I don't know Lou Piniella. To a relatively new fan like me, Piniella is a character of legend. Not necessarily baseball legend like Connie Mack, of course. More like a mythical legend. In my mind, Lou Piniella is the Sasquatch of baseball managers.

So when Reds' CEO Bob Castellini talks about bringing in Piniella as soon as possible, even to spring training this season, I'm not excited. I'm wary. I'm worried about a hairy creature stomping around Sarasota scaring off our remaining seven second basemen.

But according to Bill Madden in a story in the New York Daily News, Piniella probably will not be attending any baseball at all this spring. In fact, even in 2007 Castellini may have some competition in the pursuit of Piniella's services.

But despite having bonded again with Joe Torre, sources close to George Steinbrenner insist the Boss pines for “Sweet Lou” - his one big regret being that he fired him all those years ago. If Torre doesn't win it all this year, it wouldn't be at all surprising for Steinbrenner to pay him the $6 million he's owed for '08 and pay a like amount to Piniella just to keep him from signing on someplace else. Hey, it's only money.

Nothing will happen with Piniella this season. If he did accept a job in baseball, it sounds like Piniella would have to give a portion of his salary to Tampa Bay, which I can understand him not wanting to do. Plus, he could probably use a vacation. But after this season, what will Piniella do?

“I want to manage again,” Piniella said, “because I want to win at least one more world championship and another 250 or more games. But it's going to have to be with a team that's ready to win and an owner who's willing to spend what it takes to win, and if that's not the case then I'm content to call it a career.

Well, that could describe New York, but it might describe Cincinnati, too. We certainly could be in for a dose of big foot, especially if manager Jerry Narron can't pull off a miracle this season.

Scary.

This week's podcast features one-liners about:

• Josh Hancock leaving the Reds and finding the Cards
• Ken Griffey, Jr. missing the mandatory team dinner to meal with the governor
• Wagner's fever, Bergolla's hernia, and Lopez backing out of the WBC
• Wilson's bullpen session
• Reds' rumored interest in Pedro Astacio
• This One Belongs to the Reds a song by Ryan Parker. You can download the song from www.howamericaworks.com/songs.htm

Red Hot Mama Reviews Reds News for February 25, 2006. (3.6 MB, 5:11)

One of the concerns of the Reds brass in Florida right now is negotiating to improve the spring training facilities and keep them in Sarasota. According to Outside the Box in the Cincinnati Post this week, the Reds are in early discussions with the Pittsburgh Pirates about the possibility of opening a joint spring training facility in Sarasota.

The Reds contract on Ed Smith Stadium, the current spring training facility, expires in 2008. Dual-team spring training complexes have met with success in Arizona and the Reds say a single building might be more likely to receive government backing and funding than separate buildings for each team, or even renovations for each team.

According to our buddy Joliet Jake at Bucco Blog, the Pirates' spring training stadium is the only spring training stadium without lights, and the fact that they can't have night games has been a point of contention between the team and the city of Bradenton. He suspects the Pirates are only talking to the Reds to pressure the city into installing the lights or risk losing the team to Sarasota. The Pirates' contract on their spring training stadium, McKechnie Field, expires in 2011.

An article in the Bradenton Herald says the local businesses enjoy an $11 million boost every year from spring training, so certainly the city has an interest in keeping the team. This would, indeed, be a powerful bluff for the Pirates to make. The Reds, on the other hand, don't have anything apparent to gain from lying about wanting a dual stadium, and it wouldn't be Reds' CEO Bob Castellini's style to play games anyway.

In any event, even if the city builds the joint stadium for just the Reds to use as soon as 2008, nothing's going to happen immediately. Pirates fans still better stock up on the sunblock.

Poor Big Red Mechanic. He's having trouble with his MLBlog. At first, he thought it was a snafu with the bill, but that turned out not to be the case at all:

Well, incredibly mlblogs.com has no explanation as to why I cannot access my account. It was not a billing issue afterall; my payment went thru on the 17th. They are asking if I have cookies enabled in my browser. Now, as a veteran cgi/perl web programmer, I think I am smart enough to have thought of that already. I have no problem logging into a million other online services I use… so I don't know what to do. If it is site maintenance you think they'd have a better way of informing me than simply taking me to the new user sign up page. It's ridiculous.

Heh. Cookies. Welcome to every customer service phone call I've ever had.

