CINCINNATI — There’s no sport quite like baseball where snapshots can be so misleading or deceptive when trying to gauge success.
Part of that is because of the obvious: it’s a 162-game season. Part of it is because it’s a game of constant adjustments.
And no two everyday players reflect that more than Jeimer Candelario and Christian Encarnacion-Strand.
Both have struggled in their first 11 games. Entering Wednesday, CES was 8-for-49 (.163). He’s slashing .163/.160/.265 with one homer and five RBIs. Of course that one homer won a game on March 31 and represented his first hit of the season in 13 at-bats.
Candelario is also batting .163 (7-for-43) with one homer and four doubles. The difference being that Candelario was signed to a three-year, $45 million deal in the offseason to solidify and deepen the Reds lineup. He also has a track record dating back to the 2016 World Series champion Cubs, his first season in the Majors.
He has shown power in his career, totaling 89 home runs, including a career-high 22 coming last season split between Washington and a second stint with the Cubs. The Reds have 45 million reasons to believe that power isn’t going to disappear suddenly at the age of 30. And when the Reds get TJ Friedl back, the Cincinnati lineup will only get deeper.
One huge job of the manager is to play the long game with his best players. And as projected everyday players, Encarnacion-Strand and Candelario both fall into that category.
“I think every hitter goes through stretches,” Bell said. “I think it’s magnified at the beginning of the year. I think if we’re talking a month from now, I wouldn’t even notice it. So I’m not going to make a bigger deal out of anything through the first 10 games, especially a guy (like Candelario) with a long track record. He’s working at it. He’s done it before. He’s professional hitter.
“He’s here for a reason. That doesn’t mean you don’t have to continue to make adjustments because you do. But that’s that’s what he’s looking to do. Keep it in perspective, make adjustments and continue to try to have good at bats contribute to wins and not try to make up for a few games all on one swing.”
Often a manager won’t bench a player but rather move him up or down in the order to give the player a different feel or have him focus on a part of his game that could get him going. The manager has to balance that will not disrupting a routine that is critical to just about every player.
“I don’t think there’s an exact way to do that,” Bell told me. “I think it takes a lot of feel. There’s a lot of factors that go into it. You definitely don’t want to move things around all the time because, while in some ways I feel like as a player, it doesn’t really matter where you hit, it also does matter.
“I think it can be disruptive if you if you change things around on every hot streak or cold streak or whatever. It’s kind of not what you need to do in baseball. It’s a game of consistency. It’s a game of a long season. And the other part is every part of our lineup is important. We have a deep lineup.”
As a veteran manager, Bell was quick to use a positive example to reinforce his attitude, pointing to the quick start of Spencer Steer, batting .400 with three homers and 15 RBIs over the first 11 games.
“You look at what Spencer’s done,” Bell said. “He’s hit second a lot. Because we faced a lot of left hand result. He’s also hit seventh against the right-handed pitching. I’m not saying that’s where he needs to be long term or anything like that. But I think it speaks to our lineup. Elly has been getting on base and so I think over time, if an adjustment needs to be made, I’ll make it.”
When Elly De La Cruz proclaimed after Monday’s win that “we put a lot of work in and we’re ready to (make a run) to the World Series,” a few eyebrows were raised.
But to Bell, that’s what he wants to hear.
“I didn’t know he said that but I respect what all of our players say,” Bell said. “I don’t have to watch real close because I know our guys so well and they’re all different, which is great, different personalities. I wouldn’t think he said it in a way that he’s thinking past all of the work that has to be done or how we have to play really well to get there. But I think that level of confidence is a big part of who Elly is and I think being optimistic and thinking positive and have that goal and dreaming. That is our goal. So, I think he just said it and it’s perfectly fine with me.”
Ian Gibaut continues to make strides in his mission to return to the Reds bullpen. The right-hander threw 27 pitches Wednesday for Triple-A Louisville, retiring two of six batters faced in the seventh inning of the Bats’ 3-2 win over Columbus. He allowed three hits and two runs, striking out one and hit a batter. “He said he felt great,” Bell said Wednesday. Lefties Brandon Williamson (a starter) and Alex Young have not yet advanced to throwing off a mound, instead building arm strength in long toss sessions.
