By Thaq Diesel

Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports has this little comment after rating the Reds 27th out of 30 teams for next season.  “So how, exactly, did this team win 80 games last season?”

I read this a few days ago and it keeps echoing in my head.  There was a reason people (including yours truly) sold the Reds short at the end of Spring Training last year.  On paper, Cincinnati just doesn’t look very impressive.  The sum is greater than the parts.  As of todasy, other than bolstering the defense, the Reds haven’t done much to improve last year’s team.  They need another starter and a closer; we’re still waiting for that to materialize.  So, based on Passan’s comments above, what separates the Reds from the Kansas City Royals and puts them in the top 10 teams, based on last year’s results?

• Griffey, Dunn – Power / runs
• Two solid starting pitchers.
• Intangibles – Hatteberg, Javier Valentin [clutch hitting]; Brandon Phillips [Power, speed, defense - each shown at opportune times].
• Depth in the middle relief.  The bullpen is a war of mediocre attrition. 

It’s tough to make the case that this is a playoff team, but the Reds almost pulled it off last year.  And their defense cost them a solid 10 games to say nothing of the 10-15 the bullpen cost them.  Maybe they’re even better than we don’t think they are right now [my first Yogi Berra statement].  I just can’t explain it, but the fact that the Reds are competitive makes me happy.

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