I just feel like Bailey’s earned at least the long man spot, and I’d hate to see him pout because he got skipped for Nick freakin’ Masset. Of course, you can’t trade the guy you traded Griffey for. Maybe something’ll happen that will allow them both to be on the roster.

1) Owings is Walt’s guy and he was the centerpiece of the Dunn trade. He has performed well this spring and has a track record of performance when healthy. Masset is out of options and he is also Walt’s guy. Brantley brought up a good point in today’s broadcast where he said often those without options have a leg up on their competition. That said….its Nick frickin Masset, dammit. I think Homer would benefit from the camaraderie of being one of the fellas in the bullpen.

2) Owings doesnt have a long track record of staying healthy. It might behoove the organization to have Homer starting every fifth day in Louisville and ready to be called up as opposed to having him be a mlb reliever.

3) I dont like the chatter about trading Arroyo. Bailey and Owings are question marks and Arroyo has a defined track record of taking the ball whenever asked. Having too many starting pitchers is one hell of a nice problem to have!!!

Homer Bailey – The Brushclearer
Danny Ray Herrera – Lefty Smurf
Matt Maloney – Foray
Robert Manuel – Middle MANuel
Ramon Ramirez – Ram-Ram
Josh Roenicke – Jersey Boy
Daryl Thompson – Leatherpants’ed
Pedro Viola – Violin (a junior version of a Viola)

Nicknames subject to change.

and obc too...remember
1. You can never have enough quality starting pitchers
2. You can never get too high

Jesus gave us the two Commandments
I give you the two Observations

I fucking love BJ Day!!!

I hope that was helpful

The Reds passed on him, IIRC. He was a LHP who had a pretty good stick, so they used him in the field when he wasn’t the starting pitcher. I think he came up with the Red Sox a while back.

But there’s no easy way to search for PH PAs for pitchers. Some of the recent guys have been used a few times – Dontrelle has 20 career PH PAs, Hampton and Zambrano have a few less.

about how much the team would actually PH Owings on his off days.

Many pitching coaches are skittish about pitchers hitting anyway; add to that the strict structure that many pitching staffs observe on their off days. (although, it seems like many of them attempt to swing golf clubs.)

Granted, Owings’ legitimate ability to hit and Baker’s legitimate ability to do stupid things with pitchers make the Reds’ situation a little different, but I have a feeling that we’ll see less of Owings as pinch hitter than we expect.

Ashbakerlovepheasant