Tony Cingrani (shoulder) will be stretched out on his rehab assignment and could ultimately start again this season.

Cingrani (shoulder) will be stretched out on his rehab assignment and could ultimately start again this season.

Analysis:

It's not hard to envision Cingrani displacing Josh Smith or even Michael Lorenzen when he returns. "We're trying to get him stretched out so he can fill multiple roles," Reds manager Bryan Price said on Saturday. "He has more value to us the longer he can pitch, the more innings he can pitch. He was really limited to being anywhere from a situational left-hander to a two-inning guy. The fact we have so many young guys in our rotation and we've used our bullpen quite a bit, his value will be more if he can give us more innings than less, so we're going to get him stretched out a little more than his standard two innings."