The Reds’ 2015 campaign can be broken down into four separate segments:

Segment 1: The 4-0 start — remember Todd Frazier’s Opening Day thunderbolt? — and Bryan Price’s blow-up.

Segment 2: Season-ending injuries to Devin Mesoraco and Homer Bailey as well as a nine-game losing streak in May curtailed any chance the Reds possessed at playoff contention.

Segment 3: Frazier captures the Home Run Derby crown/other All-Star week fun.

Segment 4 (The present): The post-Cueto-and-Leake-trade slog to the finish line.

Keeping in line with the off-the-field storylines that have come to define the 2015 Reds, in the aftermath of the non-waiver trade deadline on July 31, general manager Walt Jocketty referred to the Reds’ modus operandi going forward as a “reboot” rather than a “rebuild.”

Less than a week later, when asked about his club’s chances in 2016, Jocketty said, “Our plan at this point is that we realistically have a real good shot in 2017,” while also noting that the “nucleus” of the club is in place.

In essence, while Jocketty and the Reds front office/ownership aren’t punting on 2016, they feel that 2017 is a more practical year for the club to seriously pursue a playoff berth.

Is a Reboot/Aim for 2017 plan realistic? Let’s examine the pros and cons of the Reds’ apparent strategy moving forward.

Con: The position players are aging quickly

Note: For each player’s age, I used Baseball-Reference’s measure, which goes by the player’s age at midnight of June 30.

Counting on this particular position player core for sustained production in 2017 is a risky proposition. Mesoraco, Votto, Cozart, and Bruce have missed sizable chunks of time in the past with serious injuries. Phillips has accumulated myriad minor maladies over the last few years, and his declining power production/ability to hit the ball hard as well as his aversion to walks is certainly worrisome.

If the Reds do indeed push their chips to the middle of the table in 2017, the season will take on a Last Hurrah feel — not unlike 2015, to an extent — as the contracts of Phillips, Frazier, and Bruce are set to expire after the 2017 campaign, and Cozart’s last year of arbitration taking place in 2017. (The Reds picking up Bruce’s $13 million team option for 2017 would seem to be a cinch.)

The age-related decline of the older players should be offset by a handful of the other regulars (Mesoraco, Suarez, Hamilton) ideally entering or being in the middle of their prime years. One would think the Reds would have upgraded the bench into a more versatile and formidable unit as well.

The 2015 Reds offense is fifth among the 15 National League squads in fWAR and OPS, seventh in wRC+, and 11th in runs scored. Can what will likely be mostly the same group of regulars produce an average-ish offense to augment a potentially emerging pitching staff?

Wild cards: Prized outfield prospect Jesse Winker (age 23 in 2017) will likely — sensing a pattern with the italics yet? — make the Reds at some point in 2016, increasing the likelihood he can contribute in 2017. … Infield prospect Alex Blandino (24) was bumped from High-A to Double-A recently. There’s a chance Blandino could reach the majors at some point next season. … The Reds should be able to procure something out of outfielder Yorman Rodriguez (24), corner infielder/outfielder Kyle Waldrop (25), and corner infielder/outfielder Adam Duvall (28) by 2017, too.

Pro: Potentially superb pitching depth

Age in 2017 (currently in majors/on DL): Homer Bailey (31), Anthony DeSclafani (27), Raisel Iglesias (27), Michael Lorenzen (25), Keyvius Sampson (26), David Holmberg (25), Jon Moscot (25).

Age in 2017 (currently in minors): Tony Cingrani (27), Robert Stephenson (24), Brandon Finnegan (24), John Lamb (27), Cody Reed (24), Amir Garrett (25), Keury Mella (25), Nick Travieso (23).

As far as the current starters in the bigs go, Bailey should be back to full strength from Tommy John in 2017. DeSclafani, Iglesias, and Lorenzen could be in their third seasons as major-league starters. More than likely, Stephenson is embarking on his second go-around in the bigs.

As for Sampson, Holmberg, Moscot, Cingrani, Finnegan, Lamb, and Reed, most of them will probably be with the Reds, either in the rotation or the bullpen, by 2017. Garrett, Mella, and Travieso, all of whom are pitching at High-A, should be in Triple-A by 2017 and waiting for a taste of the big leagues.

If the Reds can sort everything out, they should possess an impressive collection of young, controllable, and cheap (with the exception being Bailey, of course) pitching, which is why it’s also feasible that a handful of the aforementioned pitchers will be packaged together in a trade for young hitting talent, something the Reds are in dire need of.

