Late last season, the Reds starting pitching situation looked promising. They had an abundance of young, talented pitchers ready to resuscitate a rotation that was on life support from a couple years of either pitchers past their prime (Bronson Arroyo) or castoffs from other organizations (Asher Wojciechowski, Lisalverto Bonilla, Tim Adleman, etc.).
The new-found health of Homer Bailey and the potential for Anthony Desclafani to return to his former self was supposed to bring stability to the 2018 rotation. Those two paired with future ace Luis Castillo would provide a strong top three with guys like Robert Stephenson, Tyler Mahle, Sal Romano, Cody Reed, Amir Garrett, Michael Lorenzen, and Brandon Finnegan competing for other spots.