Cincinnati Reds

Bruuuuuce.

It's a sound that Reds fans bellow every time Jay Bruce steps up to the plate.

Outsiders may think the noise is some sort of boo. The reality is quite the opposite—Bruce is a vital piece of the 2010 Cincinnati Reds, and the fans know it.

He has quickly become one of the most beloved players on the team. 

After being touted as a "can't miss" prospect coming up, he has struggled to live up to lofty expectations. After a red-hot start to his pro career in '08, his bat has cooled off mightily.

Seems like every year at about this time in the season, Reds' fans and their "Pro-Pete Cooperstown" articles pop-up more than Miley Cyrus television appearances—and with equal annoyance.

Pete Rose deserves a plaque less than Billy Ripken.

Anyone who is the least bit familiar with my writings knows that to deny my love for the Cincinnati Reds is akin to a rock 'n roll fan saying, "Yeah, that John Lennon, he sorta knew how to write a song—but Miley is better."

Gambling on baseball is the game's only cardinal sin.  

There’s nothing I like seeing more than a pitcher develop over the years. I’m not a fan of throwing a guy into the Major League experience with nothing prior to show for. You always see organizations rush players because of spring training stats. Usually, those players do well and then a debacle occurs.

Listed below, are the points and counterpoints that Aaron Harang supporters and critics can have regarding his prospects for the upcoming season:

Point: Yes, something is wrong.

Counterpoint: No, Aaron Harang will be back to his former self in 2010.

P: Something is wrong with his mechanics.

CP: What is this based on?

P: Harang has been tinkering with his mechanics over the past few years. He needs to get back to what was working.

Aroldis Chapman was forced to leave an exhibition game on Monday, March 22, versus the Colorado Rockies with what my best friend and mentor, Hal McCoy, described as, "a twinge in his back, or stiffness in his back, or tightness in his back."

Either way, the Cuban flame thrower has a sore back. 

The band Alkaline Trio once sang, "When you're only 23 it's not attractive to complain about your sore back."

For Reds' fans the news is less than "attractive"; in fact, it's just plain scary. 

No sport uses the word "purity" as much as baseball. Fans are obsessed with the idea and hold its athletes to a higher standard than the NBA, or NFL. So when a player does something to hurt the integrity of the game—outrage ensues.

Pete Rose gambled on the Reds for four plus years as the player/manager of the Reds in the late 1980's. He directly affected the outcome of the game.

Dozens of players in the late 1980's to the mid 2000's used performance-enhancing drugs as a way to stay competitive. Not every player chose to use PED's and there stats and paychecks suffer because of it.

As anyone who has read examples of my past writing can attest, I tend to focus a lot of my historical analysis pieces on the Hall of Fame. Today, I will divert myself from that path a little bit to argue my Hall of Fame case for a great in our generation whose contributions have been highly underrated: Scott Rolen.

I know the few weeks in spring training is insufficient time to make a detailed performance rating, but if not now, when?

Yonder Alonso is not striking fear in the Reds opponents, or his competitors at his prospective position(s).

For the second consecutive year, the Cincinnati Reds entered Spring Training looking for someone to fill the fifth spot in their starting rotation.

Last season, the competition between Micah Owings and Homer Bailey ended with Owings winning the job.  However, it was Bailey that eventually took a firm grip on a spot in the rotation as he finished the season strong and rekindled the optimism that once hovered over the young right-hander.

Baseball's oldest professional franchise has witnessed plenty of illustrious talent over it's 141 years of existence. The Reds have five World Series championships and five Hall of Fame players.

The historic franchise has gone from pioneers Harry and George Wright wining 130 straight games, to being on the other side of the 1919 Black Sox scandal, all the way up to Marge Schott, Sean Casey and Adam Dunn.