Cincinnati Reds somehow end up looking long at Luis Castillo, Rookie Davis and Sal Romano

In an off-season that saw them trade Dan Straily, the Cincinnati Reds find themselves looking at inexperienced starting pitchers.

This was not supposed to happen again to the Cincinnati Reds.  They were supposed to have elite prospects ready to pitch in the big leagues.  Instead, they signed a questionable veteran and began to scour their developmental rosters for pitchers to hold the staff together.

In a twist of fate, the Reds acquired one of the pitchers that they looked at to replace Dan Straily in the deal that sent Straily to the Miami Marlins.  Luis Castillo came over with Isaiah White and Austin Brice for Straily.  Brice may make the roster as a reliever, but Castillo was the surprise this spring.

Castillo pitched in three games for the Reds this spring.  His first and his third made them stand up and notice.  The middle game, however, cost him his long shot at making the major league roster out of camp. In his middle game, he allowed his only two runs of the spring in just one inning of work.

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Castillo is only in his second season as a starter, so his was the longest of shots.  He will likely open the season at Double-A Pensacola.  The Reds have already sent Castillo over to the minor league camp to get ready for the minor league season.

Sal Romano and Rookie Davis have been the talk of the Cincinnati Reds’ camp even with little professional experience.

While Romano and Davis have impressed in camp, their lack of experience has been somewhat glazed over.  Davis has a total of five games above Double-A, while Romano has none.  Davis and Romano were taken out of high school in the 14th and 23rd rounds, respectively.

These are young men who are still getting their feet securely under them in professional baseball.  They are also the likely best two options that the Reds will have for the last spot in the rotation.  One of them may even start the season in the rotation, if Bronson Arroyo can’t get ready on time.

Next: Sal Romano tries to hold off Rookie Davis

Whether either of them makes the rotation or not, it is a failure of the front office that they are being seriously considered.  Robert Stephenson and Tim Adleman should have been training for this scenario all off-season.  Now the team is relying on two youngsters to carry the load.  Davis and Romano appear up to the task, but that doesn’t make it right to ask them to do this.