Excellent. I think there was four or five of us a couple of years ago and I can pick up some more RL fans who follow baseball on Facebook to fill us out.
As for Choo. Don't know how he is defensively as I usually only get to see Reds games and postseason action. I know we definitely need his bat for leading off. I don't know how well up any of you are on the Reds but we have had a succession of players try to lead off with zero success. Billy Hamilton (he of the minor league stolen bases record) it is hoped will come up next year so we needed a stop gap (also Hamilton needs to work on his OBP).
Last season we tried seven different guys at lead off producing a ..208/.254/.327 split which ranked dead last in the majors. Those batting splits are actually lower than the Nationals average hitting from ninth i.e. pitcher, which gives you an idea of how bad it's been. They combined for 83 runs from that spot which is second lowest in the majors. The position has been a problem for several years and yet in two of the past three we've won the division.
I know what will happen this year. We'll get run production but our pitching staff won't hold out. They went injury free until the eighth pitch of the postseason lol. I can't see them repeating that although the rotation does look good even without Chapman. Don't know if he'll make it as a starter but if he does that's one hell of a starting five.
Choo is key though on offense as is Votto's return from injury. He can still hit but after that knee injury he didn't hit a home run and if we lose his 30hr/100rbi that's a lot especially as he just signed a ten year deal.
In case you didn't know, the Reds are kind of notorious among their fans for being slightly pessimistic because of numerous false dawns. Very passionate fans but bear more than a passing resemblance to the average depressed RL fan. I remember when we signed Ken Griffey Jr for his homecoming that was mega, except a guy who dinged at least 40 homers in six of the seven years before he joined (the year he didn't he only played 70 odd games), managed just one season of that in nine years (his first when he hit .271, his lowest ever season average up to that point). Then came the injuries a year into this nine year mega contract which effectively crippled the club for that decade.
