With less than a week until the end of Spring Training, Reds' manager Dusty Baker still has a few key decisions to make to determine the team's Opening Day roster. 

The area that the team really focused on during the off-season was the bullpen, a weak spot last year.  Newcomer Francisco Cordero gives the team and capable and proven commodity (152 saves over his last 4 seasons with Milwaukee and Texas) at the end of the game and just as importantly it allows Dave Weathers, who led the team with 33 saves last year, to return to his more natural of being a set-up man.

Right-hander Jarod Burton had a 2.51 ERA in 47 games while emerging as a late-inning pitcher in the second half of his rookie season.

Left-hander Jeremy Affeldt came over to the Reds after being vital part of the Rockies' run to the NL title in 2007. The veteran came into camp hoping to grab one of the Reds' open spots in the rotation, but the outbreak performances from the team's young guns Johnny Cueto and Edinson Volquez have derailed those efforts. Affeldt is a nice option to in the pen and also has had some experience as a closer.

The Reds overpaid to get Cordero here, but it was just one of many desperate moves that Reds' GM Wayne Krivsky has attempted to put a cork in the team's probelm. There was the unpopular trade of Austin Kearns and Felipe Lopez to Washington and the ridiculous long-term deal ($2 million last year and $3 million in 2008. There's an option for 2009 at $2.5 million, with a buyout of $500,000) they gave the aging left-hander Mike Stanton to come here, but the team is not prepared to eat it now.

It appears that Stanton, who will turn 41 in June, is going to make the club as the team breaks camp.

The Reds made two more roster cuts on Saturday when they optioned relievers Gary Majewski and Jon Coutlangus to Triple-A Louisville, leaving basically four guys to battle out for the teams final spot in the pen. Todd Coffey and Mike Lincoln are seeking the right-handed spots while Bill Bray and Kent Mercker are vying for the last remaining left-handed spot.

It is amazing to see how far this bullpen has come in such a short period of time. Its improvement is a big reason that the Reds enter the year as legitimate contenders in the NL Central.