Anyway, I'm posting part 5 of the round table until our Big Red Mechanic is on his feet again. I'm not posting the section that's supposed to appear on Red Reporter, though. Mr. Big Time Reds Blogger is just going to have to do that himself. [UPDATE: Mr. Big Time Reds Blogger has posted his section, and demands that I only refer to him as "Mr. Big Time Reds Bloggers, sir. So bossy.]

JDArney: Barry Bonds is retiring after this season
JDArney: Just saw that
Shawn: That's what I heard….don't know if I believe it.
Doc Scott: 12 beers isn't bad for Vegas
BRM: lol
Shawn: Bonds retiring? Guess it's the knees
Jacci: Hahaha
Doc Scott: he'll keep going if he has a chance to break Aaron's record
BRM: Doesn't Griff have a shot at #10 on the list this year?
RHM: That's nothing. Sosa's retiring BEFORE this season.
BRM: I think that is Reggie Jackson
Shawn: Griffey is 12th (tied) with 536. Jackson is 10th with 563
Shawn: According to baseball-reference.com
JDArney: He should get there if he can play 110+ games

*******************Topic 4: Dunn's Contract************************
RHM: OK, shall we hit Dunn's contract before we lose anyone else?
Shawn: I like it… 5 years would be better, but three is much better than one.
JDArney: I liked the contract
RHM: I don't know; I'm not super-psyched about it
Shawn: Why not, RHM?
JDArney: I'm wary of deals that are 4+years, so I'm not terribly upset that its a short one
Doc Scott: well, at least it's cost-reasonable
RHM: It doesn't seem like much special, I reckon.
Doc Scott: even if we'll be doing this again at what will seem like tomorrow
BRM: like I said, it was not a sign and trade… he will be in a reds uniform for 3 years… and that is our window of opportunity… they can always renegotiate along the way, but it kills the rumors except for the biased Dunn haters who can't read the writing on the wall
Shawn: It's less than they would have paid by not signing him long-term….much
less
Doc Scott: Dunn's going to get top dollar after 2008- he'll be 28, right? 29?
Doc Scott: prime years
Shawn: Not for Dunn….unless he really works at staying in shape, he'll actually be “an old 30″
BRM: Dunn is fine. He's a big boy.
RHM: I'm no Dunn hater, but man, now seems like the time to trade him.
Shawn: And he'll get bigger
Shawn: Esepecially after he turns 30
RHM: And by now, I mean, this year.
JDArney: I'm fine with them dealing Dunn if they get a huge return
RHM: Exactly
JDArney: The offense can survive the hit
Shawn: Yeah, you have to get a real good pitcher to trade Dunn
Doc Scott: a very good one
RHM: We talk about how Kearns and Pena have low trade value because they aren't meeting their potential
RHM: But we have one guy who is: let's get someone great for him
BRM: We were only briefly entertaining playoff hopes last year, and it was a direct result of Dunn winning player of the month honors and carrying the offense. He is pretty much our MVP.
Shawn: I mean Dontrelle Willis, Mark Buehrle good
RHM: Like you say, the offense can take it
RHM: Oh, whatever
RHM: You're saying the Reds scored the most runs in the league last year because of Dunn?
JDArney: I don't think I entertained playoff hopes for a second last year
JDArney: I guess I envy you

Read the rest!
Part 1 on The Cutting Edge
Part 2 here.
Part 3 on We Heart the Reds
Part 4 on Reds (and Blues)
Part 5 you just read. It would have appeared at the Big Red Mechanic, so go give him some love, too.
Part 6 on Shawn's Cincinnati Reds Blog

What a treat for the Reds: they're mentioned in the last sentence of the last bullet of the tacked-on “Notes” section of this story on SignOnSanDiego.com:

If pitcher Pedro Astacio is to return to the Padres via a Triple-A contract, it could mean turning down a major league contract from either the Reds or Nationals. Astacio is working out in the Dominican Republic, said his agent, Steven Schneider.

I'd like to be offended that anyone would consider an AAA contract over a major-league contract with the Reds, but actually, I kind of understand.

It has been really fun to type the same five of the same six shows in posts every day this week. I'm really not complaining. It's nice to see some Reds programming for a change.

