Cincinnati Reds Organizational Depth Chart

[camisadelgolf]

This is all speculation, as I haven't seen anything officially posted from the Reds nor their affiliates, but this is how I see the organizational rosters shaping out for 2008:

   MLB			   AAA		   	   AA		   	   A+		   	   A		 	   Rk		 	   GCL
 C Dave Ross		Paul Bako		Craig Tatum		Anthony Esquer		Devin Mesoraco		Jordan Wideman		Frank Meade
1B Joey Votto		Andy Phillips		Tonys Gutierrez		Logan Parker		Mike McKennon		Eli Rimes		
2B Brandon Phillips	Andy Green		Chris Valaika		Justin Turner		Neftali Soto		Jose Gualdron		Jake Kahaulelio
3B Edwin Encarnacion	Adam Rosales		Michael Griffin		Juan Francisco		Brandon Waring		Carlos Mendez		Jamie Gianchou
SS Alex Gonzalez	Paul Janish		Jose Castro		Zach Cozart		Yen-Wen Kuo		Angel Cabrera		Mariekson Gregorius
LF Adam Dunn		Drew T. Anderson	Danny Dorn		Chris Heisey		Todd Frazier		Tony Brown		Donald Lutz
CF Ryan Freel		Chris Dickerson		Sean Henry		Drew Stubbs		Brandon Menchaca	Michael Jones		Angel Logrono
RF Ken Griffey, Jr.	Jay Bruce		Shaun Cumberland	Denis Phipps		Justin Reed		Brett Bartles		Jose Victor
 C Javier Valentin	Ryan Hanigan		Chris Kroski		Eddy Rodriguez		Jake Long		Jason Bour		Petr Cech
 C 			Alvin Colina								Chris Denove		Todd Waller		Mauro Schiavoni
1B Scott Hatteberg	Kevin Barker					Jason Louwsma								
2B Jeff Keppinger	Luis Bolivar		Michael DeJesus								Wayne Kendrick		
3B 						Bryan Bass		Eric Eymann		Ryan Baker		Brodie Pullen		
SS 									Justin Tordi		Kevyn Feiner					Radhames Moreta
IF Juan Castro		Jolbert Cabrera														Jefry Sierra
OF Norris Hopper				Cody Strait		Yuber Rodriguez		Keltavious Jones	Jose Bastardo		
OF 						B.J. Szymanski		Carson Kainer		Kyle Maunus		Alexis Oliveras		
OF 						Josh Holden		Gerardo Cabrera								
UT 			Jerry Gil		Drew M. Anderson										

SP Aaron Harang		Homer Bailey		Carlos Fisher		Travis Wood		Kyle Lotzkar		Drew Bowman		Luca Panerati
SP Bronson Arroyo	Johnny Cueto		Daryl Thompson		Sean Watson		Evan Hildebrandt	Brandon Rice		Matteo Pizziconi
SP Matt Belisle		Matt Maloney		James Avery		Alex Smit		Tzu-Kai Chiu		Efrain Rodriguez	Stalin Gerson
SP Edinson Volquez	Richie Gardner		Sam Lecure		Rafael Gonzalez		Scott Carroll		Harris Honeycutt	Porfirio Martinez
SP Josh Fogg		Adam Pettyjohn		Ben Jukich		Jordan Smith		Enerio Del Rosario	Jon Conatser		Marcos Molina
SP 			Tom Shearn		Camilo Vazquez		Daniel Guerrero		Juan Rafael		Jose Marizan		Jose Siri
SP 			Dave Gassner											
SP 			Bobby Livingston										
RP Francisco Cordero	Bill Bray		Josh Roenicke		Derrik Lutz		Josh Ravin		Charles Snowden		Jeremy Vinyard
RP Dave Weathers	Marcus McBeth		Pedro Viola		Lee Tabor		Jeremy Horst		Dan Zeffiro		Victor Navarro
RP Mike Stanton		Gary Majewski		Justin James		Misael DeJesus		Matt Klinker		Jordan Hotchkiss	Tom Fiebig
RP Todd Coffey		Jon Coutlangus		Ramon Ramirez		Ramon Geronimo		Dan Donaldson		Aguido Gonzalez		Ricky Rhodes
RP Jared Burton		Ty Pelland		Danny Ray Herrera	Phil Valiquette		Steve Otterness		Josh Beal		Curtis Partch
RP Jeremy Affeldt	Brad Salmon		Robert Manuel		Luis Montano		Joe Krebs		Ray Jeffords		Leonardo Astorga
RP Sergio Valenzuela	Kent Mercker		Logan Ondrusek		Kevin Gunter		Jamie Arneson		Scott Gaffney		
RP 			Jon Adkins		Justin Mallett		James Morris		Jacob Ociesa		Anthony Romero		
RP 			Jim Brower		Dan Denham		Terrell Young		Tyler Rhoden		Jose Medina		
RP 			Chris Michalak		Brock Till								
RP 			Mike Lincoln											
RP 			Scott Sauerbeck											
RP 			Justin Lehr											
RP 			Ricky Stone

