Brower, Cabrera, Hairston cut; roster set

The Reds re-assigned RHP Jim Brower, IF/OF Jolbert Cabrera and IF/OF Jerry Hairston Jr. to the minor league camp.

That puts the Reds at 28 healthy players. Matt Belisle will start the year on rehab. Mike Stanton is going to be designated, so you've got 26.

It looks like catcher David Ross (back) will begin the year on the DL.

"We wanted to test to see where he's at," Wayne Krivsky said. "He missed 75 percent of the game."

Norris Hopper missed a couple of days with a death in the family. He's back in Sarasota. He'll be on the 25-man roster.

"We've talked to everybody," Krivsky said. "It won't be official until Monday."

The Reds have to clear spots on the 40-man for Kent Mercker, Paul Bako, Johnny Cueto and Corey Patterson.

Source: John Fay

A New Era Is Here

While it may not make an ESPN headline or be front page news outside of the city, the roster move made yesterday by the Reds have shown that they are moving into a new era. When Bob Castellini was introduced as the new Cincinnati Reds in January 2006, he promised fans of the organization that he was committed to making this team a winner, no matter what it takes. While the signing of Francisco Cordero and 16-year-old outfielder Juan Duran, the move that shows a true change was the cutting of Mike Stanton on Friday. With the cut and forced contract buyout, the Reds were forced to eat $3.5 million. Never under previous ownership would a move like this have been made. Castellini basically said with this move that management is willing to do whatever it takes to get a winner on the field. It's no longer about saving money and sacrificing wins. The Reds now have management with the same desires as the players on the field, and the fans in the stands, to win the NL Central and eventually the World Series.

Roster Moves

The Reds optioned Bill Bray to Louisville,

Re-assigned Andy Phillips to the minor league camp,

Returned Jose Cappellan to the Red Sox,

And designated Mike Stanton for assignment.

Bailey optioned

The Reds optioned Homer Bailey to Triple-A Louisville. No great surprise. Rotation will be what we've been saying:

Aaron Harang
Bronson Arroyo
Johnny Cueto
Josh Fogg
Edinson Volquez

-John Fay

Seriously?

According to an MLBTradeRumors.com report, the Phillies are interested in trading Helms, for pitcher Mike Stanton. More to come.

Coffey Brewing....

Here is an article on Coffey that caught my eye. Great title and an even better first couple of lines describing the scene. Check it out...

Comparing Volquez and Bailey

So far this spring, Volquez has pitched 20 innings and Homer Bailey has pitched 19 innings.

The comparison:

ERA: Volquez 2.70, Bailey 5.21.
Strikeouts: Volquez 26, Bailey 11.
Walks: Volquez 4, Bailey 16.
Hits: Volquez 21, Bailey 24.

Source: Hal McCoy

Keep Dunn? Reds should

John Fay gives his take here. What's your opinion?

Can Reds afford to cut Stanton?

By Hal McCoy | Tuesday, March 25, 2008, 10:58 AM

Dusty Baker made both an interesting and telling comment Tuesday morning in the visitor’s clubhouse at Clearwater’s Bright House Field.

The question was the final determination of the bullpen, who goes and who stays. As candid as always, Baker said, “I know it is not my money, but I hope money isn’t a factor in the final choices. I know the team wants to stay in a budget, but. …”

But, indeed.

The reference obviously was to left-handed relief pitcher Mike Stanton, who wasn’t very good last year and has been mediocre, at best, this spring. But he has a $3 million guaranteed contract with a $500,000 buyout. If the Reds want him to go away (he already cleared waivers, nobody claimed him) and they can’t trade him, it will cost them $3.5 million to show the fans they REALLY want to win this year.

Baker’s bullpen of left-handers would be Jeremy Affeldt, Bill Bray and Kent Mercker. If ownership says, “Keep Stanton,” then Bray has options and might land in Louisville. Or they could jettison Mercker, a situational pitcher Baker likes.

