The ESPN web site has a Jerry Crasnick piece that talks of the different ways that borderline hall of fame candidates are attempting to drum up support for their Baseball Hall of Fame candidacy. The internet is being used by several candidates, including Davey Concepcion.
And former Reds shortstop Davey Concepcion’s case for Cooperstown is articulated on the Web site concepcionforcooperstown.org.
Concepcion gave his blessing to Tim Gay for the Baseball Hall of Fame campaign web site.
Gay’s Web site shows how Concepcion’s statistics compare favorably with those of Ozzie Smith, Phil Rizzuto, Pee Wee Reese and other Hall of Fame shortstops. He’s making the case for a player whose profile never quite matched his achievements.
Concepcion’s vote totals maxed out at 80 in 1998, which was just under 17% of the total vote. Let’s hope that Gay’s web site and the Reds efforts promoting Concepcion at this year’s Redsfest boost his vote totals in this years HOF balloting.
The Sarasota (Fla.) city commission unanimously approved a 30-year lease to keep the Reds at the City of Sarasota Sports Complex for spring training.
On Tuesday the Reds and the city of Sarasota are expected to receive from the state legislature a 30-year, $15 million grant toward a new spring training facility for the team.
“We don’t anticipate any problems on Tuesday,” said Reds executive vice president and chief operating officer John Allen, who attended last night’s City Commission meeting.
The Reds will mark their 10th year of spring training at Sarasota when pitchers and catchers report to camp Feb. 17.
The Reds named Terry Reynolds director of player development.
He has been with the organization since 2004, when he was hired as director of amateur scouting. Before that he spent 25 years in the Dodgers organization.
Thanks to loyal reader Nate D for posting a link to this video in the comments section a couple of days ago. I thought it worthy of being placed on the front page.
Well, maybe not. But two former Reds, Eric Davis and Dave Parker, are eligible for the Hall of Fame, and Reds.com has a couple of stories on their prospects. It’s Davis’ first year on the ballot, and Parker’s 12th year.
I don’t expect either to be elected, but the articles are pretty good retrospectives on a couple of careers that included some good years for our Redlegs.
Former Major League Baseball commissioner Fay Vincent revealed today that he has information linking Pete Rose to years of gambling – and losing big – on haircuts.
“Several very reliable sources have told me that Rose has been spending $5 to $7 on haircuts for years, and continued to do so even after he was banned from baseball for gambling,” Vincent said. “You can’t spend that little money on a haircut and expect to get good results.”
Vincent pointed to Rose’s long history of awful haircuts – from uneven crew cuts to ragged, tapered bowl cuts as evidence that the hit king’s gambling problems continue unabated.
Baseball has been considering an end to Rose’s ban, but Vincent said that a lifting of the ban should not even be thought of until Rose gets a good haircut.
“Until he stops gambling on his hair and spends at least $12 to $15 on a cut, he should remain out of baseball,” Vincent said.
As I mentioned in the comments below, I didn’t have much of a problem with the Jeff Conine trade. We gave away nothing, and got a backup in return: nothing to get excited or upset about.
Where the Reds are losing is that Conine is probably going to take away at-bats from Chris Denorfia, who’s a better player, and the organization is too cowardly to platoon Conine with Hatteberg after Hatteberg’s fine season. Not that organizational cowardice is anything new - this is the team that boldly cuts Josh Hancock for being fat and Brandon Claussen for being injured but refuses to take any kind of a stand with players that the average talk radio casual fan has heard of.
Dunn-Griffey-Conine is a really comical defensive outfield - Eric Milton should sue the Reds for violating his rights under the 8th amendment.
Another thumbs-down for the Reds. Wayne Krivsky’s Problem Solving Policy remains “Look at team, identify hole that Marty Brennaman or Hal McCoy comically rant incoherently about, acquire the most famous, cheapest player Wayne remembers from when he was making Terry Ryan’s coffee or picking up Terry Ryan’s lunch from Gleuk’s on 6th Street with exact change and tip because Wayne can’t figure out what the numbers on different bills signify.
