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Originally Posted by dalakhani
They have those three kids though. Aroldis could be a star. Leake and Wood are both highly touted.
Jay Bruce could put it together. Votto is good. Phillips is good.
This staff is fairly young and deep. Even Dusty might not screw it up.
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The staff is hardly deep. Remember Aaron Harang and Bronson Arroyo are the 1 and 2 pitchers here not Carpenter and Wainwright.
Leake and Wood are undersized guys who are 1 1/2 -2 years away from being ready to be major league regulars. Cueto is another undersized guy who may never be anything but an average number 4 or 5 starter. And in that ballpark, average is simply not good enough. Homer Bailey is the one guy they have who may have a breakout year but just as easily could go back to major suckdom as well. He finished the season very well last year after starting to throw a splitter. Volquez wont be back till late summer and cant be expected to produce much. The Cuban guy already has had a setback and really isnt a guy ready to step into a 32 start season anyway. Not to mention Dusty Baker is a pitchers nightmare.
Votto is very good, Phillips is a good 2nd baseman, Rolen is an improvement if he can stay semi healthy. But Bruce has to hit lefties better and start taking walks. The problem for guys like Bruce that arent taking enough walks is that pitchers simply dont throw them enough strikes and when they are struggling like he was last year he has too many 0-4's and wind up hitting .223. Gomes, Dickerson and Stubbs are all more 4th OF types than starters and though Stuubs is a very good CF, Gomes is a brutal fielder. They get very little from behind the plate and thier bullpen overachived last year.
They have some nice pieces but they have a lot of holes as well.