Reds' rotation still undecided as spring training nears

Johnny Cueto, Homer Bailey and Mike Leake are at the top of the Reds' 2015 rotation heading into spring training, that much is certain. It's the other two spots that are unknown even as pitchers and catchers report to Goodyear, Ariz., in less than a month.

With the trades of Mat Latos and Alfredo Simon, Reds manager Bryan Price is entering spring with the biggest questions he's faced regarding his five starting pitchers since his first year in Cincinnati in 2010, when he was the team's pitching coach.

"We really went into that spring not knowing what our starting rotation was going to look like one-through-five," Price said on Thursday morning at the kickoff event of the Reds Caravan, which tours parts of five states through Sunday. "We knew we had Bronson (Arroyo), we had (Aaron) Harang, but (Edinson) Volquez was coming in off of surgery and a handful of young prospects, but somehow we carved out a pretty nice rotation for a playoff team."

Despite detractors and doubters, that's exactly how Price sees his team going into 2015, even with the questions in the rotation.

"We feel like we have a competitive team, it's not a rebuild situation, we have to feel as confident as we can one-through-five in our rotation," Price said. "It'd be nice to just see Tony Cingrani after the shoulder issues, make sure he's healthy, get more familiar with (Anthony) DeSclafani, although we know he's very capable and certainly one of the favorites to make our rotation."

Cingrani and DeSclafani are the favorites to fill the back two spots in the rotation, Price said, but he did note, "We don't want to be giving away jobs on our ballclub in January."

Last spring, Cingrani was given a spot in the rotation before getting to Goodyear. After a dominant first start, Cingrani battled ineffectiveness and a left shoulder injury. He was sent down to the minors in July, only to go on the disabled list before he could pitch a game for Louisville. Cingrani didn't have surgery on the shoulder, but did receive a platelet-rich plasma injection last season to help promote healing.

DeSclafani, 24, was received from the Marlins along with minor-league catcher Chad Wallach in the deal that sent Mat Latos to Miami. Last year with the Marlins, DeSclafani was 2-2 with a 6.27 ERA in 13 total games, including five starts. DeSclafani was 1-2 with a 7.40 ERA as a starter before being moved to the bullpen, where he was 1-0 with a 3.12 ERA. He also made 19 starts (and one relief appearance) in the minors last season, going 6-7 with a 3.78 ERA between Double-A Jacksonville and Triple-A New Orleans.

"I couldn't be happier to have DeSclafani and Cingrani ready to go," Price said Thursday. "I think they'd be strong candidates for our rotation. It'd be nice for them to come in, pitch well and be ready to go for spring. But we'll certainly look at (Raisel) Iglesias and (David) Holmberg and Jason Marquis as other options."

The Reds signed Marquis to a minor-league deal on Wednesday and invited the 36-year-old to big-league camp. Holmberg struggled early in the season, but went 2-1 with a 2.50 ERA in three starts at the end of the season when he had to rejoin the rotation.

And then there's Iglesias, who Price admitted could be the X-factor for the Reds' pitching staff. The 25-year-old right-hander was signed to a seven-year, $27-million contract last June as a free agent from Cuba. However, because he came from Cuba, he'd gone more than a year without pitching in a competitive situation, so the Reds had to bring him along slowly. He also wasn't able to get to the United States until more than two months after he signed.

Iglesias pitched in the Reds' instructional league and also in the Arizona Fall League, where he allowed only a single hit in his seven one-inning appearances against the game's top prospects. He struck out seven and walked three in those seven scoreless innings.

Since signing Iglesias, the Reds have said they project him as a starter in the future, despite the fact that he was mostly a reliever in Cuba. Price saw Iglesias pitch several times in Arizona in both the instructional league and the AFL, and nothing he saw changed his mind.

"(I saw) four pitches with command — that spells out starting pitcher, especially when it's plus-stuff across the board," Price said. "He was 93-97, so the velocity is there. The action on his fastball is there, much better changeup than I anticipated seeing and two quality breaking balls and a good feel. His last (appearance) that he made in the fall league, he had two strikeouts on 3-2 breaking balls. That type of confidence and ability to execute those pitches in those situations suggests he's a little bit more advanced than a lot of guys who are getting their first chance to get to the big leagues."

With the fact that Iglesias hasn't pitched much in the last two years, Price said they will be careful not to rush him, which could change his role.

"How much can he handle as far as workload goes? What's the readiness factor against Major League caliber players?" Price said. "We're confident he's going to be the type of guy that is going to do a phenomenal job for us and hopefully pitch for us in the big leagues, if it's on Opening Day or the Opening Day roster, if he's in the rotation or bullpen, that's undetermined at this time. Long-term, we see him as a starting pitcher. The question is, do we feel comfortable giving him enough innings or opportunities to be a starter in our rotation all year long."

At this point, that's a question that can be asked of more than just Iglesias.