Bullpen Depth Taking A Hit

John Fay tweeted this afternoon that Nick Masset will start the year on the DL.

Right-hander Nick Masset will start the season on the disabled list with inflammation in his shoulder.

“The MRI showed it’s not the rotation cuff, not the labrum,” Reds manager Dusty Baker said. “It’s just inflammation. He’ll rest a week. Hopefully, he’ll miss a minimal amount of time.”

This follows yesterday’s news that Bill Bray is hopeful to start the year on the Reds roster, it is not yet a given according to Fay:

Bray will pitch again on Thursday. It remains to be seen if he can get ready by Opening Day.

Bray is confident he can be.

“Absolutely,” he said.

Baker isn’t as sure.

“I don’t know,” Baker said. “We’ll see. You guys asked me these questions that are impossible to know. When you’re talking a short period of time, that’s a hard question to answer. You can’t rush a guy. You need a certain number of innings. He has to go back-to-back.

Losing a single reliever, even a closer, doesn’t hurt this team too much, but the depth is seriously starting to take a hit.