2006 Cincinnati Reds Predictions 

The Cincinnati Reds are close to becoming a good team. They brought big bats to the plate last season and they are back again early in 2006, but they suffered from lack of quality pitching last year and they still aren’t getting enough quality starts in the early going this season. In other words, they could be the perfect overs team. The average total at home was just over 11 runs per game and the average on the road was barely under 10 at 9.9 runs per game. Consider playing overs on the Reds at home in 2006. I’m normally not a big fan of playing a lot of Overs but in the right spots, Cincy will pull through more times than not for nice gains.

These Reds were terrible on the road last season which is a byproduct of more pitching. They posted a dreadful 31-50 mark. It is yet to be determined on exactly how this season will play out as the Reds dealt away 2-time All-star Sean Casey who has hit over .300 in 5 of his last 7 seasons and has accrued 1125 hits in 1081 games in his career. They gained left handed starter Dave Williams from the Pirates. It hardly looks like a fair trade as Williams is just 17-26 in his career and was just a 10-game winner a season ago. Obviously, Cincinnati is building for the future, and it doesn’t look like the future will be any time soon. My guess is Casey will abuse them in division play and especially when facing Williams. Isn’t that how that sort of thing comes back to haunt you?

Aaron Harang leads this weak starting staff and he has been shaky at best, but Bronson Arroyo is quickly becoming this team’s ace as he no longer has to try to mo down hitters in the very deep AL East. The Reds haven’t gotten a solid feel for how their bullpen will shape up, but my best guess is that it won’t and bull pen by committee rarely sees great success.

Even without Casey the Reds should once again be a powerful offensive lineup, but ultimately, they didn’t do enough with their pitching situation to contend in the NL Central. They are definitely one of the most powerful teams in the bigs, with Dunn being good for 40, and Griffey good for over 35 home runs. It’s going to be tough to tell who will make a move to make up for the losses of Casey and Willy Mo Pena, but all Reds fans know that Griffey’s health is pivotal in terms of how successful the Reds will be.
It’s difficult to get a solid feel on the Reds in terms of wagering and whenever we feel like putting some of our action on this team it brings back memories of Pete Rose and his shady days of managing this ball club. Let’s all hope that everyone is more successful this season in investing on the Reds than was their former great Charley Hustle.

 

2006 Baseball Predictions

 

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