Marc Normandin plugs for trading Homer Bailey for a bat
There's certainly good reason to be concerned about the offense next year. LF is an obvious hole. But is there a realistic target that the Reds can acquire for a one-year rental? The article doesn't offer any specific targets. Meanwhile, Walt says signing Homer past this year is gonna be tough.
If you can look past your HOF fatigue for a moment,
Joe Posnanski posts an excellent take down of former Commish Fay Vincent for his blatant mistruths about the HOF and questionable rationale for keeping Pete Rose off the ballot. Vincent criticized a NYT op-ed by Kostya Kennedy (who has an upcoming book on Charlie Hustle) for saying that Rose is the only player in history to not appear on the HOF ballot because MLB made them ineligible. The not-so Fayman incorrectly states that Joe Jackson was in the same boat, even though he appeared on a couple of ballots in the '40s.
It's not a HOF per se, but Todd Frazier was inducted into All Sports Museum of Southern New Jersey
This happened last week. A nice little honor for him, I'm sure.
If you haven't seen it, Mark Sheldon breaks down the Reds Caravan stops here
Country star Jason Aldean to perform at four big league parks
I should probably know who this guy is, but I don't. Aldean apparently played well-received shows at Fenway and Wrigley last year. He is the reigning Academy of Country Music Awards "Male Vocalist of The Year" and has sold more than 8.5 million albums.
MLBTR reports that Dontrelle Willis is signing a minor league deal with the Giants
Essentially a chance to return home for Dontrelle. Good for him. If he can make it back, he'll get to pitch in a big park and keep hitting. Hard to believe he's just turning 32. Also, Chris Dickerson signed a minor league deal with Pittsburgh. Apparently he stays in touch with Votto.
BtBS asks "What can Bronson Arroyo do for you?"
He can pitch a lot, that's what. A neat list is attached of recent workhorses. Arroyo doesn't have the numbers of that august group, which makes his durability all the more special. BtBS actually has Arroyo pictured twice in separate articles, the second discussing home run prone pitchers.
Dudes - do you have what it takes to be the Gov of Brohio? I'm guessing it requires something about causing traffic jams at the Pennsylvania border.