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Home , Brock Huntzinger, Bryan Price, Bryan Price (pitcher), Burke Badenhop, Casey Kelly, Donald Lutz

Press Clippings March 23, 2015

THIS DAY IN REDS HISTORY 1962-Bill DeWitt purchases the Reds from the Crosley Foundation and immediately promises to keep the team in Cincinnati.

MLB.COM Leake goes five strong, Satin plays hero as Reds rally vs. A's Satin hits homer, adds game-winning single in 9th By Mark Sheldon / MLB.com / [email protected] / @m_sheldon

GOODYEAR, Ariz. -- In a game that featured strong starting from both sides, the Reds emerged with a 4-3 comeback win over the A's on Sunday afternoon at .

A's rotation candidate Kendall Graveman tossed 5 1/3 scoreless innings with one , one walk and five .

Oakland pitchers kept the Reds' bats mostly quiet until the bottom of the eighth inning, when Josh Satin, a non-roster invite, slugged a three- homer off Brock Huntzinger to tie the game at 3-3. Satin added a game-winning single in the bottom of the ninth off Fernando Rodriguez, scoring Kristopher Negron to cap his four-RBI day.

Meanwhile, Reds starter Mike Leake gave up one earned run and four hits over his five innings with no walks and two strikeouts. It was the first run Leake surrendered in four starts during what's been a strong spring.

Oakland reached Leake with three hits in the top of the fourth inning, including a to right-center field by Mark Canha that scored Marcus Semien. A second run was prevented from crossing on a perfectly executed relay from center fielder Skip Schumaker to shortstop Zack Cozart to Tucker Barnhart, who tagged out .

"A few balls that I probably rushed got elevated a little bit," said Leake, who threw 75 pitches, including 10 in the bullpen after departing the game. "But all in all, I'm pretty happy. Just a couple of more [outings] to get back into it. So I'm trying to maximize the pitching."

Semien was 2-for-3 in the game to up his average to .308. For the Rule 5 selection Canha, who is trying to break camp with the A's, it was his third double in two games and his fourth over his last four games.

Oakland added a pair of two-out runs in the top of the seventh against reliever Pedro Villarreal. A pair of bench candidates, Tyler Ladendorf and Billy Burns, each hit RBI singles. Ladendorf lined his hit to center field while Burns reached on a blooper in front of Donald Lutz.

Up next: In another opportunity to improve his chances of making the rotation, will make his fifth start of spring when the Reds face the Rangers in Surprise on Monday at 9:05 p.m. ET. Marquis is coming off his shakiest start in camp, when he allowed four earned runs in five innings vs. the White Sox. Sam LeCure, Burke Badenhop and Kevin Gregg are expected to work out of the bullpen. The game is available on MLB.TV and Gameday Audio.

Bailey feels good after starting in Minor League game Reds righty allows one hit in first appearance since surgery By Mark Sheldon / MLB.com / [email protected] / @m_sheldon

GOODYEAR, Ariz. -- In his first game since having surgery in September, Reds worked two scoreless innings during a Minor League start on Sunday.

Bailey allowed one hit and one walk with two strikeouts while throwing 29 pitches, including 20 for strikes, in a -A game vs. the Indians. He felt like the outing went pretty good and more important, there were no health issues.

"My elbow felt great," Bailey said. "We started with two innings. We'll just kind of go from there."

Bailey had surgery on Sept. 5 to repair a torn flexor mass tendon near his elbow.

Catcher Brayan Pena worked behind the plate for Bailey while pitching and Reds owner/CEO were among those watching on a field at the team complex.

At one point, Bailey yelled at himself after firing a pitch, which had Pena immediately asking if the right-hander was feeling OK.

"I just missed a spot," Bailey said. "I was trying to go in and kind of missed up. I got a swing and miss but I was mad I didn't make the pitch. I didn't think about that. I might have yelled more if I was hurt again. Everything was fine. You get in game situations, the last thing you want to think about is your health. You just want to compete and go throw. If something comes up, it will let you know. In my mind, I'm preparing for a season, not just coming back from an injury."

In a 16-pitch first inning, Bailey issued a two-out walk but escaped with a called on three pitches. In the second inning, he threw more secondary pitches and started his first three hitters with off-speed stuff. He struck out the leadoff batter with an 85-mph . There was a two-out double to right field before a groundout to third base finished the outing.

"Even before the game with Brayan [Pena], I felt 'let's mix it up and start playing around if you will.' We mixed in some sliders, splits and stuff like that," Bailey said. "We've already faced hitters once [in live batting practice] but with the speed of the game, it was really great to be out there. It was a nice, hot day so that helps too."

Bailey is slated to make his next start on Friday in a Cactus League game vs. the Brewers. Although there have been no setbacks since his surgery, he will likely begin the regular season on the disabled list and miss one or two starts.

"At this time of year, it doesn't really matter about the games themselves," Bailey said. "It's as long as we're in games in general."

Byrd leads Reds at plate, but not yet satisfied Price says left fielder has made 'seamless transition' to new team By Mark Sheldon / MLB.com / [email protected] / @m_sheldon

GOODYEAR, Ariz. -- The Reds' key offensive acquisition during the offseason, left fielder Marlon Byrd appears to be dialed in at the plate. Byrd leads the team in hitting with a .417 average in 10 games and has a five-game hitting streak that includes two hits in each of his last three games.

The key word was "appears," because on Sunday morning, Byrd felt he was still not where he wanted to be.

"Not yet. I need to start driving the ball to right-center field and start seeing more sliders and more ," Byrd said. "When I'm able to stay over the middle of the field consistently, I'll be good."

During the Reds' 8-1 loss to the A's on Saturday, Byrd was 2-for-3 with a walk in four plate appearances. In the first and fourth innings, he sharply lined singles to left field both times. There was a walk in the sixth before he struck out in the seventh.

