2008 Cincinnati Reds preview

Thanks to their team being one of Major League Baseball's most storied franchises, the fans of the Cincinnati Reds are tired of their team's slump, and who can blame them. Since their "hometown hero" Ken Griffey, Jr., came to Cincinnati in 2000, the expectations had been high most years while the on-field results were consistently low. As the managers and GM's have come and gone in the years since Griffey's homecoming, the Reds now seek consistency.

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The 2007-2008 offseason saw Cincinnati GM Wayne Krivsky and the Reds make several moves. While most of the Reds' deals do not have the sex appeal of a trade for Johan Santana or a resigning of AROD does, the Reds do appear to be deeper and more talented coming into the 2008 season. The most notable of those moves comes at manager as Cincinnati brought in former Giants and Cubs manager Dusty Baker to lead the team. Baker brings over 1,100 career managerial victories to Cincinnati; a nice change from the Reds history of choosing unproven major league managers. Baker's reputation as an easy-going manager is already having a positive impact on the Reds in Spring Training.

2008 Reds Starting Pitchers

The 2008 Cincinnati Reds enter Spring Training with one of the deepest starting rotations I can remember in the past 25 years of Cincinnati baseball. Aaron Harang (16-6, 3.73 ERA, 213 K) is the #1 starter after a phenomenal 2007 season. Bronson Arroyo (9-15, 4.23 ERA, 156 K) was a classic hard-luck pitcher in 2007 and looks to regain his 2006 form as the Reds' #2 starter. The #3-5 starting spots are up for grabs as Matt Belisle (8-9, 5.32 ERA, 125K) made 30 starts for Cinci in 2007, Josh Fogg (10-9, 4.94 ERA in 29 starts for Colorado) and Jeremy Affeldt (4-3, 3.51 ERA in 75 games out of Colorado's bullpen) seem to be the front-runners. Also in the mix are highly-hyped Cincinnati prospect Homer Bailey and youngsters Edinson Volquez, Johnny Cueto and Matt Maloney. Given the impact of injuries on starting pitching in Major League Baseball each year, the Reds seem to have the depth needed to weather the storm of injuries, but without a healthy Harang this team cannot compete for a playoff spot.

2008 Reds Bullpen

Cincinnati's bullpen has been horrendous the past few years and GM Wayne Krivsky has tried hard to stop the bleeding without much success. The biggest free agent signing of Cincinnati's offseason was closer Francisco Cordero (44 saves, 2.98) who leaves division rival Milwaukee. David Weathers (2-6, 33 saves, 3.59 ERA), easily the Reds' best man in the bullpen in 2007 and should be the set-up man for Cordero leaving the back-end of the Cincinnati bullpen much stronger than in 2007.

Gary Majewski and Bill Bray are two names that Reds fans will remember from the trade with Washington in 2006. Both relievers have struggled with injuries in the past two seasons, and both look to play a large part in a rejuvenated Reds' bullpen. The left-handed throwing Bray is especially important to the Reds for lefty-lefty matchups, but Cinci already had John Coutlangus, Mike Stanton, Kent Mercker and Scott Sauerbeck to compete with Bray.

2008 Reds Infield

Brandon Phillips anchors the Cincinnati infield at 2B and will hit in the middle of the order. After getting the former highly-regarded prospect from the Indians for a bag of chips in early 2006 and he responded with 17 HR, 75 RBI and 25 SB in 2006 before a phenomenal 30 HR, 94 RBI and 32 SB in 2007. Alex Gonzalez will be the Reds' #1 shortstop, but a lingering knee injury leaves some question to his health. Gonzalez is a very good defensive SS and had solid offensive year in 2007 with 16 HR, 55 RBI and a .272 batting average. Scott Hatteberg is coming off a solid 2007 where he hit .310 with 10 HR and 47 RBI, but the veteran first baseman will face competition from rookie Joey Votto. Votto was solid at 1B after a September call-up and hit 22 HR with 92 RBI at Triple-A Louisville last season. After a solid 2006 season, 3B Edwin Encarnacion improved almost every major offensive statistic in 2007 while drastically improving his defensive numbers. After a .916 fielding percentage in 2006 with 25 errors in just 111 games, Encarnacion improved to a .953 fielding percentage with 16 errors in 137 games.

The Reds coaching staff loves having Jeff Keppinger as a key utility man on this team after Keppinger started 67 games at 5 different positions in 2007, including 43 games at SS. Should Gonzalez have any serious issues with his knee, Keppinger can fill in nicely. His role as a utility man is valuable, but his bat may be even better after hitting .332 in 2007. Ryan Freel is also a valuable utility player who will likely see most of his time in the OF, but can also play 2B and 3B adequately.

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2008 Reds Outfield

The Reds picked up Adam Dunn's option at $13 million for 2008 ensuring that Cincinnati will keep their two left-handed corner outfielders in town. Together with Ken Griffey, Jr., the combo hit 70 HR in 2007, 67 HR in 2006 and 75 HR in 2005. The 3rd OF spot, now CF, seems to be the biggest area for turnaround as Cincinnati has struggled to find a consistent 3rd outfielder for years. IF/OF Ryan Freel reminds some of Cincinnati hero Pete Rose for his tremendous hustle, but this same aggressive style has resulted in trouble avoiding injury and 2007 proved to be Freel's worst full season at the major league level. Norris Hopper hit .329 for the Reds in 107 games last year and proved to be a solid CF and leadoff option. There has also been talk of Jay Bruce starting in CF on opening day in Cincinnati. Recently rated as the #1 prospect in baseball by MLB.com, Bruce hit .319 with 26 HR and 89 RBI at three different levels of the Cincinnati farm system in 2007.

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2008 Cincinnati Reds Outlook

Milwaukee is improving and getting more headlines than ever and ESPN is referring to the Cubs as one of the favorites in the National League. Houston added Miguel Tejada and a lot of baggage that they did not expect while the Cardinals seem to be down in 2008, and the Pirates are, well, the Pirates. If the NL Central plays out to be a close race and Cincinnati is in it nearing the trade deadline, look for Krivsky to pull the trigger on a deal to make this team better. Krivsky is not afraid to make a deal to add depth and improve the team and the Reds' owners do not seem to be worried about spending money.

As much as I want to pick the Reds to surprise the world and win 90+ games, I just can't do it. If the NL Central proves to be mediocre yet again Cincinnati could approach the upper 80's, but I still see this team being middle-of-the-pack in the NL Central in 2008, but with strong potential to start contending as soon as this year.

2008 Reds - 86-76, 3rd in NL Central

By Michael Shull
ProBaseball-fans.com Guest Writer

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