I've been sick and swamped this week, and I haven't made time to put together as many Reds-related words as I'd like. So even though I'm heading out to the local BW3 to take in the game this evening, I'm going to summarize some stuff that's been going on with the team lately, if only to assuage my guilty conscience.

Item one: Jorgensen was suspended:

The Office of the Commissioner of Baseball announced today that Ryan Jorgensen of the Cincinnati Reds has received a 50-game suspension for violating Major League Baseball's Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program.

I hate to hear it, not just because Jorgensen did pretty well with the Reds in his brief tenure there, but also because he caught Tom Shearn's first game, and Shearn is quickly becoming one of RHM's faves. It is always nice to see the phrase “Joint Drug,” though that's probably not what they're getting at in this case.

Item two (and a happier one at that): Jay Bruce is the big winner!

DURHAM, N.C. -- Outfielder Jay Bruce, a 20-year-old who mashed his way to 80 extra-base hits and more than 300 total bases in 2007 on his way from Class A to Triple-A, became the first member of the Reds organization to win Baseball America's Minor League Player of the Year award.

Bruce, a first-round pick in 2005 out of a Beaumont, Texas, high school, began his season at Sarasota in the high Class A Florida State League, mashing 11 home runs and 27 doubles in just 67 games while hitting .325. After a .333 showing (with four more homers) at Double-A Chattanooga, he got a promotion to Triple-A Louisville, which was supposed to be temporary. But Bruce never stopped hitting, smacking 11 more home runs in just 50 games in the International League.

Just think: soon young Bruce will be able to join so many other talented young players in squandering the best years of their career being mismanaged with the Reds! No wonder they need the joint drugs.

Item three: Krivsky wins a trade!

BALTIMORE (AP) -Desperate for healthy pitching arms, the Baltimore Orioles purchased the contract of right-hander Victor Santos from the Cincinnati Reds on Friday.

Santos, 30, was 1-4 with a 5.14 ERA in 32 games, all in relief, after making the Reds out of spring training as a non-roster player. He was designated for assignment Aug. 18 and sent outright to Triple-A Louisville, where he was 1-1 with a 1.11 ERA in eight games, including four starts.

I'm quoting Sports Illustrated here because this transaction does not appear to be mentioned on the Reds site. You'd think that they'd want to publicize it, but then again, it does pale in comparison to…

Item four: Griffy's 593rd homer!.
It's drama! It's glory! It's Griffey's unrelenting march to 600! Which won't happen till next year!!

Certainly Griffey will not be able to pull off seven more home runs in the next three weeks, which probably means the Reds will hold on to him till next year. The CTS is upset about that because he'd like to see payroll freed up without getting rid of Dunn, but I wouldn't trust Krivsky to put together a winning team even if he had $100 million to play with. Which brings us to…

Item five: I've been really hard on general manager Wayne Krivsky in this post.

What did you expect me to express regret over that?

The Pirates fired their general manager yesterday.

The Pittsburgh Pirates today announced that General Manager Dave Littlefield has been relieved of his duties effective immediately. Pirates Senior Director of Player Development Brian Graham will serve as interim General Manager until a permanent replacement is found.

First Houston, then Pittsburgh. When is Cincinnati going to get in on this action?