JD has a nice interview up with Mark Sheldon, the Reds beat writer for MLB.com.

Baseball America has a nice little article on Chris Denorfia which contains the following quote by Tim Naehring in regards to Denorfia.

“Marty Barrett once told me, ‘You don’t have to be a great player to play in the major leagues, you’ve got to be a good one every day.’ Chris is that kind of guy.”

Later,
Tom

There is an article by John Erardi in today’s Enquirer about Dave Williams.

John Fay has a bunch of random things in his Reds Insider column today.

Westbrook definitely makes the Reds better, but he doesn’t knock them over. He doesn’t instantly turn them into a contender - even if he returns to his 2004 form.

The biggest reason not to trade Kearns now is he’s probably the best chip the Reds have. If the team wants to land a No. 1 starter, Kearns is likely to be part of the package to do that down the line.

This is kind of what I said, only put in better terms. I don’t think many people believe Kearns value is going to drop lower than it is now, so why trade him when his value is low? Fay talks about a possible package deal with Chicago, who has entertained talk of trading Mark Prior. With someone to take Kearns stop without leaving a large hole in the outfield, I’d love to have Prior.

“Most of the talent we have in the system has come in the last two years,” O’Brien said. “Therefore, it’s at the lower levels … So it’s going to take time.”

I don’t doubt O’Brien’s sincerity. But if you’ve followed the Reds’ farm system closely, you’ve heard that before. Getting that young talent - particularly pitching talent - from the lower minors to the majors has been a longtime problem for the Reds.

I tend to agree with OB and think Fay is wrong on this one. It’s been a LONG time since this organization has realistically been able to say there might be help coming. I still think it’s too soon to say it now, when most of the players that you’re talking about are playing now higher than High A ball.

t’s tough to handicap the GM race. Reds special adviser Jim Beattie would seem to have a built-in advantage. Interim GM Brad Kullman has the advantage of a tryout. John Mozeliak has the St. Louis connection to new Reds CEO Bob Castellini, a former part-owner of the Cardinals. And Twins assistant GM Wayne Krivsky must have been impressive in 2003, because everyone with the Reds but Carl Lindner wanted him for the job.

• Mozeliak, by the way, has a Cincinnati connection. His wife, Julie, grew up here and graduated from Indian Hill High School.

Mozeliak, 37, is a native of Boulder, Colo. He got his start in baseball with the Colorado Rockies in 1993.

He knows Castellini.

“I know him from his association with the Cardinals,” Mozeliak said. “We’ve had some talks about baseball. But I wouldn’t characterize our relationship as close.”

Mozeliak has been close with Walt Jocketty, the Cards’ GM. The two have worked together going back to their days with the Rockies.

The past year or so, Mozeliak has been in the grooming-to-be-a-GM mode.

Sounds like Fay might be predicting Mozeliak over Kullman.

While the selection of a GM is critical, whoever gets the job is going to have less autonomy than O’Brien had. It’s pretty clear Castellini is going to be much more involved in the day-to-day operations than Lindner was.

Castellini sat in on a meeting with Kullman and the top advisers Thursday as they discussed player personnel. Lindner was not involved at that level.

• The involvement of former Reds in the organization is going to go beyond hitting fungos and throwing batting practice at spring training. Johnny Bench, heretofore a ceremonial adviser, was in the meetings Thursday.

I like an owner that wants to know things, but I hope that he lets his baseball people run the baseball organization. And I’m concerned about getting all these former Reds involved. If they were good teachers/coaches, wouldn’t some of them be working for an organization somewhere?

Kevin Kelly writes a decent article in the Enquirer today concerning the changes in the backgrounds and education of the new age GMs.

A fraternity once reserved for sun-splashed baseball lifers has undergone a radical change in its membership base in recent years.

Youthful types armed with degrees from prestigious colleges, and the cost-effective ability to meld statistical analysis with traditional scouting methods as a way to build rosters, have become the GMs of choice.

