Yesterday, Homer Bailey said he would probably not be ready in time for Opening Day, but gave a timetable of "not long after that". Bryan Price's take on Bailey's return date was an even more general "fairly early in the season." Assuming that this means longer than the week-and-a-half we can usually go before using our fifth starter, that leaves three spots open in the rotation to start out 2015. Price's most recent statements list four front-runners for the open rotation spots: Tony Cingrani, Anthony DeSclafani, Jason Marquis, and Paul Maholm. Bailey's continued absence gives the Reds a little extra time to narrow down three to two.
In non-baseball spring training news, Bubba Watson, who is a part owner of the Reds AA Affiliate Pensacola team, dropped by Spring Training in order to challenge Billy Hamilton to a foot race. Except Billy Hamilton was like, 'Nah,' and the rest of us were like, 'To the extent that was even going to be climactic, that was anti-climactic.'
As for the bullpen, Jose Mijares, who has a minor-league deal with the Reds, caused a bit of a stir by not showing up to camp on time. Various sources report that he had trouble getting a flight out of Venezuela. Bryan Price said only that it was not a visa issue, but seemed open to hearing Mijares side of it. Mijares did apparently show up on Monday, and we haven't heard much more about it since then. Meanwhile, Burke Badenhop and his economics degree from Bowling Green State University caught up with C.Trent Rosencrans on Badenhop's favorite and last favorite stats for relievers. Badenhop sez: RE24 and WHIP good, ERA and Holds bad. Ok, Heinrich, you may be alright.
Great American Insurance Group is putting a new sign at GAPB, that says "PLEASE REMEMBER WE ARE AN INSURANCE COMPANY THAT EXISTS OR THERE IS NO POINT IN SPONSORING THIS BALL PARK."
It seems like the Latos statement buzz has died down to a low simmer, ready to be taken out and re-over-analyzed the first time a Reds player gets hurt, or the Reds lose three whole games in a row, so I'd like to finish by pointing out Sam LeCure's overlooked response. Here's my paraphrased screenplay of how things went:
Mat Latos: Medical staff, clubhouse chemistry, etc.
Sam LeCure: Well, we all know the truth, so I doubt anyone's going to have much to say, because you know, we don't want to get into it, and we don't want any drama.
Everyone Else: We have plenty to say, we do want to get into it, and we definitely want drama.
Sam LeCure: facepalm.jpg