3 stories from Reds Opening Day that we'll be talking about tomorrow

3. The Reds bullpen needs some help.

Okay, so at least we're not seeing names like Cam Bedrosian, Sal Romano, Cionel Pérez, and Carson Fulmer. But, the Cincinnati Reds bullpen is still the weak-link of this team and there are bound to be a bunch of bumps in the road.

Lucas Sims will start the season on the Injured List. While the Reds did add Hunter Strickland to the back of the bullpen, the team also lost Michael Lorenzen, Mychal Givens, and Amir Garrett. With AG now in Kansas City, Cincinnati enters the 2022 season with only one left-handed reliever.

Tony Santillan, who was battling for a spot in the rotation during spring training, was sent to the bullpen. I do believe the hard-throwing right-hander will be the Reds best reliever in 2022, but this team cannot rely on just one or two relievers in order to get outs late in games.

After an unsuccessful rookie season, Ryan Hendrix is back in the Reds bullpen. Newcomers Daniel Duarte and Alexis Diaz have potential, but neither rookie has any experience at the major league level. Duarte played four games at Triple-A last season and Diaz hasn't played above Double-A.

Much of the success or failure of the Cincinnati Reds 2022 season may be dictated by how the relief corps performs. Tejay Antone is out for the season, and while there are some young, talented arms, the bullpen has too much inexperience to hold up over the long haul.