Including Reds interim GM Brad Kullman, who is one of six the Reds initially have identified as candidates for the job, nine GMs are younger than the 44-year-old league average.

Three of the five GMs hired since the end of last season were 35 years old or younger.

“Some of the old-school GMs that maybe came from a scouting background, I think they need to be open-minded toward the statistical side of the game,” Towers said. “That is an important way to look at players nowadays.

“GMs that are close-minded to that approach and not open to new ideas and new ways of doing things, I think they may find themselves out of the business.”

The increased attention on evaluation through statistical analysis and database research reshapes the way teams judge and develop players.

Executives are quick to cite the importance of not overlooking the human element. Computers and calculators cannot account for team chemistry, people skills and the trained eyes of professional scouts.

“That’s the beauty of the game,” said Shapiro, whose team utilizes a sophisticated database called DiamondView to help evaluate players. “I think if you slant too far to either side of the equation you’re missing an opportunity to evaluate all the data. Part of the data is statistical analysis. Part of the data is medical information. Part of the data is personality information. And part of the data is scouting evaluation.”

He continued: “Those are all the variables that exist along with the financial component, and then you’ve got to weigh those variables and weigh the strength of your information and make a good decision.”

I think Shapiro’s statement about the different things to be looked at is interesting. Anyone know anything more about this “DiamondView” that’s mentioned?

The very fact that this is in the local paper is, to me, a good sign. The local media often takes suggestions, it would seem, on what to write about, who to feature, etc as a way of finding favor with the team they’re covering. I’m hoping this article is a sign that the Reds are serious about looking for more than a Dan O’Brien-type “old school” baseball guy.

From the Hal McCoy in today’s Hamilton Journal:

Cincinnati Reds slugger Adam Dunn hit 40 home runs last season. He drove in 101 runs, scored 107 runs and walked 114 times — all with a broken right hand.

It’s his football mentality.

Reds manager Jerry Narron let it slip Thursday at a Dayton Agonis Club meeting when somebody criticized Dunn.
“He broke his hand twice last year and wouldn’t let us X-ray it because he wanted to play,” Narron said.
When Dunn was asked about it, he uttered a profanity and said, “He isn’t supposed to be talking about that. It was not that big of a deal.”

What may be more concerning is that it’s still bothering him, at least as much as he’ll let it bother him.

Asked how long the hand hurt, Dunn said, “What time is it now?”
So it still hurts.
“Yeah, I had it checked this week, and the doctor said I should put a splint on it, but the heck with that,” said the man who takes over first base for the Cincinnati Reds this year.
Dunn, a former scholarship quarterback at the University of Texas before he was the Reds’ No. 2 draft choice in 1998, believes a little ol’ hairline fracture shouldn’t stop a 6-foot-6, 275-pound Texan.
And it didn’t.
“In May in Houston, I was diving back into third base on a pickoff play, and Morgan Ensberg stepped on the hand,” he said. Dunn played on.
“Later in the year, some home game, and I don’t remember who, I was hit on the hand, same exact spot,” he said. “I remember how I used to make fun of Aaron Boone for getting hit on the hands all the time and asking him, ‘How does that happen? How can you get hit on the hand? Can’t you get out of the way?’ Now I know.”

On Dunn and a long term contract and the new ownership:

Asked if the Reds had talked to him about signing a multiyear contract, he said, “That is a big no. Not a word. I’ve heard rumors, but nothing official.”
Now that the team is under new ownership and a new general manager is coming aboard, Dunn hopes that changes.
“I’ve heard great stuff about the new owner (Bob Castellini),” he said. “He showed this team a lot by stepping right in and firing Dan O’Brien. I love that he wasn’t afraid to do something. I hear he is a guy who will hang around the clubhouse, and I love that.
“Too many owners you feel like they’re the Pope and that you have to take off your shoes in their presence. But I heard Castellini is a regular dude and I look forward to meeting him,” he added.

