The 2007 baseball season saw the Cincinnati Reds post a 72-90 record which landed them a fifth place finish in the National League Central Division. To many fans, this was very disappointing because the 2006 season saw the Reds finish just two games behind the World Series Champion St. Louis Cardinals.
It’s safe to say the 2008 Cincinnati Reds have received an “extreme makeover” and one can’t help but wonder if these changes will be enough to propel the Reds into the post season for the first time since 1995.
Arguably the biggest and best change the Reds made during the off-season was the hiring of new manager Dusty Baker. Dusty Baker brings a winning attitude along with his impressive resume to Cincinnati. Baker is a three time National League Manager of the Year. Baker has led four of his teams to the playoffs and has won 90 games in a season five times. The teams that he has managed have finished either first or second place nine times. A big name manager is something the Reds have lacked for many years. The last big name manager the Reds had that comes to my mind is Lou Piniella…and what did he do…manage the Reds to a World Series title in 1990.
Pitching has been a major issue for this franchise over recent years. A team needs to have good pitching if they want to make the playoffs. Knowing that their pitching has been their weak point, the Reds bolstered both their starting pitching and bullpen in the off-season…enter Francisco Cordero.
The Reds acquired closing pitcher Francisco Cordero from free agency when the division rival Milwaukee Brewers chose not to re-sign him. Cordero will be the ninth inning man for the Reds and this will take the monkey off the back of veteran David Weathers. This will allow the Reds to move David Weathers back to his setup role in either the seventh or eighth inning. Also the young and hard throwing right hander Jared Burton will receive a lot of opportunities in either the seventh or eight innings as well. Acquiring Cordero SHOULD give the Reds a solid back end of the bullpen which should drastically reduce the amount of blown leads the Reds tallied throughout the 2007 season.
The Reds also acquired relief pitcher Jeremy Affeldt from the Colorado Rockies. Affeldt will also provide stability to a “shaky” bullpen. Affeldt had a good season in relief last year with the Rockies, and hopefully he brings that performance to Cincinnati. As far as starting pitching goes, the Reds will look to Aaron Harang to be their ace and to put up the numbers he has in the past two seasons. Bronson Arroyo will be the number two starter while the final three spots in the rotation belong to Johnny Cueto, Josh Fogg, and Edinson Volquez. It will be interesting to watch the young and hard throwing pitchers in Cueto and Volquez mature throughout the season. Throughout his first two major league starts Cueto is 1-0 with a 2.03 era and 18 strikeouts. He has received a lot of hype from everybody around the league. Volquez also had a great first start as a member of the Cincinnati Reds.
As I write this article the Reds are 6-4 in the 2008 season. They have the weapons on offense to score runs. However, the fans will have to see if the new manager and new pieces to the “pitching puzzle” will be enough to push the Reds into the playoffs. The National League Central Division is arguably the weakest division in all of Major League Baseball, and if the Reds can get quality pitching performances, they have the talent and capability to compete with the Chicago Cubs and Milwaukee Brewers for the National League Central title.
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