In six appearances, Stanton has given up three runs, four hits, two walks and struck out one.

Affelt hasn’t been that good, either, but Baker stuck up for him.

“I’m a bit concerned about him after he gave it up Monday (two runs, two hits and a walk in one inning, ballooning his spring ERA to 12.51). But he’s a guy you have to consider as having a good track record. Maybe he is throwing too many strikes. He needs to throw quality strikes and keep it as simple as possible. He is a guy who analyzes things too much and he wears his problems all over his face. He cares big-time and you’d rather have that than a guy who doesn’t care.”

The roster remains too large, but there was one cut made Tuesday. Outfielder Jerry Gil was re-assigned to minor-league camp.

Gil most likely will end up at Class AAA Louisville with Jay Bruce and Chris Dickerson and Baker said, “They are going to have some ouftield in Louisville, man. Boy, that potential outfield they have. Whew. Wow. Some good arms, good speed. Probably one of the best around.”

I was tempted to say it, but bit my tongue when I wanted to say, “If you kept Bruce, you might have a much better outfield in Cincinnati.”

Call me Chicken Little.

Of Gil, Baker said, “He needs to play. He didn’t play at all last year (injury) and he is going to be a good player. He realizes he needs some at-bats and needs to play. In fact, he is going to be a very good player. He just needs to stay away from injuries because he has had some unfortunate things happen to him.”

Gil cut

From the Reds: The Reds have reassigned to minor league camp IF/OF Jerry Gil. The first casualty of a day where 11 more are expected to follow.

As I said the other day from my Spring Training observations, I thought Gil would be cut soon.

Couple of Things....

1. If anyone has experience with webpage design or creating applications for webpages, I would love some help getting this site to look at little bit better.

2. LEAVE YOUR COMMENTS! I want this to be an interactive site. And tell all of your Reds fan friends about the site!

Check This Out!

Hey guys,

Thought I would add a little something different today because I was really excited about it. I just got MLB '08 The Show for my Playstation 3. ESPN The Magazine said it was the most realistic baseball game out there. I hooked it up to my HDTV and it was UNBELIEVABLE! If you haven't had the chance to see this game in HD yet, go to like a Best Buy and see it (they have it set up to try out). The graphics on this game are so realistic it is scary.

The gameplay has not been sacrificed at all. I think it is all around the best game out there. They really made a lot of changes to the '07 version. My favorite part is working my way up through the farm system to make it to the big league squad. Of course I am a minor leaguer for the Reds. If you watch the video below you will get a better idea of why the career mode is so cool. You really feel as if you are that player. You are responsible for a lot more things (knowing signs, etc.) My other favorite thing has got to be the new fielding changes. A new feature has been added that allows for your outfielders to climb the wall and rob home runs. You've got to see it for yourself!

Anyway, I don't want to make a habit of using the site for this but I just thought some of you out there might be interested in this stuff. By the way, Sony simulated the season and Joey Votto was the Rookie of the Year!

Roster News

Ryan Hanigan has been optioned to AAA Louisville today.

Interesting Article

Take a look at this article about the Reds and Dusty. The part about Hamilton in the clubhouse is very interesting.

Reds in HD

BY JOHN KIESEWETTER | JKIESEWETTER@ENQUIRER.COM

Time Warner will add Reds games in beautiful HDTV clarity this season from Fox Sports Net Ohio on Cincinnati Channel 968 and Dayton Channel 768, after not carrying any the Reds' FSN Ohio HDTV games last year.

FSN Ohio will air 71 HDTV Reds baseball games - of 145 Reds telecasts - this season, starting with the Reds-Brewers April 8.

Insight cable offered high-def Reds games to Northern Kentucky customers last year (and again this year).

What changed at Time Warner?

"Contract negotiations. We were able to reach a deal with FSN Ohio," says Karen Baxter, Time Warner public affairs director.

