It's July 17 and massively boring here in Redsland. You cruise the Reds blogs and don't see much besides the in-game conversations. It's nice that we have each other to talk to, since the Reds aren't giving us much to say, despite the non-waiver trade deadline being just around the corner.

So, what *is* going on?

• I got a job! In case any of you were worried about me. 🙂
• C. Trent isn't so lucky, as the Post will be closing its doors at the end of the year. That's a shame, but not a surprise. I have faith that C. Trent will move on to bigger and better things.
• Keppinger is playing SS tonight as Gonzalez remains on the bereavement list. We here at RHM are thinking good thoughts for the Gonzalez family, even while making jokes that perhaps Livingston should be the one at SS (not that we don't also have love for Keppinger). Good thing the Reds have Castro signed through next year.
• Josh Hamilton (and even now, I almost type “Scott Hamilton” every time I type his name) will stay on the DL for another 10 days with that sprained wrist. We've certainly seen this before, and I don't think anyone will be too surprised if he's out until September.

Good news is that the Reds have taken the 2-0 lead in the time it took me to write that. Yay something interesting!

Last year at this time, Austin Kearns and Felipe Lopez were already in Washington in exchange for a couple middle relievers who wouldn’t even be on the Reds’ Opening Day roster the following year. If there’s one thing we’ve learned, it’s that we can’t wait until the last minute to start talking about trades for this team. Before we know it, it could be too late!

It’s clear that the Reds are in a good position to be sellers this season, and there are a few obvious wares to try to sell. There are also a handful of untouchables and a few guys who could go if the price is right. Time will tell whether general manager Wayne “Kriv-dawg” Krivsky can tell the difference, whether he can correctly identify the right price, and whether he’ll be too gun-shy after last year’s trade deadline debacle to pull the trigger at all.

This week on the Red Hot Broadcast, Jon and I discuss whom we believe to be untouchable, salable, and in-between and what we think would be an appropriate price. We also talk a little about tonight’s game (since it was still going on as we recorded), the standings in the NLC (the Astros have beat out the Pirates for second-worst in the division), and my on-going job search (no, I’m not interested in relocating to Portland for a 6-month contract).

Episode 67: Anticipating the Trade Deadline (20.6MB, 30:06)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Today's my first job-free day after putting in notice at the ol' work factory, but it wasn't any less busy than my days. And it's still nice to sit back and enjoy some Reds baseball while the sun goes down.

Comments on tonight's game so far:

• When will George be back? Having Thom is better than having no t.v. coverage at all, like there wasn't on Saturday, but…dang I'm missing George.
• How awesome is it to chase a pitcher in the first inning? You think that a a lack of support had something to do with it?
• It's just stupid to have the shift on for Griffey when Freel is on second. You got Hatteberg on second and that's a different story, but you got Freel on, and the Reds draw first blood. BWAHAHAHAHA!
• Speaking of Hatteberg, he's hitting some unholy number, .320 or something. Someone has to want him, even if just for a AA guy and the opportunity to see Votto in action.
• Livingston just damn-near stole second on what turned out to be a Freel foul off. Anything to prove his mettle, I reckon.
• Oh! And in the time it took me to write that, he fell between second and third base and almost didn't make it back to the bag.

Clearly I need to pay my attention to this game. Even if I do have to listen to Thom.

While there wasn't much to say about the Reds' game tonight, the Cardinals were busy beating the Phillies to the tune of 10-2 this evening. Albert Pujols has found his home run swing (I guess the home run derby was a good thing--or possibly sitting the All-Star bench) and hit two of them tonight. The rest of the team followed suit, and they collectively scored six on the night.

After they lost 4-10 yesterday and 3-13 the day before that, I'm not prepared to declare that they're making a run for it, but you never know. It's sort of fascinating to watch a team with a recent tradition of winning.

Wow, did anyone just see LeBron on the ESPYs performing My Prerogative?

Why doesn't Junior ever do stuff like that?