He hit his 500th and 600 home runs as a Red before he was traded to the
White Sox during the 2008 season. He returned to the Mariners for 2009 and retired early in 2010 with 630 homers (sixth all-time).
But his legacy as one of baseball's greatest players – he will go into the Hall of Fame this summer with the highest vote percentage
ever (99.3) – shouldn't be diminished by the Reds' failures.
No Reds fans will ever say they didn't want Ken Griffey Jr. on their team. Or another Christmas in February.
TRANSACTIONS
02/03/16
Seattle Mariners signed free agent 1B Dae-Ho Lee to a minor league contract and invited him to spring training.
Arizona Diamondbacks invited non-roster CF Evan Marzilli to spring training.
Arizona Diamondbacks invited non-roster RF Todd Glaesmann to spring training.
Arizona Diamondbacks invited non-roster LF Zach Borenstein to spring training.
Arizona Diamondbacks invited non-roster 3B Carlos Rivero to spring training.
Arizona Diamondbacks invited non-roster SS Jack Reinheimer to spring training.
Arizona Diamondbacks invited non-roster C Mark Thomas to spring training.
Arizona Diamondbacks invited non-roster LHP Daniel Gibson to spring training.
Arizona Diamondbacks invited non-roster RHP Braden Shipley to spring training.
Arizona Diamondbacks invited non-roster RHP Adam Miller to spring training.
Arizona Diamondbacks invited non-roster RHP Yoan Lopez to spring training.
Arizona Diamondbacks invited non-roster RHP Kaleb Fleck to spring training.
Arizona Diamondbacks signed free agent RHP Miller Diaz to a minor league contract and invited him to spring training.
Kansas City Royals released RHP Louis Coleman.
Miami Marlins signed free agent 3B Don Kelly to a minor league contract and invited him to spring training.
Pittsburgh Pirates designated RHP A.J. Schugel for assignment.
Philadelphia Phillies traded LHP Jesse Biddle to Pittsburgh Pirates for RHP Yoervis Medina.
Seattle Mariners signed free agent C Steven Lerud to a minor league contract and invited him to spring training.