I loved Brandon Phillips during his peak years, and as a Cubs fan I wanted them to go get him because he's a good defender and a good teammate.

But it's hard to ignore the decline of his numbers, both in counting stats and sabermetrics. Do you think he can maintain a 15/15 season, or is he on his way down to the third tier of 2B, just a top-12 guy?

Obviously Reds fans have loyalty to him because he's basically played his whole MLB career here, but what do you expect from him in offense going forward?

I hope to hell we pick up Clay Rapada and make him grow a handlebar mustache. With a combination of Zavada/Rapada, Louisville would confuse the shit of their opponents.

Carson Cistulli of NotGraphs posted an interview with Glenn Braggs in which Mr. Braggs discusses the famous incident of breaking a bat over his back in the 1990 World Series. Footage of said broken bat is included, along with Tim McCarver freaking the hell out.

GlennBraggsSwingandMissBrokenBat (or whatever his name is) will be pleased.

ESPN's own pontificating on our own beloved Canadian's 2014 team prospects. I love how he starts out with an apology, as if that makes up for the sheer lack of research and speculation.

Like Votto would ever play for the Cubs. Yuck.

He came off the A's 40-man roster to make room for Jonny Gomes, no less. Someone tell me why this guy isn't as good as Wilson Valdez?

And that really is him playing piano.

I am impressed that Mat Latos decided it was worth his while to travel on the Reds Caravan. While the interview is not terribly Earth shattering, it is pretty cool that he was there.

Seems low risk and, if he can turn the clock back five years, high reward.

A somewhat interesting article on WAR over 5 year spans, but found this tidbit particularly intriguing:

1989-1993: Barry Bonds (46.3), Rickey Henderson (34.3), Cal Ripken (30.3), Ryne Sandberg (29.4), Ken Griffey Jr. (28.6)

Speaking of 1993, Bonds was off-the-charts spectacular that season, as he led the NL in home runs, RBIs, on-base percentage, slugging and total bases, scored 129 runs, won a Gold Glove, stole 29 bases, cured the sick and kept the fog out of San Francisco. An interesting note: Bonds spent most of that season batting fifth, as Dusty Baker wanted to split Clark and Bonds, two left-handed batters, with righty Matt Williams. So Baker hit his best hitter fifth, giving him fewer plate appearances over the course of the season (about 30 fewer than if he’d hit third all season), and the hitter with the lowest OBP fourth, cutting into Bonds’ RBI opportunities. It’s likely that if Baker had gone Williams, Bonds, Clark or Bonds, Williams, Clark, the Giants may have won an extra game or two ... and beat out the Braves.

Ken Rosenthal reports that it's a one year deal, with $ 2.5 million guaranteed. Here's hoping that someone convinces him it's 2008.