Me, I'm going to be a graduated cylinder. It's one of those crafty, inside-jokey type costumes. About six people on my project team at work are going to think it's hilarious. You're probably going to think it's lame, but you can't deny how useful it will be for me to be able to go around telling people the volume of things. It's useful; admit it!

I thought about dressing up as Dick Pole, but I decided against it.

That reminds me, over at Strike 3 Forums, they're talking about a rumor that A-Rod was seen having lunch with a higher up in the Reds' organization. I'm not sure how seeing Mr. Rodriguez clad in the wishbone C would really meet any of the Reds' needs, but it would certainly provide lots of great opportunities for horrible puns, such as:

Spare A-Rod, Spoil a Series

A-Rod Catches Lightening

and of course

Give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day. Give a man A-Rod and he'll put up some lovely curtains

Yeah, I know, they're terrible. But it could have been worse. I could have continued with the whole Dick-Pole thing.

According to Reds.com, David Weathers, Royce Clayton, and Jason Johnson are the first three players to file for free agency this off-season. The article goes on to say that Weathers may or may not be back, Clayton and Johnson probably won't.

Meanwhile, John Hickey of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer says that Johnson could be in the plans for the Mariners.

Seattle has had three consecutive last-place finishes, and if things are going to change, general manager Bill Bavasi and his crew see the need for an influx of starting pitching.
…
The market for quality starting pitching in free agency is relatively thin. The Mariners have interest in, among others, Jason Schmidt, Jason Johnson, Jeff Suppan and Adam Eaton, plus maybe Miguel Batista, Mark Buehrle or Ted Lilly.

Thin, indeed. Though Johnson was 0-0 with a 3.12 ERA for the Reds, I don't remember him being that good. Could be a tough season for acquisitions.

It occurs to me that I used to converse with a bunch of Cardinals bloggers a lot more than I do now. Nowadays, I seem to run with a bunch of Cubs bloggers, and I've sort of lost touch with the old gang. So, let's take a moment to run down our list of Card blogs to see what's up. One would think they have a thing to two to talk about these days.

Bellyscratcher doesn't think that even such momentous occasions as a wedding or childbirth could be as wonderful as a World Series win. Certainly they are more common, so maybe she's right.

CardNilly makes a train noise about the whole thing. I'm not really sure what a train has to do with it, but I'm all for him doing whatever makes him happy.

Redbirdbrain promises photos and a video of the climactic moment in the coming days. I'm sure they're great, but not as good as the photos from Blogger Day.

viva el birdos has a lot to be thankful for. And since it's not lboros who wrote the most recent entry, you're treated to actual capitalization. Excellent for the readability.

Deadspin isn't technically a Card blog, I realize, but Will is a vocal fan and they do provide this excellent photo of Eckstein drinking Cuervo. And, like all of the blog seemed to, Deadspin promises more content on Monday. Methinks most Card fans are busy with other stuff this weekend.

A group of Reds bloggers got together this week to chat about the 2006 season and look ahead to the brilliant lights of 2007. You know things are getting better: today I saw a Cincinnati Reds calendar for sale at the Muncie Mall. Sure, it was tucked in a corner of the kiosk that you couldn't see if you were just passing by, and sure, it featured Austin Kearns and Felipe Lopez prominently, but there was nothing at all last year.

It's a different group of bloggers than we've ever had before, so it's new perspectives and everything. I enjoyed it and I think you will too. Here's the parts. Read all five!

Part 1 at Church of Baseball
Part 2 right here
Part 3 at The Cutting Edge of Baseball
Part 4 at The Olde 320 Pub (do NOT put the superfluous E on the wrong word)
Part 5 at The Cincinnati Reds blog

