Clearly, that fan is Cincinnati Reds manager Dusty Baker.

Why else would he describe the trade by the St. Louis Cardinals of promising young power-hitting, speedy outfielder Colby Rasmus like this?

There’s some level of frustration in here because the the rich teams get richer at this time of year.

I was confused by that statement about the trade because the only clear winner is Colby Rasmus. Well, and the public for being shown that the true general manager of the Cardinals is “genius” Tony LaRussa.

And then I realized why Baker thought the Cardinals were getting richer: they were getting Corey Patterson.

Boxscore

Bronson Arroyo started the final game of spring training for the Cincinnati Reds yesterday. And despite his mono, he did very well. It may have been the longest outing by a Reds starter all spring, as Arroyo went 6 1/3 innings, allowed just 2 earned runs, while striking out 3.

It should be noted that those 2 runs were from 2 home runs by the Cleveland Indians’ Shin-Soo Choo. Choo is 6-12 in his career against Arroyo, with 4 homers. It might be a good idea to walk him during the regular season.

The offense continued its explosiveness, though, making sure those 2 runs of Arroyo’s weren’t no thang. Jonny Gomes hit his 5th home run. Joey Votto, Jay Bruce, Juan Francisco, Paul Janish, and Ryan Hanigan all chipped in with an RBI apiece, too.

After Arroyo left, having vanquished both the Indians and doubts about his ability to pitch through mono, the bullpen took over. Bill Bray did well, but Logan Ondrusek had some troubles in the 8th, but Aroldis Chapman came to the rescue. Jerry Gil closed out the game.

So the Reds finished spring training with a record of 17-14-1. The won the exhibition series against their stadium-mates the Indians. Both the offense and the pitching seem to be hitting their stride just at the right time. But the most important thing from the game is something that didn’t happen: nobody got injured!

The Cincinnati Reds have unofficially set the 2011 opening day roster, according to John Fay.

The Reds roster doesn’t have to be officially set until Thursday at 11 a.m. But it’s all but official right now. The Reds currently have 30 players in camp. Four of them — Jose Arredondo, Fred Lewis, Homer Bailey and Johnny Cueto — will start the year on the disabled list.

Of course, subtracting 4 from 30 gives you 26. Who’s that extra player? The mustachioed Corky Miller. Basically, if Ramon Hernandez’s elbow is healthy, Miller will start the year in Louisville. If not, the Reds will be starting 2011 with the Corkster.

Or at least, that’s the way things stood today before the game against the Chicago White Sox. During the seventh inning, reliever Jared Burton left the game before the inning was over.

Burton told Baker the problem was he could not get his shoulder extended when reaching back to throw.

He will be examined again tomorrow.

Dang. There’s only one Spring Training game left. Can this team manage to get through it without someone else being injured?

Today, the Reds reassigned two more players–pitcher Dontrelle Willis and outfilder Jeremy Hermida–to minor league camp.

Willis is likely to report, sure in the knowledge that the injury bug has hit the team hard and the chances are good that he’ll be making a few starts with the club, no matter how crappily he’s been pitching the last two weeks.

Hermida is exploring other options, though with a week to go before opening day, it’s hard to imagine there being a big league deal out there waiting, no matter how well he’s performed. Hermida is the unfortunate victim of a crowded outfield, where a certain Juan Francisco may get the nod thanks to backin’ up, backin’ up, backin up Scott Rolen at third base.

These cuts come very shortly after three players were cut yesterday. Infielder Chris Valaika, outfielder Dave Sappelt, and catcher Devin Mesoraco got the bad news, though it probably wasn’t a surprise for any of them, despite the fact that Sappelt was hitting .750 or something stupid like that.

Just three more cuts to make before Opening Day on Thursday.

It seems like the Cincinnati Reds have had a really healthy Spring Training, at least until this last week. This weeks has been rough, using up the team’s entire starting rotation depth.

Here’s where the team stands now.

• Bronson Arroyo’s “flu” has been diagnosed. This week, he was tested for something called Valley Fever, which sounds like an 80s California girl disease. The results came back negative, but doctors did decide Arroyo had mononucleosis. He plans on pitching through it by cutting out everything in his day except for pitching. “I’ll eliminate all my extra-curricular activities, which is a lot,” he said. “No golf. I’ll just come to park and go home and rest.” The disease can zap your energy level quickly, so it’ll have to go away quickly, I think, for Arroyo to perform at a high level this year.
• Homer Bailey is the latest starter to be placed on the disabled list. He has what is being called “shoulder impingement” and will be out two to four weeks. Reds General Manager Walt Jocketty thought it was an issue that Bailey could have pitched through, but since it’s so early, they decided to shut Bailey down and let it heal. It would be good for it not to be an issue during the season.
• Johnny Cueto was the first starter to go down. He has forearm pain, and all of Redsland fears he’ll end up missing the full season with Tommy John surgery. The jury’s still out on that one. Cueto’s on the disabled list, having been prescribed time off from pitching. Really, the Reds have no other choice. Hopefully, that will work.
• Ramon Hernandez remains day-to-day with his sore elbow. His arm seems to hurt for him when he throws the ball, which is a kind of important activity for a catcher.
• Scott Rolen was hit by a pitch on Thursday and hasn’t played a game since. At the time, he was unable to grip the bat for his next plate appearance. He has missed two straight games, and is likely to miss more.

It hasn’t been a good week to be a Reds pitcher. Opening Day is still about a week away, and the Reds rotation has been depleted. As it stands now, Homer Bailey and Johnny Cueto are out, and Sam LeCure and Mike Leake are in. Hopefully, everybody else can manage to stay healthy between now and Thursday.