"It's , you can get fooled by guys swinging in Spring Training," Byrd said. "Rhythm and timing is my big thing, and getting pitch recognition off of my rhythm and timing. Yesterday in my last at-bat, I swung at two cutters that were a little too low and I started a little bit late. I still had good at-bats yesterday and got my hits. Once I start driving the ball into the gaps and beating the , I'll know I'm ready for the season."

Byrd, 37, is coming off of one of his best years. He played in a career-most 154 games last season and batted .264/.312/.445 with a career-high 25 home runs and 85 RBIs. Cincinnati acquired him, along with cash, from the Phillies for Minor League pitching prospect .

Reds has liked what he's seen from Byrd throughout camp.

"He's an experienced professional. Spring Training is a vehicle, I think, for the veteran player to get ready," Price said. "Most of these guys have a routine and a sequence that they follow that gets them ready for . I think he's been great. I think he values the at-bats and the time playing left field. He puts in a real good workday. He fits in really well with our group. I think it's a seamless transition to our organization."

Price to keep tinkering to decide on Reds lineup Manager aims to establish 'cohesiveness' for Opening Day By Mark Sheldon / MLB.com / [email protected] / @m_sheldon

GOODYEAR, Ariz. - In all eight of his games this spring, Reds first baseman Joey Votto has batted second. In seven of his 12 games, second baseman Brandon Phillips has batted third. In five of their games together, including Sunday, Votto has batted second with Phillips behind him in the third spot.

Is this a sign of how the Reds lineup will be constructed in the regular season? It sure seems like it. But as he has been since the offseason, manager Bryan Price declined to tip his hand about his lineup.

"I can't commit to that at this point in time," Price replied Sunday when asked about lineup spots for Votto and Phillips. "You know, I'm just moving guys around a bit. Joey has stayed in the second hole. Brandon has been second, third and I think I've hit him fourth. Right now it's moving pieces and coming to some conclusion as to what's our best order to start the season."

Price noted that his lineup construction could be a fluid situation, especially after players moved around a lot last season because of several injuries. Also, new left fielder Marlon Byrd has been added to the mix while third baseman Todd Frazier and catcher Devin Mesoraco are coming off of breakout offensive seasons.

"It may be something we have to progress to where we get what you'd call … a set order in the lineup," Price said.

The third spot in the lineup is often utilized by a team's best hitter, but the second spot is viewed as an optimal spot for a player who gets on base a lot. In the Reds case, Votto has usually been both.

In the 923 games he's started over his career, Votto has batted third in 757 of them and second in only 31. He has a lifetime .310 average and a .417 on-base percentage.

Phillips, who is a lifetime .271 hitter with a .319 OBP, has batted in multiple spots over his career but has been vocal over the years about his desire to bat third. His production has declined the past two seasons -- in part, because of injuries -- and he batted .266/.306/372 with eight home runs and 51 RBIs in 121 games last season. Votto batted a career-low .255 in only 62 games in 2014 but had a .390 OBP and a .409 slugging percentage.

Price did not know when all eight of his regular players would be in the same lineup again. Even if they are together, their order may or may not indicate what's to come on Opening Day.

"It's challenging to say, simply because there's no clear-cut best lineup," Price said. "They have to go out there and play and see how that sequence works offensively, and if there's a cohesiveness to it. But we'll figure it out."

CINCINNATI ENQUIRER Reds beat A's, walk-off style By C. Trent Rosecrans / Cincinnati Enquirer / [email protected] / @ctrent

GOODYEAR, Ariz. — The Reds won walk-off style 4-3. Josh Satin drove in all four Reds' runs. He hit a three-run in the eighth and singled home the game winner in the ninth.

The arms: Mike Leake started and went five innings. He allowed one run on four hits. He did not walk a batter and he struck out two. It was the first run Leake's allowed in 14 innings this spring.

"There were a few balls I probably rushed and elevated a bit," Leake said. "But, all in all, pretty happy. I have a couple more to get back into it."

Tony Cingrani threw two more perfect innings of relief. He struck out three. He's retired all 12 hitters he's faced since being moved the bullpen, six by strikeout.

The bats: The Reds did not have a hit until Joey Votto singled in the fifth inning.

The rest: The run Leake gave up scored on Mark Canha's double. The Reds cut down Ike Davis, trying to score on the play in a perfect Skip Schumaker-to-Zack Cozart-Tucker Barnhart relay.

Up next: The Reds go Surprise to play the in a 9:05 p.m. game. Right-hander Jason Marquis (2-1, 3.21 ERA) faces right-hander Alex Gonzalez.

Reds' Homer Bailey feels fine after minor-league start By C. Trent Rosecrans / Cincinnati Enquirer / [email protected] / @ctrent

GOODYEAR, Ariz. — In the first inning of his first game action of spring, Reds right-hander Homer Bailey threw a pitch and yelled out in disgust. Catcher Brayan Pena immediately asked if he was OK, worrying about Bailey's surgically repaired forearm.

Pena wasn't alone, everyone gathered to watch -- a crowd that included big-league pitching coach Jeff Pico, owner Bob Castellini and several big-league players -- held their breath for a moment.

It took a Bailey a second to understand what Pena was asking, because the last thing on his mind was how his body felt.

"I missed a spot there, I was trying to go in, but missed it. I got a swing and miss, but I was mad that I didn't make the pitch," Bailey said. "I didn't think about (my forearm). I might have yelled more than one 'F' word there if it had hurt again there."

He did yell another "F" word later, but again it was a missed spot, nothing more. The setting of a minor-league game on the back fields against the Indians' Triple-A team allows for more people to overhear what's said on the field.

"It's a good thing we pitch in front of a lot of fans, or you'd hear it every pitch," Bailey joked.

In addition to feeling good — Bailey pitched well. He threw 29 pitches in two innings of work, with 20 strikes. He gave up a double on a ball sliced down the right-field line by a right-handed batter, walked a batter and struck out two. He threw all of his pitches and was around 90-91 mph on his fastball, touching 92.

"Man, he looked amazing," Pena said. "We were talking about that, what impressed me the most was he hasn't lost anything. He looked like the guy he is every time. I felt like his fastball command was pretty good, his off-speed was unbelievable, especially the way he was working against lefties and righties, he was working both sides of the plate. It was very good to see."

