Welcome to round 1 of the Jason Romano Commemorative NLC’s hottest blogger contest. 15 of the best-looking players on NLC (plus one fella in limbo) face off in a single-elimination tournament.

Voting has closed in our first pairing, finding veteran hottie Jason LaRue victorious over underdog Manny Parra. There’s still time to vote in our second match, between Sam Fuld and Rick Ankiel.

Our third pairing sets the Astros’ Brandon Backe against the Reds’ Brandon Phillips. I suspect that this is the 1-16 seed game, but maybe Backe will surprise me.

Brandon Backe
ht: 6-0 wt: 195 dob: 4/5/1978

OK, so this battle of the Brandons might be more fair if it were Brandon Claussen representing the Reds, but Backe isn’t bad, especially by Astros standards. And his 3-1 record in 5 games last season would have trounced Claussen.

Brandon Phillips
ht: 6-0 wt: 195 dob: 6/28/1981

A new member of the 30-30 club, a spectacular fielder, and the subject of debate over his parental status, Phillips may be the single-most exciting player on the Reds right now. And that includes Mike Stanton!

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In yet another affectionate display of loyalty to the team that traded his home-town discount ass to Cincinnati, Bronson Arroyo was seen gushing at a concert in the Boston area:

But near the end of Bronson’s set, he threw a zinger into the music: a cover of Augustana’s 2007 summer ballad “Boston.” And what did the guy do, knowing that former GM Theo Epstein was watching from the backstage wings?

Dude totally modified the lyrics, making what one could view as either a nostalgic gesture toward the old crowd or, as we’d like to think, a plea for his old job!

“I think I need to get back to Boston,” he sings. (We couldn’t hear the next couple of lines because some of the women of the crowd were freaking out) “I need to get out of Cincinnati, I think I need the Olde Towne to fill my heart again.”

Seriously, what is this guy like when women dump him?

I had every intention of getting this up on Sunday, but my ISP wasn’t cooperating (hard to post when you can’t connect at anything better than 21.6KBPS). Here are the player transactions in the NL Central that have occurred since the last update, as reported on the official web site of Major League Baseball.

Astros GM Ed Wade must have finally taken his holiday this week, as the Astros reported no transactions since I last updated you on these proceedings.

On Thursday 1/3, the Cardinals signed Matt Clement to an incentive-laden one-year contract with a club option for 2009. I reported on this in another thread. Also on Thursday, the Brewers invited OF Laynce Nix and RHP Steve Bray to spring training. A cursory search turned up no indication that Steve Bray and the Reds’ Bill Bray are relatives.

On Friday, the Cardinals signed IF Aaron Miles to a one-year contract, while the Reds – as previously reported by BubbaFan – claimed OF Jeff Fiorentino off waivers from the Orioles; and signed RHP Jim Brower, INF Jolbert Cabrera, INF Andy Green, INF Andy Phillips and LHP Adam Pettyjohn to minor league contracts with invitations to spring training.

On Saturday 1/5, the Cubs traded IF Angel Pagan to the Mets for a couple of minor leaguers, RHP Ryan Meyers and OF Corey Coles.

On Monday 1/7, the Brewers signed OF Drew Anderson, RHP Tim Dillard, 1B/OF Brad Nelson, LHP Manny Parra and RHP Luis Pena to one-year contracts. Also, the Pirates signed RHPs Adam Bernero and Elmer Dessens (a former Pirate, Red, and Brewer) to minor league contracts with invitations to spring training (Zeldink already told us about Dessens).

Note that there are two other Drew Andersons who have played recently in the minor leagues, one who was with the Reds’ organization the past three years and another who played in the Astros’ farm system last year. The Drew Anderson the Brewers signed on Monday spent all of last year at Class-AA and Class-AAA in the Brewers’ minor league system. Also, the Brad Nelson they signed is not the same Brad Nelson who pitched in the Braves’ farm system last year, and Luis Pena is not the same Luis Pena who pitched in the White Sox farm system a few years ago. The Brewers must be running out of names for their players and have to beg, borrow, and steal them from other teams…which, come to think of it, is pretty much the same approach they’ve used this winter in populating their bullpen.

🙄

The Pittsburgh Pirates have signed 37 year-old journeyman pitcher Elmer Dessens to a minor-league contract.

It’s a cheap, low-risk move for the Pirates, who will undoubtedly see if the right-hander has any gas left to help their bullpen. At the same time, though, it does make you question the team’s leadership. I know they have to field a team in 2008, but they’re not going to compete. Their energy would be better spent on building a young team ready to compete in 2 to 3 years. Dessens won’t be a part of that.

As an aside, how depressing must it be for Dessens to sign a minor league contract with the Pirates? A sure sign your career is nearing completion.

Welcome to round 1 of the Jason Romano Commemorative NLC’s hottest blogger contest. 15 of the best-looking players on NLC (plus one fella in limbo) face off in a single-elimination tournament.

If you haven’t already voted in our first pairing–the Jason LaRue/Manny Parra contest–take a gander at those hotties as well.

Our second pairing pits a couple of newbies against each other as the Cubs’ Sam Fuld (or as I like to think of him, “the honey with the light eyes”) and the Cardinals’ Rick Ankiel (or as I like to think of him, “the guy I included in the tourney specifically for Bellyscratcher’s husband to vote for) face off.

Sam Fuld
ht: 5-10 wt: 180 dob: 11/20/1981

Fuld’s only appeared in 14 games, so we have to forgive him his .000 average for the moment. He has the distinction of being the only Cubs’ profile picture that actually make me say, “oh!”

Rick Ankiel
ht: 6-1 wt: 210 dob: 7/19/1979

OK, calling Ankiel a newbie isn’t exactly accurate, but he’s new to the outfield after fighting back from forgetting how to pitch exactly when it mattered. He’s also been subjected to some steroid-related scrutiny lately. But he’s kinda cute, so he’s got that going for him.

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