2012 Cincinnati Reds Spring Training Team Preview | Cactus League Teams

Cincinnati Reds
Mgr. Dusty Baker #12
2011 record, 79-83
Third Place, NL Central

This summer former Cincinnati Reds shortstop Barry Larkin will be the newest inductee to the National Baseball. Larkin spent his entire career in Cincinnati (1986-2004) and was a member of the last Reds team to win the World Series in 1990. Larkin won the National League’s MVP in 1995, when the Reds lost the NLCS to the Atlanta Braves in 1995. The Reds would not return to the post season for another 15 years, clinching the NL Central in 2010. Last year the team seemed to have picked up where they left off, occupying first place for the first full month of the season and as late as late as May 18th but fizzled from there and never really figured in the NL Central race finishing 17 game behind division leading Milwaukee.

First baseman Joey Votto followed up his MVP season with his second straight All-Star appearance and also led the National League in on-base percentage (.416) for the second straight season. Although the Reds may have slipped a few spots in the standings a couple of their young players continued to improve. Votto hit .309 with 103 RBI and also led the league with 40 doubles and 110 walks. In four-and-a-half seasons with the Reds his career batting average stands at .313, he has two years remaining on his three-year, $38 million contract. Outfielder Jay Bruce, 24, reached career highs with 32 home runs and 97 RBI and was named to the All-Star game for the first time in his four-year career.

The reds finished eighth in the NL with a .256 team batting average and 12th with a 4.16 ERA. Second year starter Mike Leake, 23, led a largely inexperienced Reds pitching staff with 12 wins against nine losses and a 3.86 ERA. Homer Bailey, 25, posted 9-7 record with a 4.43 ERA and Johnny Cueto, 25, was 9-5 with a team-leading 2.31 ERA in 24 starts. All three are signed through 2012. Veteran Bronson Arroyo struggled through the worst season of his 12-year-career, going 9-12 with a 5.07 ERA and recorded the dubious distinction of leading the National League in runs (112) and home runs (46) allowed.

Dontrelle Willis, who seems older than his 29 years, joined the Reds just after the All-Star break and struggled through 13 lackluster starts and was signed as a free-agent by the Philadelphia Phillies in the off-season. Big right-hander Mat Latos, (6’6”) was acquired from Sand Diego in a trade for Edinson Volquez.

Arrivals: RHP Mat Latos, INF/OF Willie Harris,
Departures: RHP Edinson Volquez, LHP Travis Wood

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