Bailey said he used all his pitches in the outing.

"Even before the game, with Brayan, I said let's mix it up and play around, if you will. We mixed in some sliders, splits, stuff like that," Bailey said. "We already faced hitters once, but with the speed of the game, it was great to be out there. It was a nice, hot day, that helps out too."

Bailey started the spring behind the rest of the pitchers after undergoing surgery to repair the torn flexor tendon in his right forearm on Sept. 5, 2014. Bailey threw live batting practice last week and had another cancelled when he came down with an illness. However, that didn't change the team's timeline for his return.

"I'd say we're on a pretty good track, we came back healthy, we haven't had any setbacks, I'd have to say this whole thing has gone pretty smooth," Bailey said.

Reds manager Bryan Price has said he hopes Bailey will be able to return to big-league action in the middle of April. At this point, Bailey will continue to increase his workload through the rest of the spring. He was scheduled to pitch two innings and 30 pitches on Sunday, missing that by a pitch in his outing against the Indians. He is on the schedule to start the Reds' Major League exhibition against the Brewers on Friday after another bullpen on Tuesday.

"I think I could have gone with a Major League game today, but it's just the workload, two innings, let's start there and build up," Bailey said. "At this time of year, it doesn't matter about the games themselves, as long as we're in games in general."

Bailey will start the season on the disabled list, and a start on the 27th in the big-league exhibition would mean he would be eligible to return in the first week of the season. If he starts two big-league games, his stint on the 15-day disabled list could be backdated to the last time he pitched in a big-league game (defined as any game where admission is charged).

"It's up in the air, we're waiting to see how he bounces back and how we want to go about his rehab -- you get to a certain point where you can't pitch him in big-league games and then activate him when we want to," Price said. "We have to be cautious if we give him too much too soon and also be conscious of when he can pitch and be activated on the day we anticipate him being ready to pitch for us in the big leagues."

Those questions lie ahead, but Sunday's questions were answered, as Bailey looked good on the mound and more importantly felt good.

"You get in game situations, the last thing you want to think about is your health," Bailey said. "You want to try to forget about it, go compete, go throw. If something comes up, it'll let you know. But until then, in my mind, I'm preparing for a season, not just coming back from an injury."

The ban: How the investigation unfolded By James Pilcher / Cincinnati Enquirer

'IF ANYTHING, I FEEL THIS INVESTIGATION SHOWED THE TRUE LOVE THE AMERICAN PEOPLE HAD FOR THE GAME OF BASEBALL AND THAT THEY KNEW IT NEEDED TO BE KEPT HONEST. AND IF THAT MEANT GOING AFTER PETE ROSE, SO BE IT.'

He was supposed to be there to collect the $42,000 Pete Rose owed him. But when Paul Janszen walked into Rose's lawyer's office, he was handed a check for $10,000.

On the memo line, a single word: LOAN.

Rose hadn't even written the check. But it was drawn on his account and signed by his attorney.

No matter. It was March 1988. And the word "LOAN" galled him.

Janszen exited the law office on Fifth Street with just one driving thought: Find me a phone.

The course of the nation's pastime and the fate of one Peter Edward Rose stood in the balance.

"That just turned me on a dime. I would have defended Pete Rose to the death, but 10 minutes after getting that check, I was talking with my attorney telling them I was ready to talk to the FBI," Janszen told The Enquirer last week. "And the rest is history."

Nearly a year later, Janszen found himself in another well-appointed room, this one at the Hyatt Regency downtown. Across the table, a group listened as he talked. That included John Dowd, the man who would become historically linked with Rose's eventual permanent banishment from the game he loved so much.

"We talked for two straight days," Janszen told The Enquirer late last week. "I didn't trust them at first and even brought my own tape recorder. Heck, I even still have the tapes from that somewhere."

Yet Dowd and his investigators were finally able to convince Janszen, who was under investigation himself for tax evasion, to become their star witness along with Janszen's girlfriend, Danita Marcum. (The two later married and still live in the area.)

Janszen and Marcum were so tied to Rose's gambling, that eventually they found the betting slips that held Rose's handwriting and fingerprints. That was some of the key evidence that Dowd used as proof that Rose bet on baseball, and that he bet on the same Cincinnati Reds he was managing at the time.

Dowd's report and evidence will again be in the spotlight over the next few months as newly appointed Commissioner Rob Manfred said last week he would consider Rose's case for reinstatement. But in his comments, Manfred said he would need to review the 225-page Dowd report as well as baseball's constitution and the actual agreement between Rose and former commissioner Bart Giamatti.

The Enquirer retained not only a copy of Dowd's 1989 report, but also thousands of pages of supporting documents – copies of the betting sheets and transcripts of hundreds of hours of depositions, including those fateful meetings in February and April 1989.

Sunday, The Enquirer published an account of what was in the report and supporting documents as well as other disclosures from that time about Rose's activities and possible deals that could have spared him banishment.

But those documents and new interviews last week also weave an intricate tale about how Dowd went about gathering evidence that all built to a final climactic meeting with Rose in a much different kind of room.

And to the August 1989 announcement that banned Rose from baseball for life.

$10K LOAN

THE CHECK THAT STARTED IT ALL

Janszen was introduced to Rose through Rose's long-time friend and sometimes housemate Tommy Gioiosa in the mid- to late 1980s. Janszen had earned such a spot in Rose's inner circle that he was running bets for him, including on baseball.

In fact, Janszen says Gioiosa used him to get Rose to pay Gioiosa back for old gambling debts, believing Janszen's size would intimidate Rose. A former weightlifter, Janszen weighed more than 300 pounds at one point.

"Tommy told Pete that I was the guy who he needed to pay, and we met at a Perkins near Pete's house in Indian Hill and he hands me an envelope and lightly punches me on the arm," Janszen said. "As soon as we got out of the restaurant, I gave the money to Tommy. But that's how it started."

