2008 Cincinnati Reds Predictions & season Preview


June 8, 2008 | Posted By Larry Cook

The Reds suffered many eighth-inning woes last season to cost Cincinnati from bringing home more than their 72 wins. General Manager Wayne Krivsky addressed this issue by signing former Brewers closer Francisco Cordero to a four-year, $46-million deal in the offseason. Opponents scored 123 total runs in the eighth inning in 2007, so just any improvement in this department could put the Reds in the thick of things in the wide-open NL Central race. Below Larry Cook gives you his 2008 Cincinnati Reds predictions along with a season preview of what to expect.

Starting Rotation:

With Aaron Harang and Bronson Arroyo at the top of this starting rotation, the Reds feels pretty solid about their chances to win ball games at least twice a week. The rest of the rotation could be a major question mark. The Reds only have six starters on their 40-man roster with major league experience. Bobby Livingston, Homer Bailey and Edinson Volquez are three of those who have combined for just 36 starts total. Matt Belisle is the other guy with at least some decent experience with 37 total starts. Dusty Baker and Dick Pole will have to use spring training as more of a try-out to see which guys will make the rotation. It looks as if Volquez will earn a spot with a tremendous spring to this point. Harang is the ideal Ace with back-to-back 16-win seasons. He finished fourth in the NL CY Young Award voting last season. In 2006, Harang led the NL in strikeouts and tied for the league lead in wins but didn’t receive a single Cy Young vote. Last seasons he topped his strikeout total from the previous year with 218, while lowing his ERA to a nice 3.73. Arroyo has topped the 200-innings plateau for 3 straight seasons, although he did lose 15 games last year. But he led the Reds with 22 quality starts, but fell victim to poor closing where his bullpen allowed a staff-high 5 blown saves in his starts. The Reds’ young starters after Harang and Arroyo have the potential to become frontline starters. The Reds felt so good about Volquez that they let Josh Hamilton go in exchange for this young righty who was sent down to Class A ball by the Rangers last season. The No. 3-5 spots in the rotation are expected to be shaky at best, so any decent success the Reds get in this part of the rotation would be a big help.

Bullpen:

With the addition of Cordero, David Weathers moves to the setup role after a decent job of closing games last season. GM Krivsky is hoping Weathers can be just as effective as their 8th inning man. The Reds’ eighth-inning woes were central to their 28 blown saves and a NL-worst 5.13 bullpen ERA. Rule 5 pickup Jared Burton showed some promise and helped nail down the eighth inning late in the year. The team is hoping that Mike Stanton can show some veteran leadership and improve on his (1-3, 5.93 ERA) from last season. Bill Bray is a left-handed stopper that has to return fully healthy from injury to shut down the tough right-handed bats when called upon. The bullpen has to improve, because the facts are they can’t be any worst than they were last season.

Line-Up:

CF Ryan Freel is the leading candidate to bat leadoff for the Reds. He struggled with injuries in 2007, a by-product of his all-out play in the outfield. 1B Joey Votto didn’t seem to miss a beat in his September call-up, hitting .321 for the Reds. Look for Votto to be a name you hear more and more about as the season progresses. RF Ken Griffy Jr. has a shot at several milestones, but isn’t your typical No. 3 hitter any more and is more of an attendance draw. Griffey is 7 homers shy of 600 heading into the year. 2B Bradon Phillips may be the best at his position in all of the National League. His mixture of speed, power, Gold Glove-caliber defense and a showman’s smile make him a huge attraction in Cincinnati. LF Adam Dunn has the 2nd most homers of any big league player 28 or younger with 238 bombs. He will bat 5th, only trailing Albert Pujols in this department. 3B Edwin Encarnacion will hit sixth after proving he belongs in the big leagues by being recalled last season to start on the corner of the infield. SS Alex Gonzalez was signed primarily for his defense. Gonzalez showed he was handy with the bat as well last season in the No. 7 hole. C David Ross spent all season hovering around .200 last year, but still managed 17 homers and will be their man behind the plate in 2008. OF Norris Hopper will be antsy to get off the pine and back onto the field this season when given a chance. He hit .329 last season and made the most of his opportunity. If he gets another shot in the outfield this season, it may be his for good. Ryan Freel would likely be the first in line to go if Hopper is to take someone’s place in the starting lineup. 1B Scott Hatteberg, UT Jeff Keppinger and C Javier Valentin round out the Reds’ bench prospects.

Reds 2008 Predictions:

Even with the Reds likely solving their late-inning woes, Cincinnati still has too many question marks in their starting pitching to automatically be in contention in the NL Central. The Reds are unproven at the top and bottom of their lineup as well. This inconsistency gives me no other choice than to pick the Reds to finish in 5th place in the NL Central Division. The Cubs, Astros, Brewers and Cardinals will all have better seasons than Cincinnati this season.

Larry Cook finished with the #5 World Ranking with his baseball picks in 2007 last year. Hard work with research, analysis and starting pitcher breakdowns gives Larry the edge over your sportsbook and bookies. You won’t believe the kind of profits you can make by signing up for any of Larry’s long-term packages. By doing so, you will get in on all of his winning MLB action this season. Larry will guide you to profits you have never seen before once he makes his move up to the #1 spot in 2008.

2008 Cincinnati Reds Odds:

Odds to win NL Central: 8/1
Odds to win 2008 NL Pennant: 15/1
Odds to win 2008 World Series: 50/1

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