Mike Leake returned to Great American Ball Park to pitch against the Cincinnati Reds for the first time since he was traded last year before the non-waiver trade deadline.
To add insult to injury for the Reds, the 28-year-old Leake was trimmed in the red of his new team — NL Central rival St. Louis Cardinals, who signed Leake to a five-year deal worth $80 million this past off-season.
Leake effectively pitched for six seasons with the Reds. His career 3.87 ERA with the Reds in 1,028.1 innings wasn’t exactly at Johnny Cueto‘s level of 3.21 in eight seasons, but it is better than the 4.19 career ERA of Homer Bailey, who is in the middle of a six-year, $105-million deal that keeps him under club control through the 2019 season.
The Reds face the small-market disadvantage of losing much of their developed talent as star players move toward their free agent years. As a result, Reds’ fans get to watch former Reds Leake, Cueto, Aroldis Chapman and Todd Frazier play for other teams.
The Reds’ problems are compounded when the star players they do decide to pay either don’t perform due to injury like Bailey and Devin Mesoraco or don’t perform up to their guaranteed contracts like Joey Votto (hitting .221 in the midst of a 10-year, $225-million extension) and Jay Bruce, who batted just .217 and .226 in 2014 and 2015 despite making $24.5 million.
So Leake on the mound pitching for the Cardinals is just the latest reminder that the Reds have failed to field a winning team this year like the teams of their small-market window of success from Leake’s rookie year of 2010 through 2013.
Those successful years are revived by Leake’s presence on the mound, even if he is pitching for a division rival. That hope for future success by the Reds also comes through when a player acquired in the Leake trade — Adam Duvall — enters the game in the midst of an All-Star season and belts a three-run homer off Leake.
And that revived hope comes through a little bit more when one of the three left-handed pitchers acquired for Cueto — John Lamb — starts for the Reds against Leake and holds the Cardinals to one earned run in 7.1 innings pitched.
Robb Hoff writes about the Cincinnati Reds for OutsidePitch MLB. You can follow him on Twitter and Facebook.
The post Mike Leake is reminder of Cincinnati Reds’ failure and success appeared first on OutsidePitchMLB.