Mark Sheldon:

The Reds efforts to retain three free agent veterans from their bullpen took another hit on Monday as left-hander Jeremy Affeldt signed a two-year, $8 million contract with the Giants.
I was hoping he would be back, but for 4 million a year I think we could find a decent replacement
that isn't as expensive.

I would like to add more of you guys to my links portion. Email me with your site and I'll be glad to add you if I haven't already done it.

How about these amazing rumors from the stiff, I'm not talking about kind of stiff, Ken Rosenthal.
The Reds, major-league sources say, are interested in at least three Rockies a€" center fielder Willy Taveras, catcher Yorvit Torrealba and third baseman Garrett Atkins.Did the Reds not learn from Corey Patterson? Dusty Baker will run Taveras in CF and bat him lead off every day for half the season, fans will scream, Dusty will defend himself saying he has no options, blame Krivsky for the trade probably, and then we will miss the playoffs by 20 games.

Yorvit Torrealba, what the hell does he do that Ryan Hanigan can't? Besides have a OBP below .300.

Garrett Atkins 3 year splits
Home: .946 OPS
Away: .790 OPS


2006-2008 plus/minus fielding bible rankings

Not really a surprise, but worth mentioning. I honestly think he should have won it because he is cute and doesn't have a terrible mustache like Geovanny Soto.

ESPN:
Soto, the steady catcher who helped the Cubs win the NL Central title, got 31 of 32 first-place votes. The other went to Cincinnati's Joey Votto.

Redsminorleagues.com: Update of the winter ball stats for the Reds players. Frazier and Alonso continue to look impressive.

Project Prospect: Their rankings of the top 20 college prospects. Too bad the Reds have no shot at Steven Strasburg.

Drew Stubbs AFL Blog: Just another update worth reading.

Today John Fay talked to Walt Jocketty. Found in that link is the follow but with my way of saying it.

Khalil Greene sucks so the Reds don't want himCueto and Volquez won't be traded because it would one of the stupidest things the Reds have ever done.Reds interested in catching, probably the ones from Texas.Jerry Hairston probably is asking for a lot of money for what he's worth.John Sickels also saw a couple prospects play in the AFL recently and gives some info on what he saw.
Drew Stubbs, OF, Cincinnati Reds: He has clearly shortened up his swing since I saw him in college. I think this will help him overall, but I'm uncertain now about what his power development is going to look like. Will improved OBP and BA make up for any slippage in SLG? Chris Valaika, SS, Cincinnati Reds: Impressive bat, swung at pitches outside the zone but still made hard contact on them and drove the ball. Did not get a good read on his defense, but the hitting looks good to me.
Just to add to the Valaika thing I have heard that he has improved his range at SS over the last year so maybe he might actually be able to stick there in the future. Would be nice if we got a peak some time this year considering we have Gonzalez, and Janish as our only decent options at short.

MLB.com:
The rest of the NL winners were tabbed for the first time: Yadier Molina of the Cardinals at catcher, Adrian Gonzalez of the Padres at first base, Brandon Phillips of the Reds at second base and Nate McLouth of the Pirates and Shane Victorino of the Phillies in the outfield.

Congrats to Brandon he surely deserved it.

San Diego Union Tribune:
DANA POINT a€" Khalil Greene, a franchise fixture for an 89-victory Padres club just two seasons ago, is now the subject of preliminary trade talks on the heels of his miserable 2008 season.

"We've had nibbles," said General Manager Kevin Towers, who has met with other GMs the last three days at a coastal resort in Orange County.
The Orioles, Reds and Tigers are among those interested. The Nationals and Padres discussed a Greene trade this past summer, but the Nats aren't in play this time around. Hey Walt I know we have a hole at short stop, but trading for someone who has depression problems or what ever that guy has is probably not a good idea. Not to mention he is as OBP challenged as any other Red we have, and as we saw last year Dusty has to bat his SS either lead off or 2nd.

Wikipedia:
Greene writes hip-hop lyrics in his spare time and adds them to instrumental music. He is an adherent of the BahA¡'A­ Faith, and says his faith has helped his athletic performance mentally. The name Khalil is Arabic for friend.The guy is just flat out weird.
"If you attempt to stay rhythmic, I guess it allows your body to be a little more free and loose," he said. "I don't think anybody plays better when they're tightened up and kind of stiff."
Yes Khalil staying rhythmic is key. Babe Ruth just stayed rhythmic.

C. Trent:
Cincinnati Reds veteran Brandon Phillips won the 2008 Fielding Bible Award for second base in an announcement made November 1, 2008, in The Bill James Handbook 2009. This is Phillips' first Fielding Bible Award.
Fielding Bible is the equivalent of the Holy Bible, and this year Brandon Phillips is the equivalent of God.