Shawn: Question 2. What was the best off-season thing that happened in 2006?
Blade: Before 2006? I'd say the Arroyo trade
Shawn: Sorry, off-field thing
RHM: What a great attitude. What a great approach. What a great smile.
Shawn: Getting Arroyo, Ross, and Phillips
Blade: Yeah, any trade that went down before the Kearns/Lopez trade
Blade: Sorry to beat a dead horse, but that still makes me want to vomit
RHM: The Freakbass video?
Clint: yeah Arroyo was a great acquisition. At first I didn't like the trade since I loved Wily Mo, but it was a great move
Shawn: I am still afraid of what Wily Mo will do in his career. This year with Arroyo was worth it, though.
daedalus: funk is not bad music - it's just the horrible execution of the music
Blade: I could see him belting 50 doubles at Fenway
Clint: yeah Wily Mo still needs to work on the defense and being able to hit breaking stuff. but he is still young
RHM: The execution is fine. I think you take issue with the outfit. ;P
daedalus: maybe…
RHM: Ooh! The cheerleaders??
Shawn: How about the new ownership?
Clint: two things that Bob C has done that I like is bringing back Redsfest and adding more games on TV.
daedalus: um, they've always had redsfest
Blade: I'm still withholding judgement. They've done some good things but I'm still not complete impressed
Clint: no Redsfest has not been going on the last couple of years
Shawn: Unfortunately, the TV games don't help me…..unless I can convince the cable system to carry Fox Sports Ohio
RHM: Maybe not, but they help George Grande, which makes them good for everyone
Shawn: Ha!
daedalus: cable is archaic. get a satellite. or get mlb.tv and hook it up to the television
daedalus: !!
Clint: yeah if i wasn't in cincy I would have to get a dish
Blade: I'm watching cable right now.
Shawn: Pricey
Blade: I have like 60 stations. It's gold
RHM: what better do you have to do with your money?
daedalus: use tvu - it's cable online
Shawn: Feed my kids
daedalus: free, too
Clint: my cable bill is ridiculous since I have the hd package and some of the sports channels like espnu, nfl net and cstv
RHM: Nourish their SOULS with the greatest game on earth, friend
Clint: how does everyone feel about the change in the radio broadcast booth?
RHM: I'm nonplussed to the degree of minused
RHM: But the fact that they're going to be getting another person, maybe someone who will impress me, gives me hope
daedalus: i'm happy about it. i mean, i don't like the way steve was just dismissed, but getting thom is great. did you hear him keep hinting about how you never lose your love of your home team during the ALCS?
RHM: Was that before or after making fun of the disabled?
Clint: I liked when thom was making fun of some nearly blind guy
Shawn: That was mostly Lyons
Clint: true
Shawn: Although Thom fell into it
Shawn: I just hope Thom can help Dad stay on-task
daedalus: during. give him a break. the glasses did look stupid, and there are just wierdos out there. you can't expect everyone to know about that kind of thing.
daedalus: weirdos
Clint: I just wish we could get rid of Georgie. Sure he seems like a nice guy, but he is a bad play by play guy.
daedalus: yeah
RHM: But then what would become of the Georgitron 2000??
Shawn: The world may never know
Clint: how about a compromise, the Georgitron 2000 can come out during games vs. the Cardinals
Shawn: Question 3
Shawn: What was the worst off-field thing to happen?
Clint: “The Trade”
daedalus: have you ever seen this show justice? it sux. the acting is pathetic. i don't watch much television, but i got hooked on prison break last year after watching all of the ads during the playoffs and WS, andsince there was no baseball on tonight, i turned it on.
Blade: Yes, the trade
daedalus: the trade, seconded
Blade: What a friggin joke
Shawn: Oh, yeah
Blade: I feel bad because hate Gary Majewski and I'm sure he's a nice guy
Shawn: Majewski looks like an idiot
Blade: Guilty by association
Clint: yeah, I am willing to give Majewski a second chance when he is 100% healthy
daedalus: majewski was great last year for the nats, so i hope he returns to form
Shawn: He has great stuff, but hasn't really ever shown a clue of how to pitch
RHM: He had the opportunity to pipe up and say, “hey, man, I don't know if this is my place, but I've got an owie.”
Shawn: Guy with his stuff should blow away people like Joel Zumaya
Blade: Even if he was completely healthy, that trade should have never went down
daedalus: have you ever heard him speak? he's not exactly what one would term “bright”
RHM: He's just mostly blameless, not entirely
Clint: Oh I definitely agree, but you know how pitchers are, they don't like to admit when they are hurt
Shawn: I hope Bray becomes a great closer….that's the only way to save the trade
Blade: I'm still stewing about that damn trade
Shawn: Bray, and Brendan Harris goes all Dan Uggla on the league.
Clint: yeah Bray could become good. but I don't think anyone the Red received will be worth Kearns and Lopez

Except that Richard Hatch was actually good at the game.

My faith in humanity, justice, and the in the idea that good will triumph, is shaken to its foundation. If the 2006 Cardinals can win the World Series, what's to prevent kittens from spontaneously bursting into flame? How can we feel good about bringing children into a world where this can happen?

Oh, sorry. MELODRAMATIC LOCK was stuck on. It's not really that bad.

