Friday lineups, news and reading

The Reds have a split-squad day with a home game against the Oakand A’s and an away game in Mesa against the Chicago Cubs. Both games start at 3:05 p.m. ET and can be heard on MLB.com radio.

Here is the lineup for the home game:

1. Zack Cozart SS
2. Scott Schebler CF
3. Joey Votto 1B
4. Brandon Phillips 2B
5. Jay Bruce RF
6. Jordan Pacheco DH
7. Eric Jagielo 3B
8. Yorman Rodriguez LF
9. Tucker Barnhart

Jon Moscot will start this game.

Here is the lineup for the away game:

1. Jake Cave CF
2. Jose Peraza SS
3. Eugenio Suarez 3B
4. Adam Duvall RF
5. Brandon Allen 1B
6. Ivan De Jesus 2B
7. Phil Ervin DH
8. Tyler Holt LF
9. Ramon Cabrera C

Robert Stephenson will start this game.

Lineup Thoughts

Zack is back. Zack Cozart! Zack returns from his off-season knee surgery for his first spring training game. He’s batting leadoff, probably to maximize his plate appearances.

No Jesse Winker in either game. He was involved in an outfield collision yesterday. Winker is day-to-day with a strained hip flexor.

Meanwhile, in players-on-the-mend, Raisel Iglesias pitched to live batters today. Devin Mesoraco was one of them (Sheldon). Mesoraco is expected to play in the middle to end of next week (Sheldon).

News and Reading

• Mark Sheldon talks with Joey Votto about his leadership role, bunting and other topics.

“I think [it’s] the freshness. There is a collective sense of humility,” Votto said. “Last year was a very humbling experience, an embarrassing experience.

“I think we’ve realized that we can go in two directions. One being that we’re the kind of organization that’s a walk-all-over team, a team that is just a stepping stone for other organizations towards the playoffs and World Series. Or we’re not going to say, ‘We’re bad,’ and be embarrassed by that and do our very best to be as competitive as possible.”

Joey Votto / Photo: Cincinnati Enquirer

Reminder: Patrick Jeter proved Votto is a deviant. Grant Freking wrote about Votto’s Hall of Fame chances.

• Zach Buchanan (Cincinnati Enquirer) talks with Tony Cingrani about his comfort level in the bullpen.

That shuttling back and forth between starting and relieving dates back to his college days at Rice, and Cingrani’s pretty over it. Toward the end of last season he asked to remain in the bullpen in order to have some predictability. He knew he wouldn’t be in the rotation anyway, but he thinks it’ll be easier to stay consistent mechanically if he’s throwing more often. He also feels he’ll remain a lot healthier if he’s throwing fewer pitches. “Just probably the next two years I’d rather be in the pen and then maybe try starting,” Cingrani said. “But, it kills you. Starting’s hard.”

Photo: Kareem Elgazzar/Enquirer

• Justin Merry, whose Reds blog just celebrated its 10-year anniversary (congrats, Justin!), breaks down the players the Reds received from the Yankees in the Chapman trade:

So, it’s not an overwhelming collection of talent…but I still like this deal better than the Todd Frazier trade.  With Frazier, you were dealing two years of a 3-4 WAR player, and the headlining prospect was pretty underwhelming (high contact, low-OBP, high speed, no power, just ok fielding).  In this case, the two headlining players coming over might not be top-tier prospects, but there’s a path by which each could become important an contributer to the Reds over the next few years.  Given that the Reds were dealing just a single year of Chapman, and that year one potentially rocked by domestic violence allegations and suspensions, I think they did a lot better in this trade.

Reminder: Our scouting reports for Rookie Davis and Eric Jagielo.

• FSO announced its 145-game broadcast schedule.

• From the former-Reds department, the New York Times reports that Aroldis Chapman struggled in his first game for the Yankees yesterday:

When Chapman, who is eligible to pitch in spring training, took the mound in the bottom of the fifth, there was no discernible reaction from the crowd. No cheers. No boos. It was as if another bottom-of-the-camp-roster prospect was taking the mound. The only sign of difference was the five photographers who lined up behind home plate, snapping photos as Chapman took his warm-up pitches.

Reminder: Yankees fans, welcome to the other side of Chapmania.