Chris Jaffe, the big giant brain behind The Hardball Times, has a whole system he uses to predict the likelihood of candidates getting voted into the Hall of Fame, based on things like how they polled last year, how many guys are on the ballot, and how many guys are in their last year of eligibility.

It’s apparently a pretty good system, since his predictions last year for all 18 candidates had an average margin of error of 2.4 percentage points. I doubt I could guess that close.

So, if this Sugar Bowl match up is making you gag and you just gotta get some baseball before the results are announced on Monday, check out Chris’s post and see Next week’s Cooperstown results today. And then go buy a cigar and bottle of bubbly for your Larkin induction party.

Click the image to see Walt Jocketty and the two new guys he just signed do a lovely Christmas dance for your enjoyment. It takes a minute to load, but it’s worth it.

Happy holidays, Reds fans everywhere!

MLB announced the winners of the Gibbys tonight at 9 p.m. on the MLB network and on their website. In the disaster of tabbing and scrolling that was the nominations, I only saw Brandon Phillips from the Reds, in the category of Best Defensive Player. Google was able to tell me that Phillips did not win this honor this year, thankfully without me having to sit through the actual program.

Instead, Asdrubal Cabrera took home the award, which I assume looks something like this:

Maybe next year.

D-Train has signed on with the Phillies, Hernandez went to the Rockies, and the biggest news in Reds world is that they’ve managed to retain their arbitration-eligible players.

That’s all good for not continuing to lose players, but at some point the team does need to replace some starters, right? I’m antsy for some hot stove action.

Not only do I not want to get stuck with whomever is left as Opening Day approaches, but also I’m bored. The Albert Pujols thing is so last week, and I’m ready to be wowed by the savvy stylings of one Mr. Jocketty.

I’d like to have something to talk about before the Reds Caravan comes to town. There’s only so much content you can get out of cell phone photos.

I got this email in my inbox today. I didn’t read the words, but it looks like the team is offering Joey Votto’s disembodied head for Christmas.