It is no surprise that Johnny Cueto will begin the season as the Reds opening day starter. While I would argue all day long that he isn’t likely to be the Reds best starter in 2012 and feel very confident in that argument, he was a Red last season and Mat Latos wasn’t. However, that isn’t so much what I wanted to talk about from the article (or even the part where Dusty just rambles on and on about who should be the #1 for the Reds, somehow mentioning Arroyo which is mind boggling). Chris Valaika has come all the way back from offseason ACL surgery. As someone who has had multiple knee injuries, including two ACL injuries, the time that these professional athletes come back from these things is mind boggling. From the same article, it is noted that Juan Francisco is still nursing a calf injury that he originally had issues with last season. Seems like a long time to be nursing a calf injury, so if this is something nagging it may open up another spot on the roster in April if he finds himself on the DL to begin the year.
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Marc Hulet has his Reds Top 15 prospects up over at Fangraphs.com. Todd Frazier at #6, Tony Cingrani at #8, Ryan Wright at #11 and Yorman Rodriguez at #15 are the biggest variations from his list to mine. I like Ryan Wright, I just get the feeling that some people love him and I just can’t see it. There is a reason he was available in the 5th round and he doesn’t really have any above-average tools. He hasn’t been above rookie ball yet. I just want to see more production from him before ranking him this highly.
The website is down right now, but Nathaniel Stoltz has up an article over at Seedlings to Stars on Yorman Rodriguez and it has some good insights into possible comparisons to other players who had similar seasons to his 2011 year. Stoltz shows some successes, mixed results and some guys who wound up as busts. Go give the article a read, it is interesting.
Donald Lutz was on with Mo on 700 WLW last night. Go give it a listen.
Doug Tift has up “10 things you didn’t know about Devin Mesoraco” over at the Enquirer’s website. That of course is inaccurate, as I knew most of the 10 things.
The Enquirer also has up a photo gallery from the second day of spring training. Early on the the spring, before games get underway, I just love looking at all of the photo’s. I am a baseball nerd. I can accept that. [/private_subscriber]