Dusty Baker looks to improve a very bad Reds team which finished 72-90 last year. It looks like the Reds are looking to the future with prospects Homer Bailey, Jay Bruce, and Joey Votto. Just to name a few. The Reds did manage to keep Adam Dunn, Ken Griffey Jr, Aaron Harrang, Brandon Phillips and Bronson Arroyo. The Reds had one major problem last year and that was there bullpen. Here is what they did to improve it.

The Reds signed Dominican star Jose Capellan and former Pirates pitcher Josh Fogg. Probabaly their biggest move this year was the signing of Brewers close Francisco Cordero. I think these players could make a huge impact on their horrible bullpen.

The "old" Reds will be trying to make an impact on the Reds. Adam Dunn will be looking for his 5th straight season with 40 homeruns. The only things he needs to improve is his batting average and he needs to try to not strike out as much. Griifey will be looking to become the 5th player with 600 homeruns. He needs to hit 7 this year to get to 600. If he can stay healthy I think he can hit about 30 homeruns this upcoming year. The other major contributor is second baseman Brandon Phillips. He will be looking to repeat his 30-30 performance of last year. He also got 187 hits last year and if he does that this year that will help the Reds big time. Harrang will be looking to repeat his 16-6 record last year. He had 218 strrikeouts but, he needs to bring his 3.73 ERA down to about the 2.50-3.00 range. He Harrang repeats his stats this year and brings his era down look for him to be in the NL CY Young race. Bronson Arroyo wants to be back in 2006 where he went 14-11 with 184 strikeouts and a 3.29 ERA. Last year he was 9-15 with 156 strikeouts and a 4.23 ERA.. If he does well he can make a huge diffrence in the Reds starting rotation.

I think if the Reds play well they can be a contender in the NL Central. But, I think the Cubs may be to strong this year. I predict the Reds will finish 83-79 and come in second in the Central behind the Cubs.

nice article....I am not a believer in Philllips, but I hope it works out for you guys