MLB Betting – Five Reasons Why The Reds Are A Pretender
Online betting players have been shocked at Cincinnati’s start to the 2010 season in the major leagues, but are we ready to put all of our faith in a team that is known more for being one of MLB’s worst teams over the last decade (maybe longer)? Here are five reasons why you shouldn’t go running to the sportsbook just yet to bet on the Reds.
Scott Rolen won’t hold up
Rolen was traded from Toronto to Cincinnati after an injury-plagued 1 ½ seasons with the Blue Jays, and he’s showing what he can do when he stays off the disabled list. After 55 games, Rolen leads the Reds with 14 homers and 42 RBIs while hitting .304, and he’s on pace for a 40-homer, 120-RBI season. Rolen played 155 games with Philadelphia and St. Louis in 2002, racking up 31 homers and 110 RBIs, but can he keep up this pace all year? Did we mention that he turned 35 on the eve of the season and hasn’t been hurt….yet? Don’t worry, it’ll happen. It sucks because Rolen is a good player and an even better person, but he’s snakebitten.
The entire offense won’t hold up
Through 60 games, the Reds lead the National League in runs scored, hits, RBIs, batting average, total bases, slugging and OPS. Votto battled injuries last year and played just 131 games, and everyone knows he has the talent to be a star in this league, but will he put it all together? Jonny Gomes is on a pace to smash his career high in RBIs, while Brandon Phillips is getting on base at a career pace. Gomes and Phillips may be the key to the entire offense as they are punching well above their weight right now.
Containing Mike Leake
Leake is the first player since Xavier Nady in 2000 to go straight from the draft to the pros, and the eighth pick in last year’s draft is proving to be tough to keep out of the rotation. Leake is 5-0 with a 2.22 ERA in 11 starts so far, and he’s pitched at least six innings in every start. MLB betting players know that manager Dusty Baker is notoriously bad with young pitchers (see Prior, Mark; Wood, Kerry), and Edison Volquez looks no more recovered from his Tommy John surgery. The Reds are going to have to be very careful with their new young star.
Lack of experience
Most of the Reds have never even been close to a successful team, much less a World Series-winning team. Rolen won in 2006 with St. Louis, Orlando Cabrera in 2004 with Boston, and other than that, you’d be hard-pressed to find Cincinnati players who are used to the pressure of something like a pennant race. The first half of the season is easy as the opposition is trying new things to get ready for the second half, but after the All-Star break, we’re not sure that the Reds will be able to stand up to the likes of St. Louis, and even the Chicago Cubs and possibly Milwaukee, in the National League Central. It will be good experience for upcoming seasons, though, because there is a talented young nucleus here.
Dusty Baker
Baker hasn’t guided a team to the playoffs since 2003, when his Cubs lost to Florida in the NLCS. He took San Francisco to the World Series in 2002, but it’s been bare since then. We already talked about Baker’s propensity for overworking his young hurlers, but he also has to be careful with Rolen, who is playing extremely well now but could (meaning, probably will) break down in the second half of the year. Baker also has to watch out for Votto and Jay Bruce, two young players with the ability to be stars, but they won’t use it all the time. Baker’s no spring chicken anymore at 60, but he’s always been known as a “player’s coach”. He’ll have to play up that aspect of his managerial skills to keep the Reds’ sports betting odds afloat this year.
