First round of cuts.....

[texasdave]

Cincinnati Reds optioned Josh Judy to Louisville Bats.
Cincinnati Reds optioned Kyle Lotzkar to Bakersfield Blaze.
Cincinnati Reds optioned Neftali Soto to Louisville Bats.
Cincinnati Reds optioned Henry Rodriguez to Pensacola Blue Wahoos.
Cincinnati Reds optioned Pedro Villarreal to Pensacola Blue Wahoos.
Cincinnati Reds optioned Kristopher Negron to Louisville Bats.
Cincinnati Reds optioned Donald Lutz to Bakersfield Blaze.
Cincinnati Reds optioned Didi Gregorius to Pensacola Blue Wahoos.

Lotzkar and Lutz to the streets of Bakersfield.
H. Rodriguez, Pedro Villareal and Didi Gregorius to the beaches of Pensacola.
Soto, Judy and Negron to the racetracks of Louisville.

[redsmetz]

Lotzkar and Lutz to the streets of Bakersfield.
H. Rodriguez, Pedro Villareal and Didi Gregorius to the beaches of Pensacola.
Soto, Judy and Negron to the racetracks of Louisville.

Any surprises there?

[texasdave]

Eight more reassigned to the minor-league camp.

Barnhart
Esposito
Corcino
Christiani
Tomko
Gallagher
Reineke
Donnie Joseph.

[dougdirt]

For the record, simply being optioned to somewhere in spring training does not mean you will start the season there. There are no rules that make that a concrete thing. So guys could still move up or down, within the system, from where they were optioned to.

Judy surprises me, not because of being sent to Louisville, but because he was sent there with the first cuts.

Rodriguez surprises me some as well, I thought with Phillips being a FA to be and him hitting well so far, he would at least survive the first cuts to give them a longer look for future reference on his skillset. I still would like to see him in AAA to begin the year. He hit quite well in AA last year in over 300 PA's, not sure I would get sending him back so you could have a middle infield made up of a combination of Negron, Valaika and Janish, none of whom appear to resemble a starter, while Rodriguez does.

[Kc61]

For the record, simply being optioned to somewhere in spring training does not mean you will start the season there. There are no rules that make that a concrete thing. So guys could still move up or down, within the system, from where they were optioned to.

Judy surprises me, not because of being sent to Louisville, but because he was sent there with the first cuts.

Rodriguez surprises me some as well, I thought with Phillips being a FA to be and him hitting well so far, he would at least survive the first cuts to give them a longer look for future reference on his skillset. I still would like to see him in AAA to begin the year. He hit quite well in AA last year in over 300 PA's, not sure I would get sending him back so you could have a middle infield made up of a combination of Negron, Valaika and Janish, none of whom appear to resemble a starter, while Rodriguez does.

Reds are probably saving the AAA spots for major league depth. This could be a clue that they plan to hold onto Janish and use him at AAA. Same with Valaika. So HRod goes to AA.

Might look for Louisville to be mostly a squad of veteran replacement players, with the better prospects at AA this year.

With a few exceptions, like Soto.

[Tadasimha]

Somewhat surprised that Lutz was sent to Bakersfield. Given his 2011 with Dayton and his performance this spring I expected him to wind up in Pensacola to start 2012.

As was previously mentioned, that might still happen, of course. Seems to me he's definately ready to move up in the system.

[dougdirt]

Somewhat surprised that Lutz was sent to Bakersfield. Given his 2011 with Dayton and his performance this spring I expected him to wind up in Pensacola to start 2012.

As was previously mentioned, that might still happen, of course. Seems to me he's definately ready to move up in the system.

That last guy I can think of who skipped A+ was Cozart. It just doesn't happen much.

[The DARK]

That last guy I can think of who skipped A+ was Cozart. It just doesn't happen much.

Maybe so, but Bakersfield isn't exactly an ideal location for your prospects, and Lynchburg was the high A affiliate when Cozart was there. Perhaps the Reds organization believes in that club more than we do.

[dougdirt]

Maybe so, but Bakersfield isn't exactly an ideal location for your prospects, and Lynchburg was the high A affiliate when Cozart was there. Perhaps the Reds organization believes in that club more than we do.

A guy still needs to be ready to make that jump. Lutz is a pretty raw player, and while I really liked the strides he made in the 2nd half, I think that jumping him over High-A could really cause him to struggle.

[RED VAN HOT]

A guy still needs to be ready to make that jump. Lutz is a pretty raw player, and while I really liked the strides he made in the 2nd half, I think that jumping him over High-A could really cause him to struggle.

Another reason may be a position switch to OF. In the March 16 game he was used as a RF replacement. He made the great throw to the plate to cut down the potential tying run with two out in the ninth, so he has the arm. On the other hand he looked anything but smooth when he stabbed a line drive for an out an inning earlier. His bat looks too good to be blocked behind Soto at first, so the switch to OF makes sense. Perhaps both skipping a level and switching positions is viewed as too challenging for any player, even more for one who has not played baseball all of his life. Putting him in a hitter's league makes sense to me.

[powersackers]

Another reason may be a position switch to OF. In the March 16 game he was used as a RF replacement. He made the great throw to the plate to cut down the potential tying run with two out in the ninth, so he has the arm. On the other hand he looked anything but smooth when he stabbed a line drive for an out an inning earlier. His bat looks too good to be blocked behind Soto at first, so the switch to OF makes sense. Perhaps both skipping a level and switching positions is viewed as too challenging for any player, even more for one who has not played baseball all of his life. Putting him in a hitter's league makes sense to me.

Thanks for the insight and details. I'm a Lutz fan since I caught his Grand Slam at Dayton last year. Nice guy, signed the ball.