John Fay: David Weathers says nothing is going on between him, and the Reds in terms of contracts right now.

Reds.com: Todd Frazier is playing well in winter ball.

FanGraphs: More free agent bargain discussion. This one involving some that Reds fans might be interested in considering their hatred of Edwin Encarnacion.

Detroit News: Tigers might need to trade Ordonez because of their payroll. Possible trade target for the Reds?

Drew Stubbs: Just more blogging.

Posted today by Fangraph's Marc Hulet:
The Graduate: Johnny Cueto | Born: February 1986 | Right-Handed Pitcher The Reds received some solid performances from rookies in 2008 and Johnny Cueto was no exception. Despite the 9-14 record, Cueto pitched 174 innings and allowed 178 hits. He posted rates of 3.52 BB/9 and 8.17 K/9. Cueto needs to work on his consistency and avoiding the long ball (1.50 HR/9). He mainly relies on his low-to-mid-90s fastball and slider, but also features a hard change-up (averages 84 mph).Click the link for the rest.

Also posted by FanGraphs, a story on Harang.

Eric Seidman:
The Cincinnati Reds may have struggled to compete over the last several seasons, but there were still several bright spots. One of these positives was the right arm of ace Aaron Harang. A former Athletics prospect, Harang emerged as a durable and extremely effective pitcher for the Reds, compiling some of the best numbers in the senior circuit from 2005-07. In that span, he made 32+ starts each year and amassed a minimum of 211.2 innings pitched. His K/9 rose from 6.93 to 8.47, while his BB/9 with intentional walks removed dropped from 2.04 to 1.80 before settling in at 1.90 in 2007.
Go on over to read the rest of the story.

John Fay:
--The Reds will at least explore signing left-hander Mark Mulder, whose option was turned by the Cardinals last week. "I've got to see what the medical situation is," Jocketty said. "I traded for him and re-signed him. I obviously liked him."I hope the season ticket waiting list doesn't get super long now!

I must say some of them are pretty lofty for certain guys (Dickerson, Bruce), and I'd say he undervalues the Reds pitching some but here's the link. Anyways check it out.

Drew Stubbs AFL Blog: Chris Valaika shows up as a guest blogger

Reds Minor Leagues: Doug Gray interviews Kyle Lotzkar. He also confirms the signing of Ismael Guillon.

Reds Reporter: Discussion over if the Reds should peruse Adrian Beltre to play 3rd base next season.

FanGraphs: Jeremy Affeldt best free agent bargain this offseason?

In this 2009 offseason extravaganza I plan on looking at each area of the team including, starting pitching, relievers, positional players, bench, and what ever else I feel like coming up with. In this section I'm going to covering third base.

In 2008 the Reds for the 1st time actually gave Edwin Encarnacion a fair shot at being the everyday third baseman. What I mean by that is there was no mid season trip to the minors and no long term benchings. What they got was a bunch of errors, and a team leading 26 homers (if you don't count Dunn). Of course the errors are a big time problem, but as I stated in the first base section Edwin's problems aren't related much to his actual fielding, but more related to his throwing.

Throwing Errors: 16
Feilding Errors: 6

On the other hand his hitting although was good for a team 2nd OPS of .804, but in terms of how that compares to the rest of the majors it is well pretty much average.

OPS+: 106

So there's the problem the Reds are stuck with. Either some how improve Edwin's defense to an above average level, or move him to another position to limit the flaws in his defense. If it wasn't for Joey Votto the choice would be pretty obvious because Edwin could then move to 1st with out much of a problem in my opinion. The other option is moving Edwin to left field. The problem there would be that he would have to improve his batting substantially, or prove to be one of the better defending left fielders in the major leagues. It's quite a problem that I'm pretty happy I'm not having to find an answer for. Don't forget the possibility of a trade involving Edwin.

If of course Edwin does make a move, either trade or position, the Reds would then need to find their new third baseman. They have an option in Todd Frazier, although he probably wont be ready until late 2009.

Redsminorleagues.com:
Frazier's bat is legit. He can do it all, hit for power, hit for average and draw his fair share of walks. The main question with him is where he will play on the field. The Reds have had him at SS, 3B and 1B this year. Still, no matter where he ends up, his bat will play there just fine. Look for him to start in Carolina next year.
As for free agents the choices are pretty thin. Which likely means you are going to have to overpay if you land one of them. This option is probably very unlikely given the price tag, and the lack of options.

Key Free Agents:
Casey Blake
Joe Crede