Still nothing on the Manager front, though activity may resume with the shutdown now over. The Cubs have interviewed Dave Martinez. To the extent he was in the Reds' sights, they may be losing him. Redleg Nation stumps for Pete Mackanin.
Blog Red Machine grades the Reds' Leftfield as a C-. At Harvard, maybe. With a line of .250/.313/.374, the adjusted OPS compared to other NL leftfielders was just 88. The defense was mixed but passable, with Heisey and Robinson evening out Paul and Ludwick.
Jonathan Mayo prefers Billy Hamilton over DeShields the Younger, while his colleague and former Baseball America writer Jim Callis would take the latter. Overshadowed by Hamilton's legendary thievery, DD Jr. had a fine year of his own in 2012 with 101 swipes. But to me it's no contest - Jr. still hasn't played in AA yet, and the fact that he came up as a 2B rather than a SS suggests he doesn't have Quix's athletic ceiling. The more interesting question is whether either matches DeShields Sr.'s career. The current Pensacola Blue Wahoos manager put up 15 WAR in his first six seasons on the strength of a good OBP (.363) and 253 steals.
The White Sox have signed Cuban slugger Jose Abreu to a six year, $68 million deal. That blows away the deals other Cuban stars like Puig and Cespedes received. It can't hurt infielder Alex Guerrero's negotiations, who was already a remote possibility for Cincinnati (just as they were for Aroldis Chapman).
The Red Sox moved a game away from the World Series last night, but holy cow Jose Iglesius. The Cardinals go for the clinch tonight. Presumptive CYA winners Clayton Kershaw and Max Scherzer both pitch on the road with their team's backs against the wall, so that's neat.
Meanwhile, during the ALCS last night, Parks & Rec unveiled the law firm of Babip, Pecota, Vorp & Eckstein. Umm, where do I sign up?
Ohioans, you're in Yuengling country. So am I, for that matter. Beats the hell out of Bud Light.