Cincinnati Reds links - Chattanooga is Reds country once again

Last week, we heard that the Cincinnati Reds and Pensacola Blue Wahoos had failed to reach an agreement to extend their player development contract, meaning that it was highly likely that the Reds would be on the lookout (**PUN ALERT**) for a new AA affiliate. As it turns out, they’ll actually be heading back home in a way, as C. Trent Rosecrans confirmed on the twitters earlier Tuesday.

David Paschall of the Times Free Press revealed that the Reds and Lookouts will renew a partnership that previously ran from 1988 through 2008, and that said partnership will be announced later this afternoon.

It’s a solid move for the Reds, as it keeps them in the AA Southern League while also bringing their affiliate that much closer to Reds Country. Considering the endless shuffle that teams go through almost every off-season with their minor league franchises, this is a pretty solid endgame, all told, especially for those minor leaguers that will get to call the fine city of Chattanooga home for the next few years.

In other news, the Cincinnati Reds made a pair of promotions from within today, announcing that Shawn Pender has been named VP of Player Development and that Eric Lee has been named Senior Director of Player Development. Considering I know absolutely nothing about the relative qualifications of either, I can only trust that they’re wholly deserving of these positions. That said, it’s continually an odd thing to watch this franchise consistently promote from within while consistently putting a sub-par product on the field almost every single year.

Speaking of which, Jim Riggelman hopes the Reds lift the interim tag off his title, as MLB.com’s Glenn Sattell reported earlier this week. Riggleman, you’ll remember, was the 3B coach for the Reds before being promoted from within to the role of bench coach, which is the position he was in when then manager Bryan Price was canned earlier this year. He has been around for - and has been a prominent leader in - the losing this franchise has sustained for years now, too, and frankly, I do not hope they lift the interim tag off his title. I hope they remove his title altogether.

Related: C. Trent detailed how this season is stumbling to the finish in many similar ways to how it stumbled out of the gate for The Athletic. This has truly been one of the absolute most disappointing, boring seasons of any team I’ve ever followed regularly in my entire life, and given the backdrop of several years of historic losing that preceded it, I simply cannot fathom another winter of the same old, same old strategery that got the Reds to this point. At least, I cannot fathom how I’ll react to it, since I still firmly expect the team will keep Scooter Gennett, sign Matt Harvey for more than he’s worth, and show up to Goodyear in March thinking they’ve done enough to try to compete against an NL Central that’s juuuust about to send three other teams to the playoffs this year. Yes, this year compounded with the last four years has made me as cynical as I may have ever been, but here we are.

Want another reason for growing cynicism: Scott Schebler will be moving to LF for next year, with Jesse Winker now penciled in to take over in RF, as The Enquirer’s Bobby Nightengale relayed. You’ve watched both play defense. You’ve seen both of them run and throw. They’re really doing this. They really are. How early is too early for nine beers? Asking for a friend...

Finally, Bronson Arroyo is playing a concert in Cincinnati on November 9th, and mannn is Sean Casey ever pumped.