In the end, Janszen says he wound up fronting bets for Rose and paying off some losses. He also remembers paying a delivery man for a $2,000 Sub-Zero freezer Rose had ordered "because, of course, he didn't leave any money for the housekeeper" to pay for the delivery.

At the same time, Janszen was selling steroids out of a Gold's Gym in the area, and he was soon facing tax evasion charges for not claiming income totaling $12,000. That meant costly legal bills.

So after being unable to confront Rose about the debt for more than a year, Janszen went to Rose's attorney, Reuven Katz. The documents show several letters of correspondence between Katz and Janszen's lawyers at the time.

Katz agreed to meet with Janszen immediately, and during that meeting handed him the check for $10,000. (The check eventually made it into the Dowd report record.)

"He looked at me and asked me directly if Pete bet on baseball," Janszen said. "And I said yes, but I said and I wouldn't tell anyone.

"Then he told me that Pete thought I deserved a loan for being his friend and for all the trouble I was in. I was furious. And baseball guys had already started sniffing around and knew something was up. The IRS and FBI were telling me this at the time, and even said now that I've hit bottom, why not let it all out and start completely clean.

"They knew how angry I was at Pete. I wasn't going to do it, but then Pete and Katz did this."

Now retired, Katz declined an interview when contacted by email. Rose declined to speak about his case or reinstatement last week when approached by an Enquirer reporter at an autograph signing session in Las Vegas. He did say he hoped to be reinstated and be voted into the Hall of Fame, but said "it's not my decision."

The Enquirer also reached out to Rose's business manager Joie Casey, who said he would discuss the story with Rose. But Casey did not then respond to the questions Saturday.

To the bone

NOT WILLING TO TURN AGAINST PETE

Another key player in the Rose investigation decided to take another approach. Gioiosa, a former college baseball player who had played a very brief time with the ' minor league system, lived with Rose off and on for several years after meeting him in 1978. Gioiosa also acknowledges now making bets routinely for Rose on baseball and previously said in a 2001 Vanity Fair article that Rose helped finance a cocaine buy in Cincinnati.

Janszen eventually took Gioiosa's place in Rose's inner circle, especially when it came to placing bets. Gioiosa, too, was under investigation for tax evasion (as well as conspiracy to distribute cocaine) and had moved home to live with his mother in New Bedford, Massachusetts, when Dowd and baseball asked to hear his story.

"I was all set, and they even sent a plane to New Bedford and a limo to my mom's house to pick me up," Gioiosa told The Enquirer. "But when they knocked on the door, I just couldn't do it. I could not find it in myself to turn against Pete Rose."

For Gioiosa, "that was it."

"The next thing I knew I was under indictment," said Gioiosa, who wound up serving 38 months of a five-year sentence on the cocaine charges. Now 57, he lives in Ormond Beach, Florida, where he sells nutritional supplements.

Gioiosa doesn't regret his choice, however, and has kept in touch with Rose and Janszen to this day.

"If I had spilled my guts, Pete probably would have gone to prison for a long time," Gioiosa said. "And baseball would have pounded a lot more nails into his coffin in terms of coming back ...

"But Pete was sick with (gambling) addiction. That drove all his actions ... he wasn't looking to be introduced to folks in New York connected to the mob to take on his large debts. That's what his sickness forced him to do."

Different motives

110 WITNESSES; LOVE OF BASEBALL

Gioiosa was by far the exception for Dowd and his lead investigators, John Daly, a private investigator in Cincinnati, and Kevin Hallinan, a former FBI agent who was MLB's director of security at the time. Dowd now says he was astonished at how cooperative everyone in Cincinnati, and throughout baseball, was to his query.

In all, Dowd interviewed 110 witnesses and produced thousands of pages of documents, including phone records not only from Rose but from hotels and businesses in this area and around the country.

"That was one of the best things we did ... we followed the money through the phone records," Dowd said. "But for all the time I was there in Cincinnati, I never had a cross word spoken to me or had a door shut in my face, and I actually enjoyed my time there."

Dowd says that at one point he thought it was "the Irish charm" he and his fellow investigators had. But later, he came to this conclusion:

"It was the force of the game. There is such a love of the game of baseball there (in Cincinnati) and throughout the country, or at least there was at that time. And everyone knew what we were doing was to protect the game, not to get Pete Rose," Dowd said.

Giamatti instructed Dowd and his team to give weekly updates to Rose's legal team throughout the investigative process, including copies of anything they had found.

"We figured if they started playing with evidence or getting people to change their testimony that we would handle that as it came," Dowd said. "But that never happened. In fact, we never heard word one from Rose's lawyers until the very end."

As for Janszen, his motives weren't to the game of baseball, he now acknowledges. It just came down to the fact that he was "incredibly angry" at Rose.

That fury led Janszen and Marcum to search Rose's Indian Hill home for incriminating betting slips. It was Marcum who eventually found them, Janszen says. He also says he didn't really want to turn them in to Dowd and the others, and used them as leverage to get back his money – funds he says he took out of his life savings and family business and that Marcum had borrowed from her grandmother.

In a previous interview with The Enquirer in 2014, Janszen said he went to a friend of Rose before ever going to baseball and said, "I've got these betting sheets. I don't want to use them – I just want to get repaid my money. This is my life savings."

Janszen told The Enquirer last week that the friend in question was well-known restaurateur Jeff Ruby. (Rose was an investor in at least of one of Ruby's restaurants.)

Ruby disclosed that story in a book released last year, and also wrote that he had offered to pay off Janszen's debt, only to be discouraged by Rose's lawyers. He also wrote he was not convinced that the betting sheets Janszen had proved Rose bet on baseball.

Starting with that first two-day meeting in February 1989, Janszen eventually met a dozen or more times with Dowd and other investigators. Marcum also testified several times, and took a lie detector test.

She passed.

Presenting evidence to Rose

TWO DAYS IN A BASEMENT IN DAYTON, OHIO

More than two months after that first meeting in that fancy hotel room with Janszen, Dowd held another two-day session in a much more spartan environment to essentially cap his investigation.

