Reds Opening Day Starter

What is Dusty Bakers love affair with Volquez? He used him as the number one starter against the Phillies for the division playoff series and Volquez bombed.

Now Baker wants to use him for Opening Day. I would have thought that Baker had learned his lesson and would give the ball to a more experienced pitcher like Arroyo. I know Volquez had that one great season, but so far that is all he has had, and since coming back from Tommy John surgery his starts have been erratic and shaky at best.

I know Volquez is pretty much lights out when he is on his game, but he hasn't gotten that back yet.

I recently read on reds.com that Cueto's bicep was hurting him during an outing, and he was taken to Cincinnati for further tests. I really hope he is okay and the Reds don't lose a player to the disabled list even before the season starts.

I know its to be expected that a couple of players will have some stints on the disabled list through out the season, but I was really looking forward to Cueto pitching, because he had such a good last season.

I Don't Follow Spring Training

I like to read most of the scarce articles about baseball during the winter although now it is much easier to follow your team with the Internet then when I was a kid. But I just don't like to read about all the spring training stories and injuries. Well if it was a major injury to a known player then I probably would have a hard time not hearing about it.

Spring training seems to be baseballs way of hyping up the new season. But most of the regular players don't play that much at first and many younger and minor league players are working their tails off to make the team.

I like to wait until I know the roster is close to being finalized before I get attached to a player who might not even make the team.

I did read a story about Cueto, it was about his work ethic, and now that he has a three year contract, is he going to maintain the work ethic that got him there, or is he going to resort back to the younger Cueto who didn't work as hard.

I'm a little worried about this myself. I know players will never admit to not working as hard, but you can't help but notice that some players stats will drop a little bit after they sign that big contract.