Let’s hope that Castellini’s first priority (maybe second after hiring a GM) is getting Dunn locked up to a long term deal. It would do a lot toward actually SHOWING fans that he means business.

Back in 1990, I recorded all the Reds’ NLCS and World Series games. Lately, I’ve been converting those VHS tapes to DVD, so I’ve been watching some of those games.

Wow. It’s been so long since the Reds have been competitive, I had nearly forgotten how much fun it was to follow a winning team. I’m so tired of watching a team that far too often acts like it doesn’t care whether they win or not. I want to root for a contender again. (Do you hear me, Mr. Castellini?)

I have an idea to return the Reds to a competitive state. What do all the recent great Reds teams have in common? This:

Yeah, I know these uniforms are ugly, but the Reds used the same basic jersey in their last three World Series victories, not to mention that they were the hallmark of the Big Red Machine. It’s time the Reds returned to the pajama-style pullover jersey. It’s the only way they are going to return to the Series.

Or they could add some good pitching. That might work, too.

From the Post:

Of all the deals he made, the only ones that I see as winners are:

Dec. 29, 2003 - Signed RHP Cory Lidle to one-year, $2.75 million contract
Aug. 9, 2004 - Traded RHP Cory Lidle to Philadelphia for OF Jovan Moran, LHP Joe Wilson and RHP Elizardo Ramirez

The jury is still out on these youngsters, but Ramirez is pitching AAA at age 22 and Moran’s playing AA at 23, so there’s hope. Lidle was on a one year deal. This is something for nothing.

Dec. 15, 2004 - Signed RHP David Weathers to one-year, $1.25 million contract with option for 2006.
Dec. 20, 2004 - Signed LHP Kent Mercker to two-year, $2.6 million contract
Dec. 21, 2004 - Signed 3B Joe Randa to one-year, $2.15 million contract;

July 23, 2005 - Traded 3B Joe Randa to San Diego for RHP Travis Chick and RHP Justin Germano

Weathers and Mercker performed about as expected, which is solid veteran pitching out of the pen. Randa’s impressive offense with the Reds was a Godsend for the team, enabling them to turn him around for two decent prospects.

That’s about it for the good deals. Whether the drafting of Homer Bailey and Jay Bruce turn out to be good moves, it’s much too soon to tell.

But the bad moves are easier and more lengthy:

Traded RHP Chris Reitsma to Atlanta for LHP Jung Keun Bong and RHP Bubba Nelson

July 30, 2004 - Traded RHP Todd Jones and minor league OF Brad Correll to Philadelphia for RHP Josh Hancock and SS Anderson Machado

Nov. 30, 2004 - Re-signed Paul Wilson to two-year, $8.2 million contract with club option for 2007

Dec. 14, 2004 - Acquired RHP Ramon Ortiz from Anaheim for minor league RHP Dustin Moseley

Dec. 21, 2004 - signed 2B D’Angelo Jimenez to one-year, $2.87 million contract, avoiding arbitration

Dec. 27, 2004 - Signed LHP Eric Milton to three-year, $25.5 million contract

And that’s just the expensive ones… Bong, Nelson, and Machado should be tattooed on his forehead for the entire baseball world to see.

Re-signing Wilson, when according to later press accounts, they knew his shoulder had a problem is almost criminal.

Re-signing Jiminez was a calculated risk, considering his previous problems in other organizations, and it was a bad one.

And Milton…ugh.

From the Enquirer:

The Reds announced Thursday that Minnesota assistant general manager Wayne Krivsky is officially a candidate for the job.

The club got permission from the Twins to talk to Krivsky; an interview is scheduled for next week

The Reds are not releasing names of candidates until they get permission from the club for which the candidate currently works.

“We’ve made a lot of contacts,” said chief operating officer John Allen, who is assisting Castellini with the search. “They are strict tampering rules, so we’re making sure everything is OK before we move forward.”

