In the book Moneyball, Billy Beane explained how he, as a GM, viewed the season as three distinct phases. I'm paraphrasing here, but in the first two months, he would evaluate the team he had on the field. In the second two months, he would work to make upgrades. In the last two months, win. Now that we are more or less two months into the season, it's prudent to evaluate what kind of team the Reds have on the field and where it would make the most sense to make upgrades.

This shouldn't be too difficult. The obvious positions to look at for upgrades are left field and third base. Reds left fielders have collectively OPS'd just .654 so far this season. That's roughly on par with what the team is getting out of shortstop and center field, where defensive contributions are much more important. Third base is even worse, even with Todd Frazier's great month. Hopefully he can keep up his torrid pace, but even the most optimistic among us do not expect him to carry a .620 slugging percentage into the dog days of summer. The beauty, of course, is Frazier's versatility. The Reds can look to upgrade at either 3B or LF and stick Frazier where he is needed. So let's do some trade market wishcasting and see what kind of talent may very well be available in July.

MLBTradeRumors has compiled a list of pending free agents and sorted them by position for both this coming winter and next winter. This makes it really easy to target potential trade candidates, as one and two-year rental players on non-contending teams are often dangled as trade bait at the deadline. So I've used these lists to see what 3Bs and corner OFs may be fits to bolster the Reds lineup. Of course, the availability of any and all of these players is high speculation, and though you knew that already, I still feel obligated to say it. Also, for the sake of brevity, I've chosen to ignore money concerns. I figure if push came to shove, a few million bucks here or there could be worked around. So here goes:

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Homer Bailey did good work, pitching a complete game and adding a pair of hits and an RBI with his cross-bat.

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Mike Leake is your Red o' the Week for week seven. In a hotly contested vote, Leake emerged the victor with 43% of the vote. SOMEBODY GET THIS GUY A COMMEMORATIVE T-SHIRT LAWLZZZZZZZZZ!!!!

We've done seven of these so far, so I figure that's a perfectly arbitrary amount upon which to reflect. Here's your list of winners, starting with week one: Zack Cozart, Aroldis Chapman, Johnny Cueto, Jay Bruce, Jay Bruce, Joey Votto, and Mike Leake. I think it's interesting that though Votto, Chapman, and Cueto have been far and away the best players on the team thus far, they've each won the Red o' the Week only once. That's kinda the point of this here little exercise, as we are looking at short stretches of dominance more than long stretches of greatness, but yeah. Interesting.

This week, we again have three first-time nominees on the ballot. This is a good sign, as it shows that some players who began the season slow are beginning to heat up. This team isn't just Joey Votto, Aroldis Chapman, and some other guys. But those two are on the ballot, too. Natch.

The Noms:

Brandon Phillips

The BeePapotamus had a huge week, raising his season OPS 89 points. That is an incredible feat this far into the season. For the week, he OPS'd 1.247 with four extra-base hits and, most impressively, six walks to only two strikeouts. This is exactly the kind of production the Reds need following Joey Votto in the lineup, but also, this is exactly the kind of production the Reds need preceding Joey Votto in the lineup.

Alfredo Simon

Some folks have been baggin' on my man Olive Garden all year, mostly because first impressions can be indelible. He gave up two earnies in his one-inning debut as a Red, but since then he's given up two earnies in 19.2 innings. That's doin' work. He earns a nom this week for some exceptional mop-up work, rescuing starters by throwing five innings, striking out five, and allowing only four baserunners.

Todd Frazier

Much respect to the Toddfather, who has filled in admirably for the decrepit Scott Rolen. He's hit very well since coming up, and earns his first nom this week for clubbing four extra-base hits and OPSing 1.165. It has me thinking: if Zack Cozart and Drew Stubbs continue to get on base at a sub-.300 clip, could a dramatic lineup shuffle be in order? BP could go back to leading off, Hanigan could hit 2nd, and Frazier could be the clean-up 3B we thought we had in Rolen. I dunno.

Aroldis Chapman

Aroldis Chapman still hasn't given up an earned run on the year, earning him yet another nom this week. He threw 3.2 innings, struck out five and walked only one, while also earning two saves. I'm stubborn enough to still qualify the coming statement with the caveat that he should be starting, but the five-out save he recorded against the Rockies on Sunday was a thing of beauty. With runners on the corners and one out in the eighth, he came in to retire the Rocks' vaunted duo of Carlos Gonzalez and Troy Tulowitzki to shut down the rally. That's how a true bullpen fireman should be used, and as much credit goes to Dusty for the decision as to Chapman for the work.

Joey Votto

In case you didn't notice, Votto leads the NL in bWAR now. He's second in fWAR. In case you didn't notice, we have one of the best players in baseball on our favorite baseball team. And he's ours forever. This week, five extra-base hits (he's leading the league in doubles), three walks (leading the league in that, too), and a steal. He OPS'd 1.220 with a batting average of .440.

The Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game

It was a true ensemble effort tonight, as Chris Heisey and Ryan Ludwick each contributed with three-run blastoises, Brandon Phillips had three hits, and the bullpen (J.J. Hoover, Sam LeCure, Logan Ondrusek, and Sean Marshall) threw 4.1 shutout innings, allowing only one measly hit. Even Jay Bruce showed signs of shaking off his slump, drawing a walk and thumping a double. Hooray for scoring 10 runs and not letting the other team score more than that!

