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Projected Lineup (2003 stats) Pos. Player Avg. HR RBI SB 2B D'Angelo Jimenez .273 14 57 11 SS Barry Larkin .282 2 18 2 CF Ken Griffey Jr. .247 13 26 1 RF Austin Kearns .264 15 58 5 1B Sean Casey .291 14 80 4 LF Adam Dunn .215 27 57 8 3B Brandon Larson .101 1 9 2 C Jason LaRue .230 16 50 3 Projected Rotation (2003 stats) H Player W-L ERA WHIP RH Cory Lidle 12-15 5.75 1.43 RH Paul Wilson 8-10 4.64 1.44 RH Jimmy Haynes 2-12 6.30 1.86 RH Jose Acevedo 2-0 2.67 0.85 LH Brandon Claussen 1-0 1.42 1.42 RH Aaron Harang 5-6 5.31 1.41 FANTASY BASEBALL Sign up Today! • NEW! Baseball Commissioner Full service league management tool. $99.95 per league • NEW! Fantasy Baseball Conquer your league and take home the pennant. $19.95 per team • NEW! Salary Cap Challenge Select your dream team with a $75 million budget. $9.95 per team

No one will ever know how good the Reds could've been the past few seasons because they have been devastated by injuries, including major ailments to Ken Griffey Jr., Austin Kearns and Adam Dunn.

In a perfect world it's Griffey in a walk, but since we're being realistic for the sake of your fantasy team and Griffey just can't stay on the diamond, we'll give the honor to Dunn. Injured for much of last season, Dunn displayed a great combination of power and speed in 2002 by clouting 26 home runs and swiping 19 bases. He's a mountain of a man and is fully recovered from a bad thumb that plagued him last season. This year the sky's the limit for the big guy.

Somehow Barry Larkin will be the Reds starting shortstop in his 19th big league season. A former MVP, Larkin is too fragile to count on, and even when he's in the lineup he's not much of an asset.

Fourth and fifth starters. The top of the rotation is led by veterans Cory Lidle, Paul Wilson and Jimmy Haynes. The candidates for the remaining spots are former Oakland prospect Aaron Harang, lefty Brandon Claussen and Jose Acevedo, who was effective last season before suffering a foot injury. All three have pitched well this spring and the competition should last until someone stumbles, although drafting any Reds pitcher is a risky proposition because of the hitter-friendly Great American Ballpark.

Ryan Freel hit .285 last season and can play six positions. He also rang up 34 steals between Class AAA and the majors last season and is a virtual lock to make the Reds as a bench player, making him an great deep sleeper.

The experiment that had Graves in the rotation was abandoned as he returns to the closer role. Rookie Ryan Wagner set an NCAA Division I record for strikeouts per nine innings last season, using a filthy slider and fastball in the mid-90s. This spring he's been virtually untouchable and is one of the stars of the Grapefruit League. Even without an injury, Wagner could overtake Graves by midseason.

The book on Brandon Larson is that he's a good hitter, but when he hasn't been hurt, which is not all that often, he's played pretty poorly, bottoming out with a .101 average last season in 32 games. Larson has good college and minor league credentials but they haven't translated into big league production and there's no sign they ever will.

D'Angelo Jimenez, Kearns, Jason LaRue

Lidle, Haynes, Corky Miller