An era officially came to an end in Cincinnati this week as lefthanded pitcher Eric Milton, for three years an icon for the Reds’ starting pitching woes, filed for free agency on Tuesday.

Milton was signed by former GM Dan O’Brien to a three-year, $25.5 million free agent contract in December of 2004. The payoff for the Reds? A 16-27 record, a 5.83 ERA in 66 starts, and a league-leading 40 homers allowed in 2005. Does anyone still wonder why one of the very first things Bob Castellini did when he took over the club was to show O’Brien the door?

A few weeks ago, one of the mainstream national sports magazines did a preview of this winter’s free agent market and actually listed Milton among the top 20 free agent pitchers likely to be available this offseason. That speaks volumes about the quality of the pitching that is likely to be available to the Reds (or any other team for that matter) via free agency this winter. You know the pickin’s are going to be mighty slim when a guy with an 0-4 record and 5.17 ERA in 2007 who is recovering from a torn ligament in his pitching elbow is one of the top 20 pitchers to be fought over by 30 major league teams, most of whom could use an upgrade in the pitching department.

So, any significant additions to the Reds’ pitching staff for 2008 are most likely going to have to come through trades. Or maybe new manager Dusty Baker pulls a few rabbits out of his nice, spanking-new red hat (Kerry Wood became a free agent on Monday and Mark Prior is expected to become one if the Cubs don’t offer him arbitration). Or maybe GM Wayne Krivsky has a couple more bargain-basement acquisitions up his sleeve. Or maybe all of the above.

Baseball’s winter meetings are still a month away, but there should be some big news on the Reds’ player personnel front in the next week or so. The Reds must exercise Adam Dunn’s $13 million option for next season by Sunday if they wish to do so, and Eddie Guardado’s $3 million option must be exercised by Friday. Then there is Scott Hatteberg’s $1.85 million option, and of course, the $1.3 million option on longtime RHM favorite Javy Valentin.

One thing’s for sure – Baker is now officially on the job. His contractual obligation to ESPN ended when the World Series did. On Tusday, the Reds named the two new members of the coaching staff. Chris Speier becomes Baker’s new bench coach, as well as the Reds’ new infield coach. Juan “Porky” Lopez takes over as bullpen coach. Both of these guys worked for Baker on other teams, as did pitching coach Dick Pole, so Dusty will have some familiar faces around as he bends to the task of turning the Reds into a force in the NL Central.

HMZ

When I see a blog post that makes me laugh out loud, I want to link to it. Does make it hard, though, not keep within the bounds of fair use when the post is only two sentences long.

Screw it: Pat will understand.

The biggest night of Josh Fogg’s life

The Colorado Rockies’ World Series life is most certainly on the line tonight and the Rockies are turning to the one, the only, JOSH FOGG. Sweet merciful crap, they’re in trouble.

Kahn’s Redsfest 2007 will be December 7-8 this year. Tickets go on sale Monday.

You can buy tickets online at Reds.com, by calling (513) 381-REDS or (877) 647-REDS, or at Cincinnati-area Meijer stores. Proceeds from Redsfest benefit the Reds Community Fund.

From Reds.com:

 On Friday Dec. 7, Redsfest will operate from 4-10 p.m. ET and 11 a.m.-7 p.m. on Saturday Dec. 8. One-day tickets are $15 for adults and $7 for fans 12 and under, while two-day tickets are $20 for adults and $10 for kids.

Redsfest 2006 drew a record two-day crowd of more than 18,000 after coming off of a two-year absence.

Current and former Reds players expected to attend Redsfest 2007 include second baseman Brandon Phillips, outfielder Josh Hamilton and Reds Hall of Fame pitcher Tom Browning. The first day will include the introduction of the Reds 2008 Hall of Fame class. Reds pitcher Bronson Arroyo will highlight concert performances.

Other weekend activities include a Reds Community Fund Wiffle Ball Tournament of 64 teams, with registration available only on Reds.com. Saturday will mark the return of the popular Celebrity Poker Tournament with a $150 per person entry fee that is considered tax deductible. There will also be a kids-only press conference, a “Reds Idol” karaoke contest and the Reds Hot Stove report featuring new manager Dusty Baker and general manager Wayne Krivsky.