Hopefully it doesn't end tonight:

• 7:00 p.m. Hall of Fame: Tom Seaver
• 7:30 p.m. Hot Stove Special
• 8:00 p.m. 1990 Reds
• 8:30 p.m. Interview with Ken Griffey, Jr.
• 9:00 p.m. Interview with Bob Catellini
• 9:30 p.m. Unspecified topic

Again this year Joel has contributed a Reds survey to the online Reds community.

I hear I'm way behind in the Favorite Blogger category. For now I entreat you, dear reader, to go stuff the ballot box like crazy. We can turn to boycotts and indignant protests about how it's degrading to rank human beings later, if I don't catch up.

I'm holding my own in the Most Likely To Be The Alter Ego Of Dan O'Brien category, though I suspect that's mostly people wanting to accuse O'Brien of being a woman.

Take the survey.

Once again Reds bloggers got together and talked about matters of deep, deep importance and Adam Dunn. Part 2 is here on RHM. Links to the other parts below.

RHM: Jacci: you're a Belisle fan, right?
Jacci: Yes ma'am
ThaqDiesel: So bullpen - strength of the team or weakness? One word
JDArney: I'm a big Belisle fan
JDArney: Very impressed with how he's done
RHM: Not the same way as Jacci, I think
Jacci: Me too
ThaqDiesel: Strength
Shawn: I just don't see a lot in the bullpen…Belisle, if he's out there, but I'd rather see him starting
Shawn: So for me, bullpen…weakness
Jacci: Hahaha, no, probably not the same way as me
JDArney: I should have included him with Coffey as the only bright spots in the pen
Doc Scott: he was always a starter in the minors
JDArney: Yeah, probably not = )
Doc Scott: of course, so was Danny Graves
BRM: Bullpen could go either way… they got way better after dumping Graves that is for sure.
Shawn: Coffey gave up 84 hits in 58 innings last year. That's really not good
JDArney: Graves was a reliever since college wasn't he?
JDArney: Yeah Shawn, but I think he'll get better. Just my opinion, his minor league stats were outstanding.
BRM: Hammonds gives them another left-handed matchup guy
JDArney: who's older than God
Shawn: Graves was a reliever all through the minors
BRM: so they are better than last year assuming Weathers can be as good as he was last year…which is a pretty big IF
Shawn: How many lefty matchup guys do you need?
Doc Scott: uh, no he wasn't, I didn't think
Shawn: IMO, Hammond was the worst signing of the winter, worse than Rick White
BRM: Well a couple of em is nice to have
Doc Scott: I wish the Reds would carry two lefties
Doc Scott: although it
BRM: no look at Hammonds numbers vs lefties…very dominating
Doc Scott: 's easier to carry more when you have lefties good enough to pitch to more than just lefty-hitting batters
Shawn: Graves baseball cube page: Shawn: Reliever all the way
Shawn: You got Mercker, Shackelford, and now Hammond?
JDArney: shackelford is probably getting a raw deal
Shawn: I'd rather have a guy who can go 3-4 innings in this bullpen
JDArney: he's getting old and deserves a serious look by somebody
BRM: Well, look, I agree, I'd like to eliminate all those million dollar bench player signings and have gotten Weaver instead.
Shawn: Yep
JDArney: Weaver would have been about the worst possible signing the Reds could have made

************************Topic 2: Starting Rotation********************
Shawn: Better to spend a lot on one good player than a mil on ten mediocre ones
BRM: Weaver would have bolstered the staff… he is a good quality pitcher.
Doc Scott: hmmm
BRM: But I don't think he wanted to leave California.
Shawn: Starting pitching: Harang, Claussen, Milton, Williams, Wilson
Doc Scott: boy, they sure liked to talk about it when they were going to convert the guy to starting
JDArney: If Jeff Weaver was a good player then I'd agree
Shawn: A bunch of #3 or #4 guys even at the top of their game
Doc Scott: anyway, let the part about Danny be STRUCK FROM THE RECORD!
BRM: I think Dave Williams will surprise a lot of people.
Shawn: We're making a record?
RHM: yeah, it's gonna be awesome. Casey's singing.
Shawn: Dave Williams' record up to now looks disturbingly like Eric Milton's before coming to Cincy
Jacci: Fantastic!

Read the rest!
Part 1 on The Cutting Edge
Part 2 above
Part 3 on We Heart the Reds
Part 4 on Reds (and Blues)
Part 5 here for the moment. But check out the Big Red Mechanic anyway.
Part 6 on Shawn's Cincinnati Reds Blog
Part 7 on Red Reporter