Ramón Ortiz leaves the Reds and suddenly their pitching is better. Coincidence? Of course not! After all, he's not around to cut off their beautiful locks anymore! These coifs are the topic of a post over at the MLB Fanhouse where our favorite Pirates blogger, Pat Lackey, is covering the entire NLC:

the Reds have no fewer than three pitchers that have shunned having their hair shorn this off-season.

Each of the three has gone for a bit of a different look. Bronson Arroyo has his typical bleach blonde, straightened look that would get his ass kicked at every single high school in America. Homer Bailey has the “I care, but not nearly as much as Bronson does” look. And Paul Wilson has the “Dude, I toured with Zepp in '72 and we didn't use conditioner then so I don't see why I should now” thing going on under his cap.

I remember when Paul Wilson rolled into spring training last season with that hair. He made some sort of comment about how, when he was ready to perform like a real pitcher, he'd cut it all off to look like a real pitcher. Alas, the hair remains.

Homer Bailey's story is a little different. He's just a kid, after all, and he's probably just following the trends. All the boys seem to be sporting that rag-a-muffin look these days.

As for Bronson Arroyo, I imagine he just thinks it looks pretty.