Now Pitching For The Cincinnati Reds…

Some might argue that Homer Bailey doesn’t deserve a “Now Pitching For…” post; after all, it is an honor typically reserved for prospects who are just arriving on the major league scene, not ones who appeared in nine games and pitched 45.3 innings in 2007.  

When I saw that the Reds were calling Bailey up to make a start on Thursday, however, doing this post was the first thing that popped into my head.  Though he had that big league experience a year ago, he started 2008 with Louisville (AAA-International League), where control problems kept him from advancing sooner.  Even now, it doesn’t exactly sound like Dusty Baker and Company are excited to have him in Cincinnati.  MiLB.com’s Mark Sheldon noted the difference between Bailey’s 2007 and 2008 arrivals:

When Bailey was first set to debut in 2007, he was heralded as a potential savior for a struggling team. With his 2008 debut nearing, Bailey is just Thursday’s pitcher, as Reds manager Dusty Baker didn’t exactly offer heaps of praise when asked about the timing of the call up.

“Well, I don’t know if it was timing,” Baker said Monday. “Sometimes, there’s necessity. How many other guys do we have on the [40-man] roster? Anybody else we’d have to put on the roster.”

Sounds like they’re really expecting a lot out of the kid in the near future.

This was mentioned in a previous post on Jay Bruce, but can you imagine what the Reds will look like in a year or two if the young starting pitching pans out?  We’re talking about a rotation of Bailey, Johnny Cueto, Edinson Volquez, Aaron Harang and Bronson Arroyo.  Couple that with the promising young lineup, and Reds fans might have reason to be optimistic.