2010’s Most Indispensible Cincinnati Red?

A good question was recently asked twittered: Which one player is the 2010 season most predicated on?

We answered Jay Bruce and Homer Bailey, and soon thereafter had our hand slapped for answering more then one player. But listen to the reasoning behind it all.

Yes, these are our two favorite Reds players. Yes, these two guys are expect

ed to be the franchise. These two will be popular picks, we would think. However, the Reds have a pretty good core group.

My reasoning behind saying Bruce and Bailey, is because they really are the “X” factors on this ball club. If your organization is going to have a breakout year, you have to get performances from all your veterans they’ve come to be expected to have. Then a few youngsters with high ceilings have to jump off the page.

That means that Joey Votto, Scott Rolen, Brandon Phillips, Orlando Cabrera, and all the other mainstays have to do what they’re expected to do. They’re all going to have to do what they’ve came to be expected to do without really having too much of a drop off.

But if you get a Bailey or a Bruce to jump off the page–something that scouts who are paid to know this game have been saying that they’re capable of doing–you could see something special on your hands.

By something special, we’d mean Homer Bailey going out and winning 16-20 games. Something that is within the realm of possibility but by no means is a given.

Or in the case of Bruce, a guy who figures to start the year hitting in the 6th hole; hitting 35 homers with a .270 average and near 100 runs and 100 RBI.

You get either one of these guys to have that type of performance in addition to the veterans doing what they’ve become paid commodities to do, and you’re going to see the Reds making a run until late in the year.

It’s hard to just pick one player here. If either of these guys do what they have been projected capable of doing; it’s going to be a fun summer. If they both have All-Star type seasons; you’ll never forget 2010 Reds fans.