Bengals/NFL Draft
ESPN: Rams envision Pead as Jackson's successor
From Mel Kiper on Twitter: @MelKiperESPN
Best value picks 3rd rd. - OFF - Allen, Indy, Hilton, Indy, DEF - Johnson, St. L, Robinson, MN, Davis. Jets, Bentley, Det, Thompson, Cincy
Best value 4th rd -OFF-Miller, Miami, Jones, Houst, Cousins, Wash, Massie, AZ, Charles, Cincy,DEF -Ta'Amu, Pitts, Boykin, Phila Crick,Houst
Best value 5th rd - OFF - Gettis, Wash, Sanders, Buff, - DEF - Norman, Carol, Manning, GB, Massaquoi, Atl, Iloka, Cincy,
Best value 6th rd - OFF - Herron, Cincy, McNutt, Phila, Streeter, Balt, Washington, Phila, DEF - Martin, TN, Acho, Cleve, Winn, Cleve
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Reds
April: 11-11, 3 games back for St Louis
Leaders
Batting: .296 Bruce (minimum 50 AB)
HR: Bruce 7
RBI: Bruce 17
BB: Votto 23
K: Stubbs 24, Votto 23
Offense
87 runs (10th NL)
.240 BA (10th NL)
Pitching
3.53 ERA (T-8 NL)
0.00 ERA Chapman 12.1 IN
0.00 ERA Ondrusek 11.0 IN
Results in April
8-4 vs Cubs, Astros, Marlins, Giants (Combined record: 36-51)
3-7 vs Cards, Nationals (Combined record 28-16)
Chapman+Ondrusek+Cueto:
6-0 0.81 ERA, 55.2 IN, 38 H, 53 K, 5 ER
Bruce Almighty
Jay Bruce in April: .297 BA, 7 HR, 17 RBI, .954 OPS
He has homered in four consecutive games.
On pace for: 52 HR, 125 RBI, 37 doubles, 103 runs, 22 SB
Looking back at 2011 for Bruce:
2011 totals: .256, 32 HR, 97 RBI
May: .342, 12 HR, 33 RBI in 27 starts
Rest year: .236, 20 HR, 64 RBI in 124 starts
38% HR came in May
34% RBI came in May
Roller coaster
Career splits: BA/OPS by month for Bruce (Entering season)
April: .251/.784
May: .292/.953
June: .235/.692
July: .227/.632
August: .260/.860
Sept: .277/.928
Zack attack
Zach Cozart has 7 doubles, 2 triples and 1 home run through 22 games.
That puts him on pace for:
74 extra base hits: 52 doubles, 15 triples, 7 HR.
2011 production from Reds SS (minus Cozart):
33 extra base hits: 27 doubles, 1 triple, 5 HR
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Show preview
6:05, Sports Talk
Guest
Dave Lapham, 7:05
Topics
Bengals: What do you think of their draft?
Reds
Meijer Game of the Week: Wins tickets to Reds
Register HERE
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Bengals
Grading the draft
I love this day. It's the Monday after the NFL draft. What do we do?
We grade the draft. Why?
1. Seems like the natural thing to do
2. Because it bothers so many media types who say, "you can't grade a draft for at least 3-4 years"
Uh, sorry.....who died and left the media in charge?
The media and draft "experts" spend weeks and months ranking, analyzing and preparing mock drafts. Then when the draft is over they believe it is silly for fans to grade what teams have done? Ligthen up Francis.
Now it is time for fans to have their fun. There is no scienece involved here.
It's fun. Simple as that.
Observations
I really like what the Bengals did. How could you not? Clearly the Bengals grabbed the attention of media and draft experts around the country with their draft. The consensus of draft grades has been an "A". The Bengals added upgrades, weapons, depth, versatility and competition. Not only did they not reach for picks they got good value, if not "steals", later in the draft.
Find me a year the Bengals got such overwhelming praise for what they did in the draft. The punch lines of years past are fading after their work in the last four drafts.
I went into the draft wanting a CB and a G in the first round. Mission accomplished.
I'll defer to Lap on Zeitler over DeCastro. They certainly restocked the defensive line with Devon Still (PSU) and Brandon Thompson (Clemson). Still was the Big 10 Defensive Player of the Year. Add those picks to Jamaal Anderson and Derrick Harvey and the void of Fanene and Rucker is filled. The Bengals needed a #2 WR. I wanted Mohamed Sanu (Rutgers) and they got him. I like the fact he's big and physical.
