Red Reposter - Tuesday Bluesday

Since your excitement level has cratered, the Cincinnati Reds are going to start David Holmberg on Thursday in Great American Ball Park against the Atlanta Braves, or at least that's what John Fay of the Enquirer postulates based on some sleuthy sleuthing.  Holmberg got lit up in his lone big league start last year with the Arizona Diamondbacks, and he got lit up similarly in his lone start with the Reds so far this season, but he's still a young, projectionable control-starter who has four "eh" level pitches and can command both sides of the plate when he's on.  Or something.  That's what they'll tell you when he's about to take the mound, but I'm not holding out hope for Mongo as a regular big-league starter.  If you're going to Thursday's game, get a ticket in LF and bring your gloves.

Want a nostalgic trip down Ken Griffey, Jr. lane?  Well, ESPN.com's Jayson Stark and his colleagues are playing the "what if" game with a series of columns this week, and Stark took a look at what The Kid's career would have looked like had he not run into the numerous leg injuries that derailed his 30's or, more specifically, how Junior as a Red never took off the way we'd all hoped.  Stark and his stats' conclusion?  He'd have been neck and neck with Barry Bonds as the all-time dinger king, and he'd have hung around long enough to take the title had he had that record within his healthy grasp.  Moral of the story?  If the Reds were better, there'd be more stuff to link to in Reposters.

For a glimpse into how many MLB scouts and evaluators track and grade all the top prospects in the minors, FanGraphs' Kiley McDaniel provided a primer that details what kind of tools it takes to end up at the top of all the rankings.  As the minor league seasons come to a conclusion in the coming weeks, every baseball site everywhere is going to to run through each and every prospect and come up with a Top Something list, so having this engrained in your brain before they all are released wouldn't hurt.  Then you'll get super excited when there's only one hitting prospect from the Reds system on any of the lists, and you'll get super-er excited-er when you find out he's been hurt with a bum wrist.  Get well soon, Uncle Jesse.

Chad Dotson chimed in with some interesting thoughts about the Reds recent play for Cincinnati Magazine.

Aroldis Chapman is day to day because he's dealing with a sore shoulder.  Of course he is.

There's a minor leaguer in the Tampa Bay Rays organization named "Johnny Field," which I find awesome.

There's a guy in the front office of the Lexington Legends named "Ty Cobb," which is similarly something I find awesome.

This is MLB Pipeline.  It's MLB.com's site that talks about the future.  It's about time the Reds started paying attention to the future.