Ouch. I agree that this deal is a stinker if Conine is anything more than a part-time player with the Reds. (I agree, as well, with the sentiments above about Hancock and, especially, Claussen.) I just can’t imagine that the Reds think Conine still has the ability to play every day.
Article states that now that the Reds have their RH bat…they’ll look for pitching, here’s the pitchers they mention:
There’s a long list of serviceable pitchers unsigned: Tony Armas, Keith Foulke, Dustin Hermanson, Dan Kolb, Tomo Ohka, Chris Reitsma, Arthur Rhodes, Scott Schoeneweis and Ron Villone.
As spring training nears, some players on that list may be willing to sign at relatively cheap rates.
This team is better than at this time last year in the bullpen (arguably) and defensively at SS. Is there anywhere else that this team (right now) is better than it was going into ST 2006?
Marc Lancaster is reporting that the Reds traded Brad Key and Javon Moran to the Phillies for Jeff Conine.
Krivsky has lost his mind. Krivsky should be smacked in the head with a rotten cabbage from a Castellini truck. I had no use for Moran, and I don’t even know who Key is, but why in the world do we need/want Jeff Conine?
Pete Rose thinks that he might finally have his foot in Major League Baseball’s door.
“Hopefully this will be a great exhibit and a lot a lot a lot a lot a lot a lot of people will come see it,” Rose said during a Tuesday teleconference. “I think that would probably give baseball another reason to reinstate me, because, you know, I made some mistakes, and I was wrong, but a lot of people feel I’ve paid for those mistakes.
“I’ve been suspended 17 years already, and it’s getting late.”
In March, the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame will open an exhibit dedicated to Rose, baseball’s hits king who spent 19 of his 24 professional baseball seasons with the Reds. Rose and his supporters hope it will be the first step in his return to baseball, from which he accepted a lifetime ban in 1989 for gambling.
Rose has fought to return to baseball despite mixed feelings from fans throughout the country. His ultimate goal, he said, is to enter baseball’s Hall of Fame and once again manage in the big leagues, as he did for the Reds from 1984-89.
“They’ll give them chances to do drugs, they’ll give them chances if they beat their wives and they’ll give them chances if they drink excessively,” Rose said. “So, why wouldn’t they give a guy a chance who had a gambling situation many, many years ago?”
For those of you not on the Reds email list, here’s their Holiday eCard. Thought it was nice looking and worth sharing. And obviously, we here at RLN share the sentiment. Happy Holidays to everyone.
The Louisville Bats have extended their Player Development Contract (PDC) with the Cincinnati Reds through 2010. This extends the previous agreement which was set to expire following the 2008 baseball season.
The Bats 2006 staff also returns:
Sweet, 54, is 141-146 in two seasons as the Bats skipper and is in fifth place on Louisville’s career managerial list. Following a nine-year playing career (1975-83) as a catcher, including three seasons in the Majors with San Diego, New York-NL and Seattle, Sweet began managing in 1987 and owns a career mark of 1,190-1,201 in 18 seasons.
Adrian “Smokey” Garrett returns for his fifth consecutive season as Louisville’s hitting coach. Garrett played 19 years of professional baseball (1961-79), including parts of eight seasons in the Majors with Atlanta, Chicago-NL, Oakland and California.
Former Redbird Ted Power returns for his second season as Louisville’s pitching coach. He began the 2006 season as the Reds pitching rehabilitation coordinator, but took over for Mario Soto as Bats pitching coach last May. Power enjoyed a 13-year Major League career, including five seasons (1983-87) with Cincinnati.
Louisville native Jay Sorg will return for his third season as the team’s first base coach to round out Sweet’s coaching staff. Chris Lapole returns as head trainer for his third season in Louisville and ninth in the Reds organization. Gabriel Moreno is the only newcomer as he joins the Bats staff as strength and conditioning coach for 2007.