Key Plays

Lots of 'em

Source: FanGraphs

The Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game

The big star tonight was Devin Mesoraco. The Golem clobbered a grand slam in the 6th inning to give the Reds the lead. Honorable mentions to Drew Stubbs, who toasted a pop tart of his own in the 7th to go along with a single and a stolen base, and Homer Bailey, who pitched six strong allowing only four hits and a walk while striking out six.

Key Plays

Homer and Randall Delgado matched each other pitch for pitch through the first three, but the Reds were able to scratch a crooked one in the 4th. Chris Heisey knocked a one-out single and then Todd Frazier doubled him home. 1-0 Redlegs.

The Braves answered in the top of the 5th when Homer made really his only mistake of the game, giving up a two-run smashazoid to Michael Bourn. He's like six scoops of double-fudge awesomecream right now though, so I'm not gonna blame Homer for that. Dude pitched lights out otherwise.

The Reds turned it around in the 6th when Delgado walked Phillips to lead off the inning. After Jay Bruce hit a hard liner right at the 1B, Heisey collected his second single of the game to put runners at 1st and 3rd. Todd Frazier walked to load them up, and Kris Medlen was called upon to stop the bleeding. Apparently, he didn't get that in this metaphor more blood would be a bad thing, and he promptly gave up the grand piano to Mesoraco. Blood everywhere.

Juan Francisco, El Nino Destructor exacted some revenge in the 7th, smacking a homer of his own. But Drew Stubbs got the run back in the bottom half to make it 6-3 Redlegs.

Source: FanGraphs

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Fingers crossed
Nick Masset should be throwing some baseballs today. He hasn't thrown in over a month due to soreness in his shoulder. The bullpen has been terrific without him, but a healthy and productive Masset could take some of the pressure off of Chapman, Marshall, Arredondo, and Ondrusek, who have all worked a great deal already this season.

Hall o' Famer Hal says this could be the year of the 12
Because that's Dusty Baker's uniform number, as well as the year. Also, Todd Frazier's number is 21, which is 12 in reverse. And when you really start to think about it, there are 12s all over this team. The Reds have been to the playoffs 13 times in their history, which is just one more than 12. Barry Larkin is being inducted into the Hall of Fame this season, and his jersey number was 11. That's just one away from 12. As a team, the Reds have 12 saves so far (eight for Marshall, two for Chapman, and one each for Ondrusek and Arredondo). Aroldis Chapman has been other-worldly so far this season, and he's 24 years old. Cut that in half, and you...well, you get it.

Jason Linden at Redleg Nation tries to parse out how much of the Reds' offensive struggles is due to luck
and how much is due to plain ol' notverygoodness. In short, the struggles so far are due, in part, to bad BABIP luck. So you can bet that they will likely hit better as the season progresses and that luck normalizes. But he also cautions that the team just isn't walking enough to make him believe that they will be a league-leading offense again. So while they will probably hit better, it probably won't be as much as you'd like. Good stuff, Jason.

It ain't just about filling out the lineup card
Dusty Baker did some good work this week, giving Zack Cozart some helpful hitting tips. He was in a 2-26 slump when Dusty pointed out to him that his timing was a bit off. Since then he's 6-15. You really have to give the credit to Cozart though, for being willing to listen and doing all the actual work. I mean, the way he was hitting, any manager would have obviously seen the issue and corrected it. You can't really give Dusty credit for something he's supposed to do. /endsarcasm

On Tuesday, Cozart's wango walk was tied for the fastest of the day
He circled the bases in 18.79 seconds, which is fairly quick compared to the average. If you don't already, it's really fun to keep tabs on Wezen-Ball'sTater Trot Tracker. Mike Leake's donation to the National Association for the Distribution of Bleacher Souvenirs resulted in the 4th-fastest trot this season, which is cool.

Baseball America has done some damn fine work in divining the draft bonus caps for every team in this year's draft
Click on through for a detailed explanation, but long story short, the Reds are squarely in the middle of the pack with $6.6 mil to spend on the 12 picks they have in the first ten rounds.

And now, follow along after the jarm for a look at what the rest of the SBNL Central is talking about:

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In case you hadn't noticed, Mat Latos is beginning to look a bit more like the Mat Latos we all wanted when the team made the Mat Latos trade. Since his bad outing against the Cardinals back on April 18th, he's posted an ERA of 2.76 while striking out a batter per inning. He's still walking more hitters than you'd like, and he's only pitched seven innings once, but you have to like the way things are trending.

Opposing him is Brandon Beachy of Kokomo, Indiana. He leads the league with a scintillating 1.33 ERA and is coming off an impressive complete game shut out of the Miami baseball club. He is no doubt a good pitcher, but so is Mat Latos. As a fan of the Cincinnati Reds (they are my favorite team, you know), I will be rooting for Mat Latos to pitch better than Brandon Beachy tonight.

Lineups and bullpen log after the jong:

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We all knew it was only a matter of time. Joey Votto had been good enough to earn nominations for this august honor in every week (save one) so far, but it wasn't until last week that he won the darned thing. His three-shambo day last Sunday springboarded him to 87% of the votes, the biggest landslide in the 1,093 year history of the Red o' the Week award. He is the fire at the nucleus of this team, the whirling dynamo that keeps it chugging down the tracks toward the pennant. For his efforts, he will get a pack of Teddy Grahams courtesy of my cousin Malcolm. Malcolm always has Teddy Grahams at his house. Lucky.