There will be several exhibits from the Reds Hall of Fame, a Reds memorabilia gallery, a sports bar and an interactive area that will feature a Fun Zone, batting cages, a speed pitch, steal home challenge and the Reds Rookie Field.

And if that’s not enough, I’ve just learned that my favorite band, the Screaming Mimes, will be closing out the event at 6 p.m. on Saturday. Suddenly I’m feeling like a Reds fan again.

Craig Biggio is a world-renowned nice guy. For some reason, I never really realized that, maybe because I only ever saw him wearing his big scary game face. But here, just a scant month after he’s retired, I’m getting up to speed.

Major League Baseball was apparently already in on the news, seeing as Biggio is being presented with the Roberto Clemente award (via The Astros Dugout):

DENVER — With 3,060 hits and 291 home runs, Craig Biggio will undoubtedly be remembered first for his offensive contributions during his 20-year Major League career. But it’s quite possible the veteran second baseman is as recognizable to those in his adopted home of Houston for his affiliation with the Sunshine Kids as he is for his on-field accomplishments.

Less than a month after he said goodbye to baseball and hello to retirement, Biggio, one of the most celebrated players in Astros history, was given the highest off-the-field honor in baseball — the 2007 Roberto Clemente Award.

“I’ve often said … that baseball is a social institution, and for those who really are into sport and understand it, we have enormous social responsibilities,” Commissioner Bud Selig said during a press conference at Coors “To be part of this award and recipient this year, I am very humbled anField. “I hope all the young players in this sport will watch and follow this man’s career, because he is what a Major League Baseball player should be, on and off the field.”

The Clemente Award recognizes the player who best exemplifies the game of baseball, sportsmanship, community involvement and the individual’s contribution to his team. It is named in honor of the former Pirates outfielder whose spirit and goodwill will always be remembered. Clemente died in a plane crash while attempting to transport relief supplies to earthquake-stricken Nicaragua on Dec. 31, 1972.

Biggio, the 2005 winner of the Hutch Award and the recipient of the 2006 “Heart and Hustle” Award, made it a hat trick this year, winning the top community service honor. Biggio was presented the Clemente Award during a pregame ceremony prior to Game 3 of the World Series in Denver.d grateful for this,” Biggio said. “This is something that, as a Major League Baseball player, some of us get the opportunity to have an impact on the community. Some have a chance to have a real big impact on certain communities, and I know that I’m very grateful for my 20 years in Houston to be associated with the Sunshine Kids.”

Congratulations to Biggio and to all the kids who are benefiting because of him.

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OK, so the Reds have hired Dusty Baker as their new manager, and half of Reds Nation has gone ballistic, with the chief complaint against him apparently being that Dusty ruined Mark Prior and Kerry Wood when he was in Chicago.

Before you subscribe to the theory that something Baker did somehow derailed the career of Mark Prior, you might want to read this analysis by Chris O’Leary, a part-time pitching mechanics analyst and consultant who developed methodology for analyzing pitching mechanics that was used by one major league team for the 2007 MLB draft. In that analysis, O’Leary demonstrates that Prior’s arm troubles are the result of numerous flaws in his delivery and motion. Even if Dusty never managed an inning for the Cubs, Mark Prior’s arm was bound to fall off anyway.

Besides that, some digging I’ve done on the web reveals that Prior’s medical problems seem to have begun when he had a collision on the basepaths with Marcus Giles while advancing to second base on a ground ball during a game in 2003, on which play Prior may have separated his shoulder. In any case, he missed almost a month for something that has nothing to do with Dusty Baker or pitch counts, and afterward he apparently altered his delivery and throwing motion to compensate for pain in his throwing arm in a way that further contributed to his own arm troubles.

As for Kerry Wood, he was a medical trainwreck before Dusty Baker ever put on a Cubs uniform. Two days before the 1995 MLB draft, when he was a 17-year old high school player, Wood threw 175 pitches in a doubleheader, then was drafted by the Cubs, and a year later, sat out a month as a minor leaguer because of a tender elbow. He made it to the majors in 1998. In August ‘98 he sprained his elbow but, with the Cubs in the wild card race, he worked through the pain in the season’s final weeks. Then he tore a ligament in his right arm during his first outing of spring training in 1999 and was done for the year, undergoing Tommy John surgery in May 1999 – four years before Baker took over as manager.

