Cincinnati Reds

The Cincinnati Reds put starting pitcher Homer Bailey on the disabled list due to a ligament strain in his pitching elbow.

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Most reasonable baseball fans would think an article debating panic or patience in April is a little forward, if not plain aggressive. But if it's late enough for a pregame manager meltdown with the press, perhaps it's late enough to wonder aloud about a few struggling players on the Cincinnati Reds.

After a promising first series against the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Cincinnati Reds will look to establish significant territory in the NL Central standings. Their next 19 games will feature NL Central opponents, and 22 of their next 26 games in total. 

The Cincinnati Reds are getting no love.

In the most recent season outlook, Grantland writer Ben Lindbergh's NLC Preview uses a lot of data and makes mathematical projections, and not even the numbers are improving this team's outlook. In case you haven't got around to it, here's an excerpt on why we can expect the Reds to suck in 2015:

So long as no one asks any current or former Cincinnati Reds about anything related to hitting philosophy, the time is ripe to realign our focus back to the game. It's almost time for real baseball, and there are a few observations we can make on what will soon be the 2015 roster.

Without dissecting everyone's performance in faux baseball, let's discuss some of the universal takeaways from camp. The following is a short list of five things we learned about the Reds in Goodyear:

The few position battles that were happening within the Reds spring training camp are just about over. When last we visited this topic, the only true battles happening were for the back of the rotation and the bullpen, with a potential for a shortstop scrap. Some players have been removed from the mix, while others have come out of nowhere to win the nod. 

This is just a checkup. It's only a glimpse into faux baseball, one where starters routinely exit after two at-bats and the final score is irrelevant. This is just to provide a sense of who isn't quite performing well when nothing matters, so read into it what you will. 

Last year, Chris Heisey finished the spring batting .310, while Skip Schumaker hit .441. Spring training performances aren't indicative of much, but it's interesting to check it out.

As spring training games are about to begin, Cincinnati Reds fans are curious as to what the team's Opening Day roster will look like.

Fans can probably guess the majority of the roster. This team is loaded with veteran players, so most of the roster positions are filled. However, there are a few position battles that will be played out this spring. 

Ever spoken with a recently terminated employee? Ever heard what they have to say about their former employer? Even if you haven't, if you read the comments from Mat Latos in an interview with Fox Sports' Ken Rosenthal, you'll see how it goes.

While all of the focus at Cincinnati Reds camp will be on the core players, there are a couple of under-the-radar players who could end up being pleasant surprises this spring.

There aren't many spots available on the team's 25-man roster, if everyone is healthy. There figures to be competition for a bench spot, a bullpen spot and two rotation spots.