Fangraphs looks at the 2011 Reds team...

[texasdave]

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/team-preview-cincinnati-reds/

[Kingspoint]

Always enjoy Fangraphs' articles.

[signalhome]

Always enjoy Fangraphs' articles.

Personally my favorite baseball website. I really don't want to know how much time I've spent there and at Baseball Reference.

Article was a good read, especially about the Reds having five or six No. 3 guys in the rotation (I think that's what it said; read it last night, so my memory may be a bit off). The good news is that a few of those #3 guys have the potential to be #1 or #2 guys. Man I'm excited about this year.

[Pony Boy]

Personally my favorite baseball website. I really don't want to know how much time I've spent there and at Baseball Reference.

Article was a good read, especially about the Reds having five or six No. 3 guys in the rotation (I think that's what it said; read it last night, so my memory may be a bit off). The good news is that a few of those #3 guys have the potential to be #1 or #2 guys. Man I'm excited about this year.

You would have to have a hell of a rotation for Cueto or Bronson to be your #3 pitcher.

[signalhome]

You would have to have a hell of a rotation for Cueto or Bronson to be your #3 pitcher.

Not necessarily. I'll do a quick run through all the NL teams, for each team posting the top two ERA guys among people who started at least 18 games last year (18 games in order to account for guys who may have been injured for some of the year). Cueto was 3.64, Arroyo 3.88. ERA is far from the best indicator of pitching performance, but it will at least provide a quick comparison.

Arizona: Ian Kennedy 3.80, Dan Haren 3.91 (4.60 ERA in the 21 games he pitched for Arizona, he was then traded to LAA)
Atlanta: Tim Hudson 2.83, Tommy Hanson 3.33
Chicago: Carlos Zambrano 3.33, Ted Lilly 3.69. If you want to exclude Zambrano since 16 of his appearances were in relief, Ryan Dempster posted a 3.85 ERA.
Colorado: Ubaldo Jimenez 2.88, Jhoulys Chacin 3.28
Florida: Josh Johnson 2.30, Anibal Sanchez 3.55
Houston: Roy Oswalt 2.76 (3.42 in 20 games for Houstin, then traded to PHI), Brett Myers 3.14
Los Angeles: Clayton Kershaw 2.91, Hiroki Kuroda 3.39
Milwaukee: Yovani Gallardo 3.84, Randy Wolf 4.17
New York: R. A. Dickey 2.84, Johan Santana 2.98
Philadelphia: Roy Halladay 2.44, Cole Hamels 3.06
Pittsburgh: Ross Ohlendorf 4.07, Jeff Karstens 4.92. James McDonald posted a 3.52 ERA, but that was in only 11 starts.
San Diego: Mat Latos 2.92, Jon Garland 3.47
San Francisco: Madison Bumgarner 3.00, Jonathan Sanchez 3.07. Let's not forget they also have Lincecum (3.43) and Cain (3.14).
St. Louis: Adam Wainwright 2.42, Jaime Garcia 2.70
Washington: Livan Hernandez 3.66, John Lannan 4.65

Just going by ERA, which is honestly far from perfect, the only teams where they would slot in as better than a #3 are Arizona, Chicago (barely), Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, and Washington (barely). The good thing about the Reds' rotation is its depth and potential, not necessarily what it did last year -- remember, Cincinnati's SP ERA last year was 4.05, only 10th in the NL.

[LeDoux]

I am not sure I would describe Mike Leake as a "ground ball machine." The guy reminds me of Danny Graves for better or worse.