CINCINNATI REDS

The Reds showed no signs of life in 2011, seemingly playing worse than they did in 2010, finishing 79-83, 17 games behind Milwaukee. In 2010 they won their division, then in ’11 they fall back to ’09 and third place!

They are not a bad hitting club, overall finishing 7^th in runs scored, 14^th in Batting average, 9^th in on base percentage and 12th in slugging percentage. Their trouble is the gave up too many runs, with an ERA of 4.16, ranking them 20^th, and opponents hitting at a .255 clip.

Joey Votto 1B is a superstar, and proved it, hitting .309 with 29 Homers, 103 RBI’s an On Base Percentage of .416 and collected 185 hits. Jay Bruce added another 32 homers to lead the club in that department. Their best starting pitcher was Mike Leake, posting a 12-9 record and a 3.86 ERA 118 K’s, and 37 saves from Francisco Cordero.

Their #1 prospect, David Mesoraco C, will probably join the big club this year.

RYAN MADSON

In the free agent marketplace: their closer Francisco Cordero signed on with Toronto, Ramon Hernandez C, signed with Colorado, Edgar Renteria may not be back, and one time pitching sensation Dontrell Willis jumped to Philadelphia. They did a lot to help themselves this winter with the signing of Ryan Madson RP, 2.37 ERA with 32 saves for 1 year, $8.5 million.

Other than the signing of Madson to replace Cordero, the Reds failed to help themselves, and will probably stay in 3^rd place or fall to the bottom.