[mth123]

Nice post. Things I'm interested in this spring:

- The Reds sure have a ton of "jouneymen" pitching to pick through at the upper levels.

- Interesting that you have Frazier starting off at Dayton and playing LF. I'd bump him higher possibly all the way to AA. He's a college kid who has always hit and those college years basically replace his rookie, low A and High A years. I also wouldn't concede that he has to fall all the way down the defensive spectrum to LF. I think they should give 3B a try even though its a deep position for the organization. It still provides more value than Frazier in LF. He can always move ot LF later if necessary.

- Soto at 2B may be a good call. Considering Phillips deal, I'd try to leave him at SS and might be inclined to give him a try in CF.

- Valaika at 2B looks about right. I think he'll end-up a guy who moves around a lot.

- Adam Rosales at 3B is also probably correct. If the rumors of a long term deal with EdE in the works are true, Rosales is another guy that I'd try in CF.

- Mesoraco to Dayton seems like a big jump considring how he preformed last year. He's a high school kid and I think Billings is probably the right place for him, but the Reds will probably not want to wait until June to get him playing so you are probably right. Its too bad. I think Jake Long is a sleeper who could use the playing time at Dayton.

- Danny Dorn is ready for AAA IMO.

- The AAA and AA rotations are loaded pretty well. Bailey, Cueto, Maloney in AAA with Gardner and Shearn or one of the other journeymen should be pretty nice for Louisville fans. Fisher, Thompson, Lecure in AA with probably two of Jukich, Vazquez and Avery could also be pretty good. I could see the team dealing off some of the AA guys while stashing a journeymen or two there. The bullpens are pretty well stocked as well so there will be some guys left on the outside looking in even if all the vets are let go at the end of spring.

I think seeing how the team cuts down the organization (especially the pitching depth) is one of the most interesting aspects to spring training. At least the days of scrounging for decent players to fill the system are over.

[Kc61]

The critical issue presented by your list is Stanton, Valenzuela and Coffey in the bullpen. There are a lot of candidates for those spots, and I'm sure we all have our favorites. If healthy, I'd assume Bray takes one of those spots. Maj, Coutlangus, Bailey (if he has a good spring), Sauerbeck, I'd guess are all serious candidates for those roster spots. Cueto, Pelland, Salmon, Roenicke sleepers. We'll see.

[camisadelgolf]

Thank you very much for the comments.

Originally Posted by mth123

- The Reds sure have a ton of "jouneymen" pitching to pick through at the upper levels.

It's ridiculous. People keep talking about the Reds picking up another A-ball team when it looks like they have enough pitching for two more AAA teams.

Originally Posted by mth123

- Interesting that you have Frazier starting off at Dayton and playing LF. I'd bump him higher possibly all the way to AA. He's a college kid who has always hit and those college years basically replace his rookie, low A and High A years. I also wouldn't concede that he has to fall all the way down the defensive spectrum to LF. I think they should give 3B a try even though its a deep position for the organization. It still provides more value than Frazier in LF. He can always move ot LF later if necessary.

