Reds 5 at 5: Reds and WBC, Tony Cingrani, More

1. No other Reds on the 40-man was named to WBC teams…yet

Oct 9, 2012; Cincinnati, OH, USA; Votto warms up during batting practice prior to the game against the San Francisco Giants in game three of the 2012 NLDS at Great American Ballpark. (Frank Victores-USA TODAY Sports)

Not Joey Votto (he needs special clearance due to insurance-related stuff, but Canada is holding its last roster spot for him). Not Johnny Cueto (he needs special clearance, too, according to Enrique Rojas of ESPN Deportes). None. Including Brandon Phillips, there are a total (yes, I said total) of four Reds players that will be participating in the WBC. Minor leaguers  Van Mil (Netherlands), Ray Chang (China) and Chris Manno (Spain) were named to their perspective teams later in the day.

And I’m fine with so few. In fact, BP himself was reluctant to be a member of the US provisional roster. It was Joe Torre, manager for Team USA, who persuaded BP (via Mark Sheldon on Reds. com).

"“He’s one of the best managers in baseball and was a great player also,” Phillips said. “I was going back and forth on doing it. I didn’t know if I wanted to really play in the WBC at the beginning. But my conversation with Joe Torre and everything he was saying to me, he convinced me to do it. I always wanted to do it in the past, and seeing how it was on TV and everything — [but also] all the players getting hurt or starting off real slow during the season.”"

If you read yesterday’s 5 at 5, you noticed a poll I within that post. I asked how you felt about Reds players taking part in the WBC. You can go back to that post to find that poll or you can head to your right and scroll down this page a little in order to find the poll.

Of course, no one should forget that Barry Larkin is the manager for Team Brazil either.

2. Cingrani on his 2012 and move to the starter’s role

Tony Cingrani is far from the norm on how the Reds “operate” their farm system these days. Going from High-A to the bigs within one season? That’s not a common sight, but he performed well at every level. Skipped Louisville, but he’ll start 2013 there.

Bats fans will have a nice 1-2 punch for the 2013 season with Cingrani and Daniel Corcino.

3. Speaking of Reds prospects…

Many a website is in the process of or has already divulging their list of Reds prospects. The Good Guys may hold one of baseball’s more intriguing prospects in Amir Garrett. Jon Davis of Redlegs Review takes a look at Garrett.

As Davis notes, some have compared Garrett to Aroldis Chapman. That may be too high praise considering Garrett has been so limited this far in his baseball career (only 20 innings). Being a lefty usually doesn’t hurt matters. Garrett also is a forward for Steve Lavin at St. John’s University on their hoops squad.

Davis admits he might have Garrett a bit too high on his list, but I’ve noticed that some prospect lists having more than 10 listed, Garrett’s name is one that is likely to appear, although not on all of them.

4. You’re right, Lisa. Lance isn’t Pete. He’s not even close.

I’m sure some of us have had our fill of the whole Lance Armstrong interview and what not, but here’s an article where Lisa Stewart of Examiner.com declares that there should be no comparing Armstrong to the Hit King. I, too, find the comparison a little confounding. Even a little disturbing, but upon reading Stewart’s piece, we should all feel better since she tells us any comparison is off because of this:

"While Pete Rose also lied regarding breaking the rules in his sport of baseball, his lies were about placing bets. When Pete Rose took the field, every ounce of talent he brought to the baseball diamond was pure Pete Rose. Every one of his record breaking hits and every shred of hustle came from no other source than Rose."

Hard to argue this point, isn’t it? I would say any comparisons are pure dung. I get why it’s being done. Both waited so long to “come clean”, but that’s where any and all comparisons needs to cease.

The only thing that was dirty about Pete was his uniform.

5. Keeping score?

I know there are still a number of baseball fans that love to keep score at games. There are those that keep score even if they are viewing a game on TV, their computer or by other means. Well, there is a site that can help you here. Some of you may know of it: Eephus League. The site has some excellent material that can aid you with your score keeping skills and even includes a shop, but that’s not why I mention it.

The site is more than that. So much more. I encourage every baseball fan to browse the site. I think you’ll like what you see.