The Cincinnati Reds head into the 2008 season with a new manager (Dusty Baker) and a new face to the back end of the bullpen (Francisco Cordero). Will this help the Reds be a contender in the NL Central? Not likely, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t a few players who could help their team prove me wrong.

Ken Griffey Jr showed what he can do when he gets to play a full season, hitting .275 with 30 HR’s and 93 RBI’s. Griffey played in more games (144) than he’s played since his first season with the Reds in 2000 (145) and he showed that he’s still a force to be recogned with. There’s a lot of talk that this could be Griffey’s final year with the Reds, especially since the Reds hold a $16.5M option on him for 2009 with a $4M buyout, which I wouldn’t be surprised to see them exercise. Griffey will turn 39 this year and is in the latter part of his career, but if he has a big year in 2008, there’s definetely going to be a team willing to pick him up on a 2 or 3-year deal if the Reds don’t pick up his option.

Jay Bruce is the Reds’ top prospect and was expected to be a shoe-in to fill one of the outfield positions for Cincinnati, but all I keep hearing from new manager Dusty Baker are the names Norris Hopper and Kenny Lofton? Bruce was one of the names that Baltimore wanted when the two teams had trade talks regarding left-hander Erik Bedard a few months ago. The organization has been very high on Bruce, I can’t imagine them giving in to Baker and bringing in Kenny Lofton, and though Hopper is a good young player, he’s nowhere near what Jay Bruce is.

Francisco Cordero comes into his first season with the Cincinnati Reds after signing a 4-year $48M contract in November of 2007. He’s a proven, and something much needed by the Reds, closer that could bring 35-40 saves a year. He’s also proven that he can close games in some of the biggest hitter’s parks in baseball, notably the Ballpark at Arlington, saving 49 games as a Texas Ranger and 44 with the Milwaukee Brewers last season. If David Weathers can be a decent setup man to Cordero, we could very well see the Reds improve in the win column by at least 10-15 games in 2008.

The one guy that I think needs to have a good year for the Reds is right-hander Bronson Arroyo. Arroyo needs to have a much better year than his 9-15 record and 4.23 ERA in 2007, especially after posting a 14-11 record and a 3.29 ERA in 2006, not to mention 3 complete games that year. The Reds need Arroyo to at least win 13-16 games for them this year, he needs to be a complimentary #2 guy behind ace Aaron Harrang.

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