Despite Cincinnati Reds general manager Walt Jocketty saying that he though outfielder Jim Edmonds would retire, today, the Associate Press reports that the St. Louis Cardinals have signed him to a minor league deal.

Whether there is more to this story remains to be seen. It could be one of those moves where an athlete returns to the team he was most famous with to retire with them. Or it could be that the Cardinals are looking to add any depth to their shaky outfield. I mean, Lance Berkman is not going to last an entire season in left field. The latter is what the AP report speculates as the reason.

St. Louis made the move Friday to bolster outfield depth behind Matt Holliday, Colby Rasmus and Lance Berkman.

We’ll see. I’m just glad he’s no longer on the Reds to steal at-bats away from younger, more-promising players.

It’s been a good long while since Jim Bowden was systematically destroying any hopes Washington Nationals fans had of seeing good baseball, but one of the former general manager’s habits continues: picking up former Cincinnati Reds players. The latest? Laynce Nix.

Nix was a solid backup outfielder and power bat off the bench for the Reds for the last two seasons, and now he’ll get the chance to make the Nationals club. Today, he signed a minor league deal with an invitation to major league spring training.

Nix will be joining former Reds reliever Todd Coffey, whom the Nationals signed at the end of last month. The good ol’ Nats signing Reds cast-offs. It’s nice to know some things never change.

Maybe the difficulty that the Cardinals and Albert Pujols appear to be having coming to an agreement on a contract extension for the brute is a strange topic for RHM. After all, we’ve focused pretty exclusively on the Reds lately, and the Reds are one of the few teams that would not be trading up to take on the gorilla-sized first baseman.

Even so, I find it fascinating, with the clock ticking down, that we aren’t hearing anything. Apparently, prince Albert has set a deadline of the day when position players report to spring training, February 18 in the Cardinals’ case, for the extension of his contract. As soon as he hits the practice field, he’s no longer willing to talk dollars. And if his people and their people cannot come to an agreement, the galoot will be a free agent come the end of the 2011 season. And, lest you think that the Cards are holding out to trade him, he’s a 10/5 player and can veto any trade.

Ooh, intrigue!

Of course, there’s nothing saying that they haven’t long since come to an agreement and are just keeping it quiet (and doing an unusually exceptional job of it) to increase interest. Or that the Cards might be banking on a less-than-stellar year so they can pick Pujols back up on the cheap from the free agent market. (That one seems pretty unlikely, but I’m talking nonzero chance here.) But rumor has it that Pujols is talking 10-years, $300 million from his side of the table. The price per year is probably about right, but the Cards seem to want to stay in the 7-8 year range. Understandably. In ten years, Pujols will be “41.”

Damn, $300 million. What does a person even do with that kind of money? People in business school with me are looking to make $10 million in 10 years, but we’re talking 30 times that. I can’t even make that make sense in my brain. Is the lifestyle of a person who gets $300 million over the next 10 years significantly different than the lifestyle of a person who gets $350 million? Or $250 million? How many mansions and yachts and islands can one person really get use out of?

If I had that kind of money, I’d hire a full-time fashion designer to make all my clothes. I wonder if Pujols has ever considered that. But I digress.

Fan sentiment seems to be mixed. On the one hand, people love them some Albert, but on the other hand, they’re thinking about what else they might be able to buy with that kind of money. Looking back on all the years when the team has failed to win it all (or even make the postseason in some recent cases) with Albert on board has to tip the sentiment in favor of spreading around the cash a little.

And the secrecy of the whole even can’t be helping either. I understand not wanting to make a big production, but come the beginning of February, fans are starved for baseball action, and huge dollars and a deadline ultimatum are just the kind of drama we feed on. The ultimatum itself could make matters worse. Albert says he wants to focus on the season and put the contract out of his mind as soon as he takes the field, but no one else is going to be able to put it out of their minds so easily. If he’s a pending free agent, every darn person out there is going to be watching to see who might be starting the courting process early.

The good news is that it isn’t going to be the Reds. Cincinnati won’t have to make the decision between funding the first baseman or paying the rest of the team for another three whole years.

Now that the Cincinnati Reds have signed all of their arbitration-eligible players and are done on the free agent market, we’re in for a lack of real news until pitchers and catchers report in a couple weeks. But there is one major item I’m sure everyone is waiting with bated breath to hear more about. Will the Reds sign Jason Isringhausen again?

There’s not much news since yesterday when I reported Isringhausen would be throwing for the Reds in Arizona. Mark Sheldon did get comments from pitching coach Bryan Price and general manager Walt Jocketty.

“He threw the ball fine, well enough to feel optimistic that with a Spring Training to build his arm strength, he could get back to being productive again,” Price said. “That is if he can stay healthy, which is a top concern for anybody coming off an arm injury.”

Even with that, the Reds didn’t seem ecstatic about signing him.

“We’re not sure if we will pursue it or not,” said Reds general manager Walt Jocketty. “We’ll discuss it in the next few days. We have quite a bit of right-handed pitching.”

We’ll see if they make the decision, but I am doubtful at this point. I’m afraid Izzy may be done.