Dowd presented all the evidence he had to Rose and his lawyers in the basement cafeteria of a Catholic school in Dayton (the actual name and location have been forgotten) on April 21 and 22, 1989. Dowd's friendly unassuming approach eventually created such trust between the ballplayer and baseball's special counsel that Rose asked for Dowd personally when discussing a possible settlement later.

"The nuns would bring us food, including those deadly Honey Dew donuts," Dowd told The Enquirer late last week. "I remember one of Pete's lawyers falling asleep and the other eating a lot of donuts, so basically it was just Pete and I going over all of this."

Throughout the conversation, Dowd was never confrontational, and he and Rose don't ever seem to exchange cross words.

Dowd says now that was intentional – and Giamatti's idea.

"He said to us to just use this as the opportunity to show everything to Pete and just get his response," Dowd said. "I was not to treat it as a cross-examination or be confrontational in any way, as might happen in a normal deposition. Bart didn't want his lawyers to have any ammunition that we tried to coerce anything."

The deposition is a series of questions, and Dowd, on multiple occasions, presents Rose with canceled checks or other documents. Rose several times denies that they are his, only to be confronted with more evidence that forces him to admit ownership.

Despite the cramped surroundings, Dowd says Rose was relaxed and comfortable, even declining the chance to rest after he flew to Dayton from Los Angeles.

Most of the time, Rose was light-hearted – even as he was denying what was in front of him or having to retract previous statements, Dowd says. The only time Dowd ever saw Rose flinch was when he played tape recordings of conversations between Janszen and other bookies and associates on the East Coast.

"He was very uncomfortable with that ... he turned gray and green and looked ill," Dowd said. "In those days we didn't videotape our depositions like they do now. I wish I could have because his face said it all."

The whole point of the meeting was to present all of the overwhelming evidence in the hopes that Rose would see the light "and we could work something out," Dowd said.

But Rose and his legal team didn't go along. So after triple checking all his witnesses' testimony, Dowd turned in the final 225-page report on May 9, 1989, giving Giamatti the ammunition he needed to ban Rose.

Later, when Rose was trying to work out a deal, he asked his attorney to set up a private meeting with Dowd.

"I was all ready to do it, but then Rueven Katz vetoed the whole thing," Dowd said. "That shows how much we built a rapport in that room in Dayton."

The Pete Rose ban stuck, though it never seemed to be an entirely closed matter.

Janszen is in no hurry to relive the past and says he has long gotten over his anger toward Rose. But he says people need to know the truth about the investigation and how it was handled as any talk of reinstatement is considered.

"I've heard through friends of Pete that he jokes that I made him more famous than ever," said Janszen, 58, who still lives in Colerain Township. "How sad was it that there was not one strong character in Pete's life who could say 'Get your ass in for treatment and cut this out.' And that includes me."

Dowd says all the witnesses were very important, but that "Paul and Danita were essential."

As for the end result, Dowd stands by the findings as well as how he got them.

"It's still rare when a week goes by and no one has asked me for a copy of the report," Dowd said. "If anything, I feel this investigation showed the true love the American people had for the game of baseball and that they knew it needed to be kept honest. And if that meant going after Pete Rose, so be it."

CBSSPORTS.COM Reds' Homer Bailey tosses two innings in minor-league game By R.J. White / CBSSports.com

Reds pitcher Homer Bailey (elbow) returned to action in a minor-league game Sunday, giving up one hit and one walk in two innings while striking out two and throwing 29 pitches.

Bailey said his elbow felt great after the outing, the Cincinnati Enquirer reports. His fastball sat in the low 90s and Bailey was able to throw all his pitches.

Bailey is set to begin the season on the disabled list as he continues to work his way back from September elbow surgery. Provided he doesn't suffer any setbacks, he'll continue to increase his workload as he prepares for his return to major-league action.

Marlon Byrd leading Reds in spring average By Shawn Krest / CBSSports.com

Outfielder Marlon Byrd is making a good impression on his new team.

Acquired in an offseason trade with the Phillies, Byrd is leading the Reds in hitting with a .417 average. He had a five-game hitting streak entering Sunday, when he wasn't in the starting lineup, and had three multi-hit games in a row.

"I think he's been great," manager Bryan Price said, per MLB.com's Mark Sheldon. "I think he values the at-bats and the time playing left field. He puts in a real good workday. He fits in really well with our group. I think it's a seamless transition to our organization."

Byrd still has a few things he wants to work on.

"I need to start driving the ball to right-center field and start seeing more sliders and more curveballs," he said. "When I'm able to stay over the middle of the field consistently, I'll be good."

Reds pitcher Mike Leake throws five strong innings Sunday By Brandon Wise / CBSSports.com

Reds pitcher Mike Leake gave up just one run on four hits in five innings of work in Sunday's game against the Athletics. Leake added two strikeouts and no walks on 75 pitches in the outing.

"A few balls that I probably rushed got elevated a little bit," Leake said to MLB.com. "But all in all, I'm pretty happy. Just a couple of more [outings] to get back into it. So I'm trying to maximize the pitching."

SI.COM Pete Rose's investigator advocates maintaining lifetime ban By SI Wire / SI.com

The former MLB special counsel who investigated him said Pete Rose's lifetime ban from baseball must be upheld in the face of appeals for his reinstatement, according to a Cincinnati Enquirer report.

"This (gambling) is just such a terrible business ... it really does infect the game," said former special counsel to the MLB commissioner, John Dowd, in the report.

"Pete committed the capital crime of baseball. But this is bigger than just Pete Rose. There is a reason we haven't had another gambling case in 26 years. This case wasn't about Pete – this case was about protecting the integrity of the game."

The report comes just days after new MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said he received a formal request for reinstatement from Pete Rose and told CBS Sports he was "prepared to deal with the request on its merits."

Manfred noted in the interview that Rose could be elected to the Hall of Fame without being reinstated since the Hall of Fame is not operated by Major League Baseball. Rose has said publicly since Manfred assumed the role of commissioner in January that he would like to be reinstated.

