As for my Reds, I have several hopes/expectations this season, and none of them involve anything remotely related to contending (we probably won't until 2019 or 2020 so it's going to be a long, dark road
). But they are:1) Price figuring out the rotation as the season goes along, and how many young pitchers we have actually start over the entire season. Our rotation to start the season consists of DeSclafani, Iglesias, Finnegan, Simon, and no clue (Melville is the name I've seen thrown around most often for now). Bailey is still recovering from TJ and probably won't be ready for the first month of the season. Lamb is still having back issues that will keep him out until mid to late April. Lorenzen's timeline I'm not sure on yet but he won't be ready for a few more weeks either. I feel like I remember reading recently that Disco isn't going to be the opening day starter, which befuddles me because he's probably the best option we have. But oh well.
2) Developing the small army of young arms we have. With all the pitchers we've acquired from our trades over the last season and a half, we could easily crush the record for most different pitchers used in a starting rotation by any team in a single season. While that is certainly no indication of a team that will be contending for a World Series or even the playoffs, it will be interesting to see which guys look to project as long-term starters vs. bullpen arms. Lord knows we are sorely lacking on both. Not to mention some more decent pieces could become trade chips later on for when we are contending (for the younger guys) or for guys who could rebound and give us some decent prospects in trades before the All-Star Break this season (looking at you, Big Pasta
)3) Hoping Bruce rebounds this season, so that we get more out of him when we trade him in June or July to a contender.
4) What we get out of the Bruce and Cozart trades. I think those are the two that are most certain to happen. No need to keep Cozy Bear when his enormous defensive value will greatly benefit a contender. I'm just hoping he can manage to hang around .260 and have a decent OBP to raise his value even more.
5) This one is a pipe dream, but I would absolutely love to see us actually make an attempt to trade Votto. Yes, such a move would indicate this team is literally going to strip out every valuable part for prospects. And yes, we would certainly have to eat some amount of his contract. But if you are going to go all-in on a rebuild (I don't care what Jocketty says publicly about this being a "retooling" effort, it is a full rebuild), you have to at least entertain trading the face of your franchise. After his season last year, this year may be the last where Votto's value is at or near it's peak. Any large-market contending team would be hungry and give up a small army of blue-chip level prospects for him. I just think it's BS that this front office sits on their hands and goes "Well he has a full no-trade clause, so obviously since it didn't work out with Phillips, it won't work out in this case!
" Given how much more revenue is probably going to flow to the Reds and the league as a whole of the upcoming CBA, Votto's contract may end up being closer to market value rather than an albatross. So if we are able to convince him to be traded to a contender, then I think this is an avenue well worth exploring. You can't hurt anything just by trying, right?