Reds manager: 'We may have a 20-man pitching staff in September'

May 25, 2013; Cincinnati, OH, USA; Cincinnati Reds pitching coach Bryan Price (38) talks to starting pitcher Homer Bailey (34) during the seventh inning against the Chicago Cubs at Great American Ball Park. The Reds defeated the Cubs 5-2. Mandatory Credit: Frank Victores-USA TODAY Sports

What the Cincinnati Reds are about to do is not revolutionary. It is purely desperation.

With his veteran pitching staff shipped off to new destinations over the last year, Reds manager Bryan Price is left with only one thing to do as rosters are set to expand with September callups.

"We may have a 20-man pitching staff in September," Price told MLB.com.

The Reds' unusual circumstance is two-fold. The club traded veteran arms Johnny Cueto, Mike Leake, Mat Latos and Alfredo Simon, and Homer Bailey is out for the season with an elbow injury. Young pitchers have had to fill the vacancies, but limitations put on several of them, Price has to find ways to fill innings for the remainder of the season.

Anthony DeSclafani is expected to make the rest of his starts, but after that it's a matter of finding the right minor-leaguers to come in and do the job.

"These things always find a way of taking care of themselves," Price told MLB.com. "You put our players in a bubble and you want to protect them the best you can. And we'll do everything we can. Some guys might end up exceeding their innings limit by a fraction. I don't think we've defined anything yet in regard to pitch limits and innings limits. We're going to a more conservative route because we haven't been able to figure out why these pitchers [in the game] are getting hurt so frequently.

"We're not going to see anybody taking on 60 or 80 innings more than they had last year. But if we say, 'Hey, we want maybe to go up 30-35 innings beyond where they were the previous year,' and exceed that by a few innings, that's not really a huge organizational concern."

(h/t MLB.com)