I mean, hey, that Sean Casey sure looked good. It's nice that Jeff Weaver provided Wayne Krivsky a valuable learning opportunity about deals he should have made to balance out his pronounced lesson in The Trades not-to-have-done. And, hey, you know Eckstein's not going to be able to reach the pedals in that Corvette, so that ought to provide laughs for everyone involved.

A few days ago the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that the Reds had interviewed former Milwaukee hitting coach Butch Wynegar to fill the vacancy left by former Cincinnati hitting coach Chris Chambliss.

Today they report that the Brewers are interviewing Chambliss to fill the vacancy left by Wynegar:

Milwaukee Brewers general manager Doug Melvin said manager Ned Yost had interviewed Chris Chambliss for the club's vacant hitting coach position. Chambliss, dismissed by the Cincinnati Reds after the 2006 season, was the first candidate interviewed from outside of the organization.

I can hardly wait to see who we'll trade pitching coaches with. That probably depends on which team currently has a pitching coach from Minnesota.

I don't know which I'm more sick of talking about: my disappointment in the Reds' choice of radio broadcasters or my disappointment that Rich Aurilia is almost certainly headed someplace else for 2007.

But I've got to talk about one of them, because that's all that's going on. I'll flip a coin to see which one I go with.

In a shocking twist, the Reds have hired an old reliever to fill out their broadcast booth. Marc Lancaster of the Cincinnati Post reports that Jeff Brantley is next in line to take a place next to Marty:

All indications are the Reds are poised to hire ESPN analyst Jeff Brantley as the final member of an expanded set of broadcasters, though an announcement won't come until after the World Series. The former major league pitcher will join Thom Brennaman, a longtime presence on national television, in rounding out a five-member radio and TV crew that also will feature holdovers Marty Brennaman, George Grande and Chris Welsh.

Sure, you might complain that this is just another middle-aged white guy, but there's something about Brantley that you wouldn't expect from yet another aging reliever brought into the Reds' organization…

He's right-handed.

Foul Fly Bawl in the New York Post.

The Yankees Victory Plane ornament is now available for your holiday decorating enjoyment. It depicts Santa clause in a plane that bears the New York Yankees logo. This, less than a month after Yankee's pitcher Cory Lidle was killed in a plane crash.

Presumably they're going after the market of people who buy horrifyingly inappropriate products. This may be just the first in a series. Next month: bobbleheads for Parkinson's Disease awareness.

GM wants Yount back, a story in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Monday, mentioned in passing that Butch Wynegar is in the running for the Reds' hitting coach job.

In search of a hitting coach to replace Wynegar, who apparently is in the running for the vacancy in Cincinnati, Melvin interviewed Jim Skaalen, the Brewers' minor-league hitting coordinator for the last seven seasons.

Of course, he'd be the obvious choice, given how the Brewers performed better than the Reds last year. Or, rather, how the Brewers did more to exceed pre-season expectations than the Reds did. Or, most importantly, because he was drafted by the Twins in 1974, and it is our destiny to have in the Reds organization every person who ever had anything to do with the Twins.

The good news is that, if he's hired, FSN could start filing a pre-game feature with him and the bench coach called Bucky and Butch, which would spawn a cult following and bring in millions in revenues.

I think the Cards leading the series might be making me a little loopy.

This week on the podcast, the Crack Technical Staff and I start to get a taste of how difficult it's going to be to find material in the off-season. But we're the kind of positive thinkers who see this challenge as an opportunity. An opportunity to complain about there not being any Reds news to talk about.

But for now, there is some Reds news to talk about. Or at least some news to talk about.

• The most recent Reds blogger roundtable took place last night. Be on the lookout for that as soon as Shawn gets it cut up into pieces.
• Who-the-Hell-is-Brad-Salmon moved to the 40-man
• Snax versus Casey as former Reds battle it out in the World Series
• Dunn to the Red Sox to pair with Pena to make the most feared outfield defense in the league. But the question is: feared by whom?
• Ranting about not needing a closer
• Continuing to bask in the glow of The Rich Aurilia Interview
• Lou Piniella hired by the Cubs to proudly lead them to 5th place!
• Kenny Rogers, gambling with a hand full of crap
• Steve Lyons and racially insensitive remarks
• The 25th Birthday of the Wave
• Youth Coach Sentenced to Prison

Episode 28: Snax vs. Casey and Other Stuff (13.8 MB, 20:09)

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