Cincinnati Reds Links 7/23/15

The trade deadline is coming. Or at least so we keep being told. I mean, I guess the existence of the trade deadline isn't really in doubt, but my conviction that it has something to do with the Reds is slowly eroding into doldrummy madness. But the Reds are totally ready to trade everyone except Todd Frazier. It just hasn't happened yet. And there hasn't been much floating around in the way of rumors, though I feel that's always the way it is with Walt. Jon Heyman's latest doesn't have much juicy stuff, other than a rumor about Barry Larkin being considered to take over as manager. Heyman also says this:

Word is Cueto and star closer Aroldis Chapman have quite an intense rivalry going. Both are great. One difference is in lifestyle: Word is, Chapman spent $700,000 on cars this winter. Fortunately, he is believed to throw a lot faster than he drives.

I have no idea what any of that means, except that I don't think that last part is strictly true.

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred thinks that the trade deadline should be later, since the second wild card means that more teams are staying in contention longer. That seems... fine, I guess? I could be convinced otherwise. (You can always count on me for hard hitting opinion pieces.)

The Royals are looking at Jay Bruce, presumably in addition/simultaneously to looking at Cueto, which is sort of interesting. And John Fay thinks we should trade for Bronson Arroyo. I couldn't agree more. Pull the trigger, Walt.

Also, have you considered what Delino DeShields might think about any upcoming trades? Well, now you know.

In actual baseball-the-game-of-baseball-people-playing-baseball news, Joey Votto says that he's made an adjustment to his swing, which, after looking at video, he felt was out of whack. His results lately have been good, SSS.

OK, I have to say, I've been way more interested in the non-baseball things to repost right now. Like the heartwarming/soulcrushing saga of that guy who ran onto the field at yesterday's game and then escaped security and ran out of the park. And then he posted his selfie video of it on twitter and talked to local news and told them his name. And now the police are investigating. He seems mildly pleased about that. So trivial and delicious.

Also, this guy is going to throw a washing machine at the game on July 31.  The world we live in is just so amazing. Such harmless decadence I could never have imagined outside the world of a YA novel. Like, the protagonist is about to show up and discover the secret diabolical undercurrent they're hiding from us all. (It's not that secret, though.) They really should have sent a poet.