A look at the offseason for the Reds' NL Central Division opponents:

• St. Louis: Lost starting pitchers Chuck Finley and Andy Benes. Former Red Brett Tomko is now the No.3 starter, and another former Red, Joey Hamilton, is in a key setup role. Cardinals are excellent defensively, and the lineup is a good one. But St. Louis is no lock to repeat.

• Houston: Roy Oswalt and Wade Miller are the best Nos.1 and 2 starters in the division. The Astros made a good offensive club better by adding Jeff Kent, the biggest offseason signing in the division. The Craig Biggio move to outfield is worth keeping an eye on.

• Chicago: The rotation could be scary if the young arms - Mark Prior, Kerry Wood and Matt Clement - come around. Added two good arms to bullpen in lefty Mike Remlinger and righty Dave Veres. But the Cubs hit .246 as a team last year.

• Pittsburgh: Matt Stairs was the big free agent signing. That's probably not enough to fix a bad offense.

• Milwaukee:GM (Doug Melvin) and manager (Ned Yost) are new. But the players are essentially the same ones who lost 106 games last season.

- John Fay