1. Chicago will be a fat, bloated team owned by owners who have taken on so much debt that they will either cut payroll or hold steady.
2. Pittsburgh will be the piece of crap they've always been.
3. Jocketty is out in St Louis because they're going to be bad for the next 3-5 years. Mark it down. No farm system + no payroll = rebuilding.
4. Houston has no young talent and no Biggio, Bagwell, Clemens or Petitte. See St. Louis.
5. Milwaukee should be good.

That leaves your Cincinnati Reds. Honestly, if there were an offseason to make a run, this is it. Bruce, get your ass up here; make a big trade for pitching, pick up Dunn's option.

Hell, they could pick up Dunn's option for next season and let him walk after. In my eyes, 2008 is the year.

Sounds like he was pushed out.

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sports/stories.nsf/cardinals/story/32456B7DBB9EEC44862573690069E6D7 ?OpenDocument

Sounds to me like he knows that they're going to be toast for a couple of years. They're pretty maxxed out, money-wise, and don't have much by way of talent ready to go.

With Houston looking crappy for the forseeable future, it's looking like a reversal in the NL Central.

Teams like Milwaukee and our Reds suddenly have much better prospects for the playoffs with teams like the Cards and Astros headed toward the dumpster.

The Pirates shall always suck.

The Cubs are one year away from being overpaid and bloated; their new owners are going to be saddled with so much debt that there's no way they add payroll.

Here is CTrent quoting Bob Castellini re: our good friend, yet incompetent GM, Wayne Krivsky:

"Wayne's a plugger. He's a plugger. He just keeps after it. A lot of determination."

"I think Wayne is taking a studied approach to everything," Castellini said. "We're on the same page."

Is Krivsky's job in jeopardy? "No."

"He's done a good job overall," Castellini said. "He's trying really hard, we're all trying hard."

How comforting.

Using the Pittsburgh Pirates as my historical model, this is how I see it playing out:

2007 - Lucky to finish 4th place
2008 - Pete Mackanin steers the Redlegs to another 4th place finish (let's be honest, has an interim-to-permanent manager here ever done better?)
2009 - Mackanin fired, someone else manages the team to a fourth place finish
2010 - Kriv dawg fired, start the clock on another three year plan
2011 - Year two of three year plan
2012 - Oops, THAT didn't work. Start another three year plan.
2013 - Year one of three year plan
2014 - Year two of three year plan
2015 - Year three of three year plan. Playoffs?

This is from Hal's recent notebook:

Reds left fielder Adam Dunn, the subject of trade rumors, said he wasn't concerned at all about the trading deadline.

"Yeah, I'm happy I'm here," Dunn said. "But ask me on Sept. 1."

Dunn, who entering Tuesday led the Reds with 27 home runs to go with 67 RBIs and a .260 batting average, has been offered as trade bait by talk shows and print media, if not the Reds.

"It bothers my mom more than me," Dunn said. "My family hates the Brennamans (broadcasters Marty and Thom) and Jeff Brantley. If George Grande and Chris Welsh aren't doing the television games, they won't watch. That's sad."

An aside: throw sabermetrics out the window. Why are people so upset with 27 home runs, 67 RBI's and a .260 batting average?

Today's question of baseball ethics is:

Isn't it "part of the deal" when most ballplayers get married that they'll sleep around and be manwhores on road trips and such, so long as they don't:

A) Transmit an STD
B) Father a child out of wedlock or
C) Publicly flaunt said infidelities?

I've always assumed that most players' wives know their husbands are sleeping around, but enjoy the perks of being a player's wife far too much to raise much of a stink.

Ok, folks.

Part of our duties as fans involves raising future generations of Reds fans.

Use this diary as a forum to show off your offspring. Include any humorous parent-related stories, hopes and dreams for future fandom, transcendental baseball moments y'all have had together, you name it.

I get real sappy when I think about sharing baseball with my 12 month old son in the future.

C.Trent had an interesting comment in his latest game thread:

red scoop, fans are even more negative in cincinnati than anywhere else i've lived -- and i've lived all over the place -- including the atlanta area.

This was in response to an earlier post criticizing Junior for joking around too much, in light of the team's recent struggles.

So what do y'all think? Are fans in Cincinnati more negative than anywhere else? If so, why and how?

This is a stupid baseball question I've always wanted answered:

For argument's sake, you're a middle reliever. You can throw some 92 mile per hour heat. Which would make you probably not a middle reliever, but whatever. It's all hypothetical anyway.

Your team's slugger knocks one out of the park, and takes his time rounding the bases.

This angers your opponent, so they plunk him the next time he comes to bat.

He comes to you on the bench and says "You drill the next blankety blank you face".

Because you're a loyal teammate, there is no question that you'll throw at the next batter.

My question is, do you throw as hard as you can and drill him with all 92 mph of gas? Or, being a nice guy, do you back off a bit to go easy on him? After all, he's just an innocent bystander in this mess.

Is anyone else not surprised about the Yankees being such a crappy, last place team this year?

Right now, they are 8-12 and in last place in the AL East.

