What I’ll be watching in Spring Training
This post comes from Chatterbox Reds co-host Nick Kirby:
Spring Training stats don’t matter. We all pretty well know this at this point…..so you may ask, why should I pay attention to spring training? Well, I am glad you asked!
Here is what I’ll be watching closely this spring:
Where does Jonathan India play and how comfortable does he look as an outfielder and first base if he plays there? I highly doubt that India is going to miraculously look great in those positions in spring, but how comfortable is he? Does he look like a liability? Where and how often does he play in those positions?
How healthy and deep into their starts does Nick Lodolo and Frankie Montas go? Lodolo and Montas’ opening day availability causes two big impacts on the Reds. First and foremost, the ceiling of not just the Reds rotation, but the entire win-loss record this season drastically increases with good health from those guys. Second, the fate of a starter (probably Brandon Williamson) and the usage of Nick Martinez (and subsequently a reliever that might be bumped off the roster) depend on this.
Bullpen health! There are almost always relievers that don’t make it out of camp healthy. Alex Young is already out for a few days at least. If the Reds bullpen stays relatively healthy, both the Reds front office and David Bell are going to have some very difficult decisions to make. They are either going to be forced to cut guys like Buck Famer making guaranteed money or send guys they don’t really want to like Fernando Cruz and Tejay Antone to AAA.
