After the 1987 season ended, the Cincinnati Reds had a decision to make.
They’d just finished a decent if unspectacular year, their third consecutive second-place finish in the National League West. It appeared they had a solid thing going, but in truth they’d gotten a little bit worse each year, dropping from 89 to 86 to 84 wins. They hadn’t finished closer than 5.5 games from the division leaders.
The offense was pretty good. It should come as no surprise that a team managed by Pete Rose could hit, and they finished 6th in the league in runs in 1985, then moved up to 3rd in both 1986 and 1987. Their lineup had a solid core that included Eric Davis, Paul O’Neill, Nick Esasky, Buddy Bell, and Kal Daniels, and Chris Sabo at Triple A appeared to be ready to contribute in 1988.
The problem was their pitching. In 1985 they’d had a 20-game winner in Tom Browning and a couple of good relievers in John Franco and Ted Power, but overall they were 9th in ERA and 10th in homers allowed. They stayed almost exactly the same in both ‘86 and ‘87, had no exciting starting pitching prospects in the minors, and weren’t showing many signs of improvement. They needed to make a move, and they made no bones about it.
“If we don’t get a pitcher, we are not going to get the job done,” said Rose right after the season ended. “And not just a pitcher, but a pitcher that’s going to go out there and win you 15 to 20 games.”
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