Reds cut three from spring camp

[el loco]

Reds cut three from spring camp
Jones, Hopper, Thompson reassigned to Minor League camps

By Jonathan Mayo / MLB.com

The Reds have whittled down the list of players in big league camp to 33, with Jacque Jones being the biggest name to be sent down.

Jones, 33, has spent parts of 10 seasons in the big leagues with the Twins, Cubs, Tigers and Marlins. He was a non-roster invitee to Reds camp and officially was reassigned on Monday.

"The bottom line is I didn't hit," said Jones, who was batting .091 this spring in 44 at-bats. "You want to do well to try to justify a slot on the team. Dusty [Baker] was great, giving me the opportunity to play. I got at-bats, I just didn't do anything with them."

Jones planned to stick around Sarasota for a while to wait and see if any opportunities arose with other teams. Another option might be to accept an assignment to Triple-A Louisville and continue working on re-finding his stroke, if there's the chance for him to play there. Last year, Jerry Hairston Jr. got sent down and worked with Louisville hitting coach Smokey Garrett. He came back up and hit .326 over 80 games for Cincinnati.

"We're trying to see if there's room," Baker said, "so he can do what Jerry did last year and work with Garrett, who I respect a lot."

In addition to Jones, outfielder Norris Hopper and pitcher Daryl Thompson were optioned to Triple-A Louisville. Hopper, who once was a possible candidate for a backup outfielder spot, hit .135 in camp, going 5-for-37 with three stolen bases. Thompson hadn't really been able to get any innings in big league games, appearing just once and throwing two scoreless innings.

http://cincinnati.reds.mlb.com/news/art ... p&c_id=cin