Red Reposter - Arms & Farms

The 2014 Cincinnati Reds bullpen consisted of Aroldis Chapman and a dumpster fire, and one of the club's primary goals this offseason was to find a way to make it better for the 2015 season.  The Enquirer's John Fay took a look at some of the more intriguing names that are still available on the open market today, and came across a few that wouldn't look too shabby.  So far, Jose Mijares and Nate Adcock are the only players with MLB relief experience that the club has added (both on minor league deals), but as Fay notes, there's also the chance that the glut of AA-AAA pitching depth the club has accumulated could get put towards solving the bullpen issue.  That's what's already seemingly happened with Carlos Contreras, and guys like Keyvius Sampson, Daniel Corcino, Matt Magill, or even Raisel Iglesias may also get looks in later innings.  As for Fay's list, I'd add both John Axford and Mike Adams to that pile, since both may come cheap enough to be in the Reds' wheelhouse.

Over at the Reds.com side of the internet, Mark Sheldon caught up with uber-whacker Jesse Winker to get his thoughts on his upcoming trip to big league camp in Goodyear, Arizona, and in the process we found out that Winker thinks Jay Bruce and Billy Hamilton are great while Marlon Byrd and Skip Schumaker are not.  (LEDE HYPE.)  Now, I'm sure Jesse thinks both Byrd and...well, that Byrd is still a solid player, but he must have just forgotten to mention him since they may well not have even met before.  Before that, though, Jesse played a very non-Marshawn Lynch role as an answerer of obvious questions, basically saying that he feels good, wants to learn, and is excited about Spring Training.  Analysis that hits so hard you'll see stars.

MLB Pipeline has been releasing their Top 10 position prospects of late - dropping a position list a day until we're all prospect satiated - and that's a cool thing to search through.  I'd say it's a really cool thing to search through, but there hasn't been a single Reds prospect to crack the list so far aside from Robert Stephenson checking in as the 8th ranked RHP.  Outfielders pop up tomorrow, however, and hopefully Mr. Winker will make that list.

Speaking of ranking prospects, ESPN's Keith Law did just that, too, in a way.  Law ranked from 1-30 each MLB franchise's farm systems, and if the MLB Pipeline rankings didn't clue you in to how most analysts view the Reds' system, Law's ranking them 17th probably should.  You can read all about the two sentences he says about the Reds (that names no names at all) if you're an ESPN Insider (insert Scoberg joke), or you can pay your RR Insider subscription fee and hear me say that he didn't say anything you don't already know.  This is the best link I've ever Reposted.

Since one paywalled link isn't nearly enough, here's another!  Here's R.J. Anderson looking at Devin Mesoraco's new contract over at Baseball Prospectus, and if you're either a member there or a tweet reader on the Twitters, you'll know that there's some sort of Javy Lopez comparison made that could mean Mes is going to hit 260 career dingers and win a World Series with the Braves.  Or something.