| 27 February 2011
* Early reports positive on Arredondo: Right-handed reliever Jose Arredondo is looking good already for Cincinnati. More than a year removed from Tommy John surgery, his fastball is topping out at 96 MPH and he is consistently in the 93-95 range. He also has a forkball, slider and change.
Arredondo had an outstanding rookie year with the Los Angeles Angels in 2008. Reds manager Dusty Baker was quoted as saying “I’m surprised the Angels didn’t wait on him. But we’re thrilled to have him.”
Presuming Arredondo makes the club, that really only leaves one spot available in the Reds’ bullpen. The team will likely carry seven relievers and five players entered spring as virtual locks: closer Francisco Cordero, lefty flamethrower Aroldis Chapman, right-handed set-up man Nick Masset, lefty Bill Bray and righty Logan Ondrusek.
If Arredondo is the sixth member of the pen, that will leave a host of players such as Jared Burton, Carlos Fisher, Danny Herrera, Dontrelle Willis and Jordan Smith fighting for the final spot. I’m kind of rooting for Willis to make it, because if he could come close to his old form, he would be one interesting guy to have coming out of the pen. And he could be a spot/emergency starter, although I don’t think the Reds will need it this year considering their vast depth in the starting pitcher department.
* Can Yonder play left?: 2009 first-round draft pick Yonder Alonso was considered a first baseman all the way when the Reds selected him out of the University of Miami. However, with that position blocked for at least the next three years (and hopefully longer) by Joey Votto, Alonso is getting some work in left field this spring.
He did start 30 games in LF at AA and AAA combined last season, so the Reds’ “other” Cuban import is not exactly starting from scratch. But they have really amped-up his preparation to be a 1B/LF as opposed to just a 1B. Billy Hatcher is working with him and spending extra time with him this spring.
* LF platoon: Speaking of left field, presuming Alonso starts the season at triple-A like many expect, I really like the idea of Jonny Gomes and Fred Lewis platooning in LF for the Reds. (And Chris Heisey will be in the mix as well.) Lewis will probably get the majority of starts against righties and can bat leadoff when he does. And Gomes will get a bunch of starts against lefties and will add some pop to the lineup when he’s in there.
* Cardinals clipped?: Adam Wainwright’s elbow injury that will require Tommy John surgery kills the Cardinals’ chances of competing for the NL Central title. Well, I wouldn’t rule them completely out if I had to bet my life on it, but this really leaves them depleted to say the least. They were already a team of a few stars and several average MLB players, and this just exacerbates the problem.
St. Louis’ strength was that it had two excellent hitters in Albert Pujols and Matt Holliday, and more-importantly two top-of-the-line starting pitchers in Wainwright and Chris Carpenter. The latter has a history of arm problems and is getting up there in age (35), so he is always an injury risk as well. The Cards do have Jaime Garcia who was excellent as a rookie last year, but he wasn’t a top prospect heading into 2010 and many are skeptical that he might be a one-year wonder to some extent. He will now be elevated to the No. 2 starter's role and Jake Westbrook moves up to No. 3. Kyle Lohse will be the No. 4 starter (Cardinal fans just threw up a little bit) and the very-solid Kyle McClellan will likely move from the bullpen to fill out the rotation. But that will obviously hurt St. Louis' bullpen, which is solid, but nothing specacular.
The bottom line when studying all the rosters in the NL Central is that it now looks like a two-team race between the Brewers and Reds, although the games haven't even begun yet and it's going to be a long time before we have a good feel of how the divisional race will really shape up.
* Reds win spring opener: Home runs by outfielder Dave Sappelt (one of the early success stories of spring) and second baseman Chris Valaika – as well as strong pitching from Matt Maloney and Sam LeCure – highlighted the Reds’ 7-6 win over the Cleveland Indians on Sunday in Goodyear, Ariz., at the spring training facility shared by the two Ohio teams. Also, veteran catcher Corky Miller had a two-run double which gave the Reds the lead in the ninth inning.
Maloney started the game and pitched two innings, with two strikeouts and no runs allowed.
LeCure came in and did even better with two innings of four-strikeout, no-run ball.
Edinson Volquez was scheduled to be the starter, but visa problems kept him from taking the mound. It’s beyond amusing that his visa issues didn’t prevent him from getting in the country, just from pitching a baseball game in spring training.
The Reds and Indians get back at it on Monday with Bronson Arroyo getting the start for Cincinnati.
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