I was sitting in my seat on the first base line when one of the ushers came over to a woman in the row in front of me and said:

“Did you see the news? Wily Mo is gone?”

The woman had seen the news, and after the usher left, I asked what was up. She said he'd gone to Boston. For whom? She had to ask her husband:

“Some guy named Arroya or something?” he responded. A few minutes later a guy in our row got an instant message confirming the news. Later, I would be the first to tell Raquel Aurilia about it.

Anyway, I have to run to FinDaddy's. It's probably getting packed. But welcome Bronson Arroyo. May you have a heck of a year. And good luck Wily Mo.

Eight more Reds' hopefuls left spring training camp yesterday, casualties of the second significant round of cuts.

Jimmy Journell and Ben Kozlowski join Anderson Machado, Aaron Herr, and Derek Wathan in the category of “reassigned to minor league camp.” I believe this just means that they weren't on the major league roster to begin with, so moving them around was just a matter of telling them where to show up in the morning.

Elizardo Ramirez and Ray Olmedo were on the roster, so sending them to Louisville required an option. I'm going to miss Olmedo, but I think he'll be back. The Lizard scares me a little, but I imagine the Reds can't afford not to give him another chance. Also, Travis Chick, Phil Dumatrait, Miguel Perez, and Joey Votto were optioned to Chattanooga.

Six guys left Reds spring training camp today, casualties of the first non-weight-based roster cuts.

Luke Hudson and Bubba Nelson were released. Anderson Machado, Aaron Herr, Derek Wathan, and Josh Hall were sent to minor league camp.

The moves for Machado, Herr, and Wathan don't surprise me. Machado lacked scrapitude compared to Ray Olmedo when the two were asked to prepare for the possibility for playing in the outfield last season. I imagine Machado would have really had to demonstrate some serious Veteran Presence and Knowing How to Play the Game if he was going to win Narron over.

As for Herr and Wathan, I'd never heard of them, so I pretty much expected them to end up in the minors.

The fact that Hall was re-assigned when Hudson and Nelson were just let go was a little surprising, but without seeing them for myself, I'm not prepared to say that any of them were the wrong move. It seemed like Hudson wasn't doing so bad this year, but I find I'm kind of relieved that he's moving on. His inconsistency isn't my problem anymore.

Everyone else's inconsistency, on the other hand…

Now to anxiously await the next round of cuts. Four of the seven who have been cut so far have had last names that begin with the letter H (the three mentioned here plus Josh Hancock). Watch your back, Aaron Holbert!

While I was stirring up trouble over at Bleed Cubbie Blue, one of the posters brought this link at MLB trade rumors to my attention. It cites a story in Newsday and the fact that Adam Dunn started in left field the other day as evidence that the Reds are ready to trade an outfielder.

Now, just because I said the same thing back when the Reds signed Hatteberg doesn't mean I'm convinced now. Who's even offering the kind of pitching that the Reds want? I tend to think that if decent pitching were available for the minor cost of one Reds slugger, we'd have it by now.

Still, I'd be pretty thrilled if there were someone awesome we could get for one of our outfielders. I'm all for giving the Heartthrob a chance.

The ESPN.com rumor page reports that the Washington Nationals and San Diego Padres are the only teams apparently interested in negotiating with Pedro Astacio. It references a story in the Washingtom Times, possibly this one regarding the offer from the Nats:

The Nationals have offered the 36-year-old right-hander a non-guaranteed, minor-league contract to report to spring training, and baseball sources said he's expected to decide between the Nationals and San Diego Padres within 48 hours.

So, Astacio couldn't even pitch for the Padres until May 1 (he missed the deadline) while the Nationals are only willing to give a minor league deal. Sounds like Cincinnati has an opportunity to make a pretty appealing, incentives-laden offer. Hopefully, they see that their apparent drop out of the race is a play to bring the price down.

I guess the next 48 hours will tell.