This morning the Cincinnati Reds put up this Facebook post about Sean Casey:

For children with special needs, former Major Leaguer Sean Casey is helping to construct facilities and ballfields in Pennsylvania so kids aren’t left out and can play baseball.

Boy, that takes me back. That Casey: always the nice one. And it also demonstrates how little there is to talk about in Redsland right now if we’re going as far back as the Casey era for conversation. As if this year weren’t already rough enough, content-wise, what with the team being so darn good and all, the holiday season is even rougher without Wayne Krivsky around to make a million terrible trades to bitch about.

I’d rather look forward than back, though, since conjecture is so much easier than analysis. And the next thing on the Reds-related event list for me is the Reds Winter Caravan.

The Caravan will roll through January 27-30, though they haven’t decided which city will be which day or which players, coaches, and administrators will be on each leg of the three legs of the tour, but last year it went like this:

Northern Tour

• Thursday: Marietta OH/Parkersburg WV
• Friday: Athens, OH
• Saturday: Lima, OH
• Sunday: Columbus, OH

Western Tour

• Thursday: Louisville, KY
• Friday: Bloomington, IN and Indianapolis, IN
• Saturday: Muncie, IN and Dayton OH
• Sunday Oxford, OH

Southern Tour

• Thursday: Charleston, WV and Huntington WV
• Saturday: Cincinnati, OH
• Sunday: Lexington, KY

We usually hit the Muncie stop, despite living closer to Indianapolis, and it’s always an event. Muncie remained stoically loyal to the Reds, even when the team ceded Indiana to the Cubs and Cards under the reign of Carl Lindner, but then, Muncie is a place out of time in many ways. I definitely recommend this stop for an excellent visage of a multitude of trucker caps and the hot dog stand that they set up at the back of the dealership for while you’re standing in the autograph line.

Oh, and you can read the rest of the Casey story here.

I mean signing with Texas, of course. Not the other stuff.

Last week when I was frantically doing my last-minute shopping and wrapping my heart out, Arthur Rhodes signed a one year deal with the Texas Rangers. Wikipedia says it included a vesting option for 2012, but it didn’t mention how much the contract was for. (Baseball Reference was worse, where he’s still listed as a free agent. They must still be recovering from the holidays.)

However, we know that Mr. Rhodes pulled down $2M a year for the last two years, and his All-Star team election and general awesomeness in the last couple years probably didn’t hurt his marketability, even if he *is* 41 years old. I mean, why not? He’s pitching less than Randy Johnson, and looking a lot better doing it (not that Johnson sets the bar very high when it comes to looking good).

ESPN points out:

Rhodes has earned the chance to stay in the majors because he is a high-level lefty specialist. Opposing left-handers have a career .281 opponents on-base percentage against him, which ranks fifth-best among active left-handed pitchers who have faced at least 500 lefties (58 left-handed pitchers qualify, including Billy Wagner, who ranks second and is expected to retire). That’s one point better than the Yankees lefty reliever pickup, Pedro Feliciano.

Over the last three seasons, he’s been even better, dropping that number to .236. The only active pitchers better in that span are Hong-Chih Kuo, Neftali Feliz, Mariano Rivera, and Billy Wagner.

It’s been an impressive run for Rhodes, and it doesn’t appear to be just a fluke. You may recall this tidbit from the Reds’ press release when they signed Rhodes after the 2008 season:

The 16-year Major League veteran has produced a 79-61 record, 4.23 ERA and 32 saves in 714 career appearances and 61 starts for the Baltimore Orioles, Mariners, Oakland Athletics, Cleveland Indians, Philadelphia Phillies and Marlins. Rhodes made 20 postseason appearances for the Orioles and Mariners, including 9 in the American League Division Series and 11 in the AL Championship Series.

All-in-all, Rhodes looks like a good pickup for the Rangers and maybe a couple million that the Reds can use on someone else. And none of this changes my early prediction of Reds versus Rangers in the 2011 World Series.

You may have heard that the Milwaukee Brewers traded for Cy Young award winning pitcher Zach Greinke last week. That move immediately pushed them into the running for the top spot of the National League Central, making it likely a three-team race in 2011 with the Cardinals and Reds.

In 2010, the Brewers finished a distant third with a record of 77-85. The offense was not a problem. They were fourth in runs scored in the majors with 750. No, the problem was the pitching, and the starting pitching specifically. The Brewers allowed the third most runs in the majors, a whopping 804. It’s very difficult to pull off a winning record, let alone competing for a playoff spot, when you allow that many more runs than you score.

In addition to the Greinke deal, the Brewers earlier had traded for right-handed pitcher Shaun Marcum. He’s not as famous as Greinke, but he’s still a major upgrade over the likes of those they had starting last year (Jeff Suppan, I’m looking at you). Marcum has had three solid years in a row, and 2011 will be his age 29 season. He’ll slip into the number 3 slot in the rotation, behind Greinke, and Yovani Gallardo.

The Brewers did a great job in assessing their weakness and in implementing a plan to address it. It’s a short-term plan, especially considering some of the great talent given up for Greinke, but with slugger Prince Fielder signed for just one more year, the time is now. Run prevention from the starting pitching killed them last year. With these two pitchers, that should not be the case in 2011.

If you love Ken Griffey Jr. like certain members of the Red Hot Household, then you’ll want to check out this retrospective on The Hardball Times.

Well, less a retrospective than a list of players ranked by their Wins Above Replacement numbers. And he’s wearing the Mariners’ jersey (the second time; not the awesome time). But, hey, any excuse to read about The Kid, right?

You may remember last year at this time how Paul Janish was preparing to become the team’s everyday, starting shortstop. That didn’t happen, thanks to the February 2010 signing of Orlando Cabrera.