From the Enquirer’s website:

Brad Kullman, the Reds interim general manager, said today that there are no ongoing trade talks with the Boston Red Sox and Cleveland Indians regarding outfielder Austin Kearns.

“All the rumors are about what happened in the past,” Kullman said.

The Reds reportedly turned down a trade last week than would have sent Kearns to Cleveland and Matt Clement to Cincinnati in a three-way deal. The Indians also reportedly offered Jake Westbrook for Kearns straight up.

Former Reds GM Dan O’Brien said no to both deals.

Kullman said he has been talking trades pretty much non-stop the last two days. He’s contacted nearly every team in baseball. He’s brought in all his top advisers.

But that does not mean something is about to happen.

So, while I don’t think this rules out a Kearns deal, it doesn’t sound like anything is imminent.

And then this comment:

There’s a chance,” he said. “But I don’t want to trade Austin Kearns. I don’t want to trade Adam Dunn. There are a lot of players on our team that I like.

“But, the fact is we won 73 games last year and 76 two years ago. Do we want to bring back the same team, minus Sean Casey?”

I don’t even like hearing Dunn’s name mentioned in the same sentence with the word “trade”.

From the Enquirer:

Brad Kullman, the team’s interim GM, and Jim Beattie, a former Expos and Orioles GM, are the only ones that have expressed interest in the job and are on owner Bob Castellini’s list.

Twins assistant GM Wayne Krivsky likely will be on the list, as will Cleveland assistant GM Chris Antonetti as soon as the Reds can go through official channels and clear the way.

The Reds had not received permission to release the names of any candidates as of late Wednesday.

I also thought that Wednesday’s Enquirer said:

Johnny Almaraz, the club’s director of international scouting/ player development, is interested in the job.

More fabulous news reporting by the Cincinnati Enquirer.

Fearless prediction: Rich Aurilia will be the Opening Day third baseman in Cincinnati.

We’re going to see a repeat of the Felipe Lopez fiasco of last season. It is becoming increasingly clear that the Reds have learned nothing. Take a look at this article, about the competition at 3B.

Why is there even a question???

It’s this type of nonsense that frustrates me about following this team. The Reds have a terrible record when it comes to young players, and instead of putting Edwin Encarnacion at third and letting him play, they are going to fool around with Rich Aurilia again. Don’t they remember last year, when they picked Aurilia over an All-Star shortstop?

Sheesh.

Will it be the young guy or the experienced veteran manning the hot corner for the Reds in 2006?

Deciding between Edwin Encarnacion and Rich Aurilia is just one of the decisions manager Jerry Narron will be mulling over during Spring Training….

If not, Encarnacion could begin the season in Triple-A Louisville, which would open the door for Aurilia. The 34-year-old returned to the fold as a free agent Jan. 8 after signing a one-year, $1.3 million contract.

“When we bring guys up from the Minor Leagues, I really want them to earn it,” Narron said. “I don’t want to bring guys out of Spring Training who aren’t ready. Having Richie back gives us a lot of options. Eddie’s going to have to play well to move in front of him.”

Did you read that? Jerry Narron just said that Rich Aurilia is ahead of Encarnacion. That makes Rich Aurilia the starting third baseman for the Cincinnati Reds.

If you are a Reds fan, you are probably sick right now.

It appears that Reds (and Blues) — one of our favorite blogs — is looking for another contributor. So, if you’ve ever wanted to be a blogger, now’s your chance!

Marc Lancaster says that in a conference call, O’Brien “went to great lengths to avoid answering” a question about the Milton signing — whether “ownership dropped the authorization to spend all that money on him” too late in the offseason to make productive use of.

“The only thing I’m going to say in regards to that situation is, there are a lot of circumstances that at this point are not known and won’t be divulged,” O’Brien said, “and I’ll just leave it at that.”

