The Reds began interviewing General Manager candidates today and continue all this week. The list of candidates is up to seven:

1. Brad Kullman, Reds interim GM and Director of Baseball Operations
2. Johnny Almarez, Reds Director of International Scouting
3. Leland Maddox, Reds Special Assistance to the General Manager
4. Jim Beattie, recently-hired Special Advisor to Bob Castellini
5. Wayne Krivsky, Assistant GM for the Minnesota Twins
6. John Mozeliak, Assistant GM for the St. Louis Cardinals
7. Mike Arbuckle, Assistant GM for the Philadelphia Phillies

I'd like to give more information on these guys, but I just don't know it and I'm running out of time to do research before the decision is made. Nevertheless, I'm sure it'll be an exciting contest.

UPDATE 2/1/2006: I purposely delayed putting up this post in hopes that the public list would be stable, so now they've added a new name:

8. Frank Wren, Assistant GM for the Atlanta Braves

JD at Red Reporter interviewed new Reds.com beat writer Mark Sheldon. Check it out here. It's supposed to be the first of a recurring feature, so you won't want to miss a single installment.

Sorry I spaced on the link for so long. It really is a good interview.

CINCINNATI, OH -- When Reds CEO Bob Castellini fired General Manager Dan O'Brien, he announced that he expected to interview “between six and eight candidates.” Now that the Reds have announced seven candidates for the GM position, some fans wish Castellini had just said “seven” to begin with.

“Why does he have to dance around the point?” wonders Matt R. Affact, life-long Reds fan and manager of a local 7-11 store. “If you want to interview seven guys, just say seven. It's dumb to make a math problem out of it. Didn't we get enough of that kind of talk out of [former General Manager Dan] O'Brien?”

Henry Arrest Outdoes Freel Arrest
Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Chris Henry was charged with possession of a concealed firearm, improper exhibition of a firearm, and aggravated assault with a firearm Saturday. The arrest comes just six weeks after Henry was arrested for marijuana possession on December 15.

Cincinnati Reds' resident bad boy Ryan Freel was unhappy about the arrest. Freel was arrested last month for disorderly intoxication, though the charges were later dropped in exchange for community service.

“How am I supposed to compete with that?” Freel demanded.

Marc says:

Veteran reliever Rick White has agreed to a one-year, $600,000 major league contract with the Reds. He also could earn up to $300,000 more in performance bonuses.

White, 37, is a lifelong resident of Springfield, Ohio. He made 71 appearances for the Pirates last year, going 4-7 with a 3.72 ERA and picking up a couple of saves. He has 520 career big-league appearances for the Pirates, Devil Rays, Mets, Rockies, Cardinals, White Sox, Astros and Indians.

The Reds will have to make a move to free up a slot on the 40-man roster. Could this be the end of the Bubba Nelson era?

I don't know about a 37-year old pitcher, but it's hard to quibble about the price. And with Gabe White gone, Rick White will fill that gaping White-Guy-Out-of-the-Bullpen hole that he left behind.

The story Kearns maintaining focus in the Cincinnati Enquirer today talks a little about how Austin Kearns, everyone's favorite non-liabilty in the outfield, got married this off-season. Austin and his new wife Abby had their first child, Aubrey Ryan, in September. It's nice to know that alliteration in naming children is alive and well with today's young couples.

Congratulations to the whole Kearns family from an only-slightly-disappointed RHM.

No? Great! 'Cause there's yet more to say about them. According to Dunn's hand not a worry in the Cincinnati Post today, the Reds medical staff was shocked to read reports that Mr. Dunn's hand was still causing him pain. They frantically called around to check in on their slugger. He's not in pain, he told them. That medical advice about wearing a splint that he so casually dismissed? It was just his buddy who happens to be an orthopedist. Dunn couldn't be reached for further comment.

It's a lot of crap, so I'm going to cut through the baloney for you and give you my interpretation. Get ready for some truth.

Friday at the Dayton Agonis Club meeting, some guy was being kind of a jerk and ragging on Dunn for being a lazy ox. Jerry Narron knows Dunn's not as much of a slacker as he looks like in those baggy pajama pants he wears, and so uses the broken hand bit to prove a point about what a trooper he is.