Time Warner will launch the channels Tuesday, along with the National Geographic Channel HD (Channel 757). But FSN Ohio won't have any HDTV games until basketball's Cleveland Cavaliers play April 5.

"It just kills me that we couldn't do (Reds) Opening Day in high-definition. There just wasn't enough satellite HD transponder time for the (March 31) game," says Steve Liverani, FSN Ohio general manager.

New GABP Promotions and Food

All you can eat anyone? Check these out.

Update: The Bullpen and Gonzo

Francisco Cordero, David Weathers, Mike Stanton and Jeremy Affeldt are the locks to make the bullpen.

In the case of Stanton and Affeldt, their $3 million salaries have a lot to do with it. But that’s the way baseball works.

I still think Jared Burton makes it, despite a rough spring.

That’s five.

Here’s my depth chart for the remaining relievers in camp:
1. Todd Coffey
2. Bill Bray
3. Kent Mercker
4. Mike Lincoln
5. Jim Brower
6. Jose Capellan.

Brower and Capellan have no shot. It’s too close to call among the other four.

Lincoln’s an interesting guy. He’s throwing 94 after two “Tommy John” surgeries and three years off. But he had a bad outing Saturday (1 IP, 3 hits, 2 runs). Each outing is big for the bubble guys now.

Coffey, by the way, has given up one hit and struck out six in 6 2/3 innings this spring.

Source: John Fay


By the way, Alex Gonzalez has been cleared to begin baseball activities. He hit a bit in the cage yesterday but will probably still start the season on the DL.

First Hand Reaction

I was able to attend the Reds-Astros game in Kissimmee, FL yesterday and wanted to post my first hand opinion of how the team looked. For those of you that were wondering, The Rocket did not make an appearance and no, I did not see Tejada shooting up (though I did boo when he came up to the plate).

After watching my first live game of the spring, I have mixed reactions about what I saw. Bronson threw the ball well. His curve ball had a lot of action on it and he kept his pitch count low enough that he threw a little in the bullpen after he was done with his six innings on the mound. The 3 earned that he gave up was a little deceiving based on the defense played behind him and the quality of hits. Overall, I would say Bronson pitched as well as he normally does. He definitely has the stuff of a number 3 starter (that's right, I said 3).

Guy who was impressive: Ryan Hanigan looked awfully impressive in the cage during batting practice. I know he went 0-2 in the game but he definitely has a nice stroke. Bako was 0-3 and he looked like he needed a seeing-eye dog at the plate. Hanigan doesn't have to hit .330 to play for this club. With his stroke, he looks like he could be a .240+ hitter and that sadly would be an improvement to what he already have. (Griffey also looked like he was seeing the ball well)

Guys who were not impressive: Jerry Gil started for short for the Reds and in my opinion, took himself out of the race for the 25th man spot. Besides going 0-3 at the plate and looking completely outmatched, he also made two pitiful fielding errors. On one play, he tried to make a spectacular throw to Phillips at second and threw it into right field. Griffey had a better chance of catching it then Phillips. With Encarnacion having two errors as well, our left side of the infield looked like the Bad News Bears.

Mike Lincoln was another guy that took himself out of roster contention (if he was actually even in it). His line was 1 inning pitched, 2 earned. The guy really didn't have any dominating pitches. He would get batters to 0-2, 1-2 counts but didn't have a pitch that he could use to close the door. He really got hit hard the entire inning.

Eddie Encarnacion also had a rough day. Along with the two errors he made in the field, he struck out in all three plate appearances. Marty has been talking about on the radio about how bad EE looks at the plate this spring. If the .191 batting average wasn't proof, come watch him in person swing at some of these curves and changes. It was brutal.

Best play of the day: While Encarnacion had a day to forget for the most part, he did make one hell of a play in the field on a ball smashed along the third base line. EE dove and picked it on the line on the hop and threw from his knees to get the runner. Wow.

If anyone else goes to any of the remaining games this spring, send me your reactions so I can post them. Send them to LetsTalkReds@gmail.com