So O’Brien doesn’t cast stones at ownership, but he does give the implication that he’d have done things differently, were it not for some “circumstances.”

Baloney.

I went back and looked at the Post’s story from the day of the signing.

First, the Reds weren’t too late to the game. They started recruiting Milton at the winter meetings in late November, a full month before they signed him.

“And when they got involved,” Milton said, “they were relentless.”

Second, O’Brien was all in the middle of this signing, and was pleased as punch with it:

Although published reports this month had Milton signing with the Yankees, Reds general manager Dan O’Brien was unremitting in his quest to land another solid starting pitcher. When told of Milton’s comments — that the club had been relentless in its pursuit — O’Brien laughed.

“You could say that,” O’Brien said after the news conference announcing the deal. “We wanted him to know that 1) we were serious, 2) he was the type of individual we wanted to have, and 3) we wanted him to have an opportunity to visit with our athletes, so he could he have all of his questions answered. We’re very proud of what we have, and if he knew all the insight, we’d have an advantage.”

Presumably with O’Brien’s knowledge, the Reds had Casey, Graves, Wilson and Miley all pestered Milton to sign with the Reds.

It really sounds like someone was twisting O’Brien’s arm to sign Milton. I don’t hear him making any excuses for the moves that did work out, like Randa.

Marc Lancaster reports that Castellini “plans to talk to six to eight people” about the opening.

Marc also reports that former Montreal GM and Baltimore Orioles co-GM Jim Beattie has been hired as the dreaded “special adviser.” Beattie’s portfolio will be pitching. He’s also a candidate for the full-time GM job.

Some funny quotes, courtesy of Baseball Prospectus’s archives:

“Jim Beattie is the general manager we want to be with for a long time to come. Jim Beattie does things that are not recognized in the media. Jim Beattie does not leak stuff to the media. He is professional, and the reason the media doesn’t treat him well is because they only treat well people who leak inappropriate information.”
–David Samson, Expos Executive Vice President (June 4, 2001)

“It takes him two hours to watch 60 Minutes.”
–an MLB executive, on the deliberate style of former Orioles co-GM Jim Beattie (Dec. 12, 2005)

Hmmm. . . tight-lipped and slow to act. Sound like anyone we know?

Brad Kullman is also on the list. You may recall he served (with Leland Maddox) as one of the co-acting-GMs after the 2003 Bowden/Boone bloodletting. Kullman is credited with the Jose Guillen for Harang/Valentine trade. Prospectus had a two-part interview with Brad back in 2003. Part I Part II

Marc also says that other candidates might be former L.A. GM Paul DePodesta, current LA assistant GM Kim Ng (with her own Prospectus G&A), and Wayne Krivsky, the Twins’ assistant GM who was a finalist when O’Brien was hired. It should be noted that Krivsky is also a product of the Texas Rangers system.

Lou Pinella is reportedly (by Marc) not a candidate. Marc reports that Lou’s settlement with Tampa bars him from a baseball job this year. I can’t find anything to necessarily confirm that, though there’s lots of reportingt - I suspect that if Lou takes a job, he’d have to repay the Devil Rays a big chunk of the $2.2M he’ll receive this year for sitting on his rear.

From WLW-T in Cincinnati.

Update: From MLB.com.

“I want someone in this job who is my choice,” said Castellini, who on Thursday became the club’s CEO when Major League Baseball owners unanimously approved the sale of the Reds. “I told Dan he has worked hard and has worked diligently to rebuild the farm system and scouting department of the Reds and that we appreciate his efforts.”

If I were Jerry Narron, I wouldn’t be feeling too comfortable right now.

Director of baseball operations Brad Kullman will serve as the club’s interim general manager until the position is filled permanently.

Update II: From the Cincinnati Enquirer.

It says basically the same thing as the others.

Update III: Press conference at 5:00. I’d assume it’ll be covered live on WLW radio.