Rose was banned from baseball in 1989 after an investigation spearheaded by Dowd found Rose had systemically gambled on baseball games, including those of the team he played for and managed: the Cincinnati Reds.

While it was common knowledge that then-commissioner Bart Giamatti would have considered only a suspension for Rose had he admitted to gambling, Dowd told the Enquirer that he and Giamatti worked with the FBI to ensure Rose would not face charges for tax evasion in the event he pled guilty.

FOXSPORTSOHIO.COM Reds bullpen bounce back in works for 2015 By Kevin Goheen / FOX Sports Ohio

GOODYEAR, Ariz. -- In a perfect baseball pitching coach's world it wouldn't matter which arm a pitcher threw with, his guy is going to be able to get an opposing batter out equally effective.

"It's not always a perfect world," said Reds pitching coach Jeff Pico. "You've got to do the best with what you have."

The Reds bullpen in 2015 will have a different look than the one that finished up 2014. will still be closing but after a season in which the rest of the relievers were a cause for consternation more than they were an effective bridge to Chapman the Reds are using this spring as an opportunity at redemption.

Reds relievers as a group were 14th in the with a 4.11 ERA despite pitching the fewest innings of any bullpen in the NL and having Chapman turn in one of the most dominating seasons any has ever had. When it comes to the makeup of this year's bullpen, manager Bryan Price isn't looking for a certain quota of left-handers or right-handers. He's got one top priority:

"What I've always liked is pitchers that get everybody out," said Price. "I use that term kind of loosely, tongue-in-cheek, but where there's not a huge disparity between batting average and slugging percentage against left-handed or right-handed hitter. And we've had that here before."

They have. The overall numbers of the bullpen in the last three seasons back Price up. In 2012, Reds relievers appeared in 425 games, pitching 434 1/3 innings with an ERA of 2.65 and a group Wins Above Replacement (WAR) rating of 6.2. Think what you will about the win-loss stat and how much weight it actually holds for a pitcher but the bullpen in 2012 was a combined 31-22. Overall, it was doing its job in helping the Reds win the NL Central division title.

Last season's bullpen went 11-31 in 428 games, 422 1/3 with its plus-4.00 ERA and a WAR of 1.1.

It doesn't take a sabermetric genius to tell you the bullpen didn't get the job done last year.

"The inconsistencies at times of our bullpen has opened up some opportunities for people to come people to come in and challenge for bullpen spots," said Price.

The Reds signed Burke Badenhop in the offseason while signing veterans Kevin Gregg, Paul Maholm and Jose Mijares to non- roster minor league deals to see if they can earn a spot on the staff. Maholm, a left-hander, began camp as a starting candidate but was told during the past week that, like fellow lefty Tony Cingrani, he would be competing for a bullpen spot. Manny Parra is also a left-handed option. Parra is coming off an injury plagued season but has been effective so far this spring.

Right-handers Jumbo Diaz, J.J. Hoover, Sam LeCure and Pedro Villareal are still on the camp roster and battling for spots.

"We all want to get both sides out," said Parra. "The idea behind that is you're not taxing your bullpen by having to bring in three guys in an inning. I would love to go out there, and the beginning of last year I did pretty well against righties and then as it went I started having a tough time and I saw fewer and fewer righties. It's just kind of the way it progresses but we all want to be out there for a full inning. We don't want to tax the bullpen."

Parra's strength is against other left-handed batters. In 2013 he had 84 at-bats against right-handed and left-handed batters. The right-handers hit .310 against him with a .370 on-base percentage and .534 slugging percentage, although most of that damage was done in the first month of the season when batters hit .441 against him with a .486 OBP and .765 slugging percentage. Parra allowed just a .167 batting average, .237 OBP and .238 slugging percentage against left-handers.

Parra's numbers across the board went up last season. It was a similar story for Hoover and LeCure, who had down seasons. Hoover's was particularly rough as he went 1-10 with 4.88 ERA and gave up 13 home runs in just 62 2/3 innings. LeCure is a rarity in that he's been more effective against lefties in his career than right-handed batters. Left-handers hit just .208 in 112 at-bats against him in 2012 with a slugging percentage of .313 and .167 in 96 at-bats with a slugging percentage of .208 against him in 2013, compared to right-handers slugging .339 and .411 against him those seasons.

Last season LeCure face left-handers for 93 at-bats. While they hit just .215 against him, they were on-base against him at a .324 clip and had a slugging percentage of .376. Right-handers had a .333 batting average, .384 OBP and .468 slugging percentage against LeCure last season.

Price has preached confidence that his relievers can all bounce back. Regardless of what the staff looks like at the end of camp, Price has one objective in putting it together:

"What I want are our seven best relievers in our bullpen that we're confident can come into a game regardless of lineup and can pitch successfully."

Bailey feeling good after first spring appearance By Kevin Goheem / FOX Sports Ohio

GOODYEAR, Ariz. -- The reaction by Homer Bailey after delivering a pitch Sunday afternoon on Field #4 of the Reds training complex made a few interested bystanders take a second look. Bailey was explicit in his disgust at missing the spot he wanted to throw the ball.

Manager Bryan Price was more concerned if Bailey felt a twinge, or worse, in his surgically repaired right forearm.

"I might have yelled more than one F-word there if had hurt again," said Bailey after completing his first start of the spring, a two- inning workload against Cleveland's Triple-A affiliate, the Columbus Clippers. "No, everything is fine."

Bailey threw 29 pitches, 20 of them for strikes, while giving up one hit, one walk and striking out two batters on a clear and hot Arizona afternoon. It's the first time Bailey has pitched in a game environment since last Aug. 7 against Cleveland when he struck out eight and four-hit Cleveland through seven innings in a 4-0 victory. He had to skip his next start, however, and ended up having surgery in September to repair a torn flexor tendon in his forearm.

Most importantly, he's come out of the entire rehab process feeling well.

"I'd say we're on a pretty good track," said Bailey. "We've come back healthy and we haven't had any setbacks. I'd have to say this whole thing has gone pretty smooth."