Con: There are three teams in the NL Central with better young players, better coaching, and better front offices

Pirates: Pittsburgh isn’t going anywhere, the chief reason being Andrew McCutchen is under contract through 2018, his age-31 season. … Starling Marte and Gregory Polanco are just scratching the surface of their respective potentials. … Jung-Ho Kang, Neil Walker, and Josh Harrison will soon be joined in the infield by the club’s top hitting prospect, first baseman Josh Bell. … Top pitching prospect Tyler Glasnow will join Gerrit Cole and Francisco Liriano in the rotation next year. … The front office has proven itself to be more than savvy enough (Liriano, Kang, Russell Martin, Francisco Cervelli, A.J. Burnett) to locate and fill their weaknesses on a cost-effective basis. … The Pirates went 94-68 in 2013, 88-74 in 2014, and are pace for 95 wins in 2015.

Cubs: Anthony Rizzo, Addison Russell, Kris Bryant, Jorge Soler, and Kyle Schwarber are locked up for years to come. … Jon Lester signed a long-term deal last offseason. … Jake Arrieta and Jason Hammel are under club control through 2017. … Everyone in the world knows Theo Epstein will secure a top starter (David Price? Johnny Cueto? Zack Greinke? Jordan Zimmerman? Jeff Samardzija? Scott Kazmir?) and at least one impact bat in the offseason as the Cubs begin to flex their financial might.

Cardinals: Adam Wainwright stands to age well and mesh with eventual ace Michael Wacha atop a rotation that also sports the rapidly-developing Carlos Martinez and often-overlooked-but-very-good Lance Lynn. … Matt Carpenter, Kolten Wong, Randal Grichuk, Stephen Piscotty, and Matt Adams aren’t going anywhere. … The inevitable age-related decline of Yadier Molina, Matt Holliday, and Jhonny Peralta is a concern. Holliday is likely gone after 2016, while Molina and Peralta’s contracts expire after 2017. And yet, impact position players always want to play for St. Louis, so even if Jason Heyward departs this offseason, the Cardinals will fill the gap ably.

Pro: With a new TV deal on the horizon, an everything-must-go rebuild wasn’t/isn’t a feasible financial option for the Reds

Within the confines of Great American Ball Park, the fact that the Reds’ television agreement with Fox Sports Ohio expires after the 2016 season could have been the single most important reason the Reds eschewed a scored-earth rebuild — i.e. the trading of Bruce, Frazier, Aroldis Chapman, and possibly even Phillips at the non-waiver deadline last month — in favor of The Reboot. (Obligatory mention of Bob Castellini’s well-known competitive streak.)

Leverage always plays a big role in any sort of financial agreement. Quite obviously, if the strip-mined Reds were on track for somewhere around 100 losses in 2016 and 2017, that would harm their negotiating power. The powers that be at GABP want to broker the best possible deal before the TV bubble bursts.

Conclusion

It’s possible the Reds are victims of bad timing with the All-Star Game and the new TV deal. (Would’ve been nice if both of those events took place in 2012 or 2013, eh?) The circling of 2017 as a return to contention is not unlike the club’s plan this past winter to push for the postseason with All-Star Game on the horizon: it can work, but it has to be done right without obvious mistakes (Jason Marquis, Kevin Gregg, Brennan Boesch, the bench) while employing some defensible (Marlon Byrd) and inspired (DeSclafani, Suarez) moves. Player health is obviously the biggest unknown/swing factor.

In a hypothetical world, if there was no new TV deal to worry about, the Reds would heavily weigh the aging/injury history of the club’s position player core and the strength of the NL Central and decide to execute the following: the already-completed Cueto and Leake trades; sell high on Bruce, Frazier, and Chapman, and get whatever they could for Phillips either at the trade deadline or this offseason; move bit parts (Byrd, Manny Parra, Brayan Pena, Skip Schumaker); and promote the ready/near-ready youngsters (Stephenson, Lamb, Rodriguez, Waldrop, Duvall) from Triple-A.

The result would’ve been some lean, lean years in 2016 and 2017, but as the end of the decade approached and the Cardinals, Cubs, and Pirates respective cores aged and/or became too expensive to keep together, the Reds could have primed for 2010-esque uprising. Having said that, the Reds can realistically chase a playoff berth as soon as 2017, but the margin for error — not unlike this past winter — will be very slim.