This week, we have three first-time nominees for the Red o' the Week trophy. And, of course, Joey Votto.

Ryan Hanigan

The Hanny Man can 'cause he catches with the glove and makes the pitchers pitch good. And the pitchers pitch good 'cause the Hanny Man thinks they should. Hanigan is heating up and is consequently getting a bit more playing time. As of today, he has 92 PAs to Devin Mesoraco's 67. Mesoraco is clearly the catcher of the future for this team, but he's getting the back up quarterback treatment right now, sitting behind the accomplished veteran and learning the position at a comfortable, gradual pace. There are many reasons why Hanigan is one of my favorite players on this team, but this is probably the most awesometeamplayer one right now.

For the week, he OPS'd 1.434 with two walks, a schnoodle, and a double. He is without a doubt the third-best hitter on this team, so why he is toiling away hitting in the eight-spot in the order is absolutely stupefying to me. The way the team has struggled to get on base so far, you'd think his .385 clip would do well to generate runs at the top of the order. Not-so-fun fact: Reds leadoff hitters are OPSing .443 for the season. The ninth spot is OPSing .511.

Drew Stubbs

Speaking of generating runs at the top of the order, Drew Stubbs scored five of them this past week. He scarfed a pair of funyons last night to add to his four singles, four walks, and a steal for the week. He struck out nine times, but if he's OPSing .930 I don't give any cares at all how often he strikes out.

Ryan Ludwick

Ducky earned his first nom this week mostly for his game-winning performance on Sunday in New York. He didn't do much else for the week, but when you win a game almost single-handedly the blue ribbon panel here at Red o' the Week takes notice.

Mike Leake

Last week the scuttlebutt was mumbling that Leake's rotation spot could be in doubt. I guess it lit a fire under his keister, because he pitched a pair of perfectly pleasant games. For the week, he totaled 14 innings, struck out 11, walked only three, and allowed only two earned runs. He also walloped his first career schnoodle in last night's game. Mike Leake!

Joey Votto

He's good blah blah blah. 1.072 OPS, three XBHs, six walks.

Not a bad little road trip for your Redlegs, yeah? Winning four of seven against the Braves, Mets, and Yankees is definitely something to come home smiling about. Unfortunately, those very same Braves are coming back with them for a four-game set. If you read JinAZ's series preview from earlier today, then you know the Braves are one of the best teams in this here National League. Given the pitching matchups for the series though, I think our boys have a sporting chance at taking three of four.

Mike Leake (Mike Leake!) looks to build upon his efforts against the Mets last Wednesday when he threw six solid innings and limited the Mets to three runs. That's not great, but baby steps. This Braves lineup is far more dangerous than the one the Mets put out there, so he has his work cut out for him.

He faces off against the young man taken exactly one pick before him back in the '09 draft, Mike Minor. Minor's bobbed up and down between the majors and minors so far in his brief career, and there are perhaps some rumbles that he could be getting another ticket to Gwinnett. He's pitched pretty well thus far, with a K/BB ratio of 2.94, but a .344 BABIP and a gonzo weird strand rate have inflated his ERA to over 7.00. Thems ain't good pitchin' numbers, as they say down in Georgia.

This one's on The World Wide Leader for those of you in parts afar, so a good night of baseballin' to you.

Go Reds! They're my favorite team!

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EDIT: Looks like this is all for naught. Chapman is your new closer, at least, once he gets a day off.

Look, Sean Marshall didn't sign up for this. The past few years, he developed into one of the premiere setup men in baseball, and he was cool with that. The Reds traded for him with designs on keeping him as one of the premiere setup men in baseball, and he was cool with that. He and Ryan Madson were going to be a dynamic duo at the back end of the new-look Reds bullpen, and Sean Marshall was cool with that.

Then Madson got hurt. He shredded his elbow before even throwing a pitch for the Reds. So there was a change of plans. The Reds asked Marshall if he would take on the closer's mantle, and yeah, he was cool with that. There was really no reason to believe he couldn't handle it. Premiere setup men become premiere closers all the time (just ask Ryan Madson). But it hasn't been as smooth a transition as the Reds and Marshall would like. And now, less than two months into the season, the Reds are already contemplating taking the Marshall's badge and gun. But that is a really, really bad idea.

Admittedly, the results for Sean Marshall, Closer haven't been as good as we'd all like. In 16 appearances so far, he's only posted three clean 1-2-3 innings. He has seven saves and only one blown save, but he's also been pulled twice so one of his bullpen mates could clean up his mess. He also earned the loss when he entered a tie game in extra-innings in Washington. You can squint all you like, but those results do not look good.

The funny thing about pitchers though (and doubly funny for relief pitchers) is that results-oriented numbers like saves and losses and such just aren't very good at capturing value. I mean, we're only talking about 14.1 innings so far. But even setting the Small Sample Size argument aside, we can see that Marshall is pitching just as well - if not better - than he did when he was one of the premiere setup men in baseball while with the Cubs. Check it:

He's striking out more batters, walking fewer, and inducing more ground balls this year than he has the past few years. So what the heck? Why are they talking about replacing him as closer? Uh, well, here are some more numbers:

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A quick programming note: I will be on the John Renshaw Show on 1450 the Sports Buzz this afternoon at 3:40 PM EDT to talk a bit o' Reds.

You got to appreciate what an explosive element this Chapman situation is

"The longer we go, it will be harder to stretch (Chapman) to start," Jocketty says. "We may be resigned to the fact that he will have to pitch in the bullpen all year."

