THE BROO VIEW with Ken Broo

Normally, when you bring up the Dayton Daily News and baseball, Hall Of Famer Hal McCoy is the first name that pops up. Every so often, the great one steps aside for a day and allows the talents of Doug Harris to shine. Harris has this take on what the Reds should do with Ken Griffey, Junior.

Of course, that doesn't mean that Hal takes the entire day off. "The Real McCoy" offers some tales from the battle for the Ohio Cup. It's Reds vs Indians weekend around here.

We got into this discussion last Sunday on 700 WLW. Where would the Reds be right now, if they had the ability to develope decent starting pitching? The last legitimate starter the Reds have developed (other than a half season from Jack Armstrong in 1990) was Tom Browning. And that was almost 23 years ago. Think about how much better the Reds would be this season if they didn't have to trade Josh Hamilton to the Rangers. In return, they got a terrific young pitcher in Edinson Volquez. But if the Reds had done a better job of developing their own pitching, they'd have had a pitcher the calibre of Volquez AND Hamilton. And check out this article from the Fort Worth Star Telegram about Hamilton, who's off to a great start with Texas.

Ty Howington, Richie Gardner, Ryan Wagner, Jeremy Sowers are just some of the first round picks the Reds have made in the entry draft. Howington and Gardner were both injured early in their careers and are gone. Wagner flamed out as a reliever and was shipped to the Washington Nationals. Sowers was nothing more than a temper tantrum pick by then GM Jim Bowden, who drafted Sowers knowing there was no chance then owner, Carl Lindner would pony up the bonus money (about $2 million) to sign him. If Bowden was proving a point, he did so at the expense of the franchise.

Interesting reading in this story by Si.com writer, John Heyman. Nothing new, just a little texture to where the Reds are right now.

I'll be talking sports thi Sunday morning again on 700 WLW. On my Sunday Morning Sports Talk Show, we'll have Geoff Hobson from bengals.com and SI.com's John Donovan. And, we'll also take your phone calls. Sunday night at 11:35, it's another rousing edition of Sports Rock! Jeff Piecoro from FSN and Eric Thomas join in on the fun. It's all on Cincinnati's Channel 5. And, we'll also be joined by tennis legend, Martina Navratilova

Check out my web site: www.kenbroo.com.

Have a great weekend!