There's nothing like RedsFest and the winter meetings to get you in a baseball mood.
But are you excited by this Reds team?
For years I heard people say the Reds should just go young -- and it appeared they were doing it, but you weren't happy with it. Is that why they traded Zach Stewart for Scott Rolen? I don't know, but it did send a mixed message and confused Reds fans.
It's always more interesting to see what the GM and big man will tell fans at RedsFest, sometimes they're more forthcoming in that situation than with a press member one-on-one.
We'll see.
But either way, I'll take Hot Stove talk over "fairness" of college football and complaints about scoring in the NFl anyday.
* FanGraphs lists the Reds' top 10 prospects, with Yonder Alonso at the top. Baseball America doesn't think much of the Reds farm system, though.
* One Hall of Fame voter says Barry Larkin falls short in his opinion.
* Another look at the Cyclones' cool Reds sweater -- they'll be auctioned off after the game with proceeds going to the Reds Community Fund.
* The Rays released former Red RHP Ramon Ramirez, if you realized he was no longer a Red.
* Top prospect Bryce Harper has passed his GED, will enroll at community college and be eligible for the MLB draft in what would be his senior year of high school.
* A UK pitcher has sued the school.
* Ever since my man Josh Katzowitz first wrote the Mardy Gilyard story, I just can't get enough of it. Paul Daugherty rehashes it well here for SI.com with some new bits I hadn't read before. That story never seems to get old.
* The Bearcats would have been helped with an Oregon State victory last night, but the Beavers really shouldn't fall after that game last night -- or at least I'd hope not.
* Former Bearcat basketball player Alvin Mitchell was shot outside his dorm at Mountain State University in West Virginia.
* Former Bengal Ben Utecht talks his concussions and his future.
* An interesting question, is Jamal Lewis a Hall of Famer?
* Seriously, how freakin' awesome is the NFL Films footage of Matthew Stafford's game against the Browns?
I've heard the Bengals will have players wired this week.
* Today is the World Cup draw. The US usually gets screwed.
* Today is the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Montreal Canadiens.
* A look back at the late, great National Sports Daily.
* Charles Pierce rips the new Bill Simmons book,The Book of Basketball: The NBA According to The Sports Guy. I'm not a huge Simmons guy, after about a year of reading everything, I always felt like I was re-reading things -- 90210 reference, Karate Kid reference, rinse, repeat. But the dude has made some serious cash and a niche for himself.
* One of my favorite columnists is Jason Whitlock -- I don't always agree with him, but he always makes me think. His interesting opinion here on the Tiger Woods coverage.
* An interesting recycling program is getting underway in Philadelphia.
* I really enjoy the New York Times tech writer David Pogue -- who writes about what he bought this year.
* Is Big Star the most under-appreciated band in rock history? My friend Jason has been working on a Big Star book for years. I don't think he's going to ever finish it.
* A good interview with Patterson Hood of the Drive-By Truckers.
* Pitchfork is streaming a movie about Wesley Willis (warning the movie starts when you open the link). I got my best friend and business partner an original Wesley Willis drawing for his wedding present. It's pretty awesome, more or less -- perhaps the greatest wedding present of all time.
* The next pirates fad -- mustaches. Here's 101 mustache Christmas gifts. I'll stick with my beard.
* Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
is going to be a miniseries.
* Two more seasons of Entourage and then a movie. Just let it die already.
But are you excited by this Reds team?
For years I heard people say the Reds should just go young -- and it appeared they were doing it, but you weren't happy with it. Is that why they traded Zach Stewart for Scott Rolen? I don't know, but it did send a mixed message and confused Reds fans.
It's always more interesting to see what the GM and big man will tell fans at RedsFest, sometimes they're more forthcoming in that situation than with a press member one-on-one.
We'll see.
But either way, I'll take Hot Stove talk over "fairness" of college football and complaints about scoring in the NFl anyday.
* FanGraphs lists the Reds' top 10 prospects, with Yonder Alonso at the top. Baseball America doesn't think much of the Reds farm system, though.
* One Hall of Fame voter says Barry Larkin falls short in his opinion.
* Another look at the Cyclones' cool Reds sweater -- they'll be auctioned off after the game with proceeds going to the Reds Community Fund.
* The Rays released former Red RHP Ramon Ramirez, if you realized he was no longer a Red.
* Top prospect Bryce Harper has passed his GED, will enroll at community college and be eligible for the MLB draft in what would be his senior year of high school.
* A UK pitcher has sued the school.
* Ever since my man Josh Katzowitz first wrote the Mardy Gilyard story, I just can't get enough of it. Paul Daugherty rehashes it well here for SI.com with some new bits I hadn't read before. That story never seems to get old.
* The Bearcats would have been helped with an Oregon State victory last night, but the Beavers really shouldn't fall after that game last night -- or at least I'd hope not.
* Former Bearcat basketball player Alvin Mitchell was shot outside his dorm at Mountain State University in West Virginia.
* Former Bengal Ben Utecht talks his concussions and his future.
* An interesting question, is Jamal Lewis a Hall of Famer?
* Seriously, how freakin' awesome is the NFL Films footage of Matthew Stafford's game against the Browns?
I've heard the Bengals will have players wired this week.
* Today is the World Cup draw. The US usually gets screwed.
* Today is the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Montreal Canadiens.
* A look back at the late, great National Sports Daily.
