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.

Eight more players are now going to be crossing their fingers for injuries, now that they know they’ve been reassigned to minor league camp. Those unlucky fellows include:

• Yonder Alonso (1B) – I wonder who could be blocking this up-and-comer
• Zack Cozart (SS) – Paul Janish breathes a little easier
• Todd Frazier (IF/OF) – Shall I resort to “tossed salads and scrambled eggs”?
• Daniel Ray Herrera (LHP) – Aw, now who’s going to get lost in the scrub grasses outside the park?
• Jordan Smith (RHP) – Yeah.
• Carlos Fisher (RHP) – Double yeah.
• Jerry Gil (listed only as “pitcher” on Reds.com. Do we not know his handedness?)
• Kris Negron (IF) – See ya in June, kid.

While we were in Goodyear, Arizona, the Cincinnati Reds decided that all those off-season, multi-year contracts they’d given away weren’t quite enough, so they saw catcher Ryan Hanigan standing around without one and remedied that.

Hanigan hasn’t done badly for a guy who wasn’t drafted, who didn’t catch much in college and who didn’t reach the big leagues until he was 27. Monday, the Reds officially announced a three-year deal with Hanigan that will pay him $4 million for this year, 2012 and 2013.

His trip to the majors was a long one, and, as John Fay writes, he was in the minors a long time. “He spent three seasons in Single-A and most of three more at Double-A.”

“I had a good opportunity to sign based on the year I had,” he said. “I made a little bit of money coming out of that summer, so I went ahead and signed. The Reds made a good offer.”

I’m happy to have him. He’s a good catcher and should be a good bargain for the Reds over the three years of the contract. I know the Reds have some good young catchers in the minor leagues, but they’re still a ways away. And it does take more than one catcher to get through a major league season.