Good catch. I think this was the most controversial thing I did. When I made this, I couldn't think of the best way to organize it so Cozart, Waring, Soto, Frazier, etc. all got regular at-bats. I also thought about putting Frazier at third base and moving Waring to first (since McKennon isn't too much of a prospect). Now that I look at it again, I think I'd put Zach Cozart as the starting shortstop in Dayton, Yen-Wen Kuo in Billings or the GCL, Todd Frazier as the starting shortstop in Sarasota, and Keltavious Jones as the left fielder in Dayton.

Originally Posted by mth123

- Soto at 2B may be a good call. Considering Phillips deal, I'd try to leave him at SS and might be inclined to give him a try in CF.

Neftali Soto appears to be very raw, but I think it's too early to give up on him as an infielder. I don't think he projects to be a shortstop at the ML level, but I also think you'd like someone as athletic as him in a more defensive-oriented position. With Waring, Francisco, and Frazier all as possibilities at third base, I think Soto is likely to move to second base.

Originally Posted by mth123

- Valaika at 2B looks about right. I think he'll end-up a guy who moves around a lot.

I hesitate to put Chris Valaika at AA because he struggled in Sarasota. In fact, at this point, I like Justin Turner more as a prospect, even though he struggled there, too. But I think Turner has a bit more to prove in Sarasota, so I put Valaika in Chattanooga by default.

Originally Posted by mth123

- Adam Rosales at 3B is also probably correct. If the rumors of a long term deal with EdE in the works are true, Rosales is another guy that I'd try in CF.

Rosales played there almost every day in the Arizona Fall League, so I think it's pretty much confirmed that he's moving to third base. I've never seen him in the outfield, but I presume he doesn't have the range desired for center field.

Originally Posted by mth123

- Mesoraco to Dayton seems like a big jump considring how he preformed last year. He's a high school kid and I think Billings is probably the right place for him, but the Reds will probably not want to wait until June to get him playing so you are probably right. Its too bad. I think Jake Long is a sleeper who could use the playing time at Dayton.

It's certainly a big jump, but like you said, as much as they're paying him, they probably don't want to wait around for him to get his at-bats. I like Jake Long a lot as a sleeper, too.

Originally Posted by mth123

- Danny Dorn is ready for AAA IMO.

I think he could handle himself there, but as everyone is quick to point out, he has a lot of work to do against left-handed pitchers, and I don't think it makes too much of a difference whether he does it in AA or AAA at this point. Besides, he was drafted in 2006, and the Reds are stacked with left-handed-hitting outfielders, so the Reds can afford to take their time with him.

Originally Posted by mth123

- The AAA and AA rotations are loaded pretty well. Bailey, Cueto, Maloney in AAA with Gardner and Shearn or one of the other journeymen should be pretty nice for Louisville fans. Fisher, Thompson, Lecure in AA with probably two of Jukich, Vazquez and Avery could also be pretty good. I could see the team dealing off some of the AA guys while stashing a journeymen or two there. The bullpens are pretty well stocked as well so there will be some guys left on the outside looking in even if all the vets are let go at the end of spring.

I agree. Some of it is just insanity to me, though. How the heck are Josh Roenicke, Pedro Viola, Justin James, Ramon Ramirez, etc. going to advance to AAA with so many pitchers clogging up roster spots in Louisville? The Reds have nearly 20 AAA-level pitchers with ML experience--I'm hoping the Reds package about ten of them in a deal to Japan for some flat-screen televisions or something.

Originally Posted by mth123

I think seeing how the team cuts down the organization (especially the pitching depth) is one of the most interesting aspects to spring training. At least the days of scrounging for decent players to fill the system are over.

Yeah, I can't wait to see who's cut. I just can't think of any good reasons to keep Chris Michalak around.