27-year old righty swinging Paul Janish is going to battle 34-year old righty swinging World Series MVP Edgar Renteria for the starting job at SS for the Reds this spring. Janish likely goes into camp with a slight lead based on his play for the Reds last season. Janish played in 82 games for the Reds last season and he was 52 of 200 (.260 avg, .723 OPS) with 23 runs scored, 5 homers, 25 RBIs and 1 stolen base. Janish has played in 210 games in his first three years in the majors and he’s a career .226 hitter with a .634 OPS. Janish only made 4 errors in 62 games at SS last season while showing pretty good range. Janish has the defensive edge on Renteria, but he’s not as good of a hitter.

Edger Renteria was the World Series MVP for the San Francisco Giants last season. But, he lost his starting job at SS during the regular season. Renteria played in 72 games for the Giants last season and he was 67 of 243 (.276 avg, .707 OPS) with 26 runs scored, 3 homers, 22 RBIs and 3 stolen bases. Renteria is a career .287 hitter with a .744 OPS in his first 15 years in the majors. In his first 14 years, Renteria averaged 81.4 runs scored, 9.4 homers, 61.8 RBIs and 20.5 stolen bases per year so that’s the kind of numbers he would likely put up if he wins the starting SS job for the Reds this spring. Renteria only made 4 errors in 68 games at shortstop last season but he showed pretty pathetic range. He will need to improve a little bit range wise this spring if he wants to beat Janish out for the starting gig.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE REDS SHORTSTOPS IN 2011: C

29-year old righty swinging Brandon Phillips continues to play at a very high level for the Reds. Phillips played in 155 games for the Reds last season and he was 172 of 626 (.275 avg, .762 OPS) with 100 runs scored, 18 homers, 59 RBIs and 16 stolen bases. In his five years since the Reds essentially stole him in a deal with the Indians, Phillips has averaged 86 runs scored, 21.2 homers, 80.8 RBIs and 24.2 stolen bases per season. He even was a 30/30 man back in 2007 for the Reds. Phillips is not just a good hitter either as he made only 3 errors at 2B last season in 152 games for the Reds while showing good range. Phillips is one of the best 2B in all of baseball and I think he will top the numbers be put up last season in 2011.

If Phillips needs a day off once in a while, either 36-year old righty swinging Miguel Cairo or 28-year old righty swinging Paul Janish can give him a break. Cairo played in 6 games and Janish 7 games at 2B in 2010. Neither of them made an error but they both showed pretty terrible range.

If Phillips were to get injured though, the Reds would likely go with 25-year old righty swinging Chris Valaika at 2B. He got his first taste of the majors last season as he played in 19 games for the Reds in which he was 10 of 38 (.263 avg, .650 OPS) with 3 runs scored, 1 homer and 2 RBIs. He didn’t make any errors in 13 games for the Reds at 2B last season while showing excellent range. Valaika also played in 118 games in AAA-ball last season and he was 129 of 424 (.304 avg, .738 OPS) with 49 runs scored, 4 homers, 53 RBIs and 3 stolen bases.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE REDS 2B IN 2011: A

27-year old lefty swinging Joey Votto is the defending MVP of the National League and he will try to make it two in a row in 2011. Votto played in 150 games for the Reds last season and he was 177 of 547 (.324 avg, 1.024 OPS) with 106 runs scored, 37 homers, 113 RBIs and 16 stolen bases. Votto whiffed 125 times while walking 91 times so he is a very patient hitter and that reflects in his batting average. I see no reason to think that Votto won’t be able to repeat or improve upon his 2010 offensive numbers in 2011. Votto is also a solid defensive 1B as he only had 5 errors in 148 games there.

23-year old lefty swinging Yonder Alonso came into last season as the Reds’ #2 prospect according to Baseball America. Alonso played in 132 games in AA+AAA-ball last season in which he was 147 of 507 (.290 avg, .820 OPS) with 69 runs scored, 15 homers, 69 RBIs and 13 stolen bases. He also played in 22 games for the Reds at the end of last season and he was 6 of 29 (.207 avg, .483 OPS) with 2 runs scored and 3 RBIs. Alonso made 2 errors in only 6 games at 1B for the Reds last season. He appeared nervous at the end of the year. Alonso is the Reds’ best trade chip as he is blocked at 1B by Votto. He could also convert to playing LF but that’s going to take some time.

PROJECTED GRADE FOR THE REDS 1B IN 2011: A+