The Reds have been hoping for Bailey to be ready to pitch for them by the middle of April, possibly having to miss up to two turns through the rotation at the start of the season. There are different options they can proceed to reach that point, including possibly placing Bailey on the disabled list retroactive to the final week of spring training and having him start one or two games in the minor leagues.

Bailey has tentatively, however, been scheduled to start a Cactus League game next Friday night against Milwaukee.

"I think I could have gone with a major league game today, it's just the workload," said Bailey. "Two innings and let's try to build up. This time of the year it really doesn't matter about the games themselves as long as we're in games in general."

Price said Monday will be another test for Bailey. How Bailey feels the day after is just as important as during an outing. Where and against whom he pitches next will be dependent on the next few days.

“It’s up in the air,” said Price. “We’re waiting to see how he bounces back and how we really want to go about doing his rehab. You get to a certain point where you can’t play him or pitch him in big league games and then activate him when we want to. We’ve got to be cautious. If we give him too much too soon and also be conscious of when he can pitch and still be activated on the date we anticipate him being ready to pitch in the big leagues.”

Bailey was 9-5 with a 3.71 ERA in 23 starts last season and was on pace to eclipse 200 innings for a third straight season when his injury occurred.

He looked smooth and comfortable in this first outing, even if he did miss his spots from time to time.

"It's a good thing that we play in front of a lot of fans or you'd probably here it every pitch," said Bailey. "I just missed a spot. I was trying to go in and I missed up. I got a swing and miss but I was kind of mad that I didn't make the pitch."

ASSOCIATED PRESS Satin hits 3-run homer, drives in 4 for Reds in win over A's By Gary Schatz / The

GOODYEAR, Ariz. — Josh Satin bolstered his case for a spot on Cincinnati's bench, hitting a three-run homer in the eighth and a game-ending RBI single in the Reds' 4-3 victory over the on Sunday.

Mike Leake pitched five solid innings for Cincinnati, and Kristopher Negron had two hits. Tony Cingrani struck out three in two scoreless innings.

Leake allowed his first run of the spring on Mark Canha's RBI double in the fourth, but Ike Davis was thrown out at the plate on a nice relay by center fielder Skip Schumaker and shortstop Zack Cozart.

Athletics right-hander Kendall Graveman allowed one hit and walked one in 5 1-3 scoreless innings. He also struck out five. Graveman has allowed one run in 15 innings this spring.

"He got six up," Athletics manager said. "He was able to do that because of his pitch counts." Leake was charged with one run and four hits. He struck out two and walked none.

"Leake was outstanding, changing speeds, using his cutter," said Reds manager Bryan Price, who was the pitching coach under Melvin with Arizona. "It was the first time I've seen Graveman. He has a very good -cutter combination that gave us a lot of trouble. Both pitchers were very stingy and impressive."

TRAINING ROOM

Athletics: OF , who was hit in the jaw with a throw, is taking batting practice. He is day to day. ... OF Josh Reddick is tentatively scheduled to resume play next week. He injured his oblique earlier this spring.

Reds: RHP Homer Bailey pitched two innings in a minor league game against the Indians' Triple-A team. Bailey (right forearm surgery) likely will begin the season on the disabled list.

STARTING TIME

Athletics: Graveman, a key acquisition in the trade with Toronto, made his fourth start of the spring. "We haven't seen him struggle yet," Melvin said. "He knows how to pitch. He keeps the ball down and off the barrel of the bat."

Reds: Leake becomes Cincinnati's No. 2 starter with Bailey out for the start of the season. The 27-year-old right-hander was so efficient that he had to go to the bullpen to throw 10 more pitches to reach his targeted pitch count of 75. "I was happy with the outing," Leake said. "There were a few balls I rushed that I elevated."

UP NEXT

Athletics: RHP will start against Cleveland on Monday, opposed by Zach McAllister. RHP Ryan Cook, RHP Daniel Otero and ambidextrous pitcher Pat Venditte are scheduled to throw against the Indians.

Reds: Jason Marquis, who is making a strong bid to win a spot in the rotation, will make his fifth start against Texas on Monday night. RHP Alex Gonzalez will pitch for Texas. RHP Kevin Gregg, RHP Burke Badenhop and RHP Sam LeCure will pitch after Marquis.

The Big Shift: Infields spin in response to data explosion By Ronald Blum / The Associated Press

COPLAY, Pa. — Twentysomethings sit in rows inside a two-story, red brick building in an Allentown suburb that Norman Rockwell could have painted. Using a keyboard and a pair of screens each, the video scouts note every one of the 700,000 pitches and 130,000 batted balls in the major leagues each year, night after night after night.

Hundreds and thousands of miles away, infielders shift from left to right and back on big league diamonds, swaying like metronomes marking time in a Beethoven symphony, moving to locations personalized for each batter.

All this re-aligning is designed to drive hitters, well, batty. And it's working: The big-league batting average is at its lowest level since 1972.

Players no longer are told to do everything the way Ty Cobb and Babe Ruth and did. The Big Shift is on, and long-held beliefs have burst in this post-steroids era, where hits and runs have become as precious as rare gems.

"This is something that has changed in baseball over the last two, three years, and it's completely different," said , the shortstop of the , easily the shiftiest team in the major leagues last year.

Baseball Info Solutions, a high-tech company founded in 2002, provided data to 21 of the 30 major league clubs last year, each craving an advantage. Digital innovations are touted with the intensity of agents trumpeting players. No shift is too radical, no idea too goofy to try if the microcircuits propose it. They don't always work, but the odds of success precipitated swift adoption.

"It may look a little bit funny for people that have been watching baseball through the decades," said Scott Spatt, a BIS research and development analyst.

Last April, the St. Louis Cardinals put all four infielders on the right side for the ' Lucas Duda when he got to two strikes. He hit a two-hopper to second baseman Mark Ellis — who was perfectly positioned about 15 feet into right field and threw to first for the easy out. Duda estimates shifts sliced his average about 20 points last season.

