who DESERVES to make the team
 

With spring training wrapping up and final cuts coming soon I looked at the players involved in fighting for the few available roster spots and how they did this spring. Note that the stats include only the official games. These spots are 5th OF, two backup IF spots, 5th starter & the last few bullpen spots.

#1 5th OF - Balentien 353/571/924 in 51 PAs
- Nix 283/614/897 in 45 PAs
- Francisco 354/511/865 in 47 PAs

Nix has always been OPS challenged and this spring is no different.
Francisco has been a hacker & this spring is no different. Only 2 walks.
Balentien has to be the guy.

#2 First backup IF - Janish wins this one hands down. Mr great glove no stick has a 1.024 OPS in 38 PAs!

#3 Second backup IF spot. Mostly yuck.

Cairo 283/333/616
Miles 222/212/434
Sutton 324/281/605
Castillo 333/448/781
Burke 333/393/726
Frazier 323/269/591

Burke seems to be a guy who was simply signed as AAA insurance.
Castillo has been a disappointment since coming over from Arizona.
Francisco could be considered here but I'm not sure sitting on the bench occasionally filling in for Rolen or Votto is going to help him progress into a solid everyday player.
I'm gonna go with Castillo.

#4 5th SP - debated endlessly elsewhere so i won't go into this here

#5 Bullpen. Locks seem to be Cordero, Rhodes, Masset, Herrera. That leaves three spots open. For the sake of this discussion we'll assume Leake or Wood is the 5th starter & the other goes to AAA.

Owings 10 IP 2.70 ERA 1.20 WHIP 8K/5BB
Ondrusek 9.1 IP 0.00 ERA 0.67 WHIP 8K/2BB
Burton 8 IP 5.63 ERA 1.50 WHIP 4K/3BB
Lehr 15 IP 2.93 ERA 1.47 WHIP 5K/5BB
Lincoln 11 IP 6.35 ERA 1.64 WHIP 6K/0BB
Maloney 11.1 IP 6.35 ERA 1.71 WHIP 12K/5BB
Chapman 10.2 IP 1.69 ERA 1.47 WHIP 15K/7BB

IMO Owings & Ondrusek should make the team.
For the last bullpen spot it doesn't seem like any of the other candidates have pitched well.
Burton had a poor 2009 & hasn't impressed so far this year.
Chapman i suspect will be a starter in AAA.
Lincoln should be released.
Lehr is likley AAA starter insurance.
My guess is Maloney based on his 2009 year at AAA. Since talentwise he is behind Leake-Wood-Chapman the Reds could try him in middle relief and see how he does. Its not like he is depriving some other quality reliever of a chance.

Who do you think DESERVES to be on the team (not who you think will be on the team)?

Re: who DESERVES to make the team
 

Deserves is an interesting way to phrase it. I think too much is made out of spring training. I think thats a necessary evil because people are so excited to finally have baseball back that they over analyize for the most part meaningless games.

Who deserves to get the final bull pen spot? Is it a guy who has shown he can be very effective at the major league level? Or a guy who has had a hot spring while throwing around 10 innings?

Who deserves to get the final OF spot? Is it a guy who is maxed out talent wise? Or a guy who has a very high ceiling but it is somewhat untapped?

Who deserves to get the 5th starter spot? Is it a college guy who has shown great command while impressing the entire spring? Is a Cuban lefty prodegy with generational type stuff? Or a young pitcher who has made it all the way through your minor leagues and is the same age as your college guy?

Too much that doesn't meet the eye most be taken into consideration when determining who "deserves" to make the team.

For my money I would go with

Balentine
Burton
Leake

And for middle infielder I go with Sutton.

Re: who DESERVES to make the team
 

I asked Clint Eastwood the same question and he said "Deserves got nuthin' to do with it".

When questioned further as to what he meant, he suggested that one needed to consider the remaining options of the players invloved, and even their salary.

Re: who DESERVES to make the team
 

Wladimir Balentine has been screwed! He should be on the bench over Laynce Nix and Miguel Cairo and Mike Lincoln. Every year they make bone head calls on the roster and this year is no different.. Yuck! Congrats to Leake though!

Re: who DESERVES to make the team
 

Yep and dying ain't much of a living either...