Earlier this month, Sports Illustrated published the results of a player poll in which Gary Matthews Jr. was voted among the most overrated players in the league.

I’m not sure whether this was the same poll that voted Joey Votto the MVP for the first half of the season, but at least this Gary Matthews Jr thing the Reds agreed with. They had given the guy a minor league contract with an opt-out provision for him if he wasn’t called up by Saturday.

But whom would they have taken off the active roster for him? Jonny Gomes ain’t goin’ nowhere. Jay Bruce, Laynce Nix, and Chris Heisey have made themselves welcome characters on the Cincinnati stage. Even Drew Stubbs–who hasn’t exactly been outperforming Mr. Matthews so far–has enough potential in the possibility he’ll learn to lay down a bunt for a base hit to hold onto his roster spot over the overrated Matthews.

So, as of Saturday, Matthews opted out of the contract with the Reds organization and is now available to be hired by a team near you. Surely someone needs an outfielder. The Yankees are always hiring overrated players; maybe they’ll be able to hook up.

The first 30,000 people through the gates this Saturday, July 31 to see the Reds take on the Atlanta Braves will take home this lovely Homer Bailey bobblehead, or, at least, will have the opportunity to sell it to some guy with a big bag who wanders around offering up $10 or something.

In case you haven’t been watching the television broadcast for the last two weeks to hear them say it 30,000 times, the game start time has been changed. Even if you have your tickets in hand and see a different time on them, know that this game starts at 4:10 p.m. If you want to be among the first 30,000, you’ll want to be heading over there shortly after lunch.

Word on the street now is that the Cardinals are in contention to be the lucky recipients of the malcontented Roy Oswalt. Oswalt is in no position to demand a trade, being locked into a contract and whatnot, but he’s made a pain in the Astro of himself anyway, telling the world how he wants to be traded to a team who has a chance of winning.

Enter the Cardinals. They’ve had some rough patches with their starting pitching this season, but they aren’t willing to give up too much. Marty said on WLW today that they offered Brendan Ryan and a PTBNL for him, and I guess they don’t want to pick up his option, while they’re at it. Maybe the Cards see it as a favor they’re doing for Houston: taking the aging pitcher off their hands and their books.

But since, as I mentioned, Oswalt can bitch to the media all-the-live-long-day and the team doesn’t have to do squat about it, they’re unlikely to see the Cards’ point of view on that one.

Which is one reason why I like the idea of this trade: if it really goes through, the Cards are probably going to have to sacrifice some future talent to get there. The hit could last a lot longer than the bounce.

And speaking of the bounce, I’m not even sure how much altitude they’d get out of Oswalt. For years, he owned the Reds, but he’s pretty much been the sole property of the team lately. Unless Dave “pitcher whisperer” Duncan can turn back the clock, adding Oswalt to the rotation may just turn out to be a sure one-game gain for Cincinnati every time the teams meet.

On the flip side, Oswalt says he wants to go to a team with a chance to win. These days, the Cards always have a chance to win, but does this really look like the year? If they were that solid, they wouldn’t be looking to bring on pitching in the first place.

Ultimately, I think the only party that definitely benefits from this potential deal is Houston, assuming they don’t cave on the Ryan offer. Even if they do, though, he’d be taken off their hands.

The Cincinnati Reds destroyed the Houston Astros last night, behind another amazing performance by Johnny Cueto. Cueto moved his record to 10-2, giving the Reds two 10-game winners.

There was some concern that Cueto wouldn’t be able to make the start, since he was suffering from tonsilitis, but the 8 shutout innings showed that no bacterial infection can slow him down. (Although I suppose the antibiotics helped a bit, too.) In his 8 innings, Cueto struck out 6, walked 1, and allowed 4 hits.

He was over 100 pitches at the end of the 7th, but was sent out for the 8th anyway. And I have no problem with that. A starting pitcher should be able to throw 120 pitches every now and then, and Cueto’s been in the majors long enough that his endurance should be up. It might have been better to do it on a night when he wasn’t already sick, but the results are impressive.

Now, having dispatched the former Red-killer Roy Oswalt, the Reds turn to Wandy Rodriguez today at 2:05pm EDT. Mike Leake goes for the sweep for the Reds.

The closer who caused no end of stress for our friends down in St. Louis is now a member of the Cincinnati Reds minor league system:

CINCINNATI — Two days after they watched free-agent right-hander Jason Isringhausen throw in a bullpen session at Great American Ball Park, the Reds agreed to terms with the reliever on a Minor League contract Thursday.

Isringhausen will meet Triple-A Louisville at Gwinnett and officially sign his contract. It will likely take him at least a couple of weeks for him to get big league-ready. The 37-year-old hasn’t pitched in the Majors since June 2009 for the Rays before his right elbow blew out and required Tommy John surgery.

After the last couple games, it looks to me like he’d be an improvement over some of the people we’re sending out there. Of course, if the reason Bill Bray can’t get an out is because he goes so long between outings, the adding another pitcher to the mix isn’t going to help.