Cincinnati Reds links - Come back soon, Anthony DeSclafani

The Cincinnati Reds pitching staff currently leads - leads? - leads all of baseball in walks allowed and runs allowed, and the team's -54 run differential sits tied with the lowly Atlanta Braves for the worst mark in all of baseball.

Injuries have played a major role in that futility, since the bulk of the team's projected rotation and bullpen have been relegated to the sidelines this year in lieu of getting outs from the mound.  One such starter is Anthony DeSclafani, whose injured oblique muscle still has him a ways away from Cincinnati.  He felt soreness after his rehab start with Dayton on Friday, according to Mark Sheldon, and is back to playing the waiting game before making another attempt at rehab.  Considering his initial injury was almost an afterthought at the end of Cactus League play - at one point he was mentioned as coming back around April 10th - him being sidelined indefinitely on May 5th is a bummer of great frustration even given the lengthy list of bummers this team has faced so far in 2016.

Sheldon's column also notes that Homer Bailey is in a similar state of limbo as Disco, since the presumptive veteran ace of the staff had some soreness in his surgically repaired right elbow after his most recent rehab start.  It's not supposed to be a serious setback for Bailey, who turned 30 years old this week, but it's concerning since he didn't just have Tommy John surgery on that arm, he also had flexor mass tendon surgery on the same arm just months before the complete UCL tear that ended his 2015 season.  Despite how awful and/or inconsistent the Reds' pitching has been so far this season, rushing Homer back at this point seems silly, and I wonder how long they'll let this sit and sort out.

In a similar vein, The Enquirer's Zach Buchanan looked at the most recent outings by Reds' starters, noting that a long-awaited stretch of decent starts could have a trickle-down effect on the beleaguered bullpen's performance.  The most recent of those came from Dan Straily, the oft-traveled late addition to the roster that the Reds plucked from the San Diego Padres.  Matt Wilkes took a closer look at how Straily can be effective as a starter over at Redleg Nation, including how his off-speed repertoire helps him get outs.

If you're heading down to GABP this Saturday to catch the game between the Reds and Milwaukee Brewers, swing by the Reds Hall of Fame and Museum to see former Cincinnati catcher Eddie Taubensee.  The sweet-swinging lefty belted 77 dingers in his 7 years with the Reds, good for an impressive 10.8 oWAR during that stint.

Speaking of the late 90's, early aughts Reds:  here's Eddie's former teammate Sean Casey trying to speak Spanish.

Finally, the MLB Draft is just about a month away, and since the Reds own the #2 overall pick, Cliff Corcoran's look at the top prospects available over at Sports Illustrated becomes a must-read.  Disco, Igloo, Homer, Cody, Bob Steve, Amir, Finny...Groome?  I'd take it.