Meanwhile, Hal McCoy sniffs a bit of a scandal and gets Dunn on the horn. “Heard you're so tough you can play with a broken hand,” he says, awe in his voice.

“Yeah, it hurts a might,” Dunn says in a cowboy drawl. “Doc told me to take care of it, but splints is for women-folk.”

The story breaks and all of Cincinnati fandom shrieks, “those hands are worth $8 million!” The Reds, in a bit of a panic, say real quick that Dunn's fine, always has been fine, and come off looking just a skosh desperate to cover up a big story.

But it's not a big story. The hand was probably broken and is mostly healed now, and there's not much more you could do about it anyway. It probably aches a little and will cause him fits during thunderstorms when he's 65, but in the short term that tiny little ache will be drowned out by the third day of spring training.

Meanwhile, Narron's keeping his mouth shut and Dunn's turned off his phone because they didn't think they said anything wrong to begin with and they don't want to make it worse.

Sound about right? OK, then let's forget about it already. There's much more important stuff going on anyway. Austin Kearns got married.

Late last night I referenced a story in the Dayton Daily News that described a couple alleged hand injuries suffered by Dunn last season that he kept quiet.

Today, however, Marc Lancaster reports:

You've seen the published report today that says Adam Dunn broke his right hand twice last year and it is still bothering him.

According to the Reds, there are currently no problems with the hand and any suggestion otherwise is “100 percent not true.” They say Dunn is fine and has been fine.

I'm mystified. If the team statement means that they believe that the incidents described in the story didn't really break Dunn's hand, that's one thing. Narron employed a small bit of exaggeration to defend one of his guys and it got blown out of proportion in the media. No big deal.

On the other hand, if the team meant that Dunn was never hit in the hand and that Hal McCoy made all this up, that's another situation entirely. McCoy included some specific and verifiable details; unless he is delusional, there is some basis in reality for this story. And to deny it, especially when a bum hand would work in the Reds' favor in an arbitration case, could imply that the team has a deal in the works for Dunn.

All conjecture, of course. Nevertheless, I'll be very anxious to read the clarification of what the Reds mean when they say that Dunn “is fine and has been fine.”

A couple stories came through about Adam Dunn today. This one, via Marc Lancaster's blog, describes how Dunn was honored tonight at the Hilton Americas-Houston for the 21st annual Houston Baseball Dinner. He was recognized as the area's Major League Player of the Year.

In this story in the Dayton Daily News, we learn that Dunn actually played much of last season with a broken right hand.

“Yeah, I had it checked this week and the doctor said I should put a splint on it, but the heck with that,” said Dunn.

Hear hear, I say! To heck with that! Who needs healthy, pain-free hands? And it makes total sense to refuse treatment now during the offseason, too. After all, next year he could be in the running for the Area's Baddest Ass Award. Sure, he might take home the trophy just by virtue of being a home-run machine, but also enduring a healthy dose of agony while he does it sure couldn't hurt.

Well, except for the agony part.

I know it's stunningly late for me to only just now be acknowledging my binky's big accomplishments, but I figure it's never too late to give it up for The Latin Love Machine, Javier Valentín.

Congratulations to Javy on being named MVP in the Puerto Rican championship series and all of the accomplishments that led up to it. Just for fun, let's take a quick look back at this post about The Power of Love. And heck, let's check out the Bouncing Javy Head too.

Via ESPN.

Reginald Riddle, one of two men charged with the kidnapping and murder of Reds' prospect Dernell Stenson in 2003, plead guilty to first-degree murder charges today. By pleading guilty and agreeing to testify in the trial of co-defendant David Griffith, Riddle avoided a possible death sentence.

Riddle and allegedly Griffith kidnapped Stenson, stole his SUV, and shot him to death when he tried to get away. Riddle faces 25 years to life in prison. Griffith still faces capital murder charges.

On a personal note, I was not fully indoctrinated into the Reds culture when this tragedy took place, but it stands out in the memory of my mind and heart. And I'm not the only one; when I mentioned Stenson before, RHM got some of her most impassioned comments ever.

It's not that I think convictions will make it all better or anything. But it will be nice to have this part of the process in the past.