Reds Remind Cox of the 90's Braves

In the late 80's the Atlanta Braves finished dead last in the National League Western Division.  They lost 106 games in 1988 under Russ Nixon.

Bobby Cox took over in 1991 and the Braves went from worst to first.  They had a productive farm system and three pitchers that struggled in the 80's that began to produce.  Tom Glavine was 10-12 in 1990, Steve Avery was 21 years old, John Smoltz was 24-years old and had a winning record, 14-13 for the first time.
They had a couple of young outfielders, David Justice 25 and Ron Gant 26.  They also had Ryan Klesko, Chipper Jones and Andruw Jones coming through the farm system.

Does that sound familiar?

It does to Cox.

"This Reds team reminds me a lot of our team then, especially the pitching," Cox said.  "Then there's Votto and Bruce.  That Votto is something.  It's fun to watch him play.  He's a real pro."

The manager, who is retiring after this season, likes the Reds two young outfielders, Drew Stubbs and Jay Bruce..

"I like them both. They're young. They just have to get their feet on the ground that's all," Cox said.  "They have talent.  Stubbs how many homers does he have, 13?  He can runs like a deer. Cover the ground in the outfield."

Reds general manager Walt Jockety met with the media.  The Reds made no deals.

"I have confidence in this team," Jockety said.  "There were some deals that we were working on that fell apart.  The guys we wanted weren't traded so, maybe it wasn't that serious.  They wanted some of our young players.  We weren't going to do that.  Over the years, I've learned that you have to be patient,  so you don't make a deal that you'd be sorry for later.  One guy I learned from said, 'some of your best deals are the ones you don't make'"