Red Scare

I keep thinking I have a different problem about the last-place Reds to report, but it's the same exact one as the last few posts. It's just gotten exponentially worse.

Brandon Finnegan. Anthony DeSclafani. Bronson Arroyo. and now Scott Feldman. All four of those guys are established arms...and they're all injured. So the people coming into the Reds rotation are inexperienced, struggling, and...the next guy to start pitching well might join those four.

They're relying on people who would be good in concept, like Tim Adleman and Homer Bailey, but just can't seem to make it work this year. The farm system in Cincinnati might be pretty alright, but the number of arms that are coming up aren't the greatest ones, especially compared to what the system's been dealing into the lineup recently.

The only saving grace so far has been Luis Castillo, who has a good record, a good amount of strikeouts, and seems like he might have his stuff together, unlike most of the pitching staff. Plus, Rasiel Iglesias has been lights-out whenever he's been given the opportunity to save games, so at least 1/9th of the innings are basically taken care of. But the pitching staff is so sparse, so flawed, that they're rubbing off on a truly great lineup of players.

I want it to get better for the Reds, but I'm not thinking it will.