* Charles Pierce rips the new Bill Simmons book,The Book of Basketball: The NBA According to The Sports Guy. I'm not a huge Simmons guy, after about a year of reading everything, I always felt like I was re-reading things -- 90210 reference, Karate Kid reference, rinse, repeat. But the dude has made some serious cash and a niche for himself.
* One of my favorite columnists is Jason Whitlock -- I don't always agree with him, but he always makes me think. His interesting opinion here on the Tiger Woods coverage.
* An interesting recycling program is getting underway in Philadelphia.
* I really enjoy the New York Times tech writer David Pogue -- who writes about what he bought this year.
* Is Big Star the most under-appreciated band in rock history? My friend Jason has been working on a Big Star book for years. I don't think he's going to ever finish it.
* A good interview with Patterson Hood of the Drive-By Truckers.
* Pitchfork is streaming a movie about Wesley Willis (warning the movie starts when you open the link). I got my best friend and business partner an original Wesley Willis drawing for his wedding present. It's pretty awesome, more or less -- perhaps the greatest wedding present of all time.
* The next pirates fad -- mustaches. Here's 101 mustache Christmas gifts. I'll stick with my beard.
* Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
is going to be a miniseries.* Two more seasons of Entourage and then a movie. Just let it die already.
I'm very excited about the Red's team. Last year, I remember people saying the team would probably win about 75 games and then make a run this year. Didn't they win 78 games last year? Then you look at all the problems the team had, their best player missed 30 games, Volquez going down, Harang struggling and getting hurt, Bruce not playing well then missing a lot of the year and I think it's all pretty amazing they finished so well.
I love the Scott Rolen deal too. It gave the team 2 things that were lacking. A good 3rd baseman and a leader. After he came to the team they finished very strong, Bruce came back and to me looked like a different hitter. I like the prospects of having Phillips, Votto, Rolen and Bruce in the middle of the lineup, and I'm still ok with the starting pitching. I think there is a lot to look forward to.
I was completely expecting Bryce Harper to take and alternative path to the pros. I've been waiting for years for a player to establish residency in a foreign country so they could sign with the highest bidder a'la Dice-K. He could have exposed this flaw? in MLB free agency.
Jeff Pearlman took Pierce to task for that piece earlier in the week and I have to side with Pealrman. (btw. don't read sportsguy). http://jeffpearlman.com/?p=3866 -- Pearlman is becoming one of my daily must-reads along with Cnati of course.
Beer tastings at the Comet this weekend, I'm clocking out.
I think Big Star is the second most underrated band behind The Zombies. Thirteen though... what a song!
I mean... under-appreciated.
great call on the zombies...
yeah, i saw pearlman's link. i love his blog, not sure i agree with him there. but i'm typically a pierce fan and not a fan of simmons, so that could cloud my judgment.
yeah, lots of great beers at the comet this weekend. too bad i'm working all weekend.
as for the reds, they had a winning record in sept. 2008, as well. april and september can be tricky months -- i don't judge much on those (remember the royals were the team in april)
I agree, about September, but they also beat some really good teams, and the pirates, who were still in the hunt. Also, June and May weren't terrible months for them. They jsut had a really really bad July and part of August.
I think they finished where a lot of people thought they would, without all the adversity they faced. I know every season has games where you can say, they should've won that one or could've won this one but they had a lot of games that if Rolen were on the team earlier in the year, they may have won. They needed a guy who could come up and give them that hit to knock a run or 2 in, and Edwin definitely wasn't that guy, or Rosales. I think this team next year could be pretty good. I'm not saying win it all, but they could give Cincinnati the first winning record in a quite some time, and with the division they're in, that'll keep them in the race late.
As long as baseball remains in its current state it will be hard for the Reds to have extended success throughout a 162 game season (duh, I know).
Their starting 9 isn't necessairly the problem, in fact, they've got a lot of talent in that group...Same with starting pitching.
What gets the Reds in trouble, every year, is depth. They choose not to spend money on quality depth (its Bob Castilini's choice not to spend money on it...fear of money loss is the only thing that prevents him from doing so) and that kills the Reds every damn year. When we lose Votto, Bruce or Phillips for a day or two, sure, we can play through that. But lose them for a month? Two months? We're done.
The Yankees lose A-Rod for a month, it hurts...sure. But they go out and buy depth (not only at third base but offensive/defensive depth at other positios) and add payroll to keep their head above water while he's away. The Reds rely on AAA players like Adam Rosales to provide their depth when somebody goes down. It doesn't work
The most underrated band of all-time is The Masters Of Reality. Chris Goss helped create the desert rock scene, which, spawned Queens of the Stone Age. No QOTSA, then, no Them Crooked Vultures.
Rock band, I should say.
Two things I am not, a Georgia fan or a Lions fan. I am a football fan and a browns hater so that video of Stafford is just great, really really great.
Picking himself up off the turf, going to the sideline and recognizing it was a timeout so he could get back in was impressive for a rookie. Hearing his pain and then his desire to get back out there made the whole video. To bad he had to play so crappy the next week and ruin my T-giving football. Should have never even been in there.
Two things I am not, a Georgia fan or a Lions fan. I am a football fan and a browns hater so that video of Stafford is just great, really really great.
Picking himself up off the turf, going to the sideline and recognizing it was a timeout so he could get back in was impressive for a rookie. Hearing his pain and then his desire to get back out there made the whole video. To bad he had to play so crappy the next week and ruin my T-giving football. Should have never even been in there.