Cincinnati Reds take a look at pitchers for 2018 in 2017

With the roster expanded, the Cincinnati Reds can look at all of their options for 2018 at one time.

The Cincinnati Reds have 19 of the 21 pitchers currently on their 40 man roster in a big league uniform.  Keury Mella hasn’t made his MLB debut yet.  Barrett Astin also didn’t return when the rosters expanded.

Three pitchers know that they will be back and know what their roles will be in 2018.  Wandy Peralta and Raisel Iglesias know that they will be in the bullpen.  Luis Castillo knows that he will be in the rotation, but the rest of the staff is fluid.

The pitcher that looks to have a future with an unknown role is Luke Farrell.  He is the son of John Farrell, manager of Boston Red Sox.  He was with the Kansas City Royals and Los Angeles Dodgers organizations as a starting pitching prospect.  He came back when the rosters expanded.

Speaking of starting pitching prospects, the Reds’ own prospect, Jackson Stephens, looks to need some more seasoning.  He has the look of a starter, but the output of a reliever.  He just needs some more time before the Reds pass judgment on him.

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Tyler Mahle is similar to Stephens, but the opposite.  He likely will start the season in the rotation in 2018.  He could have more seasoning, but there is no reason to hold him back any longer.

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Those six are the good pitchers for the Cincinnati Reds, while the rest of the options are OK or worse.

Brandon Finnegan and Michael Lorenzen are mirror images of each other.  One is a lefty and the other a righty, while one is a starter turned reliever and the other is a reliever turned starter.  One of these two will likely end up the set-up man next year and the other will likely end up in the rotation.

The pending free agents, Drew Storen and Scott Feldman, will not return.  Neither one of them was groundbreaking and neither was atrocious.  They will both have offers with better teams.

Sal Romano showed enough this season to have an inside track on a spot in the starting rotation.  He has options left and needs to work on his consistency, but his stuff is MLB ready.  He, Luis, and Tyler are all penciled into next season’s rotation already.

Next: Adam Duvall has another slump!

That leaves a group of mismatched relievers, underachieving prospects, and injured stars.  There are two or three places left for that group of pitchers.  After that the rest will start 2018 somewhere else.