While I couldn’t find an analysis of Wood’s pitching motion similar to the one for Prior that I linked to above, I do know from watching him myself that he has a bad habit of throwing across his body, which I’m sure has contributed to some of his injury history…and so has the fact that this is a guy who fires the ball to the plate as hard as he can every time he takes to the mound.

Why am I posting this? Regardless of what you think of Dusty, he’s been hired to manage the Reds for the next three years, and once he puts on that uniform, he’s one of us. I wasn’t thrilled they hired him either, and the whole Wood/Prior thing was the main reason why. But like many of us who are Reds fans, I don’t follow the Cubs very closely (Seriously, who’d wanna?), so I wasn’t watching the careers of Prior and Wood, before or during Baker’s tenure as manager. I accepted what was coming out of Chicago’s media on the subject as fact.

But after doing some more reading since the Reds hired Dusty, it’s plain to me that the pundits in Chicago were wrong. I don’t know what their axe to grind with Dusty was, why they hung the blame on Dusty for Prior and Wood’s medical problems. I don’t know what other peoples’ beef against Dusty may be, either. I do know that if it has to do with Prior and Wood, you may want to do some more research before you nail Dusty to the cross despite the fact that he has yet to manage an inning in a Reds uniform.

Dusty Baker is not the reason for the injury problems of Mark Prior and Kerry Wood.

Mark Prior and Kerry Wood are the reasons for the injury problems of Mark Prior and Kerry Wood.

HMZ

Update Nov. 2, 2007: This thread subsequently produced an e-mail from Chris O’Leary advising that on his web site, he has an updated analysis of Prior’s mechanics that readers here might also be interested in.

Just heard on the World Series broadcast that Alex Rodriguez has opted out of his contract with the Yankees. The Crack Technical Staff points out that NY is less likely to re-sign him in his free-agent form since the Rangers are off the hook for the portion of his salary that they were paying before.

Even so, the number of teams that could step up to the plate and take a swing at Scott Boras’s pitch is pretty small, and, if not the Yankees, then who? Certainly there are some teams in the Central who wouldn’t mind adding A-Rod to the roster, it’s even mentioned in the Cubs.com mailbag this week.

I wonder how the guy will perform when he’s suddenly free from the pressure of the New York media, the enthusiasm of the fans, the excessive largeness of the pizza slices, and the ready willingness of the call girls to accompany you to strip clubs. A stint in, say, Milwaukee, could be a pretty big shock to his system. On the other hand, it might be just what a guy like A-Rod needs: a nice quiet small metropolis to buy with the money he’s going to get.

If the Cardinals haven’t gotten around to having a TLR sunglasses giveaway yet, now they’ve got two more years to work on it.

ST. LOUIS — Tony La Russa, the winningest manager in St. Louis Cardinals franchise history, today agreed to a new two-year (2008-09) contract with the ballclub. The announcement was made by Cardinals’ Chairman William O. DeWitt at a press conference this afternoon.

“We couldn’t be more pleased with Tony’s decision to remain a Cardinal,” stated DeWitt. “During his 12 seasons as our manager, he has been a terrific leader; one who is skilled at keeping the team’s performance and focus aimed at being a consistent playoff contender.”

La Russa, 63, has guided the Cardinals to a franchise record 1,055 wins since joining the team as its manager in 1996. He has led the Cardinals to seven division titles (1996, 2000-02 & 2004-06), two National League pennants (2004 & 2006) and a 10th World Championship title in 2006.

“At the end of the season, after we had worked so hard, I needed some time to get away and refresh,” said La Russa. “I had time to think about the many relationships with the Cardinals that have been built over the past 12 seasons.

Then you see how our division keeps improving, and it became clear to me that all of these things were what I wanted to remain a part of.”

La Russa ranks third on Major League Baseball’s all-time managerial wins list with 2,375, trailing only Connie Mack (3,731) and John McGraw (2,763). He’s 2nd on the Cardinals all-time games managed list with 1,942, trailing only Red Schoendienst (1,996) and his 12 continuous years as Cardinals manager matches Schoendienst’s club mark (1965-76). La Russa is 3rd all-time in games managed with 4,449, including stints with the Chicago White Sox (1979-86) and Oakland A’s (1986-95).