Feel free to use this thread to share your feelings about the Mighty Yankees stinking up the joint, and to pile on the gloating where necessary.

Post your encounters with Reds, past and present. Maybe you ran into Rob Dibble at Frisch's, Pete Rose at the dentist's office, or Aaron Boone at Japp's. Post your encounters.

Continue reading this post »

...but hopefully we'll get what we need.

Interesting article today from the Post about the losers in the sale of the Reds:

Rick Steiner and Rocco Landesman, who would have bought the team with the worst pitching in the National League, were walking to Carl Lindner's office to talk about it when they spotted a couple of Cincinnatians wearing Reds caps.

"I said to Rocco, 'Those are our shareholders,''' Steiner recalled Thursday from his home in North Avondale... "That's the main thing I took away from the whole process - the real responsibility one here has to everyone. The franchise is really owned by everybody in this area."

Wow, that sounds great. So does this:

Had they done so, the Steiner folks would have immediately tossed money into the Reds' scouting system. They would have cast about for pitching. And most important, they would have set up a full-scale, full-time shop.

"All of us would have dropped everything to do this. Rocco was going to give up theater and move to Cincinnati. I was going to give up producing. We were going to make this our life's work."

Here's hoping the Castellini group can match Steiner & Landesman's enthusiasm and intent.

Continue reading this post »

According to the AP, Pete Rose Jr. surrendered yesterday to federal authorities on charges that he distributed GBL, a steroid alternative.

Here's the problem. He did it while a member of the Chattanooga Lookouts. Pete Jr. has already admitted to supplying HALF the members of that team with the drug. According to the article, they would take the drug to "wind down" after games.

In case you were wondering, the following past/present Reds were Pete's teammates in 2002...

Dane Sardinha
Wily Mo Pena
Austin Kearns
Chris Denorfia

[Update: Moved from the diaries. - JD]

From the Enquirer:

An ownership group led by local businessman Robert Castellini is expected to buy a majority stake in the Cincinnati Reds and will likely assume operating control of the team, sources said today.

The team is expected to issue a press release at 4 p.m.

Under terms of the agreement, it's believed that Reds owner Carl Lindner will give up control of the team.

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051102/SPT04/51102012

Sounds like there are some DeWitt associates in there. If the Reds are run half as well as the Cardinals, we'll all be better off for it.

[Update: Here's the official press release. I'll have much more on this later. - JD]

The Cincinnati Reds, LLC, the entity which owns the Cincinnati Reds Major League Baseball franchise, today announced that its owners intend to sell a controlling interest in the Club to a group of Cincinnatians led by Robert H. Castellini, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Castellini Company. Other members of the purchasing group include Thomas L. Williams and William J. Williams, Jr., President and Chairman, respectively, of Cincinnati-based North American Properties. The purchase price of the interests sold will be based on an enterprise value for the Club of approximately $270 million. Upon consummation of the transaction, it is expected that Mr. Castellini will become the CEO of the Reds.

Several of the existing owners, including Reds’ Chief Executive Officer Carl H. Lindner, George L. Strike, and William J. Reik, Jr., intend to retain an interest in the Club. The owners of the Club who intend to sell all their current interests are Great American Insurance Company and a subsidiary of Gannett Co., Inc.

Mr. Castellini stated that, "Carl has meant so much to the Reds and the City of Cincinnati. As such, we are thrilled that he has agreed to continue his association with the Club as a significant partner in our ownership group. I look forward to finalizing the agreement and submitting our group for MLB approval in the very near future as we are very excited about this opportunity and are eager to get started on the work ahead."

[Another update: Further confirmation that Lindner is stepping aside. - JD]

Carl Lindner agreed Wednesday to sell the controlling interest in the Cincinnati Reds to a group of area businessmen, keeping baseball's first professional franchise in local hands.

The group is headed by Robert Castellini, chairman of a Cincinnati-based produce company, and relatives of a family that owned the team from 1966-84.

From Hal McCoy and the Dayton Daily News:

Austin Kearns, languishing these days at Class AAA Louisville, has asked about a trade and wouldn't mind if the Cincinnati Reds moved him to another organization where he would play every day, he told the Dayton Daily News.

"There comes a time when you want to get established with a team and play every day," he said. "Every time I'm with the Reds, they try to play four or five outfielders. You can't work your way out of any slump because they put you on the bench."

When he was sent down before the June 13-15 Boston series, Kearns asked about a trade and was told by general manager Dan O'Brien that there was no interest in him.

"I called him on that because I've heard there is," said Kearns. "When Washington was in town, (Nationals general manager) Jim Bowden told both Adam Dunn and me he continues to try to make trades for us."

Bowden, though, has said that his phone calls to the Reds are not returned and his e-mails to the Reds are not answered.

The Chicago Cubs have interest in Kearns and when the Atlanta Braves were in town manager Bobby Cox pointedly asked, "What's going on with Kearns and why is in Louisville? I sure like that kid."

Kearns is hitting .346 with five doubles in 26 at-bats in Louisville.