Despite the early season success of Mike Leake for the 2010 Cincinnati Reds, I’ve always had a good feeling about Travis Wood. John Fay comments about Wood’s workout partner, Cliff Lee, today.

Cliff Lee, in case you didn’t know, is very, very good.

“He’s a great guy to work out with,” Wood said. “He knows a lot about the game. He’s been around. He pushes you, gets you stronger.”

It could be a story that amounts to nothing. A lot of mediocre players have worked out with great stars. But there could be something to it. After all, Wood did almost pitch a perfect game against the Philadelphia Phillies. And he was one of the bright spots of the Reds sole postseason series.

It could be nothing, but at this time of year when the baseball air is thick with optimism, I’m going to sit back and think about the chances of the Reds having a Lee caliber starter.

The Cincinnati Reds have signed a handful of players to long-term contracts this off-season, placing a bet on the future of the franchise. Along with that bet comes the need for fans to buy tickets and come to the games.

Yesterday, during a press conference formally announcing Johnny Cueto’s long-term deal, general manager Walt Jocketty had this to say on the subject.

“At some point, when Johnny gets beyond this contract and (Joey) Votto and some of the other guys, we’re not sure we’ll be in position to sign these guys again,” Jocketty said. “It just depends on the revenues we’ll be able to generate in the coming years. If we continue to win, I think we will. Our attendance will improve, our revenues will improve and we’ll be in great shape to try and re-sign these guys.”

Then today at the Reds Caravan launch, owner Bob Castellini commented on the same ticket sales.

“They have to be up to sign these guys like we did,” he said. “We’ve got to sell more season tickets, all the way down to single tickets. Everyone understands that in our organization. They’re all trying to make that happen.”

Ticket sales are up. Just one year of winning and off-season ticket sales are up by 10 percent. That’s not enough, but it’s a good start. Apparently, the Reds are smart enough to know that one good year isn’t enough to get all the fans back. I would imagine a lot of them are understandably wary.

“It takes a year or two after you start winning,” Bob Castellini said. “Last year was our first year. We’re on target. We feel like we know what to expect. We’re going to have good season this year all around — with ticket sales and on the field.”

I hope it works. The expanded selection of season ticket packages certainly makes it affordable to more people. Taking a cue from the Indianapolis Indians, the Reds this year are offering a 20-game Flex pack. It’s great for those further away from Cincinnati who don’t always know in advance how many tickets or even which games they’ll attend. Take 2 people to one game, or 5 to another. It’s flexible and cheaper than per game tickets. I have a feeling the RHM household will be going with that this year.

Chris Jaffe of the Hardball Times has been running some numbers and realized that today marks the 10,000th day that young Joey Votto has been alive.

In honor of that, I think I’ll repost my favorite picture of Votto that I’ve taken.

While looking through all the photos I’d taken of the Cincinnati Reds over the last season, I discovered images I’d taken of Goodyear Ballpark with the intention of stitching them together to make a panorama, as I’ve done previously (Ed Smith Stadium, Great American Ballpark, Minute Maid Park 1, Minute Maid Park 2, Wrigley Field).

I never got around to making the panorama, but thanks to now having Photoshop, I was able to let the software do all the work for you. Click the image below to see a larger version of the Reds new Spring Training home. Hopefully, I’ll be able to visit again this year.

When Chris Jaffe of the Hardball Times sent a message about the Cincinnati Reds making an appearance in his list of the top 10 worst endings to postseason baseball games, thoughts of the ugly sweep at the hands of the Philadelphia Phillies last year swept through my mind. But it wasn’t like that.

The Reds were number four on Jaffe’s list for the National League championship series finale against the Pittsburgh Pirates from October 1972.

The defending world champion Pirates entered the bottom of the ninth leading 3-2. A leadoff homer by Johnny Bench tied it, and then back-to-back singles put the winning run on second with no out. A flyout advanced lead runner George Foster to third, but the next batter popped up. With two outs and the game still tied, extra innings seemed to beckon. Or not.

Reliever Bob Moose threw a pitch in the dirt that took a crazy hop over catcher Manny Sanguillen’s head and rolled to the backstop. Thus, the Reds claimed the pennant on a wild pitch.

Definitely a much happier ending than the one we witnessed in 2010. Be sure to check out the rest of the list. The number one worst ending has got to be the best/worst example of a team snatching defeat from the jaws of victory I’ve ever heard of. And that includes all of the Reds games from the 2000s.