Reds Daily Bread w/ Fred

Yeah, I know. Shut up about it. The title of this column is "Daily Bread" but here it is the end of April and this is the first one I've put together so far. Sue me.

Baseball is back since the last time you heard from me, dear redders. I've been enjoying my semi-retirement thanks for asking. Me and the ol' Missus took our dog Boafus up to the lake house and spent a few weeks bringin' in the rhubarb. We got some real thick, fat stalks, yessir. I think we canned nearly 100 quarts and made a few pies to boot. So I guess you could say you caught me here red-handed!

Up there at the lake all we got is the old Bakelite so I followed our dear Redlegs on the radiowaves. My old friend Marty is as good as ever, I must say. Although, I do wonder about him sometimes. Is it just me, or is he getting soft in his old age? The way he goes on, he sounds sweeter than this here rhubarb pie.

I heard about manager Brian Prince doing his best Lou Pinella impersonation. Oh, boy! What a redass! Although, I wished I hadn't said so many cuss words. All the bleeping and beeping started to bejabber my Beltones.

Some folks was upset at his outburst, but not me. You gotta let the man do his job. What is there to gain from asking him to play 20 Questions? It's clear the young rookie Mezorko isn't quite ready for primetime. Having him pinch-hit there would be like having DiMaggio pinch-hit for Wally Pipp. And we all know how that turned out.

Not only do I think Prince is handling the media beautifully, but I think he's also doing a bang-up job at his actual day job, too. Pulling the wily veteran Jason Marquis off the scrap-heap was a masterstroke. The gutsy gunslinger already has one win under his belt and he would have another if the offense coulda scored a few runs for him in that game in Chicago. Having him around almost makes you forget whether Marc Latos spelled his name with a "k" or a "c".

However, I am worried about his lineup construction. Maybe he should have bench coach Chris Spier fill out the lineup card everyday. Price has been slotting Lion in Winter Joey Votto in at the 2nd spot. Call me old-fashioned, but when a guy is leading the league in RBIs, you bat him clean-up.

The one player that really has me excited though is this kid Kevin Gregg. Where'd they find this guy? Can you say "Closer of the Future?" Aroldis Chapman better not sleep on this guy, no sir. I wouldn't be surprised if the Reds try to work this kid in to some save situations here soon to get him so closer experience. You never know.

Even with all of this drama, the Reds are still just a few games out of first place in the NL Central. The Cardinals got off to a hot start, but word is that their staff ace and all-world class-act Aaron Wainwright hurt his foot and will be out for the season. This thing is now wide open, kids.

Speaking of Wainwright, he hurt himself batting, which has a lot of folks grumbling about bringing the DH to the NL. I say horse hockey. The NL has gotten along just fine for 150 years without a DH and it'll keep on getting along for another 150. The American League is the only professional baseball league to use a DH and they've been doing it for 40 years. Derek Jeter never needed no DH. Anyway, if it was going to happen, it would have happened already. And it hasn't. So it won't.  Next question.