By John Fay
The Cincinnati Enquirer

So, the "building for 2003 plan" didn't work out. The Reds are coming off a 69-93 season and unloaded several top players (read: expensive) in July and August. Here are five reasons the Reds are in the position they're in.

1 They failed to develop pitching. The Reds probably will start next year with three drafted and developed pitchers (John Riedling, Ryan Wagner and Jose Acevedo) on the staff. They haven't developed a consistent starter since Tom Browning.

2 They didn't have and/or communicate a plan. The Reds said in 1997 they were building toward 2003. But after winning 96 games in 1999, they shifted toward winning sooner. As a result, they became hamstrung by the contracts of Ken Griffey Jr. and Barry Larkin. Former general manager Jim Bowden saying "Baseball is back in Cincinnati" after the Griffey signing seems to indicate he thought owner Carl Lindner had opened the vault. That wasn't the case. And Lindner re-signing Larkin made the situation worse.

3 They didn't seal a deal for Bartolo

Colon, Scott Rolen or Chuck Finley. If the Reds had gotten real help for the pennant drive last year - Colon, obviously - they might have won the NL Central or contended longer. That could have carried over to 2003, and the fire sale might have been avoided.

4 They didn't spend "deferred" money. Much was made of Griffey and Larkin deferring large sums of their salary (in Griffey's case, half his $12.5 million). But the Reds counted the entire deferred amount toward the 2003 payroll, erasing any benefit.

5 They had incredibly bad luck. Injuries have cursed the franchise for the last three years. Griffey's problems are well-documented, and Austin Kearns ended each of the last two years on the DL. Young pitchers were injured at an alarming rate.