- Baseball Minutia has a longish, rambling post that invokes all kinds of Reds names from the past. I know I rave about this site all the time, but seriously if you've never clicked through, click through today.
- Christina Karl on recent transactions:
Kim and Johnson are exactly what they seem--straggling bits of punctuation to the ever-lengthening list of second-rate and second-line pitching talent that Wayne Krivsky dealt for in his desperate quest for adequacy. For all of Krivsky's machinations during the season, the Reds are really left with a basic challenge: is Bill Bray's career going to be worth the bare minimum of what the Nationals got (two arbitration years from both Felipe Lopez and Austin Kearns)? For all of the PTBNLs (or cash) that the Reds have to parcel out this winter to complete Krivsky's other deals, there's probably not a whole lot left to peddle away. Krivsky's challenge transcends fixing this team inside of one season, and I guess I'm left wondering what you do if you get to the postseason with guys like Kim and Johnson, besides play speed bump on somebody else's road to destiny, but let's face it, this Reds season wasn't about winning. It's more about making sure season ticket sales go up this winter, and it's too soon to say whether the Castellini/Williams ownership troika should break out a "mission accomplished" banner on that score.
Speed bump on somebody else's road to destiny. I suppose it hurts because it's true.
(Hat tip)
- Sean Watson really struggled in Dayton this year. Returns are early, but man this past draft isn't looking as good as some of Dan O'Brien's.
- Scott Williamson apparently still considers Cincinnati home, and has a lot of nice things to say about the city and the organization. I wouldn't mind having him back at all.
- Tom Ledered on Nolan Ryan and his famous 100.8 MPH fastball. Awesome read. I definitely remember reading Ryan's Guinness Book of World Records entry for fastest pitch ever thrown as a kid.
- Marc Normandin has some interesting thoughts on the NL MVP race this year, and the old "team X wouldn't be where they were if not for player Y." argument.
- Ryan Howard carries a big stick.
- What the hell is wrong with people? Aparrently a T-ball coach (yes, T-ball) allegedly offered a kid $25 to throw balls at a disabled kid, in hopes that the disabled player would get hurt and not play. T-ball.