then Corey Patterson has the lowest on base percentage of any major league player with more than 110 major league at bats this season.

Here's a list of players, their number of at bats, their on base percentage, and the number of games started at leadoff.

Player				ABs			OBP		    GS Leadoff

Uribe, J			126			.257			0

Blum, G				119			.256			0

Bynum, F			92			.255			2

Rabelo, M			102			.250			0

Molina, J			129			.239			0

Patterson, C 			166			.229			27

Rivera, J 			53			.228			0

Jones, J 			37			.227			0

Tulowitzki, T 			105			.226 			0

Broussard, B			82			.225			0

Hu, C				102			.224			0

Estrada, J			39			.220			0

Nix, J				35			.216			0

Marte, J			46			.204			0

Pena, T				162			.174			0

Wood, B				64			.164			0

So while Dusty isn't the only manager to give a prolific outmaker lots of at bats, he does appear to be the only one to insert this outmaker at the very top of his motherhumping lineup.

It should be noted, furthermore, that only on the rarest occurences have any of these players batted before the heart of the lineup in their starts -- except for Corey P., of course, who's batted in front of the 3 hitter in every single one of his starts.

I'm not sure what else to say. The Patterson situation has gone so far beyond the frontiers of the utterly insane that it's getting hard to keep a proper perspective on it.

Slyde, along with JinAZ and GregATL, contributed to another John Erardi piece in today's Enquirer. It's a little scattershot, but it's nice to see the "little things" mantra get a much-needed kick in the balls. They even give some time to the notion of hitting Dunn second. I can imagine Dusty spitting out his toothpick when he reads that.

Anyway, this probably should go under FanShots because I don't really have much else to say about it, but, as Montaigne once said, screw FanShots.

Freel trade rumors are gaining a little traction with yesterday's Hal McCoy piece. Apologies if it has been posted elsewhere on RR; I haven't seen it:

http://www.journal-news.com/s/content/oh/story/sports/pro/reds/2008/03/08/ddn030908reds.html

Also of interest in this discussion is MLBTradeRumors floating the "Frofton" monster idea again:

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2008/03/freel-could-be.html#comments

On some level, I enjoy watching Freel's Leeroy Jenkins routine, but he is 32 and has suffered multiple concussions. I wonder if he'll ever again play more than 110 games in a season.

Freel's strength, as we know, is that he can play all over the field with some level of competence (some), but if the Reds feel that their current roster makes Freel expendable, then he does have some trade value. Given his '04-'06 seasons, Freel might be attractive to teams needing an "energy guy" or a platoon partner for a player with poor splits (as MLBTR's theory suggests).

He's set to make a around $3 million in '08 with a bump to $4 million in '09.

The White Sox have apparently expressed interest in Freel before, and he certainly seems like an Ozzie Guillen guy, but I'm not sure if he'd fit in Chicago now.

Freel has been a much discussed player here, but his scrappitude has been eclipsed somewhat by Hoppinger. I think McCoy's story provides a welcome opportunity to pore over Ryan again...

...in the name of love.

   VS.   


Lineups from (sic):

Lineups for split-squad vs. Pittsburgh
1:05 game (No radio):

Ryan Freel CF
Scott Hatteberg 1B
Ken Griffey Jr. RF
Brandon Phillips 2B
Adam Dunn LF
Edwin Encarnacion 3B
Juan Castro SS
Paul Bako C
Ryan Hanigan DH

P Johnny Cueto. Also pitching: Richie Gardner, Jon Adkins, Scott Sauerbeck, Brad Salmon. Also available:Tyler Pelland, Adam Pettyjohn, Justin Lehr, Ramon Ramirez and Tom Shearn.

Gotta like the CASTO appearance. If you're Zach.

Fartz has Gameday link below and: http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/y2007/gd.html?2008_03_07_pitmlb_cinmlb_1

Tonight:

7:05 p.m. game (No radio)
Norris Hopper CF
Jeff Keppinger SS
Jay Bruce RF
Drew Anderson LF
Joey Votto 1B
Jolbert Cabrera 3B
Andy Phillips 2B
Javy Valentin C
Alvin Colina DH

P Bronson Arroyo. Also pitching: Todd Coffey, Gary Majewski, Jared Burton, Jon Coutlangus, Jim Brower. Also available: Josh Roenicke, Daryl Thompson, Mike Lincoln and Sergio Valenzuela.

By "No Radio" Fay of course means "Yes Radio." At least that's what the Reds official site says, so who knows? Not me. We never lost control.

So it seems that Barry Bonds and his agent Jeff Borris are actually fairly bullish about taking their snake oil show over to Nippon to work the Bob Harris circuit.

http://www.metronews.ca/column.aspx?id=108074

Which gotst me to thinking. Under what scenario does it make sense for the Reds to take a serious look at Bonds? What kind of contract and perqs would you be willing to offer? What would the resulting roster look like?

To my mind, there are FAR FAR too many negatives--both in terms of pure baseball stuff and PR madness--to consider taking a run at Bonds. In fact, he probably makes less sense in Cincinnati than almost anywhere in MLB.

But...what's the harm in a little creative thinking?

Unless you're Dusty Baker, that is.

(BTW it looks like the Rays might be considering bringing the Devil back to the Bay Area: )

According to the Mariner's Blog at the Seattle Times, Erik Bedard is heading to the Mariners in exchange for Adam "Pacman" Jones and other players not yet named.

Link: http://blog.seattletimes.nwsource.com/mariners/2008/01/bedardjones_deal_going_down.html

The deal hasn't been officially announced, so it's hard to react to it, but when has that ever stopped us?

Trent doesn't have lineups up, so....a little poetry, MM?

Well, since you asked. Hows 'bout a little Philip Larkin for that ass? I love the Reds, but right now I believe most Reds lovers feel like the lovers in the poem below.

Talking In Bed

Talking in bed ought to be easiest,
Lying together there goes back so far,
An emblem of two people being honest.
Yet more and more time passes silently.
Outside, the wind's incomplete unrest
Builds and disperses clouds in the sky,
And dark towns heap up on the horizon.
None of this cares for us. Nothing shows why
At this unique distance from isolation
It becomes still more difficult to find
Words at once true and kind,
Or not untrue and not unkind.

Exeunt.

I think all those with Magic Powers are on vacation. So I guess this can be a thread. Tough losses last night. Poorly managed and poorly played. Hope for better tonight with the Harangatan working his voodoo.

Hamilton
Gonzalez
Griffey
Phillips
Dunn
Valentin
Hatteberg
Encarnacion
Harang

Already 3-0 Reds with Griff's 592....