Sunday, February 13, 2000
RELIEVERS
20 battling for one spot
BY CHRIS HAFT
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Relievers primarily account for the whopping total of 35 pitchers in camp. One simple question: Why?
All but one of the projected six bullpen spots are filled. Danny Graves and Scott Williamson will be the closers, with Dennys Reyes, Scott Sullivan and Gabe White performing set-up duties.
Subtracting them and the starting pitchers means that nearly 20 candidates will be competing for one spot. The survivor certainly will have earned it.
Adrian Burnside, the left-hander selected from the Los Angeles farm system in last December's Rule 5 draft, has a strong chance to make it to Opening Day. Like Reyes, White and Williamson, Burnside was previously a starter. But the Australian's crackling fastball and the organization's lack of left-handed relief depth prompted the Reds to switch his role.
Speaking of Reyes, White and Williamson, any one of them is available to be tested again as a starter, though nothing's certain at this point.
The Reds will carefully watch Williamson, the Rookie of the Year who suffered tendinitis in his throwing shoulder toward the end of last season. The right-hander has been exercising intensively at Nick Bolletieri's tennis and fitness academy in Bradenton, Fla., which neighbors Cincinnati's spring headquarters in Sarasota.
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