Shifts may have even changed the . Data from BIS helped persuade San Francisco to position Juan Perez near the left- field line and shallow in Game 7 against Kansas City's Nori Aoki, a left-handed spray hitter. A ball off the end of Aoki's bat that at first seemed headed to the corner for a tying fifth-inning double instead became an out. found his dominating form, and the Giants held their 3-2 lead to win their third title in five seasons.

"One play, right there — one play is the difference between winning and losing the World Series, because that would have tied the game," BIS President Ben Jedlovec said. "They might still be playing, for all we know, with how competitive that series was."

Back in 2011, when a large portion of the sport lingered in a Data Dark Age, teams shifted 2,357 times on balls hit in play, according to BIS. Shifts nearly doubled to 4,577 the following year, rose to 8,180 in 2013 and to 13,296 last season.

BIS goes through each big league game three times to capture everything in the company's database: once live, then twice more the next day. Teams can buy customized reports or the raw data to format themselves. And this winter, the company renovated its first floor to add nodes and plans to expand its analysis to the minor leagues with Triple-A games.

"There's no such thing as a groundball hit for a left-handed pull hitter now," Oakland manager Bob Melvin said. "It just doesn't happen. Everybody's over there."

With all the moving around, fielders have to get their bearings in atypical locales. Pedro Alvarez, Evan Longoria and Josh Donaldson were among the third basemen who had to turn double plays at second last season.

"It's never really that unusual anymore. It's kind of becoming a pretty big part of the game," said Alvarez, who made the pivot for a 4-5-3 on Cincinnati's Jay Bruce last April 21.

But for some managers, the statistical shakeup must be measured along with evidence collected the old-fashioned way: through one's own eyes.

"Some of that stuff would tell you to pinch hit for Babe Ruth if you really went by strictly the numbers," retired great Jim Leyland said. "And obviously you'd be making a fool of yourself."

Shifts have been around since the sport's early years. The Hall of Fame's Giamatti Research Center has a New York Clipper article of June 25, 1870, referring to a June 14 game between the Atlantics and , that praises "the style in which the Cincinnati fielders moved about in the field, according as the different batsmen came to the bat, being a model display." Peter Morris' "A Game of Inches" refers to a Louisville Courier Journal article describing how Hartford manager Bob Ferguson would move his second baseman to the left side of the infield in 1877, the National League's second year.

Shifts for many years were used primarily for left-handed power hitters — nine of the 10 players shifted on most often last year were lefties, led by (505 plate appearances), (453) and Chris Davis (400).

"If we can force David Ortiz to just hit the ball the other way or even try to bunt for a hit, I think that's a win for the defense," Lowrie said.

Sluggers reject suggestions they should bunt or try to hit to the opposite field. Baseball culture still is of the mindset of the famous 1998 Nike advertisement with and , titled "Chicks Dig the Long Ball."

"My swing is my swing and I try to not change my swing," said , the most-shifted righty batter at 279 plate appearances. "They think they're forcing you to think about the shift and actually it's teaching you how they're going to pitch to you. That helps me out, too, over the long run."

Which leaves teams searching for the next shift. Because as it has for nearly a century and a half, the pendulum in baseball eventually swings the other way as batters and pitchers adjust to innovation.

TRANSACTIONS Date Transaction 03/23/15 optioned Stephen Pryor to Rochester Red Wings. optioned Terrance Gore to Wilmington Blue Rocks. Kansas City Royals optioned Cheslor Cuthbert to Omaha Storm Chasers. Kansas City Royals optioned Francisco Pena to Omaha Storm Chasers. Kansas City Royals optioned Brandon Finnegan to Northwest Arkansas Naturals. Kansas City Royals optioned Yohan Pino to Omaha Storm Chasers. Kansas City Royals optioned Michael Mariot to Omaha Storm Chasers. Kansas City Royals optioned Reymond Fuentes to Omaha Storm Chasers. 03/22/15 New York Mets optioned Steven Matz to Binghamton Mets. 2B Casey McElroy assigned to . OF Javier Herrera assigned to . 3B Angel Rosa assigned to . optioned to Toledo Mud Hens. LHP Ramon Benjamin assigned to . 1B Jerrud Sabourin assigned to . C Jeremy Dowdy assigned to . 3B Ben Carhart assigned to . RF Kevin Brown assigned to Chicago Cubs. IF Travious Relaford assigned to San Francisco Giants. 2B Reegie Corona assigned to San Francisco Giants. 1B Kevin Cron assigned to . LF Chuck Taylor assigned to Arizona Diamondbacks. LHP Duane Below assigned to New York Mets. IF Josh Prince assigned to Detroit Tigers. SS Juniel Querecuto assigned to . OF Yonathan Daza assigned to . San Diego Padres optioned Leonel Campos to . San Diego Padres optioned Robbie Erlin to El Paso Chihuahuas. Colorado Rockies optioned Ben Paulsen to Albuquerque Isotopes. Colorado Rockies optioned Chris Rusin to Albuquerque Isotopes. Colorado Rockies optioned Chad Bettis to Albuquerque Isotopes. RHP Derrick Bleeker assigned to Baltimore Orioles. OF Blake Drake assigned to St. Louis Cardinals. RHP Kyle Barraclough assigned to St. Louis Cardinals. RHP Chris Perry assigned to St. Louis Cardinals. RHP Cody Davis assigned to . LF Casper Wells assigned to Detroit Tigers. LF Justin Maffei assigned to . C Jacob Stallings assigned to Pittsburgh Pirates. LHP Josh Smith assigned to Pittsburgh Pirates. RHP Gonzalo Sanudo assigned to Houston Astros. RHP Michael Lee assigned to . LHP Matt Boyd assigned to Toronto Blue Jays. CF Johnny Field assigned to Tampa Bay Rays. SS Leonardo Reginatto assigned to Tampa Bay Rays. 1B Patrick Leonard assigned to Tampa Bay Rays. RHP Colton Murray assigned to . San Diego Padres optioned to El Paso Chihuahuas. Colorado Rockies released RHP Jhoulys Chacin.