By John Fay
The Cincinnati Enquirer

When the Reds pack up their belongings and head home after today's season finale, it's a safe bet many of them will never set foot in the Reds clubhouse again.

The Reds ended this strangest of seasons with only five players from the Opening Day roster.

Despite the opportunity presented by trades and injuries, not many players from today's finale figure to be here on Opening Day 2004.

"Quite honestly, a lot of guys who got the opportunity did not step forward," manager Dave Miley said.

So the Reds go into the offseason with more questions than answers, on and off the field:

• Who will be the general manager?

• Who will be the manager?

• How much money will the club spend on player payroll as it puts together the roster?

The general manager question will be answered first. Chief operating officer John Allen has eight candidates, and the new GM could be named in as few as two weeks. At the latest, the announcement will come shortly after the World Series.

Whoever gets the job will make the call on the manager, although Miley has to be considered the favorite.

The GM and manager - particularly if it's Miley, because he's so familiar with the players - will have to reshape the roster.

Of the players on the active current roster, only seven - Sean Casey, Jason LaRue, Chris Reitsma, John Riedling, D'Angelo Jimenez, Juan Castro and Corky Miller - certainly will be back, barring trades.

Five players on the disabled list - Austin Kearns, Ken Griffey Jr., Adam Dunn, Jose Acevedo and Jimmy Haynes - also will be back.

Pitchers Danny Graves, Paul Wilson and Ryan Wagner, all shut down for the season, will be back as well.

That still leaves almost half the roster up for grabs.

Ryan Freel and Phil Norton have made strong cases to return.

"Freel is one guy who put himself in the mix," Miley said. "The Norton trade is going to be a great pickup."

Pitching, of course, remains the key issue.

The Reds' team ERA was 5.13 going into Saturday. They are a lock to set the record for the highest in club history. They've used a record 30 pitchers, and Saturday's starter, Brian Reith, was the 17th used by the club this year. Reitsma leads the team with nine wins. Not since 1882 has a pitcher led the staff with fewer than 10 wins.

The Reds tried to fix the problem by obtaining eight young pitchers in the trades that sent away Aaron Boone, Scott Williamson, Gabe White, Jose Guillen and Kent Mercker at the non-waiver deadline.

Two, Aaron Harang and Matt Belisle, are currently with the Reds, and Brandon Claussen is expected to make the rotation next year.

But the others aren't likely to help until at least 2005.

Whether the Reds try to supplement the pitching staff with free agents depends, again, on what the payroll budget is.

Baseball insiders believe there will be two free agent markets this offseason. One for the big names, such as Bartolo Colon and Vladimir Guerrero, and another for players who are non-tendered by clubs looking to shed payroll.

The Reds have been saying since they started trading players that they were trying to gain flexibility in their payroll.

What they do with that flexibility is one of many offseason questions. Fans would vote for them to buy some pitching.

The other big question is the left side of the infield. Shortstop Barry Larkin will not return, and no one has established himself at third base since Boone was traded in July.

No one the Reds have tried there - Brandon Larson, Russell Branyan, Castro, Tim Hummel - has earned the job for next year.

With all the problems Larson has had, it's doubtful the Reds will give him another chance at the job.

As for the other three, combine them and you have a classic third baseman. Branyan hits for power. Castro is a great fielder. Hummel hit for average in the minors.

There is sentiment among Miley's staff to move Jimenez to third.

Castro is having the best year of his career, but he's not very durable. Ray Olmedo is talented, but he could use more seasoning in the minors.

Again, depending on what the player payroll is, the Reds could solve a lot of problems by signing an established player to play second, third or shortstop.

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E-mail jfay@enquirer.com