This is a letter of explanation to those involved in the Red Reporter Death Match as to why I've not been able to do anything for the last several weeks.  The gist: CBSSports.com sucks.  Full explanation after the jump.

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Eight teams have signed up for the Red Reporter '09 fantasy baseball league.  I'd like to get it to 10-12 this week before we get to the live draft the following week and begin the season.  There is room for 14 teams total.

The format is normal 5x5 roto, NL only.  Last year's league was competitive right to the final week, so if you're not inclined to participate all season, please let someone else join.

We're using Yahoo!, so to sign up, go to their fantasy baseball page.  You'll need our league ID (197664) and the password (cincy).  There's room for 6 more teams.  First come, first serve.

OK, so I did it.  I created a fantasy league at yahoo! along the same lines as last year's non-beer league/non-stat geek Red Reporter league.  It's pretty normal 5x5 roto, NL only.  The league is limited to 14 teams, so it will be first come, first serve.  Currently, I have the live draft set up for Tues, March 24 at 6:00 pm, but we can change that if it won't suit too many people.

I had a lot of fun with this last year and it seemed to stay fairly competitive throughout the season, so if you're not inclined to stick it out the whole 162, please refrain from signing up.

So for those who want to join, go for it.  The password is cincy.  Is there anything else people need?

Evidently, we've maxed out our budget.  I just now saw it on MLBTR, who took it from CTrent.  According to the Fay, it's about the same last year's $74MM, maybe a touch higher.  So we can more or less bank on this being the team that shows up in Sarasota.  I think most of us were assuming as much, though perhaps just many were hoping we'd be wrong.  In my mind this blows for one reason: I now have zero motivation to check the Reds hot stove for the next couple months.  I appreciate the Reds newfound openness to the media, but I wouldn't have minded being strung along till pitchers & catchers in hopes of a new signing.

Fay posted a fairly quick report on Jocketty's action at the GM meetings.  There's a condensed (barely) version on MLBTR.  The good news is, Khalil Greene rumors are a lie.  It's nice to see Jocketty recognizing that it just doesn't make any sense, especially long term.  Also nice to see Jocketty refusing to offer up the young pitching base we've finally been able to establish, though MLBTR assumes Homer is movable.  Finally catching is on the list.  Isn't it on everyone's list?  And Walt has begun talks with Hairston's people and will approach Weathers, Affeldt, and Lincoln about resigning.

It's not a ton of news, but what should be the approach on Hairston, Weathers, Affeldt, and Lincoln?  What would you guys offer?

Here's the report from the Padre's website for yesterday's game against the Angels:

Greg Maddux certainly looked in midseason form Friday, as he needed just 24 pitches -- including 19 strikes -- over three scoreless innings. He did not allow a hit or a walk.

It reminded me of his 68-pitch, 8 inning performance against the Giants on Aug 13, 2006.  About a month later he threw 68 in 7 innings against the Padres.  And a quick glance at his '07 numbers and he never threw over 100 pitches all last year and finished 14-10 with 4.14 ERA.

Now, I know he's clearly one of the best pitchers of this generation, let alone history.  My question is this: is it too early to start talking to him about becoming the pitching coach of the Reds once he retires?  And could you just promise him, like, $7m/yr?  Whatever he knows about pitching, it's worth a lot of money.

The Boston Globe had a short article on Bill James this morning, in which he refers to Paul Daugherty, saying, "Who does he think he is?!  I'm Bill James, bitch!"  Actually, he never said that.  But it is an interesting read.  Of special note to Reds fans is the mention of David Ross, James's '07 Kingman Award winner.

I didn't notice this at the end of last year, but I read the other day that LaRussa is having his pitchers bat 8th in the lineup this spring and possibly into the season.  I'm not a big fan of LaRussa (I think he's generally overrated), but I'm curious.  Can someone with a little more baseball knowhow clue me in?  What's the TLR trying to do here?

ESPN.com just put up a page in which they're polling analysts and fans to find out who people think is the "face" of each MLB franchise.  Like most of the polls ESPN seems to put on, it's little more than a easy way to waste a couple of minutes.  My interest was peaked, however, when I noticed that our own JD is scheduled to weigh in with his opinion as Reds expert later this week.  So go check it out if for no other reason than to support the efforts of our fearless leader.

I think mostly this is little more than ESPN.com's writers to come up with something to do ('cause I don't think they're usually offering up much useful material), but I am excited simply to see more and more "mainstream" media turning to the blogging community for their take on the sports and teams they care about.

Espn.com posted an article by Pat Forde today that discusses the unique nature of the city of Cincinnati.  Specifically, he considers its rampant conservatism juxtaposed with its rampant affection for rough-and-tumble guys like Pete Rose and Bob Huggins.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=forde_pat&id=2848689&sportCat=ncb& ;lpos=spotlight&lid=tab1pos1

I thought it was an interesting read, but I don't live in Cincinnati myself.  I actually don't live anywhere near it, but my family has all come from there.  I'm curious how some natives feel about the article.

Also, somebody's gotta tell me how to embed html links into text so I don't have to post that long string of a web address.