They added another WR in Marvin Jones (Cal) who is intriguing. The drafting of Georgia TE Orson Charles seemed out of the blue but the Bengals stuck to their board. He seems like he can catch and block. He's just another weapon for Jay Gruden and Andy Dalton to use. They added more secondary competition with George Iloka (S-Boise State) and Shaun Prater (CB-Iowa). They finished with Dan Herron (RB-Ohio State).
I love these terms I've heard and read attached to various picks by the Bengals:
Tough, competitive, mature, smart, good character, feisty, vocal leader, loves football
experienced, team captain.
Based on various pre-draft rankings they got guys later in the draft that had earlier round grades. I like guys that come here with a chip on their shoulder and something to prove. I'll gladly hand them over to Marvin Lewis, Mike Zimmer and Jay Gruden.
I'm fine rolling dice with Arizona St LB Vontaze Burfict as an undrafted free agent.
The guy is a fascinating story of good, bad, tragic and unbelievable. Will he work out? No idea. But what is the down side? It is a classic low risk/high reward pickup.
All 10 picks likely won't work out or even make the team. But training camp is going to be one heck of a competition. Perhaps the only thing keeping me from really loving what the Bengals did was not getting a home run threat at running back.
I would have loved to have addressed RB by grabbing Isaiah Pead.
Grade: A
Ranking NFL team's 2012 draft
USA Today
1. Pittsburgh Steelers: What a job by GM Kevin Colbert and his staff, who seemed to get impact players in the first five rounds. After years of relying on a patchwork offensive line, G David DeCastro (Round 1) and T Mike Adams (Round 2) join C Maurkice Pouncey and LT Marcus Gilbert on what may be an elite group this season. LB Sean Spence (Round 3) and 348-pound NT Alameda Ta'amu (Round 4) look like starters no later than 2013. And RB Chris Rainey (Round 5) is a home-run threat the team didn't have in its backfield or return game.
3. Cincinnati Bengals: They're not known for their draft prowess, but Mike Brown might have secured at least a half-dozen starters beginning with CB Dre Kirkpatrick and G Kevin Zeitler in Round 1. They added multiple wideouts (Mohamed Sanu, Marvin Jones) to supplement A.J. Green and a pair of defensive tackles (Devon Still Brandon Thompson) who may eventually anchor the line. They even signed free agent LB Vontaze Burfict, a boom-or-bust prospect who essentially arrives with no risk
assumed.
The Bengals have signed Notre Dame undrafted free agent guard Trevor Robinson.
I got decent reports on him from friends at Notre Dame:
"He was a better player his first 2 years when he was in Weis' pro style offense.
As soon as Brian Kelly arrived he struggled in the spread. He just wasn't the same player."
"The only problem is when you are a back up in the NFL you need to be versatile and he is a guard only."
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Down on the Farm
Billy The Kid
Billy Hamilton was 3 for 4 with stolen base number 29 Sunday night.
He's now hitting .398 with 29 stolen bases in 23 games.
His OPS of 1.072 leads the league: 6 doubles, 4 triples, 1 HR
Splits:
.481 vs RHP/.278 vs LHP (He's a switch hitter)
.500 on road/.263 home
88 at-bats for season: 14 walks, 18 strikeouts
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Reds/NL Central
Wrigley South
I got this advertisement from a friend coming into town from Chicago for the Reds-Cubs series.
Moerlein Lager House (located at The Banks) is inviting Cubs fans to a before/after party for each game of the three game series.
Listener Jeff sent me this: The guys at OMGreds are not pleased.
UPDATE: This explanation from the Moerlein Lager House Facebook page today...
"We admit the upcoming promotion for the next Reds series was unfortunately misguided with respect to message, and we are truly sorry and apologize if we've offended any fans.
Our intention was to help cheer on our Reds and give visiting Cubs fans a taste of what makes Cincinnati so special, showcasing our great new riverfront and our city and to bring positive exposure to it. It was not intended to root for the away team, and we apologize if it was taken that way. We are Reds fans through and through. We are going to call this promotional event what it was truly intended to be "a rally for our Reds."
Cards reach end of April in first, knowing it could have been even better
StlSportsPage
Just consider that the Cardinals built their record and division lead despite:
Matheny having more ejections (one) than the team had wins from Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright combined (zero);
Projected cleanup hitter Lance Berkman having played only seven games, hitting no home runs and driving in only two runs;
Third-place hitter Matt Holliday posting a .215 batting average for the month and having less RBI than Matt Carpenter (14-13);
Allen Craig, one of the stars of the World Series, being on the disabled list all month while recovering from knee surgery.
Taking all of those factors into account should give Matheny plenty of reason to smile.