So far, this off-season is shaping up to be a repeat of last year. Cabrera was not re-signed, leaving Janish as the only player on the major league roster capable of playing shortstop. Janish’s 2010 was much more promising than his 2009. This season, Janish improved his batting average, not out percentage, and his slugging percentage. All the while, his defense seems to be better than any the Reds have had in many years up the middle.

I wasn’t too happy with the Cabrera signing. Clearly, the Reds weren’t happy enough with his performance to pick up his $4 million option for 2011. Janish has shown that he can produce as much offensively and better defensively than Cabrera, and for the minimum wage.

According to an article from Mark Sheldon, it sounds like manager Dusty Baker is ready to give Janish the ball daily, too.

Asked if Janish was ready to be “the guy” at shortstop next season, Baker replied, “Yeah, I think so.”

“He showed improvement offensively,” Baker said. “There is no better place to serve your apprenticeship, get time in the big leagues and time in service than he had in that role before.”

Obviously, if by some roster and payroll miracle, Hanley Ramirez becomes available, I’d prefer that upgrade. Since that won’t happen, I’d really like to see Paul Janish have a year at shortstop.

While the Cincinnati Reds haven’t been too active this off-season, with the exception of re-signing a player or extending others, what have the St. Louis Cardinals, second-place finishers in 2010, been doing? About the same thing as the Reds, actually.

The Cardinals re-signed their mid-season acquisition Jake Westbrook, giving them a projected 2011 rotation of Chris Carpenter, Adam Wainwright, Jaime Garcia, Westbrook, and Kyle Lohse. That’s a solid rotation, although not without its questions, especially in terms of staying healthy for both Carpenter and Lohse.

As for the team’s offense, which seemed a bigger issue in their season-ending collapse, the team has added Lance Berkman, apparently to play left field. Berkman last played left field in 2006. He last spent significant time in the outfield in 2007.

The team also traded for former Chicago Cub Ryan Theriot to take over shortstop duties for Brendan Ryan, who pissed off Chris Carpenter several times last year because he was more relaxed than the uptight pitcher. Theriot is slightly better at the plate and slightly worse in the field, so this particular move is unlikely to bring any overall change to the team, other than to make everyone even more careful around the holy Carpenter.

Of course, the biggest news concerning the Cardinals has been something they have yet to do: sign Albert Pujols to an extension. His current contract runs out at the end of the 2011 season, and with the crazy money free agents who are far less capable than Pujols, he stands to make a metric crap-ton of money.

Jayson Stark had a nice article examining the Cardinals Pujols situation last week. The Cardinals are facing some payroll issues.

They already figure to be on the hook for about $68.4 million, just for six players, in 2012, assuming they pick up options on the nearly equally indispensable Chris Carpenter, Adam Wainwright and Yadier Molina. Now if you add another $30 million for Pujols, they’d be closing in on $100 million for just 28 percent of their roster — this for a team that had a $113 million payroll last season.

That’s a tough place to be. I’ve seen a team who devoted an unseemly high percentage of its payroll to one player. That didn’t end well (2000-2008 Reds, I’m looking at you). The Cardinals are going to have to increase their payroll, get very creative with contracts, or look at a future without Albert Pujols.

I have a hard time envisioning the latter, as do most Cardinals fans, I’m sure, but it’s one that would make me happy.

Jay Bruce has signed a 6-year contract with the Cincinnati Reds, according to ESPN.

Bruce had been forthcoming about his desire to stay with the Reds just last weekend at RedsFest. “This is the place I want to be,” he said then. “We’re in a great position as far as the team, and the front office is doing all the things necessary in order for us to continue to win. That’s what I want to be a part of. I’d love to be here.”

And he will be. The deal is reportedly for 6 years and $51 million. There is also a club option for a seventh year, which would bring the contract’s total value to $63 million. The guaranteed contract eliminates the need for salary arbitration for Bruce this year, as well as keeping him with the club for several years into what would have been his first free agent foray.

With career highs in all the best offensive categories (25 home runs, 70 RBI, .281 average, 35.3 Not Out Percentage, and .493 Slugging), Bruce established himself well in his age 23 season. There is definitely potential for growth and improvement, too.

This deal could prove to be a bargain if Bruce continues to improve. Even with the same production as 2010, I think it’s worth it. Bruce’s excellent, gold-glove level defense in right field isn’t something that’s likely to degrade, either. Unlike the other two signings this off-season by the Reds, it is refreshing to have a reasonable expectation of improvement for a player. I look forward to seeing Bruce patrolling right field for the foreseeable future.

Yesterday, towards the end of the day, the Cincinnati Reds made their only move of the 2010 Winter Meetings. They re-signed Miguel Cairo to a 2-year deal.

The contract is 2 years for $2 million, so an average of a million dollars each year. The length of the contract is…odd. Cairo will be 37 next year, and 38 when he finishes the deal. I know he’s signed only as a backup infielder, but color me skeptical about the production he’s likely to put up by the end of things.

Cairo was a great bench guy last season, filling in admirably when Joey Votto was injured. But in many ways, it was a career year. He had an on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS) of .763. The only time in his career that he’s performed better as a hitter was way back in 2001 at age 27 when he put up a .782 mark. His not-out percantage (NOP) of 35.3% was the second-best of his career, too. Both were well above his career averages of .678 OPS and a a NOP of 31.7%. What I’m saying is that Cairo will play more like he has during his career, possibly a little worse, and expecting him to contribute offensively as he did in 2010 is not rational.

A one year deal would have been fine. Signing him to 2 years seems to me to be more of a risk than it’s worth, especially with the younger, cheaper players available in the farm system.