On NPR's Morning Edition this morning, a story ran about increasing nastiness on blogs and forums.  Of particular interest was a woman who ran a blog about nothing terribly controversial who received death threats and some awful sexual harassment after posting something rather innocuous.  Another woman was interviewed who worked full time moderating a food blog, spending hours daily deleting offensive material from member posts.  A food blog!  Here's the story:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9642178

At any rate, the story got me thinking about how grateful I am to this community for being so remarkably civil, not only to one another, but in the way we treat guests from other team blogs too.

I know JD has written on this sort of thing before, but it bears repeating: the Red Reporter community is top notch when it comes to class.  Keep it up everyone!

Jayson Stark of ESPN.com just put up a pretty interesting article on the anonymity of Aaron Harang and Freddy Sanchez, reigning NL strikeout and batting champs.  I knew Harang had led the league in K's, but I have to admit, I had no idea Freddy Sanchez won the batting title last year.

It is interesting to me that players like these on small market teams lacking in recent success get absolutely no publicity.  It is also interesting to me that while this is essentially Stark's point, he's one of the members of the ESPN-opoly that helps create the attention deficit.

Anyway, it's a decent article with some pretty astonishing statistics regarding Cy Young award winners and strikeout/wins leaders like Harang.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/spring2007/columns/story?columnist=stark_jayson&id=2788301&lpo s=spotlight&lid=tab3pos1

There's been a lot of talk about Josh Hamilton early in camp, and understandably so.  He's a very interesting story. (the latest is at the reds.com:
http://cincinnati.reds.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20070226&content_id=1816891&vkey=news_ci n&fext=.jsp&c_id=cin).
Although it's still very early in spring training, I'm curious what those around Red Reporter think about having him on the 25-man roster.

There are a lot of interesting scenarios surrounding his place on the team since he was a rule 5 pick.  Should Narron carry just 11 pitchers to maintain him?  What would his inclusion mean for players like Denorfia or Bubba Crosby?  If he makes the team, at what point is it no longer worth keeping him and sold back to the Rays for $25,000?

My own opinion is mixed.  Certainly, he's been a great story so far, and that has its value.  Otherwise, I don't know much about former rule 5 success stories, so I have a sinking feeling that all we're doing is giving the rest of MLB a chance to see how good he is so they can pluck him up for cheap and put him at AA or AAA.  Perhaps someone can shed more light on this for me.

According to Reds.com, Krivsky has signed catcher Chad Moeller to a one year deal ($ not disclosed).  Moeller had a super down year last year in which he was paid just $700,000, so I can only imagine that this contract is for even less than that.

In the report, Krivsky said, "You need depth at a lot of positions, especially catcher -- one of the most important positions."  He's right, but outside of the BoSox last season, in which they traded mid-season for Javy Lopez because of Veritek's injury, I can't think of too many teams who have felt it necessary to carry three catchers.  Isn't that what AAA is for?  So anyway, I'm confused by this one.

Regardless, you may find the story here:
http://cincinnati.reds.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20061127&content_id=1746682&v key=news_cin&fext=.jsp&c_id=cin

This from CBS Sportsline (http://cbs.sportsline.com/mlb/story/9469683/rss):

CINCINNATI -- The Cincinnati Reds put right-handed reliever Matt Belisle on the 15-day disabled list Tuesday with a strained lower back.

Belisle is 2-0 with a 3.86 ERA in 14 appearances. He hadn't pitched since Saturday because of the sore back.

The Reds filled his spot in the bullpen by calling up right-hander Justin Germano from Triple-A Louisville. Germano was 3-6 with a 4.66 ERA in 10 starts at Louisville and was scheduled to start for the Bats on Tuesday night.

Instead, he flew to Chicago to join the Reds for their series against the Cubs.

This just in from AP:

The Reds activated reliever Kent Mercker from the 15-day disabled list Friday and traded outfielder Cody Ross to the Florida Marlins for a player to be named later or cash.

Mercker was placed on the disabled list on May 14 with inflammation in his left elbow. The left-hander has one save and a 3.52 ERA in 12 games.

The Marlins are Ross's third team in fewer than five weeks.

The Reds acquired him from Los Angeles on April 24 for a player to be named later. He suffered a bruised left pinky finger on April 28 after getting hit by a pitch by Houston's Roy Oswalt in his first at bat with the Reds. He went on the disabled list and was activated on Tuesday.

He was 1-for-5 in two games, including a start on Wednesday, with the Reds.

We'll start this up here as the game is about to begin.

SP: Brandon Webb (7-0; 2.44) vs. Eric Milton (2-1; 7.04)

D-Backs:
Counsell, SS
Byrnes, CF
Tracy, 3b
Gonzalez, LF
Jackson, 1b
Green, S, RF
Estrada, C
Hudson, 2b
Webb, P

Reds:
Lopez, SS
Phillips, 2b
Griffey, CF
Dunn, LF
Hatteberg, 1b
Kearns, RF
Valentin, C
Encarnacion, 3b
Milton, P