If you really like another prospect that's not on this list but is likely available in my league, throw him in the discussion here.

I'm looking for the best combination of upside and likelihood of becoming a good major leaguer. What do you know about these guys? Rank them or just evaluate the best one or two.

Reese Havens

Nick Weglarz

Devaris Gordon

Jemile Weeks

Ben Revere

Derek Norris

Brad Emaus

Sean Rodriguez

Brandon Crawford

 Andrew Lambo

I was just taking a look at the Nationals roster tonight and was impressed with the upside. There's certainly a LOT that can go wrong, but do they have an outside shot and being the surprise team of the National League if everything goes right?

C Jesus Flores - upside

1b Dunn - not too bad (at the plate, anyway)

2b Anderson Hernandez - yuck

3b Zimmerman - good, with very good upside

SS Guzman - yuck

OF Milledge - serious upside

OF Dukes - crazy, but serious upside

OF Willingham - solid

Bench: Kearns, Wily Mo, Nick Johnson

SP Scott Olsen, Daniel Cabrera, John Lannan, Shawn Hill, and Odalis Perez  - not very good, but again, some upside in Olsen and Cabrera

I know, this is a stretch...but if everything went right, this is a team that can shock people, and I haven't heard a thing about them.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/spring2008/columns/story?columnist=stark_jayson&id=3249319&lpo s=spotlight&lid=tab2pos2

I know this is almost heresy in these parts, and I didn't like the hire at the time, but is it OK to be excited after reading this article?                                                                

I was so excited when I was in college and the Reds traded for Griffey (although I never did understand the fixation for Pokey and the lack of it for Cameron).

Then, when he started playing, it felt like such a let-down. His difficulties with the media made him less likable to me, fair or not. His constant injuries made me feel like he wasn't quite the gamer I thought he should be (again, fair or not). And it's always felt like he doesn't love playing in Cincinnati as much as a die-hard Reds fan wants him to.

But something's happened this year for me. And really it's just been in the last few weeks. I think it has a lot to do with seeing Bonds get within striking distance of the record, while seeing Griffey climb the charts as a Red. But I've got both feet on the Griffey wagon now, after several years of relative disdain for the guy.

I'm incredibly excited that Junior is starting the All-Star game. I haven't looked forward to a "mid-summer classic" (right...) like this in a long time--since the Larkin days (which were far too few b/c of Ozzie F---ing Smith).

All this babbling to get to my main point: It's a shame that the game is in San Francisco. Anywhere else, Griffey would be the story. He would get a two-minute ovation while Bonds would get a two-minute standing boo, or at the least a very mixed reaction. And I think that would be proper and reflective of the thoughts of the baseball world at this point. As it stands, Bonds will get the massive ovation, and Griffey will get a nice cheer as well. But Junior deserves to be the story, because he is symbolic of what is RIGHT about this game, and most of the baseball world knows it.

THE END

...in consecutive losing months.

The Royals tonight clinched a winning June, ending a streak of 22 consecutive losing months. The Reds and Devil Rays will run their streak of losing months to 6 when June comes to a close. This is the longest current streak.

Sad that it's come to this...the Reds and DRays are in a league of their own.

BTW...The Trade was July 13, 2006. July 2006 began this streak of consecutive losing months.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=wojciechowski_gene&id=2887994

One of my favorite writers, Gene Wojciechowski of ESPN.com, had a little something to say about the NL Central and the Reds in his latest article, a spinoff on the Scripps National Spelling Bee going on today. Kinda funny.

Hey, have the Reds really won three in a row? That's  a shame; they're ruining their chances at Pedro Alvarez.

From Trent:

http://frontier.cincinnati.com/blogs/spring/

Dunn arrives early in great shape. He's determined to be much better than last year, and he wants to be a "great" LF.

Sounds good to me.
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From Marc's TB blog:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/12/AR2007021201312.html

Nothing earth-shattering here, but it's a good read. I had not heard his sad story in such detail. Makes me wanna pull for him a little more.

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This might have been posted/discussed earlier, but I figure now is a good time to take a look at our future. Here is BA's projected lineup for 2010.

C Miguel Perez (for lack of anyone else, I guess)
1b Joey Votto
2b Brandon Phillips
3b Edwin Encarnacion
SS Milton Loo (maybe a stretch?)
LF Adam Dunn
CF Drew Stubbs
RF Jay Bruce
No. 1 Starter Homer Bailey
No. 2 Starter Aaron Harang
No. 3 Starter Bronson Arroyo
No. 4 Starter Johnny Cueto
No. 5 Starter Travis Wood
Closer Sean Watson

That looks pretty cool to me. Maybe some of you with heavy toolbelts would be able to project how much money some guys like EE, Phillips, etc. would be making by 2010. I'd like to know what this lineup might cost.

