THE BROO VIEW with Ken Broo

Greetings from Goodyear, Arizona....winter home, (new winter home) of your Cincinnati Reds...

I'm sitting in the media room with some of the true Titans of Media...well, OK, Baseball Hall of Famer, Hal McCoy is here. While waiting for the Reds to finish a team meeting, some thought on Spring Training, 2010...

The new team complex is splendid....state of the art, with a clubhouse that rivals any major league ballpark digs. I'm told, it's 44,000 square feet, which is close to ten times the size of the largest home I've ever owned.

Dusty Baker has named Aaron Harang his opening day starting pitcher, which is only a surprise because apparently Baker had no other option. Bronson Arroyo, the most likely candidate, wanted nothing to do with it. Arroyo doesn't like the opening day hoopla that Cincinnati always offers. Harang has won only 12 games in the last two seasons. But he'll make his fifth consecutive opening day start. And no other pitcher, as in Reds history, has ever started that many consecutive opening days..

Baker said just a few minutes ago that this is the best camp he's had in his managerial career. That included some pretty good teams in San Francisco and one or two in Chicago. Why does he feel that way? Baker says he doesn't have to tell players what to do. They're doing it, he says instinctively. "We've finally got some ballplayers, man"....is his direct quote....

Outfielder, Chris Dickerson seemed a little surprised when I told him his comments about wanting to start, believing he should start, in centerfield caused a bit of a stir in Cincinnati last week. Dickerson believes he should be given the same chance as Drew Stubbs. He will be, of course. But for now, the former #1 draft pick Stubbs is the starter. If Dickerson can stay healthy, he'll get his chance. And stats would indicate he'd be successful getting on base. Dickerson's .373 career OBP is one of the better ones on this team....

There's an intra-squad game this afternoon, just a five inning affair. But it will be very interesting on a number of levels. Harang and Homer Bailey are the two starting pitchers, each working an inning. The final pitcher of the day will be the $30 million dollar man, Aroldis Chapman. His 100 mph fastball has had a lot of the media and coaches buzzing....

One final thought: Goodyear appears to have sprung from the ground in the last 15 minutes. This place is a lot of brown dirt, sagebrush and strip shopping centers. There's nothing but chain restaurants, unless you consider Arizona's infamous 'tent city prison' which sits about a mile or two from the complex. You can see the inmates just about every morning, picking up the trash along the highway. Just a hunch: I'll bet they're not buzzing about Aroldis Chapman's debut today...