Cincinnati Reds links: Did the Reds lose? Yes(x12).

It's been 31 years since the Reds have finished in last place in their division.

Well, actually, let me start over. It HAD BEEN 31 years since the Reds had finished last place in their division. Yesterday, we dialed that number back to zero. For the first time since 1983*, the Reds will finish in last place and, as it turns out, that 31 year stretch of not bottoming out was the best in all of sports. 121 of 122 current major professional sports teams have all done it at least once since the last time the Reds have done it. This has been your, "this seems really cool but also very arbitrary" factoid of the day.

Seems as good of a time as any to remind you that this team stinks, is only one game in front of the Phillies for very worst in all of baseball. But, that means that they are also only one game away from grabbing the number one pick in the 2016 MLB Draft. That almost feels like winning, I guess.

Thursday wrapped up the home portion of the 2015 Reds season and with it the final time that some of these players will be playing at Great American Ball Park as a part of the home team. The most prominent name on this list, speculatively, is Jay Bruce. Blog friend C. Trent Rosecrans caught up with Bruce after the game to discuss the rumors of his name coming up in trade talks. "I think that anyone can get traded at any time, it's one of those deals where I'm a Red until I'm not," Bruce said. Jay had his second straight disappointing season in 2015 and you'd have to think that trading him at this point would be the definition of "selling low." Then again, Bruce will be making $12.5 million dollars next season, and with that kind of scratch on the line, you expect a player to be producing at a higher rate.

I can't ever tell if the public perception of Jay is actually split, or if the negative side of it is just really, really loud, but personally I'd be really bummed if Jay was traded in the offseason, though I'd certainly see the logic and reasoning behind it. Whether or not he's traded in the offseason or shopped again next deadline, it's becoming very likely that we're approaching the final days of "Jay Bruce, Reds RF," and it's a certain possibility that Thursday's home game was his last in Cincinnati.

Also of note in that article: The Reds season attendance for 2015 was 2,419,506. That figure is 8th best in team history, but, you know, For Sale signs and rabble and blah.

Want "a person who actually has a clue of what he's talking about's" take on Reds pitching prospect Amir Garrett? Of course you do, even if you didn't know you did before! John Sickels from Minor League Ball wrote some nice things about Garrett yesterday, and you can read those nice things here. Right now, Sickels grades Amir as a middle of the rotation prospect with a ceiling that can creeps into #2 starter range.

I grade him as an ace because all of the Reds pitching prospects are all going to inexplicably turn into aces and we're going to have a five ace rotation in 2017 on the way to a World Series championship. Then again, I'm "a person that has no clue of what he's talking about."

Also some fun from Minor League Ball that I know will interest a lot of us:  Sickels takes a look at the early results from some of the "Best Names" in the 2015 MLB Draft. Reds 20th round pick Rock Rucker makes the list. Satchel McElroy, on the other hand, does not, which I feel is a HUGE oversight. And allow me to be the first to say that Dustin Hurlbutt is THE BEST name for a pitcher.

Finally, Jonah Keri over at Grantland poetically waxed about the Reds all rookie rotation, and it gives room for optimism that this rebuild reboot may actually bear fruit in the sooner rather than later, at least when it comes to the pitching rotation.

Or, we're going to end up with one hell of a bullpen that's going to be handed a four run deficit in the 4th inning of every game. Or what some may call, "2015."

*I was informed by an email from a loyal reader named Ralph that the Reds indeed did not finish last in 1984 but rather ended the season in last in 1983. The ESPN article states, "Since the beginning of 1984..." which indeed would mean the end of the 1983 season. I just caught the year. H/t to Ralph for the correction!