Not only did Jones get sent down, Pedro Viola and Josh Roenicke got sent down as well. That was nothing to surprising.

Let me first start off my saying that I’m sorry I haven’t been able to post an blogs for awhile. I went down to Florida for a week, caught two reds games, and have been busy busy ever since. Anyways…

Well Jacque, you’re not the only one who is lost. Every Reds fan is lost as to why in the world you haven’t been cut yet. As if a .141 BA and a below .250 OBP wasn’t bad enough last year, you are hitting a wopping .105 in Spring Training with a .171 OBP. HOW HAVENT YOU BEEN CUT YET?!? Not only havent you been cut yet, you have got the 4th most AB’s on the team! Go ahead and cut him Dusty so Gomes and Taveras can get more AB’s. What do you think the chances of Jacque making the opening day roster? With Dusty at the healm, i’d say 292939%.

Since my last post, cuts have been made but no one significant or surprising. More recently the two players you have actually probably heard of (HAHA) that got cut were Daryle Ward and Juan Francisco. They both got optioned down to AAA, Juan being for the purpose of getting some AAA time and Daryle to get some extra practice. My guess is that Daryle Ward, once he has found his swing, will get called up to be that Left handed pitch hitter of the bench. But hey… if Micah Owings can hit, which he can, do we need him??

We all know the comments that Spring Training mean nothing and blah blah blah but take a look at the battle for the #5 spot. Both Owings, 1.23 ERA 14 IP 16 SO, and Homer, 2.25 ERA 14IP and 12 SO, have pitched great. Owings has looked like he has fully recovered from his surgery and Homer really looks as though he has found his control. My opinion, give Owings the starting job and put Homer in the bull pen.. but we’ll see that happens!

Imagine that picture with the players wearing nationals uniforms instead of yankees uniforms and number 11 being number 32.

Then go ahead and say this over and over..

Swing and a miss.

                  Swing and a miss.

          Swing and a miss.

Anyone watching the WBC is going to see alot of that from team USA’s left fielder, Adam Dunn. I saw that Adam Dunn was asked to be in the WBC after an injury to Brad Hawpe, and have been asking myself WHY ever since. My first reaction is WHO IN THE WORLD IS BRAD HAWPE?! I looked up his stats, and although they aren’t bad (.283 avg in 08 with 25 yacks and 85 RBI’s), are they worth an invite to the WBC?? There is no other player better than Hawpe that we could invite?? Not only was Hawpe a huge mystery but when he got injured, they replaced him with the imfamous Adam Dunn. I can’t express how much I laughed out loud when I heard he made the WBC. Expect Dunn to swing and miss, swing and miss, and swing and miss some more. Can’t wait for the world to see what an atheltic, well polished left fielder looks like.

Team USA is DOOMED!

Other RT news, how about Bailey and Owings?? They have looked pretty good in their starts, especially Bailey. Has he figured it out and turned it around?? I wouldn’t be so sure of anything yet.

After seeing the dates for the World Baseball Classic, I was furious. I buy tickets to the Reds ST games RIGHT when most of the players I wanted to see are not going to play. Yes Jay Bruce and BP will be there but I was really excited about watching Willy T and Hernandez.

I’m excited to watch the WBC but I hope it doesn’t have a negative impact on our pitchers. Especially, Cueto being the youngest. I hope they don’t ask him to pitch more than he should. i guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

Giving BP the cleanup role before a ST game has started is flat out wrong. Not only does he not fit in the 4 hole, Dusty is completly forgetting that everyone on the team needs to “win their spot”. Giving BP the cleanup spot before ST starts isn’t making him work for anything!

Dusty strikes again.

Aaron Harang, Fransico Cordero, Bill Bray, Jay Bruce, and Chris Dickerson came to came early. They got their before the weekend. I appreciate that. Especially from veterans like Aaron Harang and Fransico Cordero.

I’m really hoping for Micah Owings for that 5th starting spot. Hopefully he will be healthy and pitch well enough to earn the 5th spot. Besides Owings, we don’t really have a dependable 5th starter.. Malony is a couple years away and who knows with Homer!

1. Like the previous blog I posted, who is going to be our left fielder? Almost too many options to list!

2. Walt throughout the whole offseason was stressing the fact that the reds need a right handed run producer. Well Walt, we didn’t exactly acquire one. So, who is going to step up? Gomes? Hairston?

3. Do we have a dependable and serviceable catcher? Hanigan has alot to prove and Hernandez didn’t prove ANYTHING last season.

4. Volquez and Cueto. Can Volquez pitch like he did the beginning of the year and can Cueto pitch more innings and avoid the “sophomore slump”?

5. Will Harang pitch in his 08 form or his dismal 09 form? That will make or break out pitching rotation this year.

6. Who will step up to be the 5th starter? Josh Fogg was PATHETIC last year and so was pretty much everyone else they put into that spot.

7. Micah Owings. Owings has been kind of overlooked this offseason and could surprise. He is definitely a serviceable 5th starter when healthy and the guy can flat out rake. I can see him as definitely being a fan favorite.

8. Can Crusty Dusty not play favorites and prevent Jacque Jones from being a Corey Patterson clone?

9. Is Alex Gonzalez healthy? The guy hasn’t played in forever and is 31.

10. Homer Bailey. This is the season for decision time for Homer and the Reads. If Homer doesn’t show any promise, he is gone. However, if he does he could contend for the #5 spot.

11. Arthur Rhodes. A good, low risk signing in the offseason but can he fill the shoes of Affeldt. Many people overlooked the great job Affeldt did for us against lefties last year. If Rhodes puts up the same performance he did in 09 against lefties he could be an all-star.

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Drew Anderson and Marcus McBeth were the two players sent to Triple-A Lousiville.

Jay Bruce, Josh Roenicke, Tom Shearn were all optioned to the teams minor league camp where they will get some more work.

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