The back-and-forth will-they-or-won't-they? Sam-and-Diane thing the Reds have going with Aroldis Chapman is boffo for ratings, isn't it? It's May Sweeps and the Reds are making sure they get as many eyeballs on the TV set as possible. They may be indecisiveness with important roster decisions, but they sure do know how to get us talking by the water cooler.

Look, this thing has been discussed ad-nauseam. We all know the arguments for and against. I suppose both sides can console themselves with the fact that no matter what happens, we still have one of the most talented pitchers of his generation suiting up for our team. There is really no wrong way to use Aroldis Chapman. I mean, I guess you could try to make him a right fielder or a bullpen catcher or something like that. That would be a bad way to use him.

The one thing that sticks in my craw though is just how risk-averse this Reds brain trust is. The biggest reason cited for why Chapman should remain in the bullpen is that you don't want to fix what ain't broken. It would take some work to get him into the rotation; it would mean taking the risk that maybe he wouldn't do well with it, or that his replacement in the bullpen wouldn't do as well. Too many variables. Too many what-ifs. It's best to leave well enough alone.

Except, there really is no risk. So what if Chapman doesn't take to it? So what if he's an unmitigated disaster as a starting pitcher? He can go right back to the bullpen and we are exactly where we were when it started. No harm done. There is no risk.

Unless you are Dusty Baker, of course. The risk you run is losing a few games in the standings down the stretch when your bullpen fails and giving people a clear scapegoat. That could be the difference between playoffs or no, and that could be the difference between having a job or not. And you know, that's understandable. Baker wants to keep his job, and the best way for a manager to lose his job is to take risks and have them backfire. So managers don't take risks.

So that's it. Chapman is probably going to be a reliever all season. I suppose if/when Nick Masset and Bill Bray get healthy there is a chance they make the transition then, but I doubt it. Bullpens are delicate and fungible beasts, and I doubt it will ever be settled enough for them to say they'd get along fine without Chapman. So whatever. He's terrific as a set-up man, and at least I get to watch him on my team. I suppose you have to look at the bright side in situations like this, because the dark side can drive you crazy.

Dusty says Ryan Ludwick will DH in at least two of the three games in AL NY
I would assume that's tonight against Andy Pettitte and Sunday against C.C. Sabathia. I guess I can't really argue with this, as the Reds bench isn't exactly built to play with the DH. There's really no good option, so I guess it might as well be Ducky. I think it would nice to see Mike Costanzo get the first start of career on Saturday, though. He could DH or play 3B or even 1B.

andromache keeps on kickin' the ki-nowledge
Joey Votto is leading the league in walks, but the rest of the team is not. He's drawn a larger percentage of his team's total walks than any other team walk leader in the league. If that sentence is a bit difficult to understand, check out the table she neatly put together. It's neat. Basically, Joey Votto is walking a bunch and nobody else on the team is. They need to be more like him.

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Chapman labored through the 7th, as he gave up his first run of the season. It wasn't earned though, so rest assured that the ERA is pristine. It's a tie juego at foursies heading into the 8th.

The Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game

Todd Frazier had 40 or so friends and family at Citi Field tonight and he definitely made it worth their trip up the Garden State Parkway. He ping ponged a pair of pankos to push the Reds to prevail. Honorable Mention to Mike Leake, who pitched six strong while walking two and striking out five. He gave up three runs, but only one was earned. He also went 2-2 with a pair of singles, scoring the Reds first run all the way from first base on a Zack Cozart double. Honorable mention also to Aroldis Chapman, who is so danged awesomekicks right now that I can't even stand it.

Key Plays

Joey Votto threw away a potential double play ball in the 6th, which led to two Mets runs.

Frazier hit his first snooki in the 7th, an opposite field snooki that just made it over the wall.

The Reds beat up the Mets 'pen in the 8th. They stink this year, like, really stink. Which is good for the Reds, who strung together some base hits, a sac fly, and Frazier's second JWoww to put them ahead for good.

Jose Arredondo, Aroldis Chapman, and Sean Marshall combined for three innings, four strikeouts, and only one hit allowed. Our bullpen is way, way better than their stinky bullpen. Which is good for the Reds.

Source: FanGraphs

Other Notes:

Jay Bruce got reacquainted with Tim Byrdak, the victim of Bruce's Clinch Honk. Bruce hit a pinch-hit sac fly in the 8th to plate the go ahead run.

D.J. Carrasco surrendered Frazier's second home rungo and was summarily DFA'd after the game.

1:10 start tomorrow, so get a good night's sleep tonight, folks. Mat Latos faces off against knucklepucker R.A. Dickey.

Jay Bruce won Red o' the Week honors for the 2nd consecutive week last week, making him the first ever to win back-to-backs in the 657 year history of this most revered plaudit. The race was much, much tighter this time around though, as The Bruiser garnered only 26% of the vote - the lowest ever winning total for Red o' the Week. He won't be able to go for the three-peat though, as he didn't quite do enough to earn a nomination. His .778 OPS and three doubles were good, but not good enough for our selection panel.

Jam on with your week six noms:

Chris Heisey

Heisey makes his first appearance in one of these here thingies, mostly for his 3-3 performance in last night's win. For the week he got only 11 PAs, but he did a goodly amount of damage in his limited playing time. He slashed .333/.400/.556 with a pair of doubles, a walk, and a sac bunt. LF has been embarrassingly putrid so far this season, with a line of .192/.266/.331. Heisey is just as blame-worthy as Ludwick for this, but hopefully this past week is something of a sea change for Heisey and LF.

