Every year since 2004, Sports Illustrated has rounded up the annual income of athletes and ranked them. This year, the number one athlete is boxer Floyd Mayweather, Jr. And making his first appearance on the list is Cincinnati Red favorite Joey Votto.

Yes, coming in at number 45 with a total income of $19,250,000 is Votto.

The 2010 MVP and a perennial All-Star isn’t a national household name. But Votto, 29, is extremely popular in Reds country and last year Kroger markets unveiled VottO’s cereal in Cincinnati and Dayton.

Only $250,000 of that total is from endorsements, so there’s definitely room for improvement in the future.

As far as I can tell, Votto is the first Red to make an appearance on the list. The first few years of the list were never placed on the internet in full and have been lost forever, so I’m saying that’s good enough.

Congratulations, Joey! And congratulations to the Reds’ ownership. It’s really nice to see them committing to keeping their excellent home-grown talent and rewarding them accordingly.

After going for so long without any days off, it feels weird as a fan of the Cincinnati Reds for them to have two off days so close together. There was no game yesterday, but the team still made some news by tweaking their starting rotation.

The Reds have pushed Tony Cingrani back a day in their rotation, keeping right-hander Mat Latos on his regular rest, pitching Thursday in Miami, with the lefty Cingrani pitching Friday in Philadephia.

Anything having to do with Cingrani and Leake, of course, makes the wannabe Walt Jockettys on Twitter fire up the speculation machine about what to do when Johnny Cueto successfully completes his rehab assignment. And that’s what this week’s blogger question on Red Reporter deals with.

With Johnny Cueto returning from the DL soon, who gets bumped from the rotation?

Jim Bowden from 2003 and Walt Jocketty from 2013 navigate the time vortex to make a wibbly wobbly timey wimey trade.

Head over for the insight from your favorite Reds blogs. I’m partial to mine, naturally, as I feel I solve two issues in one transaction. We’ll just have to find a machine to navigate the time vortex.

The Cincinnati Reds activated catcher Ryan Hanigan from the disabled list before Friday’s game, and he was in the lineup to catch Tony Cingrani. And he showed that he’s healthy.

Before heading to the DL, Hanigan was miserable at the plate. In 38 at bats, he had 3 hits with a terrible .079 average. With his 5 walks, his on-base percentage was at .182, half of his career percentage.

But in his return to the lineup tonight, Hanigan went 2 for 4, nearly doubling his total number of hits on the season. And one of the balls he hit was the hardest ball I’ve seen him hit all year.

Of course, bringing Hanigan back means it’s time to say goodbye to lovable mustachioed mascot Corky Miller. Miller’s an entertaining, larger-than-life personality who just isn’t quite good enough to be a major league backup. It’s too bad, but I do hope to see him coaching some day.

Until then, the Reds are one step closer to full strength, with pitcher Johnny Cueto and outfielder Chris Heisey both a few weeks away.

It’s been almost a month since Cincinnati Reds ace pitcher Johnny Cueto last was on a pitching mound in a professional baseball game. But today, while the Reds have a scheduled day off, Cueto will be making a start for the class A Dayton Dragons.

“I feel pretty good, but we’ll see tomorrow how I feel for the game,” Cueto said after the Reds’ loss to the Braves on Wednesday. “It’s a lot different in the bullpen than it is in the game. I need to throw in a game.”

The current plan is for Cueto to make two rehab appearances, building up his pitch count and arm strength before returning to the majors. That, of course, requires no further setbacks, which feels like a big if considering Cueto’s rehab was delayed once already due to oblique soreness.

It won’t be Cueto’s first time pitching for the Dragons. Back in 2006, when he was working his way through the Reds’ minor league system, he made 14 starts, going 8-1. Hopefully, he won’t be in Dayton that long for this go-around.

The game starts at 7:00pm. If you’re in the area, tickets are still available.