GOODYEAR, Ariz. -- The Reds are closer to knowing who will be in their starting rotation to begin the regular season. How that group plays out from there is still a challenge facing manager Bryan Price.
The Reds haven't had to fiddle too much with the rotation in past spring training camps. That hasn't been the case this year. The trades of Mat Latos and Alfredo Simon as well as the rehabilitation of Homer Bailey from forearm surgery last September left three spots behind Johnny Cueto and Mike Leake -- two permanent and one temporary -- open for the taking in a competition that had as many as eight candidates at the start of camp.
Price said Wednesday that left-hander Paul Maholm is out of the running for a starting spot, leaving Anthony DeSclafani, Raisel Iglesias and veteran Jason Marquis standing as candidates in the major league camp. What Price and his staff will decide over the next two-plus weeks, barring any injuries or unforeseen circumstances, is how to line up the three spots.
Bailey is scheduled to pitch live batting practice this week but has been slowed by a stomach virus that is making the rounds in the clubhouse. The expectation is that Bailey will be ready to make his first start of the regular season before the end of April but will likely miss at least two starts. Whoever the fifth starter is will be skipped one start because of the opening week schedule and then either be sent down to the minors or to the bullpen.
"You're just trying to figure out how to fit all of these guys in and how they would help your club the most," said Price. "We also have to keep in mind that Homer is a week or two weeks into the season away from coming into our rotation. Whoever the (number) five guy is, is either going to go to the bullpen or go down once Homer is back."
Iglesias' experience as a relief pitcher while playing in Cuba makes him the leading candidate to fit into that fifth spot. He started just five of the 88 games he appeared in for Isla de la Juventud of the Cuban National Series the last three years but and Reds' scouts believed he had the tools to immediately help in the bullpen when they signed him last summer. What Iglesias has shown the Reds in the Arizona Fall League and this camp is that he has good enough command of four different pitches to be an effective starter.
The question regarding Iglesias and DeSclafani is: how many innings can they be expected to throw over the course of a full season? Iglesias never threw more than 82 2/3 innings in the Cuban league, although Price said that number can be misleading because the Cuban season is much longer and pitchers also throw in scrimmages and other games that don't go into the official stats. DeSclafani, acquired from Miami in the Latos trade, threw a total of 135 1/3 innings last season between Double-A, Triple-A and then with the Marlins.
"You want to look at them as starters but then you realize, we all realize, that this guy is going to get in way excess of the amount of innings he pitched the year before," said Price. "We're all conscious of that. It's hard to take a guy that threw 110 innings or 130 innings the year before and give him 30 or 33 starts and see him up there around 180 innings if he has a good year.
"Those are the kinds you have to try to figure out how to make it work. How do you have a guy in your starting rotation that has never logged 150 innings in a season?"
The Reds have gotten at least 30 starts and 179 innings from starters 12 times over the past three seasons. Leake has been at that level all three seasons, while Cueto and Bailey have done it twice. Cueto led the National League with 243 2/3 innings last season and tied for the NL lead with 34 starts. Simon gave the Reds a surprising 32 starts with 196.1 innings last season when he subbed in for an injured Latos at the start of the season and then kept his spot.
Simon's previous highs were 16 starts and 115 2/3 innings in 2011 with Baltimore, but Simon was 33 years old last season. It's different when you're talking about a 24- or 25-year-old.
"We want to have our best team on the field," said Price, who included Michael Lorenzen when talking about young pitchers who are showing the ability to perform with the big league club but who lack experience throwing the numbers of innings a starter would be expected to reach.
"Guys with good stuff that are polished, they look like they're major-league ready. The only challenge we have is finding a way to keep them on our roster and not overtax their arms," said Price. "If you're winning it's hard to say we're going to pull the plug on this guy or send him to the minors or put him in the bullpen. It's one of the challenges we have but it's the landscape we're in. We've got to find a way to make it work."
Marquis, 36, is a guy who has experience on his side but is making a comeback from surgery on his right elbow in 2013. Marquis has made 309 career starts but none since 2013. He was signed to a non-roster deal in the offseason and has impressed Price.
"I really didn't expect to see the arm strength, the crispness of his breaking ball and the command," said Price. "From a guy who's logged a lot of innings and pitched a long time I expected him to command the strike zone and pitch. I think he's just a savvy, experienced, successful big league pitcher. I kind of anticipated he'd know how to manage a game but I've been very pleasantly surprised that his stuff is as crisp and his velocity has been as consistent as I've seen it."
Marquis started and went five innings on Wednesday against the Chicago White Sox, the longest outing of any Reds pitcher so far this spring. He retired the first nine batters in a row, including six groundball outs, but walked three and gave up five hits in the next two innings as Chicago erased a 1-0 Reds lead with four runs.
He had allowed just one run on three hits with two walks and seven strikeouts in his first three outings covering nine innings.
“I felt pretty good but not as crisp as the other days,” said Marquis. “I’m a little unhappy about the walks, especially to a guy like (Emilio) Bonifacio (leading off fourth) putting him on base with his speed.”
While Marquis is in position to be in the rotation come Opening Day, he hasn’t been told he’s won a job and he’s not assuming that to be the case.
“I just go about my job every day,” said Marquis. “That’s all I can do, is focus on what I can do whether it’s the day I pitch or the day I have to lift, I have to run, my preparation for my next start. I don’t make decisions. I never have in my career. Keep your head down and go about your business and things will take care of itself.”