La Russa’s Cardinals teams have finished above .500 in nine of his 12 seasons. They recorded 105 wins in 2004 and 100 wins in 2005, making La Russa just the second Cardinals manager to oversee two 100-win seasons. Billy Southworth guided the Cardinals to three consecutive 100-win seasons from 1942-44. La Russa and Sparky Anderson are the only managers to have led both a National and American League team to World Series titles.

During La Russa’s 12 years at the Cardinals helm, the team has surpassed 3 million in attendance nine times, including a franchise record 3, 552,180 fans this past season. His Cardinals teams have finished no lower then 3rd place in all but two seasons and they have held 1st place or been within a game of 1st place during the month of September in each of the past eight seasons.

Prior to this season’s 78-84 finish, the Cardinals were the lone National League team to have posted a winning record in every season since 2000.

Almost two weeks after hiring Dusty Baker for the position of losing manager, they continue to employ him. Apparently they can’t see that it is only a matter of time.

Meanwhile, Baker is not hiring an entirely new cast of characters for his management team, citing the desire to keep some consistency:

There will be continuity on the Reds coaching staff heading into the 2008 season.

That was new manager Dusty Baker’s desire upon taking over on Monday and it was reflected in the choices the club announced on Thursday.

Third-base coach Mark Berry, first-base coach Billy Hatcher, hitting coach Brook Jacoby, pitching coach Dick Pole and bullpen catcher Mike Stefanski were offered contracts next season. Longtime bullpen coach Tom Hume was not offered a spot on the Baker staff.

Bench coach Pat Kelly, who came aboard when Pete Mackanin took over as interim manager July 3, will return to his previous position as manager of the organization’s Gulf Coast League affiliate in Sarasota as director of Florida on-field operations.

At first blush, this seems like a really good idea. Consistency can only be a good thing, right? Until you start to think about how horribly, horribly consistent the Reds have been for the last seven years.

I suppose when you’re the Pirates, there isn’t much to do in October but release your tentative schedule for the next year before the city turns the entirety of their sports-related attention to football.

On the other hand, the city has probably hand the entirety of their sports-related attention on football since June. Whatever. They’ve got to release their tentative schedule sometime.

See the schedule here. Series of note per the official release:

The Pirates will welcome two American League clubs to Pittsburgh for the first time since interleague play began in 1997. Pittsburgh will host the New York Yankees from June 24-26 for the first time since Game Seven of the 1960 World Series at Forbes Field. In addition, the Toronto Blue Jays will also make their first visit to the city of Pittsburgh for a three-game series from June 20-22. Pittsburgh will also host the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in the final weekend of interleague play from June 27-29.

A Yankees-Pirates series in early May might be interesting; by late June I’m afraid the Pirates will already be well into rebuilding for next year.

But will they have beer?

CHICAGO — The Chicago Cubs today announced weekend passes for the 23rd annual Cubs Convention will go on sale Wednesday, November 7, at 10 a.m. CST. Passes will be available for purchase only through two methods – by visiting www.cubs.com or by calling tickets.com at 1-800-THE-CUBS.

The 23rd annual Cubs Convention will be held at the Hilton Chicago, 720 South Michigan Avenue, from Friday, January 18 through Sunday, January 20, 2008. Each fan will be able to purchase up to four (4) weekend passes while tickets last. The convention pass, valid for entry during the entire convention weekend, cost $50 each plus convenience fees. Fans holding a room reservation for the 23rd annual Cubs Convention do not need to order convention passes at this time.

The hours of the convention are as follows: Friday 3 p.m. to 9 p.m., Saturday 9 a.m. to midnight and Sunday 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Included with each pass is access to all autograph/photo sessions, question and answer sessions as well as the memorabilia and vendor booths.

Rooms at the Hilton are currently sold out for Convention weekend, but fans are encouraged to check back for cancellations or availability by calling 312-922-4400. As a reminder, fans who reserve a room under the Cubs Convention rate can purchase weekend passes for only $10 each (limit four per room).

Proceeds from the Convention benefit Cubs Care. The 2007 Cubs Convention raised more than $300,000. To date, the Cubs Convention has raised nearly $4 million for Cubs Care. Cubs Care is a fund of the McCormick Tribune Foundation. Since 1991, Cubs Care has granted more than $12 million in the city of Chicago to support youth sports, children with special needs and victims of domestic violence. Cubs Care also supports a variety of charitable and social service organizations serving the Lakeview community.