Courtesy of CTR The Reds today made a number of spring training cuts.  

Alexander Smit was outrighted to Sarasota (off the 40-man roster.)
Richie Gardner and Tyler Pelland optioned to AAA.
C Chris Kroski, LHP Matt Maloney and LHP Adam Pettyjohn were reassigned to the minor league camp.

The Reds claimed 21 year old LHP Jose Capellan off waivers from the San Francisco Giants.  The Giants drafted him in this year's Rule V draft from the Boston Red Sox.  Follow the link to his career minor league stats and scouting report.  Great professional numbers, but never pitched above A-ball.  In 3 spring games with the Giants, Capellan pitched 2 and a third innings, 6 hits, 2 of which were homeruns, no walks, 1 strikeout and a hefty 11.59 ERA.  

Seems to squeeze an already tight 25-man roster spot.  Perhaps he can be stashed on the 25-man all year as a lefty specialist, then back to the minors next year to go back to starting?  

http://cincinnati.reds.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080227&content_id=2392164&vkey=news_ci n&fext=.jsp&c_id=cin

CLEARWATER, Fla. -- A revered member of the Reds' organization passed away Wednesday with the death of former farm director Sheldon "Chief" Bender.

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The Reds have played 4 weeks of baseball, and by now many of us have had a chance to hear all the new Reds commentators and combinations of commentators.  

We have no clue from one game to the next, or at least one series to the next, who will be calling which games.  Assuming you had a choice to listen to any of the combinations heard so far, other than Marty & Joe, who would you listen to on a nightly basis if given the choice?  Would you bring Steve Stewart back??

The legend of Double No-Hit By Robert Weintraub on ESPN Page 2.

A great article on a great pitcher in Reds history, and a couple of major league records that still stand to this day.

The article also paints a nice background of the tangential plot lines to the overall story.  

Is Brandon Phillips part of this untouchable, young core that should be a mainstay in the middle of Cincinnati's infield for the next 5-10 years?  

Should he be shifted to shortstop next year to improve the middle of the diamond defense?

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Eric Milton has a 58.3% quality start percentage going into tonight's game (14 for 24.)  Bronson Arroyo is at 64.5%, Lohse at 57.1% in his 7 starts.  A surprising number that jumped out at me was that Aaron Harang's latest start dropped him below a 50% quality start percentage for the season (48.4% - 15 for 31.)

How important is or how useless is the quality start statistic?  A quality start is defined as a start of at least 6 innings pitched with no more than 3 earned runs allowed.  

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The following comment was posted by Will two days ago on Daedalus's blog.  (I have been unable to post comment/reply there from work, but will post there also once I have access.)

"Rich Aurilia as a shortstop: "

".244/.279/.415 "

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but the whole point of starting Aurilia at SS is for his bat, right? Well, he's hitting no better then Clayton or Castro at short, so why are we making a major sacrifice in defense if we aren't getting anything in return offensively?"

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The infamous trade last week for bullpen help left many fans wondering what help was acquired and at what price.  The very early returns on Majewski are not inspiring.  

But the main question to ask is, why did the Reds need to pay so much for young bullpen arms that will conceivably be in the organization for the next few years when the goal was to win this year?

The Atlanta Braves just acquired bullpen help in their bid to chase down the Reds.  What did they give up?  A minor league player that no one except he and his mother had heard of.  

Who did they get?  Bob Wickman - 4.18 ERA, 1.43 WHIP.  Not great on the surface, but the funny thing about relievers stats is that a bad outing can easily inflate numbers.  Take Wickman's performance vs the Reds on June 30.  0.2IP, 3H, 5ER, 2BB, 0K, and his only HR allowed of the season.  Look at what he's done in his other 29 appearances of the season, and you find a much better relief pitcher with a 2.63 ERA and 1.28 WHIP.  

If there was any doubt that Krivsky overpaid for Bray and Majewski, I think the Braves trade for Wickman proves that he did.