A: Opposing managers always are looking for an edge and they know they need something to slow down Greene. So they question the decals and decorations on his gloves, the same ones he has used for three years, no questions ever asked. It isn’t working. Greene is too stoic and serene to let pettiness disrupt him. To him, it’s a minor distraction. He’d pitch with a jai-alai player’s cesta if he had to.
Q: Name your five all-time switch-hitters? — GEORGE, New York City.
A: There have been more outstanding switch-hitter than most fans realize, players like Bobby Bonilla, Tim Raines, Carlos Beltran, Maury Wills, Mark Teixeira, Bernie Williams, Ruben Sierra and Chili Davis, to list a few. But top five? Number one is easy and that’s Mickey Mantle, by three miles. Then it’s Pete Rose, Eddie Murray, Chipper Jones and Roberto Alomar.
Q: If you were a general manager and could sign one player, would it be Shohei Ohtani or Elly De La Cruz? — JEREMY, Jacksonville, Fla.
A: That depends on what team I’m working for and how much money I have to spend. Because he can do it all, including pitch, I’d take Ohtani. But with his sizzling arm, I’m not sure that De La Cruz couldn’t pitch, too. And right now, Elly comes much cheaper. I flipped a coin and it came up...Elly.
Q: What do you think about the Reds home run celebration of spitting counterfeit dollar bills all over the dugout? — MIKE, Indianapolis.
A: I despise all those corny choreographed celebratory antics, no matter the team. What’s wrong with some high fives and slaps on the back? Act as if your team has hit a home run before. I know it’s all in fun, but it seems to be the type of fun one sees at a five-year-old’s birthday party.
Q: If you owned the team, what would you do about the Jeimer Candelario situation? — JAMES, Campbellsville, KY.
A: Hindsight is perfect, but if I sat in the owner’s leather swivel chair I would have turned my back on Nick Krall when he said he wanted to sign Candelario to a four-year $60 million contract. His previous numbers didn’t warrant that kind of cash. At the time of your question, he was hitting .113 with two homers and 10 RBI, with 29 strirkeouts in 80 at bats. Is that worth the $16 million he is making this year? Fans want him gone, even released. If I did that, I’d have to pay him close to the $40 million still owed over the next 2½ seasons. I couldn’t eat that contract even if it was covered with Mama DiSalvo’s marinara sauce.
Q: Homer Bailey was in the minors for one year while Hunter Greene spent four years so what prediction do you have for Chase Burns? — RICHARD, Troy.
A: I tossed my crystal ball into the recycling bin concerning the Reds a long time ago. And I drank my tea leaves. Bailey signed out of high school and actually spent four years in the minors from 2004 to 2007 and made all the stops (Gulf Coast Reds, Low-A Dayton, High-A Sarasota, AA Chattanooga and AAA Louisville). Greene, too, signed out of high school and made all the stops in 4½ seasons (Pioneer Rookie Billings, Low A Dayton, AA Chattanooga and AAA Louisville). Chase Burns pitched in college three years, two at Tennesse and one at Wake Forest. That’s like pitching in High A and AA, so he is on a faster track to Cincinnati. I’d say, without a crystal ball, tea leaves or tarot cards, just reading my own palm, that he is at least two seasons away.
Q: Pete Crow-Armstrong is wowing Cubs fans with his speed, so who is the fastest player you ever saw or covered? — GEORGE, Morton Grove, Ill.
A: I would love to see a Crow-Armstrong/Elly De La Cruz match race and I’d bet my Kentucky Derby winnings (if I had any) on De La Cruz. And he isn’t the fastest player I covered. Former Reds outfielder Dave Collins still holds the South Dakota state high school 100-yard dash record. And it will never be broken because they now run 100 meters. But the fastest easily was Neon Deion Sanders. Watching him run first-to-third or second-to-home or stretching a double into a triple was like watching Secretariat down the stretch in the Belmont Stakes.
Q: I played in a game when a batted ball hit the outside part of first base on the foul side and the umpire called it a foul ball, right or wrong? — GIG, Mesa, AZ.
A: Wrong, dead wrong. All of first base and all of third base is in fair territory. If a batted ball hits any part of the bag, it is a fair ball. Obviously, the umpire didn’t make a fair call, he made a very fouled-up call. It is the same as if a batted ball hits the foul pole. It’s a fair ball and it’s a home run. So why do they call it a foul pole when it is in fair territory? It should be called a fair pole.
Q: After seeing an umpire get hit in the face with a line drive and seeing line drives whiz by a pitcher’s head, how long before we see pitchers wearing protective gear? — WALT, Beavercreek.
A: The home plate umpire is padded up like a knight in shining armor, although nobody ever called an umpire a knight. And I’ve often wondered why base umpires don’t at least wear helmets. A few seasons ago some pitchers were wearing caps with extra padding, but they were not very stylish and players want to look stylish, so they’ve disappeared. They way batters put velocity on their line drives these days, if I pitched I’d want one of those batting practice screens in front of the mound.
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