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.

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We all know how much the current Cincinnati Reds suck (I’m looking at you, Dusty Baker), so let’s distract ourselves from the dreary present and let the nostalgia of the perfect past. You know, like the only way the poor Reds marketing department has to entice people to games.

Barry Larkin will be on the Hall of Fame ballot for the first time this year, and unlike Davey Concepcion, Larkin may actually be good enough for the Hall. Had I short-sightedly chosen to enter the dying newspaper industry and accrued the requisite number of years experience, he’d have my vote.

And apparently, the votes of a few people who made that choice I did not. The Reds beat writer John Fay is voting for Larkin, as is Jim Caple at ESPN. I bet there’s more than that out there, but will it be enough? Will it be the 75% needed to be in Cooperstown forever?

For those of you interested in that thing called “statistics”, Redleg Nation put up a nifty table comparing Larkin to all other Hall of Fame shortstops. If Larkin’s high standing among those elite doesn’t sway you, how about a personal letter from Bob Castellini?

Whether Larkin makes it in this year or next, I’ll always remember him for the standing back-flip he did during the 1990 playoffs. And you can relive those thrilling days of yesteryear–when the Reds not only managed to win more than they lost, but make it to the playoffs–by attending RedsFest this year. I understand Barry Larkin is going to be there.

I’m late to the party on this, but the Reds and baseball haven’t been occupying my mind too much lately.

Apparently, the Reds did have some money to spend this off-season. Instead of doing anything useful with it, like firing Dusty Baker, they opted to bring back a mediocre catcher for well above the league minimum.

So welcome back, Ramon Hernandez. Knowing Dusty, I imagine you’ll be taking time from productive players like Joey Votto as soon as the next season starts.