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Hall of Fame baseball writer Hal McCoy is in his 36th year of covering the Cincinnati Reds, the longest tenure for any active writer covering one team. Counting spring training and postseason games, McCoy has covered more than 7,000 major-league baseball games, written close to 18,000 baseball stories and eaten enough hot dogs to give Babe Ruth indigestion.Home > Blogs > The Real McCoy | Cincinnati Reds baseball news > Archives > 2009 > February > 15
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Bailey once again focus of attention
The list of candidates for the fifth starting spot on the Cincinnati Reds reads like my wife’grocery list - long and varied, with some recognizable and some in undisclosed packages.
Even manager Dusty Baker had to ask a writer to move from in front of a roster listed on the wall so he could run down the names so as not to miss any.
Oh, we know about Michah Owings. And we know about Homer Bailey. And we know about Daryl Thompson. We know about Ramon Ramirez (a little bit).
“We have a lot of guys,” said Baker. “We even have guys we’re going to stretch out (guys who have worked in the bullpen like Nick Masset). We’ll get some extended looks at Matt Maloney and Sam Lecure, James Avery, Ben Jukich and Jordan Smith.
Who?
“I say there are one or two surpises in there,” said Baker.
Because of the World Baseball Classic, spring training is longer than normal this year and because some players will leave camp to play for their countries (Edinson Volquez? Johnny Cueto?) there will be innings available for pitchers while the others are gone - a chance to prove something.
“While I’m no longer new around here, there are still a lot of guys I don’t know and haven’t seen,” said Baker. “I can look at scouting reports and video, but there is nothing like seeing people in person.”
Bailey? Is he the front-runner for No. 5? This is his fourth major-league camp and everyone continues to await his emergence. He was the anointed one in camp last spring, but fizzled and ended up going 0-6 with a 7.93 ERA in eight major-league starts and was 4-7 in 18 starts at Class AAA Louisville.
“Hope put the big name in camp on him because he happens to be a No. 1 draft choice (2004),” said Baker. “Here’s the ball, Homer. I’m not going to put any pressure on him other than what he puts on himself. I’m pulling for him, big-time. He is one of the guys in the mix.
“He’s had some opportunity, but he is still so young,” Baker added. “He’s not close to having his opportunities exhausted. He’s 22. We’ve just heard about him forever. You’d think he was 30 years old. We’ll keep trying to instruct him. The ball is in his hand.”
And that’s fine with Bailey.
“I had a pretty good off-season and that always helps,” he said. “I feel good physically. Just another year of opportunity.
“I took November off, then in December I started working out Monday through Friday, then went hunting on the weekends,” he said.
Somebody asked if Bailey had put on weight, but he said to the contrary, he lost weight. “I ended the season at 215 and now I’m at 205. They said gaining weight wouldn’t hurt me, but I feel better than I ever felt.”
A spot in the rotation and some success would make him feel even better.
And if not, Baker even mentioned some guys who in rotation consideration could move to long relief, where a couple of spots are up for determination. And he said Bailey7 cold be one of those.
“I’ve never pitched in relief,” said Bailey. “But whatever Dusty wants, whatever he asks, I’m willing to do. I’ll play first base if he asks - although I’m sure it’ll never come to that.”
