Is there something I missed this off-season? I've yet to see anyone mention Lorenzen.
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Francis or Wang could opt out. If neither does, you can put Corcino in the bullpen if he's showing no signs of improvement, which would be a surprise, or hope the coaches in Pensacola can help him. But yeah, Rogers to the bullpen should be considered if the Reds see a better future for him there.
I can't see Rogers going back to Pensacola.
My guess is that if Wang and Francis do not opt out, Corcino will be moved to the bullpen. Corcino has been pitching out of the bullpen in Winter Leagues, and while that may be due to the Reds wanting to keep his innings down, Corcino did pitch 14+ more innings in 2012 than 2013.
Rogers had 12 starts in AAA last year and while they weren't great, they were much better than Corcino's.
I like having too many AAA quality arms, rather than not enough.
Louisville should have a pretty solid rotation next year. Let's hope it stays that way because the rotation in Cincinnati stays healthy as does the rotation in Louisville. :beerme:
I think Wang would most likely be gone. Like most I see him and Francis as mid year opt out guys if they perform well. If you have younger guys who are legit possibilities as future 4/5 starters or pen arms I dont think you hold them back for a 33 year old retread who likely is the 2nd or 3rd option after Holmberg and Francis.
I do not support the notion of cutting Wang loose given his ability to give the major league team replacement level innings from Day 1. Couple this with the fact that Francis could opt out and the rest of the proposed AAA rotation has not had any decent success in AAA, let alone the minors, and there is no way I am pushing Wang out the door.
The Reds need depth. They got a little more of that by picking up Marshall. Letting Wang go does not help the Reds' depth in 2014.
That may seem to be true on the face of it, but may not be in reality. If they don't think Wang is really that solid an option to help the big club in case of an injury, then it could help to let Wang go if he's taking innings that could go to a prospect and help accelerate their development. with the addition of Holmberg, O'Brien and Marshall the Res suddenly seem to have an abundance of good-to-middling starters in the upper reaches of the system.
For those who know more about these things than I...
Let's say Wang or Francis pitches well in the spring, but is not needed because the five starters are healthy and pitching well. An AL team has a starter go down and they approach the Reds about Wang or Francis. Would their contracts permit the Reds to trade them if they had not reached the opt out point? Might the Reds get a C level prospect in return or would the Reds, as a courtesy to the player, simply let the player pursue the opportunity with the other team?
It depends on the opt-out agreement with the player. Unless he has a total open-ended deal where he can become a free agent at any time that he is in the minors, you would get some consideration from the trade partner in return, just like any other trade. It could be a conditional return..ie, if Francis stays in the majors for at least 30 days, they would owe you a player. If the player had not been given that right as part of his signing agreement, you would try to work out something with the trade partner. They would owe you something for surrendering rights to the player.
As far as what to do with those guys, you gotta wait and see what kind of stuff they show in spring training and Price would decide whether he even cares to have those guys as insurance policies in Triple-A. With guys of that experience level, he is not going to care too much about their stats from 2013. He is going to look at how they are throwing the ball in the spring, stuff-wise, and decide if that is a worthwhile arm to hold onto compared to the alternatives in that role. Their spring stats, of course, would mean very little to Price. He would look at velocity, movement, command (velocity, relatively speaking, because Francis is a soft-tosser). Price would come up with a pecking order in the event a sixth starter is needed and after watching those guys all spring, he would make a call on where those guys stood in that scenario. WJ would have the final call but when your manager is a pitching coach, it would be hard to go against his judgement.
With all these starting pitchers acquired apparently for AAA, I wonder if Corcino is going directly to the bullpen.
Today's news on Latos means one of the formerly considered to be AAA guys has a very good chance to be on the Reds opening day roster.