Thursday, April 18, 2002
Reds Notebook:
Rijo wants to start
By John Fay jfay@enquirer.com
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Reds manager Bob Boone remained non-committal on who will make Jose Acevedo's start Sunday. Jose Rijo and Jim Brower are the leading candidates after Acevedo was demoted to Triple-A Louisville Tuesday.
Rijo, the former ace of the staff, says he's ready and willing to return to a starting role. “Tell me now and I'll get ready,” he said. “I'll do my running, work on the side to get my slider sharp.”
Rijo wants the start, but he'll accept it if he doesn't get it.
“I'll do whatever to help the team win,” he said. “I'll start, relieve. I'll go home if that's what they want.”
With the off day Monday, Boone may go with a “bullpen day” approach.
“Rijo could throw 60 pitches, Brower 60 pitches, (Luis) Pineda 50 pitches,” Boone said.
Another alternative would be to have Wednesday's starter, Jimmy Haynes, go on three days' rest.
“It depends on what happens with the bullpen the next few days,” Boone said.
If Sean Casey is OK, and Austin Kearns is no longer needed, the Reds could call up a minor-leaguer. Knuckleballer Jared Fernandez is 3-0 with a 2.70 ERA at Triple-A Louisville. Brian Reith is 1-1 with a 3.78 ERA. Both made starts for the Reds last year.
Top prospect Ty Howington's next scheduled turn is Sunday. But he allowed seven runs in 3 2/3 innings in his start Tuesday for Chattanooga.
BAD NIGHT TO BE BAD: Boone said Acevedo's demotion to Louisville was based largely on Tuesday's performance.
“We're not going to accept it like we did last year,” Boone said. “Most of it was last night. He also had that bad start in his last exhibition game at Chattanooga.”
Acevedo also was the victim of bad timing.
“We needed another body with Casey out,” Boone said.
WHY LEFT? Kearns made his major-league debut in left field even though he has played nearly his entire professional career in right. The reason is that Kearns is a better defensive outfielder than Ruben Mateo, so he should adjust more quickly to the change.
“They're all right fielders,” Boone said of Wednesday's starting trio.
NEXT ON eBAY: Dunn figures if a piece of Luis Gonzalez's used chewing gum can get $10,000 at an auction, he'd get really big money for Ken Griffey Jr.'s used chewing tobacco.
“You know how rare this is?” Dunn said. “He never chews. If gum gets $10,000, I'll get $15,000. I'll get a letter of authenticity. He'll sign it. I'm putting it on eBay.”
Dunn was kidding — we think.
RIJO ADVICE: Griffey was getting on Rijo before Wednesday's game, calling him “Satchmo,” as in Satchel Paige.
“The guy has too much time on his hands,” Rijo said. “Why don't you get a part-time job at Kroger?”
UP NEXT: The Reds play the finale of the series with Houston at 12:35 p.m. today. Right-hander Chris Reitsma (0-0, 6.14 ERA) will face right-hander Roy Oswalt (2-0, 2.84).
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Reds Notebook: Rijo wants to start
