Who's the New Boss Without Old Hoss?

Until we get further confirmation about the extent of Bailey's injury, I'm just going to assume that the seventh pick in the 2004 draft was abducted by aliens and his right arm was replaced by a tentacle. And not one of those cool, bullwhip-y tentacles but something gross and slimy that makes it tough to pick up a baseball.

Point is, Homer Bailey is injured. They need somebody to take his place, perhaps for the rest of 2015. They could use a spot starter or something until they get a chance to set the long-term plan, so all caveats about who's pitched when this week is exempted. Here are the candidates for full-time filling in. Folks already on the 40-man are *asterisked*.

Michael Lorenzen: Probably the fan's pick. He's been a fast-riser since his selection in the 2013 draft, and he's now slinging high-90s fastballs in AAA without walking anybody. Lorenzen is not on the 40-man, but he was one of the last cuts before Opening Day. He doesn't strike out a ton, but he seems like a consummate professional who can Mike Leake his way through 100 innings or so. Unfortunately, his career high in innings was last year's 120.2 and his high before that was like...40?

*Rasiel Iglesias*: Did you know that Raise Hell is from the actual literal Island of Youth? Anyways, the raw 25-year-old had a competent start in Cincinnati, and has since had a couple of short, if decent, outings in Louisville. He's on the 40-man and has no arbitration clock to speak of (basically), but that doesn't necessarily mean that he's ready to win games. Iglesias still has all sorts of arm angles and not in a cool, Arroyo-y way but in a more "I just want to get people out and will be 25 forever!" sort of way that could probably use some coaching outside of the pressures of the bigs. I'm looking forward to Iglesias in a Reds uniform, but not THAT MUCH looking forward to him.

*David Holmberg*: He got shelled in his first Reds appearance, but was not-terrible in September. He's been hit around and walking too many in Louisville so far, but at least he's missing a few more bats. He may be a big-league starter one day, but it may be asking too much for that day to occur in May 2015.

Jon Moscot: Boring LeCure got an Über from Columbus last night. Is he coming to Cincinnati? Probably not; that's expensive even for the 1099 economy. But he's thrown well for Louisville so far and is probably the most polished out of everyone. He may be a decent long-term solution. I, for one, thing he'd be a more intimidating prospect if he went by his middle name of Solomon instead of Jon.

Josh Smith: "And it's probably worth mentioning that Josh Smith is still on the roster." — Wick Terrell. Okay Wick, Josh Smith is still on the roster.

*Tony Cingrani*: Do you think Tony just like, sent Price some tapes from 2013? Maybe told him to look at the 2013 K/9 leaderboard? Told his favorite blogger to put him on this list and make a stupid joke like "the call is coming from inside the bullpen!"

It's pretty insane that Cingrani is in the bullpen over Marquis, but maybe that's a strategy. It's looking like the odds are that Lorenzen's gonna be called up, and we'll see how that goes. Homer being out of the equation means that there's now three spots with question marks of different size: Desclafani, Marquis, and [5th pitcher]. That's, well, that's disconcerting. How do you think the Reds should solve it?