Cincinnati Reds 5 at 5: History, Roster, More

Our 5 at 5 will have a tremendous comeback, a roster ranking and some more news stuff on Scott Rolen.

1. Reds comeback v. Cubs – 20,000 days ago

Chris Jaffe of The Hardball Times is excellent at providing historical anniversaries, day-versaries. etc, as they pertain to baseball matters. Today, Jaffe gives us one of the greatest comebacks in Reds history.

On May 8, 1958, the Reds overcame a five-run deficit to beat the Chicago Cubs. That was 20,000 days ago. I failed to mention the Reds were in that five run hole entering the 9th inning.

You can get all the info about the Reds comeback from Jaffe’s article. Seeing names such as Nuxhall, Lynch and Robinson will get your head spinning a little as well get you amped up for the beginning of spring training.

Sep 4, 2012; Cincinnati, OH, USA; One pressing question for the Cincinnati Reds in ’13? The move of Aroldis Chapman from closer to the rotation. (Frank Victores-USA TODAY Sports)

2. Reds have MLB’s #3 roster

Don’t think too many will disagree that the 2013 version of the Good Guys is arguably one of the the best (if not the best) roster as of recent times. Over the last three days, I’ve been providing links to a few articles authored by Anthony Castrovince of MLB.com. Today, he lists the top 10 rosters as we head into the 2013 season.

Castrovince believes Cincy has baseball’s third best roster, a far cry from last year. While the Reds had one of baseball’s best rotations and bullpens, the lack of bench depth did little to help Dusty’s guys. Things have changed with the signing of Jack Hannahan and trading for Shin-Soo Choo and Jason Donald. And Walt added a little more depth in the ‘pen with Aroldis Chapman moving to the rotation.

3. The Rolen soap opera saga continues

That subtitle infers that I’m being a little harsh on Rolen. Not meaning to do so, but with spring training inching closer and we’ve heard for many a day that a decision should be by (insert the appropriate amount of time), it is apparent some type of stalemate has developed. And we still have no clue.

John Fay asked Reds CEO Bob Castellini about it. Castellini told Fay that “it’s up to Scott.” This signals (to me, anyway) that the Reds have imparted to Rolen where they stand considering current makeup of the Reds roster.

4. This Biogenesis thing

Since the Miami New Times article was originally released, a number of players have been identified within the notes of Anthony “Tony” Bosch and their potential involvement with Biogenesis, an anti-aging clinic. That article released the names of six players with MLB experience as Bosch “patients”. The initial release of names and notes within the story indicated specific PEDs and the association with those players.

Well, the list continues to grow, but there’s a difference here. The latest names released (there have been five more by my count) have no mention of PEDs and deal mostly with monetary notations such as amount owed to Bosch. The Miami New Times did not release the names of these players because no mention of specific PEDs were within Bosch’s hand-written notes. Again, the court of public opinion seems to rule over everything here.

Of the 11 names that have been currently revealed, there are two discernible “traits” attached. Five of those named (either with specific PED mentions or in other forms) are represented by ACES. The other deals with ties, in some form or another, to the University of Miami rather through playing for the Hurricanes or having played high school baseball within the Miami area.

Worth noting is Jimmy Goins, the assistant strength and conditioning coach of Miami, is also prominently mentioned. Goins could be cleared of any wrongdoing.

5. Remember Strat-O-Matic?

It’s back. Seriously, it is.