Joey Votto

I was listening to the game on the radio last night and Chris Welsh said something interesting regarding Joey Votto and his lack of home run power this season. As of Sunday, he had only popped a pair of plinkoes in the first month+. Welsh said that Votto and hitting coach Brook Jacoby worked on his swing. He was dropping his hands to his chest as he loaded onto his backside, then bringing them back up before following through on his swing. This, apparently, was sapping his power.

So he stopped dropping his hands, and Sunday happened. Three wangoes, including a walk-off grand wango, and a double propelled the Reds to victory. Now, I don't know if the hands thing was really the cause of his lack of home runs. I mean, he was still leading the league in doubles going into Sunday, so it's not like he was making weak contact. But whatever, he killed last week . .438/.591/.1.125. That's a 1.716 OPS. Five extra-base hits, a steal, and (my favorite) six walks with only one strikeout. He is simply ungetoutable right now.

Jose Arredondo

Arredondo is another Red making his first appearance on the ballot this year. He's been quietly brilliant all season, as he has twice as many strikeouts as hits allowed. It was a great week for him, as he threw three innings in the series against the Nationals, striking out five and giving up only one hit. Unfortunately, that one hit was a home rango off the bat of Danny Espinosa that proved the difference in a 2-1 game. But aside from that one blemish, he was awesomefrenchtoast.

Johnny Cueto

Cueto faced off against Zack Greinke in a good ol' fashioned pitcher's duel last Wednesday, and our boy came out victorious. He pitched seven dominant shutout innings, scattering five hits and a walk with five strikeouts. Admittedly, Greinke had the better game, as the Reds only earned two hits off of him on the afternoon while striking out 11 times in eight innings. But Cueto matched him goose egg for goose egg, because that's what aces do. The Reds were able to tag the Brewers 'pen for a few runs and the win.

Aroldis Chapman

3.2 innings, seven strikeouts, one walk, one hit allowed, and this whoopsie doo:

via media.247sports.com and Mr. Red-boto

Vote for Red o' the Week, and then go on over to reds.com and vote for all of them to be All-Stars.

Jay Bruce was a slam dunk cold lock lead pipe cinch last week, officially earning 85% of the vote. Of course, this being Red Reporter, there is a 15% "margin of jerks who vote differently just to be a dick", so when correcting for this we can confidently say he is the first consensus winner in the 436 year history of this prestigious honor. In recognition, Jay will receive a handshake from Larry King and a milkshake from Dairy Queen.

Week five of the season saw the calendar turn over to May and the Reds turn on the afterburners. They outscored opponents 24-11 while winning four of six. The team is jammin' right now, which is reflected in the abundance of worthy nominees for this most coveted of awards.

Your nom noms, in numerical order by jersey number:

#6 Drew Stubbs

Stubbs had a very strong week, punctuated by his three-hit performance on Sunday. For the week, he totaled seven hits, with two doubles and two dingoes, a stolen base, and five runs scored for a slash of .350/.409/.750. He's raised his OPS to an even .700 for the season, which is a good 100 point rise over last week.

#19 Joey Votto

Yaaaaawwwwwnnn. nyup nyup. Oh, did Votto have another excellent week? Myeh. Wake me up when he does something really amazing. He slashed .300/.462/.450 with three doubles and six walks. He leads the league in both categories. I mean, I guess that's great. Whatever.

#32 Jay Bruce

The Bruiser followed up his NL and Red o' the Week performance last week with another strong showing, bonking two doubles and two doodles while only striking out once. He OPS'd 1.072 is now a solid second in the NL with nine total doodles.

#47 Johnny Cueto

Cueto earns yet another nomination for his complete game gem against the Pirates last Friday. He struck out four and scattered seven hits, allowing only one run. He now leads the NL with a paltry 1.31 ERA.

#55 Mat Latos

The Reds' big offseason acquisition earned his first Red o' the Week nomination by slicin' up eyeballs against the Pirates on Saturday. He set a career high with 11 strikeouts while only allowing two measly singles over six innings. We all know that, historically, he is a slow starter. If his first start of the new month is any indication of things to come...woooooo hot doggies.

#61 Bronson Arroyo

Two quality starts from BroYo this week earned him the nom, as he tossed 12.2 innings combined against the Cubs and Brewers. 12 strikeouts and two walks is mighty impressive from the old fella. He did give up three home runs, but they were all of the rally-killing variety. Look, he's going to give up some home runs. He's averaged 30 doodles surrendered per season in his Reds career (setting aside the 46 he gave up last year, which is looking like the exception to the rule), but if he's not walking anyone he's not going to get killed by them. Hopefully he keeps this up.

This one looks like a pretty tight competish, so I'm really interested to see how it turns out. To the poll!

[Ed. note - I answered a few questions with SBNation Brewers' blog Brew Crew Ball to preview the series -- 'KRP]

The Reds are 10-5 over their last 15, which has boosted them over the .500 mark for the first time since Opening Weekend. After taking two of three from the Pirates, they are knee-deep in a road slog that sees them play 13 of 16 in enemy territory. They've made up ground on the Cardinals, but they get the Brewers for three, the Nationals for three (at home, at least), two in Hotlanta, and then five against the two New York teams. Then they come home for four against the Braves again. The rest of May looks tough, and in all honesty I will be satisfied if they are still over .500 when the calendar turns to June.

