I dunno…the fact that the only bona fide baseball activity coming out the Reds world is Brandon Phillips tweeting about his lack of contract kinda has me down. But gosh, it’s a little early to be getting all negative already doesn’t it? So rather than go off on a rant, I clicked on another of the unnecessary navigation buttons in the Redsfest landing page on Reds.com and copied out the list of Cincinnati-land celebrities who will be in attendance:

Brandon Phillips is not on the list, but then, neither am I, and I’ll be there.

With one week to go till Redsfest, the Red Hot Family has secured a hotel room and started planning our trip through the event. It’s a bit of a PITA because they’ve put every piece of information on a separate page on Reds.com, so there’s entirely more clicking than ought to be strictly necessary, but maybe they did that as intentional foreshadowing of all the line-standing.

I’ve grabbed the main stage schedule to save you one click at least. In case you were worried you wouldn’t be getting your RDA of shitty ’90s grunge music, worry not! Arroyo is closing out the event again this year.

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 2
4:00 p.m. — Redsfest Opening Act featuring Funky G & the Groove Machine presented by Coca-Cola
4:45 p.m. — Topps Pack Wars
5:25 p.m. — Reds Tribute to former owner Carl Lindner
5:30 p.m. — Introduction of Cincinnati Reds past & present
6:00 p.m. — Introduction of new mascot Mr. Red
6:25 p.m. — Kids Only Press Conference presented by GearUP
7:25 p.m. — 2011 Reds Team Awards Presentations
8:15 p.m. — Reds Hot Stove report featuring Walt Jocketty & Dusty Baker presented by FOX Sports Ohio
9:15 p.m. — Cincinnati Got Talent Semi-Finals presented by Toyota

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 3
11:00 a.m. — Redsfest Opening Act featuring Tropicoso presented by Coca-Cola
12:00 p.m. — Introduction of new mascot Mr. Red
12:10 p.m. — Chiquita “Hero of the Game” 2011 Yearly Award Presentation
12:15 p.m. — Reds Hot Stove Report featuring Walt Jocketty & Dusty Baker presented by FOX Sports Ohio
1:45 p.m. — Topps Pack Wars
2:05 p.m. — Kids Only Press Conference presented by GearUP
3:05 p.m. — Reds Alumni “Bull Session” presented by Reds Fantasy Camp
4:00 p.m. — Cincinnati’s Got Talent Finals presented by Toyota
5:10 p.m. — Bronson Arroyo Concert presented by Best Buy

Earlier this week, MLB announced the winner of the National League’s Most Valuable Player award. We all knew that Joey Votto would not be repeating for the Cincinnati Reds, thanks to their craptastic year. But we all wondered where he would place and how many votes he’d get.

As expected, the Milwaukee Brewers’ Ryan Braun won the award. And Votto placed sixth.

1. Ryan Braun, Milwaukee -388
2. Matt Kemp, L.A. Dodgers -332
3. Prince Fielder, Milwaukee -229
4. Justin Upton, Arizona1-214
5. Albert Pujols, St. Louis–166
6. Joey Votto, Cincinnati–135
7. Lance Berkman, St. Louis–118
8. Troy Tulowitzki, Colorado—69
9. Roy Halladay, Philadelphia–52
10. Ryan Howard, Philadelphia—39
11. Jose Reyes, N.Y. Mets—31
12. Clayton Kershaw, L.A. Dodgers–29
13. Shane Victorino, Philadelphia—18
14. Ian Kennedy, Arizona—16
15. Cliff Lee, Philadelphia—12
16. Hunter Pence, Houston-Phi.—10
17. Pablo Sandoval, San Francisco—7
18. John Axford, Milwaukee—7
19. Michael Morse, Washington—5
20. Carlos Beltran, N.Y. Mets-S.F.—3
21. Miguel Montero, Arizona—2
22. Yadier Molina, St. Louis—2
23. Starlin Castro, Chicago—1
24. Craig Kimbrel, Atlanta—1
25. Carlos Ruiz, Philadelphia—1
26. Mike Stanton, Florida—1

Votto was on a majority of the ballots, and I might quibble with him finishing lower than Prince Fielder–who is grossly overrated, in my opinion–but it’s still nice to see him getting some love. He’s very, very good, and I’m going to enjoy his time as a Red as long as it lasts. In fact, I’m sure I’ll be wearing my Votto jersey this weekend at RedsFest.

This was posted on Red Reporter a few days ago, and it’s rather hilarious. Witness the awesome fielding of St. Louis Cardinals’ erstwhile shortstop Ryan Theriot.

Hmm. I guess that makes it obvious why he was moved to second base in the middle of the 2011 season.

At the end of last week, the Chicago Cubs hired their new manager.

Instead of the obvious choice of fan-favorite Ryne Sandberg, or the probably correct choice of Pete Mackanin, the Cubs instead selected the Milwaukee Brewers’ hitting coach Dale Sveum. (I’ve heard it’s pronounced Swame, but I’m pretty sure Dale’s wrong about that. So I’ll keep pronouncing the “V.”)

Sveum was one of the more desired candidates, as the Boston Red Sox were also interested in him. Perhaps damaging the Red Sox–the former team of Cubs General Manager Theo Epstein–took precedence over hiring the better candidate? Sure, I’m biased, but I liked what I saw from Pete Mackanin when he was with the Cincinnati Reds. And I look forward to him getting a real chance to manager. Of course, it’s probably best for him that he wasn’t picked by the Cubs. No one can win with them.