As I noted, I don't think Perez will ever be the guy in Cincy. Maybe a 2007 pick (J.P. Arencibia-Tennessee) or F.A. will fill that void.

Seems there's also a lot of faith being placed in Stubbs and Loo. The thing I'm comfortable with about Stubbs is that even if he hits worse than Mike Cameron, apparently his defense is gold glove quality right now, and there could be enough offense coming from other places that it won't matter.

This has been an exciting week!

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2725555

I wonder if he's THEIR third catcher.

Let's review Chad Moeller: .184/.231/.276 in 2006 with 26 Ks in 98 ABs, hasn't hit better than .210 in three seasons, career .227 hitter

Javy Lopez isn't what he once was, I know. And it's likely that he'll spend some time on the DL this season. And he may suck defensively, I don't know. Furthermore, I'm not saying the Reds should have signed Javy Lopez. Just saying, the Reds rushed out to sign Chad Moeller like two months ago. Waiting until this time of year to sign a crappy catcher like the Rockies did makes sense. I'm not trying rehash old arguments or complaints, but....

WTF Krivsky...

Two things of note today:

Marcus Giles is set to sign with the Pads.
http://cbs.sportsline.com/mlb/story/9878634
That's disappointing to me. Not that I expected the Reds to land him--and where would he play?--but I had hopes.

Also, Jeremy Bonderman signed a 4-year, $38 million extension with the Tigers.
http://cbs.sportsline.com/mlb/story/9878647
My question is, what does this mean to Aaron Harang? Bonderman and Harang seem to be in approximately the same category, at least to me. If the Reds could lock up Harang to a similar contract, I'd think that would be a good deal for both sides.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/hotstove06/news/story?id=2685697

Now that's a strange one.

Gonzalez at SS, Phillips at 2b, Loretta at.... What the heck? I cannot even take a guess at why Wayne would want Loretta. Someone, anyone....

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3 years, 10 million.

Wouldn't that have been a better option for the Reds, instead of Gonzalez? 5 million less, and move Phillips to SS?

With that extra 1.7 million over each of the next three years, Krivsky could have gotten us another C or old lefty reliever.

__________________________________

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2678618

The Blue Jays have resigned Gregg Zaun, bringing to an end his negotiations with the Reds.

Krivsky had little to say: "You can never have too many catchers. All the good teams have at least four."

Fortunately, the Jays resigning Zaun means Rod Barajas is still out there to be had.

__________________________________ ________________________________

8 years, 136 million

http://cbs.sportsline.com/mlb/story/9815054

__________________________________ __________________________________ __________________________________ _______________

Homer Bailey has been dealt, along with Nick Adenhart and Joe Nathan, for Daric Barton, Joel Guzman, and Kevin Kouzmanoff. I'm speaking, of course, of my fantasy baseball keeper league.

(Were you expecting something else?)

The reason I tell you this is that I'm the one who acquired Homer, which makes me positively giddy. And frankly, you guys are really the only people I know who could come close to appreciating my happiness right now. (Although some of you are probably busy getting your heart out of your throat. Sorry.)

God bless Homer Bailey, God bless fantasy baseball, and God bless America.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/playoffs2006/columns/story?columnist=thompson_wright&id=2637763&am p;lpos=spotlight&lid=tab2pos1

That's not news--I remember JD included a link to a similar story sometime in the last six months or so. But the new spin on it (or at least its new to me) is that Pujols has had some pretty ridiculous things to say about the scout.

I remember back when JD posted the link to a different story, I mentioned that you'd think Pujols could help out the poor guy who has to work at Walmart--after all, the guy was the one who believed in him more than anyone else. Some of your replies said that wasn't necessary, and I agree that it's not necessary. But it sure sucks to see a guy like Pujols be so heartless and self-serving.

So Adam Dunn is ejected in the first inning for arguing balls and strikes.

Adam Dunn is also a pretty big pigskin fan.

I'm pretty sure the clubhouse has some nice TVs.

2 + 2 = ???

I'm not Michael, but Dunn has pissed me off a little this year. Still, I point this out half-jokingly........................................

So says Marc:

http://frontier.cincinnati.com/blogs/spring/

Fraying in the rotator cuff and labrum.

__________________________________ __________________________________ ________________________________

The fact that that is a legitimate question, plus the fact that Austin Kearns and Felipe Lopez have considerably more value than Max Ramirez, reinforces the opinion that the Krivsky got screwed.