One game at a time though, so let's take a look-see at tonight's titanic struggle. The Brewers send Yovani Gallardo to the hill, which could be a favorable match-up for our Redlegs. They've hit Gallardo pretty well in the past, OPSing a collective .857 against him in 11 games. Another tick in the Reds' favor is his slow start to this season. He has a 5.79 ERA after six starts, but to his credit, that is almost completely due to 5.2 collective innings against the Cardinals in which he has given up two-thirds of the total runs he's given up so far. He's been awesomechewybagels otherwise.

We are all quite pleased with the way Bronson has hurled his apples so far this season. Dude has a sterling 6.0 K/BB ratio and he's only given up four wangers, three of which were of the onesy variety.

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Blog Red Machine attempts to make the case that Scott Rolen should be benched
He's hit poorly so far this season, slashing just .178/.238/.315 in 80 PAs. That's a pretty small sample size though, so much should not be made of it. He didn't fare much better in an injury-beleaguered 2011 season, slashing .242/.279/.397 in 269 PAs. Was 2011 due to injuries and this season due to a slow start, or is there something far more pernicious going on here?

BRM is ready to call it and let Todd Frazier take over at the hot corner. I think the situation is much more complicated than that, though. On numbers alone, I might agree. Rolen has been well below average for a good calendar year now, and Frazier is a logical and seemingly-capable successor. But these are still Scott Rolen's Reds, and as the team leader his value goes a bit beyond his contributions in the box score.

So I guess the question is just how long we can stomach a painfully inept Rolen in the lineup before something is to be done. It's still early in the season, but I think Billy Beane's old adage about the season being split into three distinct two-month sections is appropriate here. If at the end of May Rolen is still hitting below the Mendoza Line, then perhaps we start thinking about a more generous portion of the playing time going to Frazier.

That is, if he's still with the big league team.

Miguel Cairo is on a rehab assignment in Dayton for a few days
and he plans on being a role model to all the young dudes. "When you come back here, you want to make sure the kids watch you work," Cairo said. "I just want to make sure I’m a model for them." Still not sure who he will bump when he comes back, but it will be good to have the Giza Geezer healthy again.

andromache is befuddled by Drew Stubbs
He's clearly struggling so far this season, but there is not obvious reason as to why. His strikeouts are down, but so are his is flyballs and line drives. His BABIP is subsequently down as well. He's not walking at all, either. He's also seeing fewer fastballs, which could be something.

I'm just spitballing here myself, but is it possible that Brook Jacoby and Dusty Baker have drastically changed Stubbs' swing? A few years back, when he was still in the minors, the Reds' brass adjusted his swing in an attempt to cut down his strikeouts. It succeeded, but it also drastically cut down his power, too. Maybe he is consciously being more aggressive at the plate, which, coupled with pitchers throwing him more breaking balls, is swirling into a hurricane of nogoodness?

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The Reds have taken two out of three in three straight series, including the weekend before this one past against these very same Cubs at Wrigley. The are 7-3 over their last ten games, rendering their 4-8 start a mere memory. They begin the new month with an even record, having scored 87 runs while giving up 90 in April. Not bad.

The Reds get the Cubs for three and then on to Pittsburgh for three more this week, so it should be a good opportunity to add up some Ws. Neither Arroyo nor Samardzija pitched in the last series, but Arroyo has been throwing rocks so far this season. He's thrown 26.2 innings and has a shimmering 15/2 K/BB ratio. Most importantly though, he's only given up two wangers. That's a tremendously good sign, as the Reds are going to need Arroyo to be at least serviceablerroyo for the duration of his contract. Keep on keepin' on, BroYo.

Samardzija has started his career in the starting rotation fairly well, notching more than a strikeout per inning. He was roughed up on the 19th by the Marlins, but outside that he's been a positive addition to the Cubs' rotation. Here's hoping that our Redlegs can stick 'im what fer this evenin'.

If you are going to the game, or any game of the three-game set, be aware of the Moerlein Lager House "Wrigley South" promotion. If you wanna go there to hang out with Cubs fans that's perfectly fine, but we here at RR urge to be a shining example of what classy fans we are here in Cincinnati. And, when they aren't looking, you can punch them in the kidneys a little. Our Man in the Can, -ManBearPig, will be slingin' suds down there on Tuesday and Wednesday (I think), so if you see him give him a high five an a generous tip.

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Johnny Cueto won a plurality of votes to earn the Red o' the Week honors for week three. Along with the handsome trophy, he will also receive a voucher worth one free sandwich at Stanky's Deli. Red Reporter would like to thank Dan "Ham Sandwich" Stankiewicz, proprietor of Stanky's Deli, for his support and sponsorship. Stanky's Deli: "Come taste this ham!"

This week, well...this week feels like voting is kind of a formality. Like, remember back in 7th grade when you ran for student council vice-president because you thought it would be cool? You didn't really know what student council even did, and you were pretty sure it was all for show. I mean, they always promised longer recesses or better selections in the lunch line, but none of that stuff ever happened. Come on. They were just stupid kids. They couldn't possibly change anything at school. Well, sure, you were just a stupid kid too, but you weren't as stupid as most of the others. Remember Kyle Nolan? That kid used to take a bag of Dorito's to the playground where he would dip them in the mud and then eat them. That kid was stooooooopid. But yeah, you ran for student council because, I don't know, it could be neat.

