The Cincinnati Reds organization is seeking a well-qualified individual for the position of team Manager. The responsibilities of this position include creating line-ups, managing personnel, and providing motivation for grown men who play a child's game for a living. The ideal candidate will be intelligent, organized, proficient with conversational English and Spanish, and incredibly lucky.

The Reds are an equal opportunity employer. To apply for this position, submit your application.

Tonight I finally emerged from my Harry Potter novel, bleary-eyed and squinting in the bright-light that is the baseball world, to chat with the CTS about the goings on of our favorite team. The conversation meandered quite a bit, but I’m sure we covered the basics:

• The deal that sent Brian “Love” Shackelford to Tampa Bay in exchange for Jorge Cantu
• The deal that sent Kyle Lohse to Philly in exchange for Matt “Abalone” Maloney
• The likelihood of anything else happening.
• The rise to prominence of some familiar fan faces in the Cincinnati media
• The standings in the NLC

Episode 69: The Day Before the Deadline (22.0MB, 32:07)

Paul Daugherty is painful to listen to, but you need to do it anyway. Joel's on the show!
Hear the MP3

Also read the story in The Enquirer that started this off. If they were to trade Bronson Arroyo, what would become of David Ross?

CINCINNATI -- Cincinnati Reds executive vice president and general manager Wayne Krivsky today announced the acquisition of LHP Matt Maloney from the Philadelphia Phillies in exchange for RHP Kyle Lohse.

Maloney, 23, this season at Philadelphia's Class AA Reading affiliate went 9-7 with a 3.94 ERA and 1 complete game in 21 starts. He allowed just 117 hits while striking out 115 batters in 125.2 innings. He leads the Eastern League in innings pitched and ranks fourth in strikeouts.

The Phillies' third-round draft pick in 2005, Maloney entered this season rated by Baseball America as the ninth-best prospect in the Phillies' organization. In 2006, in just his second professional season, he was named South Atlantic League Pitcher of the Year after going 16-9 with a 2.03 ERA and 180 strikeouts in 27 starts and 168.2 innings pitched for Lakewood. He led the SAL in victories, innings pitched and strikeouts.

Maloney will report to Class AA Chattanooga.

Lohse, 28, this season went 6-12 with a 4.58 ERA in 21 starts. In his 21 appearances, the Reds went 8-13.

The Reds have acquired IF Jorge Cantu, OF Shaun Cumberland, and cash from the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in exchange for P Brian Shackelford, P Calvin Medlock, and future considerations.

The key to the deal for the Reds would be Cantu, who is 25 years old and has played mostly 2B and 3B in the majors, with a handful of appearances at 1B and one at SS. In 2005, his best season with the Devil Rays, he put up .286/.311/.497 BA/OBP/SLG with a 112 OPS, hitting 40 doubles, 28 HRs, and collecting 117 RBI. The writers in Tampa voted him the D-Rays' MVP that year.

The following year was an injury-plagued letdown, and although he hit a respectable .255 this spring he was beaten out by B.J. Upton and ended up being one of the final cuts in spring training, reportedly due in part to being defensively suspect. He was not happy and let it known that he wished to be traded. He did get called up several weeks later, but mostly sat on the bench, and a week ago Thursday was sent to Class-AAA Durham. He again asked to be traded, telling reporters in St. Petersberg, “I'm not a minor league player. I think a change of scenery would be best” and “I don't have anything to prove down there. I guess I have to go.”

His agent is Steve Canter, who has compared Cantu's situation to Milton Bradley and Shea Hillebrand and characterized Cantu as “an experienced second baseman with a power bat.”

The Reds, of course, already have one of those in Brandon Phillips, so it remains to be seen what the future holds for Cantu with the Reds' organization. He's on the 40-man roster but will be assigned to Louisville.

I would be remiss in my duties as Crack Hard Facts Staff if I were to fail to report that Cantu also has, or had, his own blog. Although there hasn't been a new entry since August 23, 2006, you can get a glimpse of Cantu up close and personal by visiting Jose Cantu's World:

http://jorgecantu.mlblogs.com/

Shaun Cumberland is 22 years old with no major league experience. He'll be assigned to Chattanooga. He was playing at Class-AA Montgomery, where he was hitting .246 with half a dozen dingers and 34 ribbies. Last season he was at Class-A Vidalia California League), where he hit .258 with 16 homers and a hundred ribbies and swiped 28 bases, but struck out 133 times in 530 at-bats.

My first week on the new job has kept me pretty busy, so I'm a little late sending some love to my homeboys in Redsland.

Deaner at Blue Collar Baseball makes an argument for moving back the walls at Great American Ball Park. I can't agree with the part about slugging being expensive--the Reds can't drop a series without hitting a cheap up-and-coming slugger with it--but the unwillingness of good free-agent pitchers to come to town seems relevant.

Redleg Nation has started a Reds podcast. Welcome to the party, boys!

I love to see the phrase Latin Love Machine popping up again. Thanks, Shawn.

