In need of a backup to Yadier Molina after veteran Gary Bennett became a free agent after two years with the team, the St. Louis Cardinals on Monday signed free agent catcher Jason LaRue to a one-year contract reportedly worth $850,000.

The Cardinals also signed right-handed pitchers Dewon Brazelton and John Wasdin to minor league contracts. Brazelton, a former first-round draft choice and third overall pick by Tampa Bay, last played in the majors in 2006 when he was 0-2 with a 12.00 ERA in nine games for San Diego. He spent last season with Class-AAA Omaha in the Royals’ organization and Class-AA Altoona in the Pirates’ farm system. Wasdin, Oakland’s first-round pick in 1993, broke camp with the Pirates last year, but his season ended in late July because of a wrist injury. He has also pitched for the Rangers, A’s, Red Sox, Rockies, Orioles, and Blue Jays.

LaRue, a career .233 hitter with 88 homers and 316 RBIs, spent his first eight seasons with the Reds before being traded to the Royals prior to last season. In 66 games with K.C., LaRue hit .148 with four homers and 13 RBIs and threw out 33 percent of would-be base stealers, seventh among catchers with at least 50 starts. His new contract reportedly includes a $50,000 bonus for 40 starts, and $100,000 each for 50, 60 and 65 starts in addition to the $850,000 base salary.

The other team that was active Monday was the Brewers, who purchased the contracts of minor leaguers RHP Tim Dillard, IF Alcides Escobar, C Lou Palmisano, and RHP Luis Pena and added them to their 40-man roster.

Thou shalt not confuse this Luis Pena, born 1/10/83, with the Luis Pena born 1/21/81 who pitched in the Padres and White Sox organizations from 2002-2005. This Luis Pena has been in the Brewers’ farm system since 2001, appearing in 155 minor league games during that time span.

Cardinals LHP Mark Mulder met with team doctor George Paletta and trainer Barry Weinberg on Wednesday for a scheduled checkup on his shoulder, and GM John Mozeliak called the report on Mulder’s recovery “very positive.”

Mulder has been limited to 20 starts during the past two seasons because of rotator cuff problems, and is coming off his second shoulder surgery in 12½ months. The last time he got an out in the sixth inning was June 3, 2006. The Cardinals, who are in need of starting pitching, expect Mulder to be ready for spring training and a part of the opening-day rotation.

Time to catch up on the transactions made by NL Central teams during the past week. Aside from moves made by the Astros and the Cubs that were previously reported here on RHM, here are the personnel machinations that went down this week:

On Monday 11/12, the Cardinals outrighted RHP Dennis Dove to Class-AAA Memphis.
On Tuesday 11/13:

•  The Cubs activated RHP Angel Guzman and RHP Mark Prior from the 60-day DL and traded OF Craig Monroe to the Twins for a PTBNL.
• The Pirates activated C Ryan Doumit and OF Chris Duffy from the 60-day DL.

On Wednesday 11/14, the Brewers signed LHP Randy Choate to a one-year contract. According to ESPN, it’s a split contract that would pay him $500,000 in the majors and $75,000 in the minors.

On Friday 11/16, the Pirates, as expected, declined their $5.45 million 2008 option on SS Cesar Izturis, officially making him the third member of the 2007 club to file for free agency, though GM Neal Huntington expressed interest in bringing Izturis back next season at a lower cost.

And today, Sunday 11/18, the Cardinals lost a top prospect, OF Cody Haerther, who was claimed off waivers by the Toronto Blue Jays. He hit .292 with a .494 slugging percentage in 2007, mostly with the Class-AA Springfield farm team. The loss leaves the Cardinals with 35 players on their 40-man roster.

The Reds apparently slept through the week. In fact, they’ve slept though most of the month so far, having announced no transactions since activating Castro, Freel, and Livingston from the 60-day DL on Nov. 2.

Baseball-related song-writing-machine Ryan Parker adds his song to the musical tributes of Joe Nuxhall.

The Cincinnati outpouring of love and support for the Ol’ Lefthander continues. Enjoy this musical tribute, from my personal favorite band, the Screaming Mimes.

We’ll Miss You, Joe

Having been rounding third and heading for home for over 79 years, Joe Nuxhall finally slid in under the tag last night.

Nuxhall, probably mostly anonymous in any other city, was a super celebrity in Cincinnati. The Ol’ Lefthander began his association with the Reds in 1944 when he broke the majors at the age of 15. Back then, that nickname would have been ironic. He was the youngest major leaguer ever, and always will be unless they change the rules. Which I guess is possible, given the popularity of the Little League World Series.

