They’re singing about the plight of Aaron Harang over at View from the Bleachers:

Harang received the worst run support in baseball last year as the Reds only scored an average of 3.2 runs per nine innings while he was on the mound. Basically, the Reds’ offense hit opposing starters like they were facing Cliff Lee or CC Sabathia every time out.

Well, the rest of the team generally was facing up against some pretty good pitching when Harang was on the mound, seeing as teams are on pretty close to the same rotation schedule, but they certainly could have done better. I wonder how much self-fulfilling prophesy comes into it, which would throw this part into some doubt:

With persistent rumors about a trade to a contending team, Harang’s resolution is likely to come true in 2010. But even if he stays with the Reds, his run support should improve anyway. While the Reds’ team scoring rate of 4.13 runs per nine innings is poor, it is still well above the 3.22 runs they averaged for Harang.

Sure, if the team were actually a bunch of random number generators. Unfortunately for order-loving people everywhere, players are human and seem even more chaotic than random numbers, even in aggregate. I hope that it doesn’t actually take a change of venue for Harang to get some run support. Maybe just a new short stop would do the trick.

Jason Bay is headed back to the NL. He signed a 4-year deal for $66 million with the Mets on Tuesday.

From a rather tortured article on Mets.com:

The pinpointed upgrade won’t come cheaply. The four-year deal is to cost the Mets at least $66 million, according to a person familiar with the negotiations that began in earnest on the final day of Winter Meetings, Dec. 11. Then again, the Mets have addressed their greatest need — albeit for four years — for less than they paid Mike Piazza ($93 million for seven seasons), Carlos Beltran ($119 million for seven) and Johan Santana ($137.5 million for seven).

Must be nice to have that kind of cash to throw around.

Thanks to the post on Redleg Nation, I discovered that C. Trent is ringing a bell next to a black kettle painted to look like a baseball to fund his trip to spring training in Arizona, where he’ll report on the Reds on behalf of his independent sports network, CNATI.

You can check out his request here, though the mechanism for actually contributing looks like it won’t be available until later today.

Personally, I’m planning to go to spring training myself this year, if we’ve recovered from selling our house by then. I may be putting out a black kettle myself with as expensive as it’s turning out to be.

So, I’ve been doing the Florida Christmas vacation thing since Sunday…what did I miss?

Surely Aaron Harang has been sent to the Dodgers for a third catcher or something by now. Or packaged up with Joey Votto for Albert Pujols, yeah?

No? Nothing. Oh well.

(That’s Pujols thing is my coworker’s stupid idea, by the way.)

You might have expected this after my last headline, but it’s really here now:

REDS EXTEND ROLEN THROUGH 2012
The Reds have restructured third baseman Scott Rolen’s contract for 2010 and extended him through the 2012 season, the club announced Saturday. Rolen, 34, will receive $23.625 million over the next three seasons. Originally set to earn $11 million in 2010, he will now make $6 million instead and then receive $6.5 million per season in both 2011 and 2012. Also included is a $5 million signing bonus that is deferred over the length of the contract.

I’ve thought Rolen looked 38 since he was 28, so I’m not sure how spry he’ll be in three seasons, but it’s nice that the Reds have saved up a little money for the coming season.

Or at least that seems to be what they want you to think from their Christmas card to the fans this year. But then you read the horrible, horrible poem and you realize that Walt Jocketty had nothing to do with this deal. You can tell just but looking at Jocketty that he’s got a talent for rhyme and meter.

If you haven’t been out to check out the Reds’ holiday greeting for you, you can see it here or by clicking on the image.

The Cincinnati Reds narrowly avoided making another minor roster mistake this week when Craig Counsell signed with the Milwaukee Brewers.

Counsell signed a 1-year, $2.1 million deal to serve as the Brewer’s utility infielder again. He had a productive 2009 season as a backup, getting on base almost 36% of the time. Apparently, he reduced the obnoxiousness of his batting stance, too. No longer did he reach to the sky as if in vain attempts to over-compensate for shortcomings.

The Reds had expressed interest in Counsell, but I, for one, am happy that he stayed away from the Queen City. My guiding hope for the Reds in this off-season is that they do nothing. Absolutely nothing. First, they’re less likely to make mistakes *cough*Willy Taveras*cough*. And second, they have a ton of young, talented players. The best way to overcome Dusty Baker’s hardcore veteran fetish is to not give him any. And free agents are generally veterany.

We’ll see if it’s a good deal for the Brewers. It probably will be, considering he’s a backup and it’s only for one year. I do know that it would have been a disaster for the Reds. So for that, thank you, Walt Jocketty.

Facing a loss of 3/5ths of their starting rotation, the St. Louis Cardinals obviously had to do something about it. As good as Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright are, they can’t carry the team through the entire season. Heck, they couldn’t even carry the team through the playoffs.

So the Cardinals turned to Brad Penny, the former Marlin, Dodger, Red Sock, Giant. At first blush, $7.5 million dollars might seem like a lot for a pitcher who’s been just a tick above league average on his career. (And not even that since 2007.)

But I like the deal. In this day and age when teams seem to so readily throw multi-year deals at injury-prone pitchers, it’s nice to see a team pay for only one-year. It gives the team a solid chance at having a killer stating rotation, without mortgaging the future. Given pitching coach Dave Duncan’s history, I have a feeling this won’t turn into another Junior Spivey. Or even a Mark Mulder.

It’s something that other teams should do more often.

Literally blocks from where I spend my days at work in downtown Indianapolis and across the street from Victory Field–home of the Pirates’ AAA affiliate, the Indianapolis Indians–the representatives of the 30 major league baseball teams are spending their days right now, as they hold their Winter Meetings at the Indianapolis Convention Center.

That’s right, the home of Star Wars Celebration two AND three is now hosting your favorite front office personnel.

Even as close to the action as I already am, I’ve considered walking the half-mile down there to see if I could jump up high enough to see in the windows. But then it occurred to me that I don’t actually have to go that far to see middle-aged men in suits pushing paper around and occasionally yelling at each other.

I was idly Google Image searching Joey Votto just now (Why, you ask? Shut up, I say. It’s my lunch hour and I’ll can use it to Google-stalk research players if I want.) and I came upon a most wonderful resource: PerfectGame.org.

Not only did this site provide the Votto-too-tough-at-age-18-to-smile-for-a photo you see here, but also such gems as:

Votto made a name for himself at Tropicana. He is a good looking athlete with a strong baseball body and a nice arm. Most importantly he has a beautiful left-hand swing that projects to hit with plus power. The ball jumps off his bat and sounds a bit different than most wood bats.

Good looking? Beautiful? Strong body? Wood bats? This is a passionate report indeed. I may have missed my calling as a scout.