Cincinnati Reds links - Joey Votto one homer away from Gary Carter

Leave it to me to hype a post as ‘Cincinnati Reds links’ and then immediately dive into something that’s not really a link to any actual story. Instead, I’ll jump right into the career dinger leaderboards, since that’s a place where the name ‘Joey Votto’ has been climbing and climbing this year.

Votto now sits at 323 career dingers, and that’s obviously something in which Canadian baseball fans can take great pride. One more swat from Votto will tie him with another player near and dear to the hearts of Canadian baseball fans - Hall of Famer Gary Carter, who bashed 220 of his 324 career bonks as the engine of the Montreal Expos in the early 80s.

I should add that Justin Upton is also sitting on 324 career swats (and 999 career ribbies), so Votto would tie him for the time being, too. And in another homage to Canadian baseball history, catcher Lance Parrish finished with 324 career blasts, too - 4 of which came as a member of the Toronto Blue Jays in 1995, the final year of his rock solid career.

In other news (and an actual link!), it would appear that a co-owner of the Chattanooga Lookouts has been charged with running a years-long Ponzi scheme. John Woods is the man named in the suit, alleging that he’s been bilking folks out of millions for a decade now in the name of capitalism, and given that the Lookouts are the AA affiliate of the Reds, that’s got a few eyebrows raised this morning. Of course, he’s not the lone owner, so there’s little worry about the state of that franchise right now (especially since Fred Manrob and the big-sticks at MLB already wiped out 40+ MiLB franchises), but it’s certainly a situation to keep an eye on going forward [TM].

Over at The Athletic, Joey Votto spoke with Jayson Stark and Doug Glanville on the latest episode of their podcast, Starkville. I haven’t yet listened to it because I’m on a music kick and that’s occupying all of my earpower these days, but it’s Votto and Stark and Glanville and I will endorse that concept sound unheard immediately.

Speaking of pods, I’m firing up the poderator to record another episode of Bleav in Reds tonight, with BK joining me to break down the world of the Reds in talky-talk form. Like and subscribe to have it pop up in your podbox the moment it’s published, or just tune back in here at Red Reporter in the morning where I’ll have the stream uploaded.

Our friends at Brew Crew Ball have a series preview of the Reds trip up to face the Milwaukee Brewers this week, so check that out. We’d have one of those here at Red Reporter, but that would require someone to write one for Red Reporter dot com.

Over at FanGraphs, they acknowledge the existence of the Reds somewhere in their Power Rankings, which is a welcome surprise. Hell, they even have an actual percentage next to their playoff odds - imagine that!

Finally, there’s a damn good chance we find out that Tejay Antone has been activated and will be in the bullpen for tonight’s series opener in Milwaukee, which will be incredibly welcome news. Of course, that’ll require an offsetting roster move, one that at this point will probably involve either a notable decision on an out-of-options player or simply optioning Tony Santillan back to AAA despite him showing he’s clearly a vital member of the bullpen already. SPORTS!