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I hope everyone had as nice of a Thanksgiving as I did yesterday, and I hope everyone stayed safe if you went out bargain hunting this morning (or last night, or yesterday afternoon, or whenever your big-box store of choice decided to open its doors). In the meantime, here's some links to consider while munching your leftovers.
Bob Elliott of the Toronto Sun reports on the Blue Jays' continued interest in trading for Jay Bruce. Elliott reports that "The Reds are looking for 'inexpensive major-league ready players' according to scouts from another team familiar with what the Reds are seeking in trade talks." As well they should be. Elliott thinks that the Jays would be unwilling to move any of their young, cost controlled pitching arms and seems pessimistic that the Jays and Reds would be able to come together on a deal.
Speaking of outfielders, John Fay of the Cincinnati Enquirer asks what Billy Hamilton has to do to get better in 2015. Short answer: get on base more and don't get caught stealing so much. Fay slips into Captain Obvious mode, saying "If Hamilton can get his OBP to .330 or so in 2015, it will go a long way toward turning the Reds offense around." Can't argue with that.
MLB Trade Rumors is analyzing some high profile upcoming arbitration cases, and Matt Swartz took a look at Todd Frazier's case. The closest recent comparison is Pedro Alvarez (Frazier's advantage in average and baserunning cancels out Alvarez's advantage in power, evidently). Swartz has a model that projects Frazier to earn 4.6 million, but he thinks the final number will be slightly less than that. Fay chimed in on Frazier's situation, saying that Kyle Seager's recent contract with the Mariners may have the side effect of driving Frazier's price up.
The Farmer's Only crowd should be marking their calendars for this Thursday, December 4, because the Reds' new High-A minor league team in Daytona will be revealing their new name and logo on that day. Hopefully it'll be something you'll be able to make lots of funnies about. Share any predictions or suggestions in the comments.
Finally, big news on the internet today is the unveiling of the new Star Wars teaser trailer. It turns out it's more sports-related than you'd have thought. I too want to know what the deal with that soccer ball robot is.