PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. — Rob Bell looked good in Sunday's lone inning before showers drenched Charlotte County Stadium. The right-hander retired the Rangers in order, freezing $252 million man Alex Rodriguez with a curveball for a called third strike.

        Pitching coach Don Gullett called Bell's brief effort “exciting.” He added, “He threw an excellent change-up and two great curveballs. His fastball had a lot of life to it and he was really tight with his mechanics.”

        Gullett said the rainout won't disrupt Bell's routine, leaving him on schedule to face Philadelphia on Thursday. But he said the rainout “hurts a lot” in coordinating other pitchers' work schedules. He'll try to compensate by using at least nine pitchers in a simulated game today.

        Gullett said that Jim Brower, Chris Nichting, Brian Reith, Matt Skrmetta, Ed Yarnall and possibly Keith Glauber would throw in the simulated game, along with Elmer Dessens, Seth Etherton, Mike Grace and Leo Estrella, who already were scheduled to throw in some form.

        “Instead of throwing on the side, which would probably suffice, we felt a simu lated situation would (produce) more intensity,” Gullett said.

        GONE FOR NOW: The Reds trimmed their spring roster to 56 by re-assigning right-handers Larry Luebbers and Frankie Rodriguez and shortstop David Espinosa to minor-league camp.

        Luebbers (wrist), the Cincinnati native and Frankfort, Ky., resident, and Rodriguez (back) had been hampered by injuries. “We really don't have time to rehabilitate them at this level with less than a month to go,” general manager Jim Bowden said. “It's better that they rehab down there.”

        Espinosa, the team's first-round draft choice last year, was in camp only because of a contractual obligation.

        The team's next big roster cut probably will come after Saturday, when the Reds play their last of three split-squad doubleheaders, though some scattered moves could occur before that.

        CAMP SURPRISE: Boone praised non-roster outfielder Raul Gonzalez, whose major-league experience is combined to three games with the Chicago Cubs last year. Boone's so impressed that he said he might try to give Gonzalez some at-bats against opposing veteran pitchers early in exhibition games.

        “He has kind of opened a lot of eyes in a short period of time,” Boone said of Gonzalez, who's 1-for-3.

        CALL-UP: Ben Broussard, one of the Reds 'top prospects despite not being in major-league camp, is expected to play first base today against Minnesota.

        UP NEXT: Today against Minnesota at Sarasota, 1:05 p.m. Osvaldo Fernandez will oppose Twins right-hander Brad Radke.

        Rookie knuckleballer Jared Fernandez, who would have pitched Sunday, will follow Fernandez.

DAUGHERTY: Baseball salaries all about ego Sullivan's conditioning pays off Boone pleased by early progress Bell gets $252M strikeout

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