But it wasn't neat. Aaron Shotwell ran for vice-president too, and he was way more popular than you. You didn't drop out of the race because it was just student council, it wasn't serious or anything. But still, nobody had to vote. Everyone knew what was going to happen.

So yeah, this week kinda feels like Aaron Shotwell is running for vice-president. You can vote if you want to, but we all know what's going to happen here.

Jay Bruce

Jay-Woww went and had himself one darn fine week at the ol' ballpark, earning National League Player of the Week honors. He slashed .476/.542/1.143, hitting honkers in four straight games. He also honked a pair of doubles and walked three times against only five strike outs. Also, at about the 40-second mark on this video, you'll see an amazing display of his arm in the outfield. It was an excellent week for The Bruiser.

Johnny Cueto

Last week's winner earned himself another nomination this week with his performance against the Astros on Saturday. I attended this game with Big Brother Scrabbles, and we were not impressed with Johnny's work for most of the game. He labored hard the whole day, throwing 120 pitches. In the 4th inning, I quipped to big bro that I would be surprised if he were to last more than five. But he hiked up his trousers and tightened his belt, because that's what aces do. He went a strong seven innings without giving up a run. It wasn't pretty, but it was good. Even on his toughest days, he's going to go out there and give you a good outing. Because that's what aces do.

Logan Ondrusek

Three appearances, 3.2 perfect innings. His best work was on Thursday, earning a .247 WPA for his 1.2 scoreless innings against the Giants. He came on in the 7th for a beleaguered Homer Bailey, who had thrown a quality ballgame up to that point. But after he gave up a sac fly to bring the Giants to within one, Ondrusek was called upon to slam the door. With runners on first and second and only one out, Ondrusek induced a pop up and a weak ground ball to get out of the inning.

Joey Votto

I really like this fella. Just another week at the office for Votto, as he slashed .286/.423/.667 while honking five doubles and a wanger. Yesterday's tilt was a particularly good one for him, as he registered a WPA of .502 for the game. His two-run wanger in the 4th tied it at two, and his two-run double in the 7th tied it at five.

So go ahead and cast your vote, and if anyone can come up with a cromulent reason as to why this most prestigious of made-up awards shouldn't go to Jay Bruce I will...well, I'll probably find a way to refute it.

Aroldis Chapman won the second-ever Red Reporter Red of the Week Red Star, sponsored by SBNation's Department of Logos, Avatars, and Politburos. This bi-annual award is given every week to the performer who best exemplified the merits of Reds baseballedness in the week prior. The Hot Freak, as the all the hip youngsters are calling him nowadays, garnered 72% of the vote, which is a new record for this longstanding and prestigious honor. In recognition, I will acknowledge his efforts as I eat my lunch today.

This week's nominees are evidence that the team actually does have an offense, which runs counter to previous reports. So here they are, in alphabetical order:

Johnny Cueto

It was a terrific week for the Reds ace, as he was the only starter to take the mound twice in this arbitrary time frame. He punched a pair of peachy pitching performances, totaling 13.1 innings with only two earned runs allowed and a 12/4 K/BB. His ERA for the week was a beautiful 1.35.

Devin Mesoraco

The Golem started half the games at catcher last week, perhaps as a reward for his superlative hitting. Mesoraco was 5 for 11 with three walks, posting a slash of .455/.571/.455. He also blocked the plate exceptionally well on this play here, keeping Jaime Garcia from scoring a critical run that could have made the Reds lose even worse.

Drew Stubbs

Nobody complains about Stubbs' streakiness when he's runnin' hot, as he was this past week. Stubbs is pumped up being bumped up to the two-hole in the lineup, tuning up opposition pitchers with a slash of .346/.393/.500. He also stole a pair of bases and wanged his first home run of the young season.

Joey Votto

I have a feeling this here fella is gonna earn himself a number of these nominations as this season progresses. Heck, it was even a down-week for Votto, but he still slashed .286/.444/.381. Teams are now actively pitching around the big fella, as the Reds struggle to get any production out of the clean-up spot. Still, walking six times in a week means teams are really struggling to get him out, and that's really all that matters.

So there you have it, your nominees for Red o' the Week for week three. This kinda thing is probably your only real chance to feel like the part of an active democratic process this year, so I hope you recognize this rare opportunity for what it is and relish it accordingly.

Zack Cozart is the very first recipient of the Red Reporter Red of the Week Trophy, a hallowed tradition recognizing Excellence in Small Sample Sizes sponsored by Big Red. Cozy ran away with the voting last week, garnering 61% of the vote. Nice work, rook.

Unfortunately, this past week. The collective efforts of the Reds offense over the past week is probably best summed up by their second baseman, Brandon Phillips. BP sat the bench last week with a sore hamstring and only got six PAs. Luckily for the Reds, the bullpen came up huge, answering the bell for three separate extra-inning games in four days. Three of these noble yeomen are recognized this week with nominations.

Aroldis Chapman

The only holdover from last week's poll, Chapman pitched five innings with10 strikeouts and two hits allowed in three appearances. And most importantly, he still hasn't given up a walk. I get that he's not in the rotation right now and that the Reds aren't going to jerk everyone around and change course so early in the season just to accommodate me. I get that. I get it. I do. But also, #LetHimStart.

