The Cincinnati Reds cut 5 more players from their roster over the weekend, getting their total roster count down to 39.

Optioned to Triple-A Louisville were right-handed pitchers Pedro Villarreal and Curtis Partch, infielder Henry Rodriguez and first baseman Neftali Soto. Outfielder/first baseman Donald Lutz was optioned to Double-A Pensacola.

Lutz, Rodriguez, and Soto all impressed manager Dusty Baker during the spring and leave knowing they have things to work on in their progress to the majors. There’s a good chance these players will make appearances with the club during the season.

Just 14 cuts to go!

On occasion, I’ve made fun of Cincinnati Enquirer columnist Paul Daugherty for his terrible excuse for sports writing. So I suppose it’s only fair that I point out a time when he writes something that doesn’t suck monkey balls.

If you believe Aroldis Chapman is a starting pitcher, this ain’t for you.

If you think the way Dusty Baker thinks, read on.

I swore I wouldn’t type the words “Aroldis” and “Chapman” until he actually threw a pitch that mattered. Some horses are beaten to death once. Others are flogged enough, they need 1,000 lives. Chappy’s been flogged.

Start him.

Really? Daugherty is supporting the idea of starting Chapman? That’s unexpected. What’s his reasoning? Surely, it’s something like, “Throw ball. Strike out. Win.”

Chapman had zero impact in the playoffs against the Giants last October. Your best pitcher — or at least your best arm — in the five biggest games of the year: Zero impact. That’s ridiculous.

That’s…a valid point.

Chapman will get far more starts than he would appearances in one-run, ninth-inning save situations.

And another one. Why is Daugherty making sense?

A stat from my pal Joe Posnanski:

During his career, Mariano Rivera converted 140 of 158 one-run save chances, in the ninth inning. That’s a conversion percentage of .886. During the 2000s, according to Baseball Prospectus, the major league average was .848.

Posnanski writes, “The average team with that lead would have been expected to hold the lead in 134 of those 158 games. With Mariano, the Yankees held the lead six more times over 16 seasons.”

Now I get it. Daugherty’s been reading some Posnanski, who, outside of his hero worship book on Joe Paterno, is one of the best sports writers out there. You could do far worse than take inspiration from and emulate him.

Before Daugherty finishes, he makes one comment about Dusty Baker that was quite insightful.

Baker wants Chapman to close because it makes his job easier.

Baker has been complaining again this week about want a decision made on whether Chapman starts. And this is probably why. Having Chapman as the close means Baker doesn’t have to think, doesn’t have to manage. But as Tom Hanks said in that great scene from A League of Their Own, “Chicken shit!”

Baseball is supposed to be hard. If it wasn’t hard, everyone would do it. The hard is what makes it great.

Having Chapman close because it makes the manager’s job easier is a terrible reason. For the reasons listed in the column and many more, moving Chapman to the starting rotation is the right move.

And then Daugherty finishes his column strong.

In 2011, Coco Cordero saved 37 games for the Reds, and blew six. In 2012, Chapman saved 38, and blew five. That’s a one-game difference. The Reds won 79 games in 2011, and 97 in 2012. Do you still believe Chapman the closer was a difference maker?

Nicely done.

I’m not getting my hopes up that this is a predictor of things to come, though. I mean, even a blind squirrel gets to bust a nut once in a while. Besides, starting with a valid premise, putting together mostly coherent sentences, and backing up your statements with verifiable facts is really hard and more than we can expect on a constant basis from “journalists” like Daugherty.

The Cincinnati Reds made their first cut of spring training yesterday, removing 12 players from their roster.

Left-hander Tony Cingrani and right-hander Daniel Corcino were optioned to Triple-A Louisville. Right-handers Kyle Lotzkar and Josh Ravin were optioned to Double-A Pensacola. Right-hander Carlos Contreras and outfielder Yorman Rodriguez were optioned to Single-A Bakersfield. Left-hander Ismael Guillon was optioned to Single-A Dayton.

Right-handers Chad Rogers and Nick Christiani, catcher Nevin Ashley, infielder Kristopher Negron and outfielder Ryan LaMarre were re-assigned to the minor league camp.

None of these cuts are a surprise, as none of them had a chance to make the major league roster. However, I am a little surprised that Cingrani was was at this time. He and Corcino are likely to see time in the majors this year should the rotation not repeat last year’s iron man challenge of every starter remaining healthy.

The roster stands at 44, with 19 more players to be cut by opening day.

The New York Times interviewed Ken Griffey, Jr over the weekend, talking to him about his family and his role as an ambassador for the World Baseball Classic (WBC).

Here in the U.S., we need to do a better job of supporting our team. The support isn’t as much as it should be. For me, I want a team where I have to turn guys away. I want to be the guy to say, “We’re already full.” You look at the enthusiasm from the other countries and how guys want to play for their team. I think it’s a little different here. But it can change, and it should change.

The WBC is definitely more popular in other countries than in the US. And it’s the same with me. I know I don’t go out of my way to watch any WBC games. In some ways, I think US interest in the tournament is depressed by the existence of MLB. With the exception of Canada, none of the other countries see major-league talent every day during the summer. This is their chance to see and compare their country’s athletes against the best.

For me, it feels like watching an all star version of spring training, with less of the meaningfulness of the actual All Star game. Of course, I’m not the target audience. I already like baseball; I don’t need to be sold.

I understand the desire to make it more popular in the US, and support from Griffey and the inclusion of bigger stars will help. But right now, I still feel the ending of the 2012 MLB season. And only the Cincinnati Reds playing real baseball can assuage that. The WBC is a pale substitute.

During last year’s spring training, I remember hearing about a prospect in the Cincinnati Reds’ system who grew up in Germany and didn’t play baseball until he was 16. He was raw, but he’s still in the system and has improved.

Reds manager Dusty Baker has raved about Donald Lutz this spring. Lutz, or “Big Lutz,” as Baker calls him, has a lot of pop in his bat.

How much pop?

“He hit a ball as hard the other day … it reminded me of Willie Stargell and those guys. When I was a kid and I was playing center field, I was nervous. (I thought) Willie Stargell and Willie McCovey might hit a ball that I’d misjudge and it would hit me in the chest and go through me.”

Lutz, unlike his 30 Rock namesake, is tall and muscular, standing at 6 feet, 3 inches and weighing 250 pounds. So far this Spring, he’s got a .353 average, an on base percentage of .389, and a slugging percentage of .588. This is all in sizes so small it’s hardly a sample, but he does also have a home run and 5 RBI.

He could be a special player in the next year or two. This year, though, he’s likely to start in Pensacola on the AA team. There he’ll continue to work on the move from first base to the outfield. Because even though he’s 2 or 3 years away from the majors, the Reds have a first baseman for quite some time who isn’t moving for anyone.