And no, it’s not Mike Stanton.

Yesterday, the Reds traded Brad Salmon to the Kansas City Royals for a player to be named later or cash.

Salmon didn’t have a legitimate shot of making the Reds bullpen this year, but I imagine he’ll have better chances in KC. Of course, thinking that the Reds are better off than the Royals might simply be delusional thinking. Neither have done anything for quite some time.

But hey, I look forward to seeing that cash contribute to the Reds!

Lisa Gray at The Astros Dugout took a look today at the spring training performance of some recent, but no-longer Astros in comparison to the guys who replaced them:

– Chad Qualls (D-bax) – 5 IP, no homers, 3 hits, no walks, 5 K in 5 games. Good thing we got rid of THAT good for nothing. Our NEW bullpen guys are SOOOOOOO much better.

– Chris Burke (D-bax) – 15/38 in 14 G – 11 RS, 15 H, 5 doubles, 3 HR, 9 RBI, 4 BB, 2 K, 2 SB, no CS: .395/.489/.763/1.252 – yeah, GOOD thing we got rid of that worthless good for nothing in favor of Kaz Matsui. Oh yeah, of COURSE these numbers are perfectly valid – didn’t we all decide by 20 ABs last year that Burkie-poo was washed up, useless, worthless? That he should be DFAd and Pence installed in center? Oh yes, you did.

The list goes on. You’ll want to click over there to read the whole thing. I mention Chris Burke there specifically because that’s him in the picture. It looks like Astros red, but if you look carefully you can see that it’s actually the crimson of the Diamondbacks. If you’re bothering to look that high.

Contrary to popular belief, the world failed to end on Monday night when Tom, my buddy and the foremost Pacer’s blogger, received media credentials for a Pacers’ game at Conseco Fieldhouse.

Just listen to his outlandish behavior:

Once I was set to go, I wanted to make sure I represented the blogosphere well. So, after I picked up the credential I tried to stay out of the way and observe while others were working. I had my voice recorder just in case and a notebook. Before the game I hung out in the media room and pored over the game notes.

Shocking. And how did he deal with going into the locker room after the game?

Finally, I approached Stevie, remembered to press record, and asked him a few questions. As expected, he was great. On my way out, I spoke to Mike Wells who was real nice even after I mentioned my blog.

Congratulations to Tom and Indy Cornrows. May we follow in his footsteps someday.

The comparisons between newest Pirates GM Neal Huntington and not dearly departed former GM David Littlefield are flying with the recent demotion of Steve Pearce.

Pearce may not be the best prospect in the world, but he is 25 and has little to nothing to prove in Indianapolis.

Because of that, it’s easy to connect the two GMs, since basically, it’s the Pirates choosing a mediocre veteran over the higher potential of an unknown prospect. It’s been the Pirates’ motus operandi for so long.

Pat at WHYGAVS expresses his displeasure very clearly.

To put things simply, the next Pittsburgh Pirate team that plays meaningful baseball after the All-Star break almost certainly won’t have Xavier Nady on it, but it might have Steve Pearce. Because of that, there’s no reason to play Nady over Pearce, whether there’s a buyer for Nady or not.

The second episode of the MLB Round-Up program from DoublePlay TV dedicates a lot of air time to the Cubs, plus fantasy baseball and a bunch of other stuff baseball fans love. This program is definitely moving in the right direction.

DoublePlay TV is asking for feedback, so I’m including a poll. If you’ve got any great ideas for future content, leave them in the comments.

[poll=26]