"If you're looking for a dark horse in the National League"

[Bandit29]

I think they will be much improved and should be in the wild card hunt.

 

They could be. The key is going to be getting off to a good start and keeping it going. Dare I say like the '90 team did.

[TubbyCAT]

Nice to be mentioned again!

[Baseballguy]

AverageJoesGym;3362340]I still think they are a 75-80 win team. I don't think it is a given that Harang bounces back and Arroyo has been hit pretty hard all spring. I also don't think they have enough offense in their ballpark. I don't think they'll be awful, but I don't think they contend.[/QUOTE]

 

 

Shocker.

[AverageJoesGym]

AverageJoesGym;3362340]I still think they are a 75-80 win team. I don't think it is a given that Harang bounces back and Arroyo has been hit pretty hard all spring. I also don't think they have enough offense in their ballpark. I don't think they'll be awful, but I don't think they contend.[/QUOTE]

 

 

Shocker.

 

Sorry, I just don't see it and I'm not going to call them contenders when they just don't look that good to me. They are depending on too many people to make a step up, recover or maintain what were career years for them last year for me to think it'll all happen at once.

[Blueflyer]

This whole roster is looking good and very young. If this team stays together and they add one more big power hitter to the middle of the line up, this team could be deadly in a year. They could make a run for a wild card spot this year but thats about it. But hey, who knows maybe they will surprise us and win the Central.

[The Scribe]

I think the Reds have a very good chance at fielding a team this year. It's still the Brewers division to lose

[threetimelover]

I think the Reds have a very good chance at fielding a team this year. It's still the Brewers division to lose

 

:thumb:There ya go, Scribe! Keep it coming!:notworthy::lol:

[ekubum]

I'm not sold yet. I love the Reds, always have, but there are a bunch of question marks, most of which have already been mentioned in this thread. I think the Reds biggest hope is the division not haviing improved much since last season. During their ST game on the radio today Walt Jockety spoke on that and it made sense to me, nobody really did much inside the division and I believe it is a winnable division if the cards fall right.

[futurecoach]

I'm being cautiously optimistic. Yes, if things go absolutely right...the Reds can contend. HOWEVER...was last year's performance by Harang a bump in the road, or a sign of things to come? Can Edinson repeat his mastery, or will he come back down to earth? Arroyo had perhaps his best season ever as well, can we really count on him to duplicate it? And while Cueto has lights out stuff, we have to realize he's really, really young!

You couple all of that with the offense the Reds currently have, and the question mark at shortstop...and I believe thinking we're contenders is a bit much. There's going to be a LOT of pressure put on the pitching staff this year. They may go out there thinking that if they give up more than 3 runs in a game that they may not win it. I'd love to be pleasantly surprised if Bruce and Votto can pick up the slack and be 35/100 guys...but, I'm going to take a wait and see approach.

 

Arroyo had his best season ever last year? I didn't think he had that good of a year at all. Then again I did kind of stopped paying attention to them after they was out contention. But what I remember from Arroyo last year was when I think two games in a row he couldn't get past the second inning if I am remembering correctly. I mean you might be right maybe he did have a career year and I just wasn't paying attention, however from what I remember he didn't.

[ekubum]

Arroyo had his best season ever last year? I didn't think he had that good of a year at all. Then again I did kind of stopped paying attention to them after they was out contention. But what I remember from Arroyo last year was when I think two games in a row he couldn't get past the second inning if I am remembering correctly. I mean you might be right maybe he did have a career year and I just wasn't paying attention, however from what I remember he didn't.

 

Don't know about career year, he came out of the gate terribly, but bounced back very nicely if memory serves correctly in the second half.