On the one hand, the LEGO man has his feet actually stuck to little pegs on the ground. On the other hand, even a LEGO man could cover left field in Houston.

The Reds have teamed up with the traveling LEGO KidsFest while it comes to town later this month to provide tickets to both the LEGO extravaganza and a Reds game:

Purchase a session ticket for the LEGO KidsFest at Duke Energy Convention Center on March 23-25 and then pick a View Level from one of four Reds games in April or May! Minimum two ticket purchase required.

Both great events for only $25!
A $35 Value

Among the games you can get tickets to is the Astros, so if you have kids above the choking risk age (or, if you are one of those people who make giant LEGO models), you can answer this title question with your own observation.

Spring Training will officially kick off this week, and pitcher Roy Oswalt still doesn’t have a job.

ESPN’s Jayson Stark described the situation.

“He wanted to go to Texas. That’s not gonna happen. He wanted to go back to Philadelphia. That’s not gonna happen. He had some interest in the Reds. That doesn’t seem like it’s going to happen. So his choices still come down to, I think, going to Boston, where they have a clear need but he doesn’t seem to want to play, and going to St. Louis, where all his friends say he would love to be. But to do that, he has to do it on their terms.”

Oswalt has been a very good pitcher over his career. At 34, he’s definitely on the wrong side of 30 and in the winding down stage of his career–which an off 2011 hinted at–but he’s still likely to be better than a bunch of other pitchers who already signed. So what’s the deal? Why does he think he gets to be so picky?

My advice would be to suck it up and pitch in Boston. They’re the one with the need for him. Plus, it sounds like they’d offer him the most money. Both the Cardinals and the Reds have crowded starting rotations at the moment, and although Oswalt would be an upgrade over some of those pieces, his price may not be worth it.

I’d, of course, rather the Cards not sign him. That could definitely hurt the Reds’ chances this year. And I find the point Red Leg Nation made compelling.

It’s always difficult to make assumptions about a team’s budget from the outside-looking-in, given that we know basically nothing about the franchise’s budget plan, but we can make some inferences from the fact that John Fay thinks that trading Homer Bailey could be an option towards freeing up some salary. The odd thing is, Bailey is only scheduled to make $2.425 million this year, and I find the idea that a MLB franchise in the Reds’ position would allow $2.5 million to come between them and a one year deal for a starting pitcher they want to acquire to be a bit of a hard pill to swallow.

It’s always easy to spend someone else’s money, but not getting Oswalt over a matter of $2.4 million when you’ve already decided to go all-in this year doesn’t sound right. You’re either all-in, or you’re not. Unless there’s something in the medical report on Oswalt that alarms the Reds, I will be most disappointed if Oswalt winds up in St. Louis.

Yesterday we got up early to stand in line for some Reds autographs. It was a pretty weak line-up, but Nick Masset isn’t bad to look at and maybe that Billy Hamilton will be the biggest name of all in a few years. Plus, it’s always a treat to hang out with Rosie.

It’s been painfully quiet on the Reds news front lately, hasn’t it? If there were anything real to talk about, I wouldn’t be screwing around with second-place finishes in fake awards.

But there isn’t and I am, so here we go.

If the two stats provided here were the criteria by which this award is intended, then Phillips actually won. But since it’s a voting thing, he lost out to Asdrubal (like regular Drupal, only even harder to use thanks to the ass).

Not that I’d kick Cabrera out of the infield for eating crackers, but I think we all know that Phillips only lost this vote-a-thon because we’re all so confident in his superiority that we didn’t need to prove anything to the internet with a bunch of clicking on the Vote button.

Don’t worry guys: the Reds Caravan is coming to town next week, and we’ll have some actual stuff to talk about then.

John Erardi of the Cincinnati Enquirer has a nice piece up today where he talks to Hall of Famer Tony Perez about what is about to change for recently elected Hall of Famer Barry Larkin.

It isn’t how you think of yourself that changes, Perez said.

It is how others think of you.

That is the biggest thing that will change for Larkin, Doggie predicted.

“Wherever Barry goes, that’s how he will be introduced now: ‘Hall of Famer Barry Larkin,'” said Perez. “On that one weekend a year, it changes the company you keep. That’s why you keep going back. Not only because they (the Hall of Fame officials) want you to, but because you want to. I love seeing those guys again.”

You should read the whole thing, as it includes a nice recounting of Tony Perez’s experience on being inducted and his first tour through Cooperstown.

Plus, if you have any memorabilia signed by Larkin, you’ll get to see how much its value has increased.