Consider Paul Wilson. He has trimmed down, healed up, and is looking good. But that hair has got to go.

Don't get me wrong: I'm as big a fan of long locks as there is. But when Wilson gets on the mound, he makes LaRue look fresh as a daisy. Seriously, that guy could soak through a hat an inning.

And do we really need the visage of cloudy liquid dripping of the stringy clumps of that mane? Personally, I think that's something we could do without.

I'm glad to see him back, though.

BaseballGeeks Podcast #5 features a 2-minute recap of this week in Reds news as spoken by yours truly. Expect it around minute 17:40.

Since none of the local stores stock a USB microphone, it features the stellar quality of the internal mic of my Mac.

No really…it's the microphone quality that sucks. Not the voice talent.

Non-RHM-related topics of the program include:

• Skype
• Baseball Geezers Mike Piazza, Sammy Sosa, Jeff Bagwell, and Frank Thomas
• Predictions for the AL East
• Playertrack.com Top 10 3B
• False Rumors

According to Marc:

The Reds and Felipe Lopez have agreed to terms on a $2.7 million contract for this season, avoiding an arbitration hearing that was scheduled for next Wednesday. Lopez had asked for $3 million in his arbitration filing and the Reds had offered $2.15 million.

I was starting to wonder whether the Reds' fabled ability to avoid arbitration was a casualty of the ownership change. Now there's just one left: Mr. Dunn. What I wouldn't give to be a fly on the wall at that arbitration case.

There are a few odds and ends today, so I'll just put them in bullet formation and hope for the best:

• espn.com shows that the Reds designated Bubba Nelson for assignment today to make room for newly acquired RHP Rick White. (via RedsZone)
• The arbitration dates for Felipe Lopez (February 8) and Adam Dunn (February 17) have been set. Nice of them to set up Dunn to be the dramatic high point of the offseason. If all goes well, it could get fans nice and riled up just in time for…
• Single game tickets to go on sale February 18.

The Reds began interviewing General Manager candidates today and continue all this week. The list of candidates is up to seven:

1. Brad Kullman, Reds interim GM and Director of Baseball Operations
2. Johnny Almarez, Reds Director of International Scouting
3. Leland Maddox, Reds Special Assistance to the General Manager
4. Jim Beattie, recently-hired Special Advisor to Bob Castellini
5. Wayne Krivsky, Assistant GM for the Minnesota Twins
6. John Mozeliak, Assistant GM for the St. Louis Cardinals
7. Mike Arbuckle, Assistant GM for the Philadelphia Phillies

I'd like to give more information on these guys, but I just don't know it and I'm running out of time to do research before the decision is made. Nevertheless, I'm sure it'll be an exciting contest.

UPDATE 2/1/2006: I purposely delayed putting up this post in hopes that the public list would be stable, so now they've added a new name:

8. Frank Wren, Assistant GM for the Atlanta Braves