Cincinnati Reds by Marc Normandin

As long as Homer Bailey comes back and Anthony DeSclafani keeps getting better, the pitching should be a little easier to stomach this year. Now let me take a big sip of coffee from this “As long as Homer Bailey comes back and Anthony DeSclafani keeps getting better” mug and check what’s going on with the Reds this spring.

I want you to appreciate that I’m writing this blurb on the fifth-place Reds in front of a Nintendo Switch, which has Zelda: Breath of the Wild loaded on it. It’s just sitting there, staring at me, begging me to play it. Instead, sure, let’s talk about the Reds.

Anyway, the Reds aren’t very good. They have Joey Votto, who is a titan, and Billy Hamilton, who is incredibly fun, so it’s not as if Reds fans should want to skip the season entirely, but the pitching staff allowed 258 home runs last year, and I’m not sure if they got any better.

Two-hundred-and-fifty-eight home runs. In one season.

Unlike the Brewers, if you have reasons to think the Reds will be good again one day, they aren’t close to the majors or already in the lineup. The roster is filled with placeholders and seat-warmers, and there isn’t that Yoan Moncada or Dansby Swanson kind of youngster yet to keep the soul warm even as the losses pile up. Success for the Reds will be defined by the progress their youngsters make in the minors, as well as their ability to throw more youngsters on the pile in July.