"This was not done without a lot of thought," said Levy, the Reds marketing director.

Because of construction at the Albert B. Sabin Convention Center, the usual floor space was not available. Redsfest, in its recent form, requires 190,000 square feet.

The Northern Kentucky Convention Center offered about 110,000; Sharonville Convention Center between 50,000 and 60,000.

The Reds also wanted to keep the event from being too spread out. At the locations in Cincinnati and in Northern Kentucky, they would have been spread out over two floors.

"It's never been our intention to turn Redsfest into just an autograph show," Levy said. "We wanted to keep the photo booths and Q & A sessions and the interactive stuff."

The best alternative was the Roberts Centre, with 100,000 square feet, in Wilmington.

"We didn't want to take it out of town," Levy said. "The scheduling is all based on when the players want to come in. Cincinnati is a (Delta) hub. That gives us great flexibility. You add an hour and a half (driving time) to the equation and it throws things off."

What the Reds didn't want was an event that would leave more people unhappy than happy or an event where fire marshals had to limit the attendance.

They felt without the space the Convention Center afforded them in the past they couldn't do that.

After two months of looking at alternatives, a hiatus seemedthe best solution.

"It's all about doing it right," Levy said. "We didn't want to aggravate and alienate a lot of people by scaling it back."

WHO-BE TUESDAY? The Reds say Tuesday's starter will come from Triple-A Louisville. The schedule - not performance - will go a long way in determining who it will be.

Jung Keun Bong is scheduled to start today. Bong, a left-hander acquired in the Chris Reitsma trade, seems like the natural choice - given he pitched half of the last season in the big leagues for Atlanta. And his numbers - 4-4, 4.89 ERA - are the best in a slow field.

But, if he starts today, there's no way he can come back Tuesday. Bubba Nelson started Saturday. Seth Etherton is scheduled to start Monday.

That leaves Brandon Claussen and Matt Belisle.

Claussen, a 24-year-old left-hander, gave up six runs on seven hits in five innings Friday. Belisle, a 23-year-old right-hander, gave up five runs on 11 hits in six innings on Thursday.

The best alternative may be Dustin Moseley, who is at Chattanooga. Moseley was 2-0 with a 1.91 ERA entering Saturday. But he's only two starts removed from the disabled list.

"Because of that, it's highly unlikely," general manager Dan O'Brien said.

DOMINICAN DANDY: John Allen, the Reds chief operating officer, just returned from the grand opening of the Reds' new facility in the Dominican Republic.

"It's really impressive," Allen said. "It's a nice setup. It's going to be good for the players. It should work out great for us."

The Reds share the facility with Arizona, Minnesota and the Chicago Cubs.

Allen was also impressed with the job Marco Davalillo is doing. Davalillo is the Reds' on-field coordinator in the D.R. and Venezuela.

"He's done a nice job putting in what the new regime under Dan (O'Brien) is trying to put in."

GRULER UPDATE: Chris Gruler, the 2002 No. 1 pick, remains at extended spring training.

"He's progressing nicely," said Tim Naehring, the Reds director of player development. "His velocity is off. His fastball is 81 to 85. When the velocity gets back to 86 to 88, 89 and he's throwing strikes, you'll see him at Dayton."

Gruler, a 20-year-old right-hander, had shoulder surgery April 29, 2003. Naehring said Gruler may be moved to Dayton after his June 11 outing in Sarasota.

MORE MOVING: Single-A Potomac first baseman/left fielder Tony Blanco was named player of the month for May in the Carolina League. Blanco, 22, hit .375 with nine home runs and 22 RBI for the month. Overall, he went into Saturday hitting .317 with a league-leading 16 home runs and 43 RBI.

He may be promoted to Double-A Chattanooga after the league's all-star break later this month.

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