__________________________________ ________________________________

5 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 9 K

He is now 3-0 through three AA starts with some insane numbers.

17 IP, 7 H, 0 ER, 4 BB, 22 K

I really don't wanna see this guy rushed, but Wayne's gotta be feeling a little pressure at this point.

__________________________________

Once again on Sickels' site (can you tell I'm a Sickels Stalker?), a poster had some very promising comments from watching Johnny Cueto and Jay Bruce play Sunday.

http://www.minorleagueball.com/story/2006/6/26/9209/14077

Larry Walker? I'll take that.

_________________

Veteran LHP and former Red Mike Remlinger was designated for assignment today by the Atlanta Braves. Here are his current statistics:

22.1 IP, 9 BB, 19 K, 4.03 ERA

This is very surprising to me, unless it's the Braves' way of saying, "All contenders, inquire here for LH reliever." The Braves are done, and it appears they're looking to the future, which Remlinger is not a part of. But it sure seems like he has some value to teams like the Reds.

We'll see what Wayne does, but I have to imagine he's interested.

http://www.minorleagueball.com/story/2006/6/22/224748/778

This is just another link to a Sickels' site. If that's annoying, sorry. But the way it was described there could not be topped by myself, so read on...

__________________________________

http://www.minorleagueball.com/story/2006/6/21/11544/7476

__________________________________ __________________________________ ________________________________

This may turn out to be absolutely nothing, but Denorfia was removed after three innings tonight. The Bats were up 6-1.

Acquisition of Castro + this...just makes me wonder. Is something about to happen?

__________________________________

Evangelical talk show host? That's what Frankie's doing these days! In case anyone cared.

http://www.frankpastore.com/aboutfrank/latimes_dec05.asp

__________________________________ _________________

This will be pretty cool to see. He has dominated AAA even moreso than Bailey has dominated A ball. There will be a lot of eyes watching...

http://www.centredaily.com/mld/centredaily/sports/baseball/mlb/philadelphia_phillies/14546016.htm

It's official. As reported in The Inquirer today, prized lefthander Cole Hamels is making his highly anticipated major-league debut Friday in Cincinnati.

The Phillies announced this morning they will move righthander Ryan Madson, who had been scheduled to start Friday, into the bullpen. The Phillies also said they will make a roster move before Friday's game to make room for Hamels on the 25-man roster.

Hamels, 22, is 3-1 with a 1.04 ERA in seven combined starts for triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and single-A Clearwater. He has 65 strikeouts in 43 1/3 innings, and has held opponets to a .168 average.

He is the team's first-round pick in 2002.

Last night's line in AA:

7 IP, 2 hits, 0 runs, 3 walks, 10 Ks

ERA is now 2.11. He's also a lefty.

I believe he was a Bowden acquisition in a deadline deal that sent Scott Williamson to the Red Sox. The Reds also got a PTBNL...don't remember who that was.

I remember that when the Reds got Dumatrait, it was said of him that he had a great arm but struggled with his control.

He is 25 this July, so I guess it's now or never.

Anyone have any thoughts on him? I've never seen him pitch.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2412654

Jim Bowden drinking? Explains a LOT.

__________________

This from Rob Neyer at ESPN:
http://insider.espn.go.com/mlb/insider/columns/story?columnist=neyer_rob&id=2411138&lpos=spo tlight&lid=tab1pos1

"If you're a Red Sox fan, you already know this, but if you're not, you might find this of interest: In the last week, Wily Mo Pena's "defense" has plainly cost the Red Sox nine bases. That's a lot. That's as many as you'll ever see. And even if the Boston Herald's Tony Massarotti weren't counting, we know the Red Sox would be. Because one of the things Bill James likes to count is defensive mistakes that do not get counted officially as errors.

I don't think I'm telling tales out of school. Bill has mentioned this in various interviews the last year or two. Anyway, now that the Red Sox are paying attention -- I mean really paying attention -- my guess is Pena's going to set some kind of team record for "clearly identifiable defensive mistakes" (although I think that's an old label that has been replaced by something more manageable). So many they'll realize his hitting doesn't (can't) balance his lousy fielding. At which point, the question for Theo Epstein becomes, "How do I convince some other team that Pena's really not as bad as we all know he is? Because there's not exactly an opening at DH."

Or maybe the Red Sox will simply limit his exposure. Let him start against left-handed pitchers, and yank him from the game as soon as the Sox are ahead by three runs or have a smaller lead in the late innings. But he simply won't be allowed to give away runs as regularly as he has been."