THE BROO VIEW with Ken Broo

Rookie camp is this weekend at Paul Brown Stadium. I want to see two things: the wingspan of third round pick Michael Johnson and just how stout Rey Maualuga is.

You get no real insight into what a player is capable of at these mini-camps. Everyone is in shorts and tee shirts. The real deal is in July. But to give each player a taste of what the team is about, coaches thrive on weekends like this one.

Another classic example of why the Reds will frustrate us this season happened in Wednesday night's game against Houston. Lance Nix opens the inning with a triple. He eventually scored. But the Reds had runners on second and third with only one out and neither base runner made it home. It's not just batting average or RBI that tells the story of what a player can do offensively. The real story can be found in what a player can do in situational hitting, in this case, runners in scoring position with less than two out.

Apparently former Red Ryan Freel isn't a happy camper in Baltimore, as evidence points to here.

Nice story from espn.com's Eric Young on Jay Bruce and Joey Votto. No two players since the arrival of Dunn and Kearns have given Reds fans so much hope. Kearns never was the player the Reds and their fans thought he'd be. And Dunn, while consistent with 40 HR's and 100 RBI seasons, could have been so much better if he'd just have applied himself more in the field.