Nuxhall was really bad when he first came up, by the way. He gave up 5 to the Cardinals, if my memory of the song serves. I mean, he was 15. But a little seasoning led to a lengthy major league career, after which he was a celebrated broadcaster for 700 WLW for 31 years. People whose fandom predates mine, people who grew up listening to him on the radio, feel a real bond with Nuxhall, even though he may have been best known for mixing up the fields. It’s all part of the charm.

Local advertisers and the Reds Community Fund are going to feel the loss of Nuxhall, who always seemed to be present at promotional events. He played golf for charity, signed autographs at the Reds Hall of Fame, and shouted out answers from the audience during the trivia contest at Redsfest last year.

Nuxhall was a good fan and a good guy. Cincinnati is going to miss him.

Eight, in fact, to come in a close fourth in the Cy Young voting. All my campaigning finally paid off. I’m sure the pitching helped too.

2007 NL Cy Young Award Voting

The other NLC’er to make the list was The Moose, Carlos Zambrano. Apparently attacking your catcher still counts for something.

Looks like even the federal government wants in on the Barry Bonds free-agent bonanza:

SAN FRANCISCO (Nov. 15) – Barry Bonds, baseball’s home run king, was indicted for perjury and obstruction of justice Thursday and could face prison instead of the Hall of Fame for telling a federal grand jury he did not knowingly use performance-enhancing drugs.

The indictment, culminating a four-year investigation into steroid use by elite athletes, charged Bonds with four counts of perjury and one of obstruction of justice. If convicted, he could be sentenced to a maximum of 30 years in prison.

Read the whole story on AOL Sports. Poor Bonds. What’s next? Branding his record-breaking baseballs with asterisks?

CINCINNATI — Cincinnati Reds President and Chief Executive Officer Bob Castellini today announced the resignation of Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer John Allen, effective December 31.

Allen will not be replaced. His duties will be reallocated within the existing organizational hierarchy.

“John has been the backbone of this organization for 13 seasons and did great things for the Reds and for the city of Cincinnati,” Castellini said, “He left his imprint here in countless ways. We, and Reds fans everywhere, appreciate his contributions to our team’s legacy.”

He added, “For the past two years, John has proved to be invaluable to me. It is an understatement to say that I will very much miss his effective hard work and the loyalty he extended to this franchise and to me personally. This was a decision made solely by John. He and his wife, Anna, have opted to move back to their home state of Kansas, where they have many activities and much family that is dear to them. I have asked John, and he has agreed, to stay with the Reds as a consultant to direct our Spring Training location efforts.”

Allen, 58, joined the organization as controller in May 1995, was named managing executive in August 1996 and was named chief operating officer in October 1999. He was responsible for all business and ballpark operations of the team and reported directly to the majority owners, first Marge Schott, then Carl Lindner and now Castellini.

Under Allen’s guidance, the Reds moved into Great American Ball Park in 2003. He was involved in all aspects of the development and construction of that facility and served as the team’s liaison on the 1995 sales tax issue, Issue 11 for the location of the ballpark and lease negotiations.

Allen returned focus to the organization’s rich history with the inclusion of the Reds Hall of Fame and Museum as part of the new ballpark’s design, the addition of statues at the Crosley Terrace entrance of the ballpark and the uniform jersey retirement ceremonies of some of the team’s greatest players.

He engineered the development of the Reds Community Fund and reached out to fans by implementing the popular Redsfest and Winter Caravans.

Allen began his career in baseball in 1990 as an intern with the Columbus Clippers, the Yankees’ Class AAA affiliate. He worked as that club’s director of business operations for five seasons before joining the Reds.

Jacque Jones hit .332 with 46 RBIs after the All-Star break this season to help the Chicago Cubs make it to the postseason. So the Cubs, being the Cubs after all, have just traded him to the Detroit Tigers for Omar Infante, a utility infielder who had a total of 17 RBIs for the entire 2007 season.

It wouldn’t surprise me if Jones has a big year in Detroit. He’s a .287 lifetime hitter in Comerica Park, with 13 doubles, 7 HRs, and 30 RBIs in 47 games. As for Infante, well, he’s eligible for arbitration this winter after making $1.3 million this past season.

Don’t most teams usually try to avoid going to arbitration with players? Yet the Cubs actually import a potential arbitration case from somebody else’s team, and give up a decent player in order to do so.

Then again, I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised at yet another great personnel decision from the same organization that decided Corey Patterson was a better leadoff hitter than Kenny Lofton, let Moises Alou go for Todd Hollandsworth, kept trusting Prior and Wood year after year despite the fact that they proved they can’t stay on the field, and then blamed Dusty Baker for all their problems.

Why didn’t Dusty Baker win in Chicago? For the exact same reason that nobody else has won there in the last 100 years: They’re the Cubs!