By John Fay
The Cincinnati Enquirer

SARASOTA, Fla. - Now that pitchers are actually facing hitters, Reds manager Bob Boone is more convinced than ever of the depth of his pitching.

"Everyone looks terrific," he said. "I'm real pleased. Nobody's been tender. We haven't had to hold anyone back. I think the kind of shape they came in in has a lot to do with it."

Boone says the depth of talent is the best he has seen in Reds camp dating to 1994 when he was a coach.

"We got 16 or 17 we could take north without being embarrassed," he said. "We're going to have some extremely tough decisions."

Joe Nuxhall has been around the Reds a lot longer than Boone, and he's hard-pressed to name a crop of pitchers better than this one.

"I don't know when we've had this many good arms around here," the broadcaster and former pitcher said.

But Nuxhall knows games aren't won in February.

"We'll see if they can do anything," he said.

All the good arms are fighting for very few spots.

Four starting spots will go to Ryan Dempster, Jimmy Haynes, Danny Graves and Paul Wilson.

Scott Williamson, Scott Sullivan, Gabe White and John Riedling are guaranteed bullpen slots. Chris Reitsma will be either the fifth starter or a setup man in the bullpen.

That leaves three spots, if the Reds go with 11 pitchers. Bruce Chen, Seth Etherton, Jose Acevedo, Luke Hudson, Pete Harnisch, Kent Mercker, Felix Heredia, Josias Manzanillo, Lance Davis, Jimmy Anderson and Jose Rijo, all with big-league resumes, are in the running for those jobs.

That doesn't even take into account the young pitchers in the Minor League Accelerated Program.

"You know you're going to go through 15 or 16 pitchers probably by the end of May," Reds general manager Jim Bowden said. "So it's good to have that kind of depth."

Boone hasn't decided whether the Reds will carry 11 or 12 pitchers.

"It's a nice convenience to have 12 as a manager," Boone said. "You always have someone rested. The trade-off is you weaken your bench."

MORE ON REITSMA: Boone would prefer that someone else win the fifth spot, so he could use Reitsma in the bullpen.

"It would be great if someone stood out," he said. "Then they could say, 'All right, Bob, you got your wish: Reitsma goes in the gap (between starters and short relievers).' "

Reitsma has started the last two seasons in the Reds' rotation. But Boone was intrigued by what he saw when Reitsma was moved to the bullpen last year. He went 2-2 with a 1.29 ERA. in 11 outings.

Boone thinks the setup role is underrated. "The money goes to starters and closers," he said. "But a closer doesn't do you any good if you can't fill that gap between closer and starter."

BIG MEN: The Reds expect their outfield of Ken Griffey Jr., Adam Dunn and Austin Kearns to be one of the best in baseball.

It certainly will be one of the biggest. Griffey weighed in at 225 pounds, Dunn at 270 and Kearns at 246.

Let's say Griffey is given a day off and the Reds start Wily Mo Pena in the center. Pena goes 252. With Dunn and Kearns, that gives you an outfield that averages 256 pounds.

FIRST DAY: Today is the day camp really gets into full swing. The first full-squad workout was Thursday, but Friday was a split day because the Reds had their annual rally in downtown Sarasota.

"Hopefully we won't get too much rain this weekend," Boone said.

MATEO AT FIRST: Ruben Mateo has joined Wily Mo Pena in working out at first base. Both took groundballs after Friday's workout.

Mateo and Pena, both out of options, would give the Reds a right-handed bat at first base to back up Sean Casey. Both looked pretty sharp handling grounders.

NO ARAMBOLES: Ricardo Aramboles didn't arrive in Sarasota in time for Friday's workout. But Reds officials expected him to arrive by Friday evening.

Aramboles, a 21-year-old right-hander, was held up by the visa process in the Dominican Republic.