CNATI: Cincinnati OH Sports Journalism

Spring Training 2010

1 day, 2 starters, 1 spot

By C. Trent Rosecrans, CNATI.com Posted March 30, 2010 2:19 PM ET

GOODYEAR, Ariz. -- Travis Wood will be making his first trip to Las Vegas following Tuesday's game. In the city of endless possibilities, Wood will most likely be sitting in his hotel room.

"I've never been there before, but it's probably a good thing," Wood said.

He doesn't know what he's missing, but he knows what he doesn't want to miss out on, making the Reds' roster out of spring training.

"I'll just go there, get my mind right and hopefully they'll be many more chances," Wood said. "I'll get some rest and go out on Wednesday and give it all I've got."

Wood and Mike Leake both start games on Wednesday, with Wood starting against the Dodgers in Las Vegas and Leake starting against the A's in Phoenix. Aroldis Chapman is also scheduled to throw two innings against the A's. The three -- with Chapman's recent setback more or less making him a distant third -- are the last in the running for the Reds' starting rotation.

"We're running out of days," Reds manager Dusty Baker said when asked when a decision had to be made.

The Reds could use a fifth starter either the 10th or 11th. If they chose the 11th, it would keep Aaron Harang on his usual four days rest, if they chose the 10th, it would keep the rotation order intact. Until then, Baker said the team could use an extra bench player and call up a fifth starter for that game. Despite the days on the calendar running out, the options don't seem to be.

The "what-ifs" are too numerous for any of the principle players to get too worked up about where they're going, where to ship their cars or even where to live this season.

"They're being pretty secretive about it," Leake said.

But Leake, last year's first-round pick out of Arizona State, said he's not letting it get to him, a decision will be made either way and he'll do what he needs to do regardless of what happens.

"There's no reason to think about what could happen. It's not my decision, I've just got to go out there and pitch well one more time and make it even tougher on them," Leake said. "As long as I do what I can and just put the decision in their hands and make it as tough as possible for them, then I've done my job."

Leake's pitched in five games, starting one, with a 3.00 HERA in 12 innings, walking three, hitting a batter and striking out eight. Batters have hit .261 off of him. Wood is 0-1 with a 2.57 ERA, appearing in five games and starting one. In 14 innings he's allowed 10 hits, walked nine, struck out 12 and opponents are batting just .200 against the left-hander.

Wood's experience starting every five days and in professional baseball "certainly works in his favor," said general manager Walt Jocketty, as does his spot already on the team's 40-man roster.

Leake's inexperience isn't a deal-breaker and his success isn't a complete shock, either, Jocketty said.

"When we drafted him last year, we drafted him with the idea that he was going to come fast -- not necessarily this fast -- but we thought he'd come fast," Jocketty said. "He pitched well enough in the Fall League and at a high level in college. Would you like to see him pitch in a five-man rotation for a while? Sure. But we can probably control that at the major league level. That's why it's a tough decision, because ideally you'd like him to go back and do that, but we'll see."

In the end, though, the competition may be as simple as what goes down on Wednesday.

"I think we want to see how both guys throw (Wednesday)," Jocketty said. "And we'll make a decision by sometime Thursday."

Categories: Cincinnati Reds, Featured Stories, Spring Training 2010

Tags: Aroldis Chapman, Dusty Baker, Mike Leake, Travis Wood, Walt Jocketty