July 27 and there's no big Reds' news to report as I sit here in front of The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, which got turned on during the rain delay and now can't seem to get turned off. Thankfully, we've got some great contributors here at Red Hot Mama keeping everyone up-to-date on the goings on of the team, such as:

• Marcus McBeth's brand-new fatherhood
• C. Trent suggesting that Kyle Lohse isn't long for the Reds. Since he hasn't exactly stunk up the joint (especially by Reds' standards) a deal could be in the works.
• News that Kirk Saarloos has been outrighted to AAA and Victor Santos has been called up, apparently according to the theory that six of one is, indeed, more than a half-dozen of the other.
• A fan saying, in all seriousness Here we are only 12.5 games back and the entire blogging community has already conceded the season. I guess hope really springs eternal, even 103 games into the season.

David Hasselhoff's pecs have finished saving the day for SpongeBob and now the game is on. Now just to wait for some big Reds' news.

The Reds picked a great series to win three-out-of-four, since taking the series from the first place team not only brings them to just a scant 12.5 games back, but also pulls them out of last place. Thank you, Javy!

In honor of this achievement (no really, it's not a coincidence), the Crack Technical Staff has added division standings to the right-hand sidebar.

So take in the not-last-placeness of it all. The Cubs are next; maybe it will last.

P.S. If you haven't made it into the comments from yesterday, you should check out HMZ's description of Javy's other pinch-running performance and BubbaFan telling us that Dumatrait is coming up.

As I write this diary, the current poll on the front page asks that question - “Why do you continue to pay attention to the 2007 Reds?”

Back in 1967, as a young boy, I attended a minor-league doubleheader here in Buffalo and saw a Triple-A rookie catcher hit a mammoth homer to win the nightcap for the home team. Some guy named Johnny. He's now in the Hall of Fame.

The next year, 1968, I flipped on a TV set early in the season and there was that same guy on TV, having been promoted to the majors and now catching for the team that was the Buffalo Bisons' parent club back then.

So, I sat down and watched the game. The first Reds player that I saw bat drew a walk, but he didn't actually walk. He ran, and he didn't stop at first, he kept running all the way to second. Some guy named Pete. I was ten years old and delighted.

There would be plenty of times after that when I was far from being delighted. Like later that year when they traded the shortstop, Chico Cardenas (better known as Leo) to the Twins who turned around and won the AL West a year later. Or when they fired the manager, Dave Bristol, at the end of 1969 and hired “Who the hell is this Sparky Anderson guy?” to replace him.

I guess winning the NL pennant in 1970 delighted me. Losing the World Series didn't, and neither did falling to below .500 the following year. But then in '72 they won another NL pennant. Delighted. Lost the World Series again. Not so delighted.

In '73 they won the division again. Delighted. But Dave Concepcion busted his ankle and missed the NLCS, and the rotten Mets won the series 3-2 with Darrel Chaney going 0-for-9 at shortstop. Not so delighted, but I will always believe that with Davey the Reds would have made it to the World Series that year too - and it was great to see Pete kick Bud Harrelson's ass.

The second-place finish in 1974…four NL All-Stars including three starters and they can't even beat out the lousy Dodgers? Grrr! But at least the Dodgers didn't win the World Series either.

Then came the back-to-back world championships in '75 and '76. Yep, absolutely delighted. Maybe this Sparky guy's not so bad after all.

Screwed out of postseason play in 1981 because of the stupid split season playoff format during the strike year. Not so delighted. In fact, I'm still furious about that one…and about going 61-101 the following year.

Bunch of second-place finishes under some guy named Pete. Four years in a row as the bridesmaids in the NL West. If it were anybody but Pete…

1989, so long, Pete. Thanks for the memories. But…Lou Piniella? A former Yankee is going to manage the Reds? Sacrilege!

World Championship in 1990. OK, maybe Lou's not so bad after all. I had my broom ready, but after the series, I couldn't find any Oakland fans to hand it to. Before game one they were everywhere, but they all vanished like if you shined a Q-Beam on a thousand cockroaches.

Some defense of the title. 74-88 in 1991. Second place in '92, if only Sabo had stayed healthy…if only we still had Myers…and then they go and pull the second-dumbest trade in Reds history (after F. Robby) and let Paul O'Neill go to the Yankees! Definitely not delighted.

Surprise division title under Davey Johnson in '95. Delighted. Until the smartass Braves fan I worked with at the time walked up the morning after the NLCS and handed me a broom. Grrrrr! I still hate Wohlers. What's he doing in a Reds' uniform in 2000 and 2001? Not delighted.

Twelve years since the last playoff appearance for the Reds. Not delighted, but still here. I am not and never have been a fair-weather fan.

And now, 12-8 under Pete McCanWin. There's light at the end of the tunnel once again. Hopefully it's not the headlamp on the locomotive that's been bringing us the horrible eighth-inning trainwrecks.

Why do I continue to pay attention to the 2007 Reds? Two reasons:

1. Because I have way too much time and emotion invested in this franchise to ever give up on it.

2. Because it still beats the hell out of being a Cubs fan.

HMZ

Yippee! Settle in in front of the Reds game after the kid's open house at the day care center and what am I treated to see but a line-up that seems to be a direct response to the podcast (Edwin Encarnación at third, Jeff Keppinger at short) and the same Keppinger bringing the Reds' lead to 4-0 in the third.

It would be a great evening if not for the fact that my kid is insisting on setting up his own open house games around the house and making us play. You'd be surprised at how easy it is to find the ball under the cup when a six-year old is the one mixing them up.

Heck, it's a great evening anyway.