Sam LeCure

Five innings pitched over three appearances, six strikeouts, and only one earned run allowed. It was hard to #beeasy this week for the Reds most moustachioed bullpener, but Yosemite Sam was down with the program and took the ball when asked.

Logan Ondrusek

3.2 innings over four appearances, with four strikeouts and nothing but goose eggs when it counted. Long Logan was unavoidable this week, and not just because he's a big fella. The Reds were 2-4 over the last week, but if it weren't for these tough guys answering the bell time and again it could easily have been worse.

Bronson Arroyo

Goodroyo showed up in Washington on Friday night, gutsing and guiling the Nationals over 7.1 innings of shutout baseball, giving up just three hits while striking out four for a gamescore of 75. This was a vintage Bro-Yo performance, and would have been cause for considerable celebration had the offense mustered more than one measly run for him.

Joey Votto

The new contract extension indentures him as the Atlas of the franchise, as this team will go only as far as he can carry them. The Reds have strapped their wagon to his broad shoulders and it is expected that he will be the anchor of the lineup. Plus a bunch of other overwrought metaphors. But if the next 12 years go anything like the last week, I will seriously bug out. Votto was a destroyer of baseballs, posting a 1.041 OPS with three doubles and seven walks over the six game stretch.

But that was pretty much it for offense, as the rest of the team was awfultaxaudits at the plate. So yeah, your nominees this week are almost all pitchers. And relievers at that. While I like these guys in the 'pen, I don't want to get in the habit of having half the bullpen earn nominations for this respected, venerated, and much-ballyhooed award. It reflects poorly on the rest of the team. Vote 'em up.

The Joe Nuxhall Memorial Honorary Star of the Game

Edwin Jackson. The Reds look absolutely anemic right now, but I guess you have to give credit to Jackson, too. He retired 16 Reds in a row at one point, between Drew Stubbs' run-scoring single in the 2nd and Chris Heisey's four-pitch walk in the 8th. Miguel Cairo's two-bagger in the 2nd was the Reds' only XBH, and it wasn't even hit that hard (he squeezed it down the leftfield line). Overall, Jackson threw a complete game two-hitter, walking one and striking out nine.

Key Plays

The Reds drew first blood in the 2nd, as Miguel Cairo doubled and Drew Stubbs drove him in on a single. That was it. That was everything. They did absolutely nothing else against Edwin Jackson the rest of the day.

The Nationals tied it up in the bottom half of the frame after Homer Bailey issued walks to Adam LaRoche and Xavier Nady. Jesus Flores then knocked LaRoche in on a single to LF.

The Nats got two more in the 3rd as LaRoche doubled to drive in Danny Espinosa and Ryan Zimmerman.

Homer would settle down after that, but it didn't matter. I suppose you have to give credit to Edwin Jackson for throwing a good game, but honestly I don't think the Reds offense could muster a half-dozen hits against the pitching machine right now.

A Jayson Werth douyble in the 7th notched another mark on the chalk board. 4-1 Nationals.

via www.fangraphs.com

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This has been another tough game to watch, as Edwin Jackson has thrown fewer than 50 pitches through five innings and has retired 10 straight Reds hitters. I keep telling myself that it's still really early and the ineptitude that the Reds have shown at the plate is not indicative of their skill level. But dang, this sucks some major honky apples.

For now, anyway. Latos is dealing with the Nationals' first real threat of the game. He's thrown a goodly number of pitches already though, so he may not be long for this one. Bottom 5, 0-0.

We're going to try a new thing here at Red Reporter for this season. It's pretty straight-forward, actually, so I don't think it's necessary to write up an overly elaborate description. I'm going to list the top Reds performers of the last week and you'll have a chance to vote on who you think most deserves the now-timeless honor of Red of the Week. The Nom-noms are:

Zack Cozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Cozart orchestrated a fine first week of baseballing, slashing .500/.563/1.000 over the first four games. He wanged four extra-base hits, scored four runs, and even drew a pair of walks. One of the concerns I had about Coz coming into the season was his ability to control the strikezone, but I think we can all agree that he's been symphonic so far.

Jay Bruce

While the Coz showed a more balanced attack, Jay Bruce was all about the wangers. He wanged three home runs in the first four games, and that's pretty much it. He slashed an awkward .267/.250/.867, with his batting average actually higher than his on-base percentage because he has more sac flies than walks. His five runs batted in is far and way the most on the team, more than doubling his closest competition.

Johnny Cueto

Cueto started the reactor this season with a dominant Opening Day performance, throwing seven shutout innings and allowing only three hits. It was the Platonic Ideal of Johnny Cueto starts, as he struck out only four batters but induced an impressive 11 ground balls. Here's hoping for a repeat performance tonight against the Cardinals.

Aroldis Chapman

There has been much hand-wringing over the relegation of Chapman to the bullpen, but he has taken the assignment with gusto. He's pitched three innings over two appearances so far, striking out five and - most importantly - walking none. His FIP is actually -0.64. That's not a typo, folks. Negative 0.64.

So those are your nominees for Red of the Week. You can vote in the poll below. Each one of these guys had a terrific week, so I'm looking forward to seeing what you all think. Make your case for your pick in the comments. Voting will be open for the next few days, but remember that you are only voting for the players' performances over the first four games of the season. We'll be voting for the Red of the Week each and every Tuesday, unless you hate this or I forget.

This one got away from the Reds and they now face a six-run deficit going into the fun half of the 8th. RALLY CAPSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!