On December 22, 2012, former Cincinnati Reds infielder and outfielder Ryan Freel committed suicide. This week, his family released news that he’d been suffering with chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a concussion-related disease more commonly associated with football players.

On the anniversary, Brett Popplewell at SportsNet writes about Freel’s tragic life and his sad final days. The story opens in a chilling fashion.

A dead man rested on a couch, surrounded by mementoes of the things that mattered most. Memories from a life already lost: his daughters, his wife, his career. He left no note. No goodbye. Just three words, typed on his phone and sent to his mother. “You forgot one.”

The whole thing is worth a read. Hopefully, one day we’ll be able to prevent both repeated head trauma in sports and the damage that they can cause to people and families.

One of the disadvantages to not really paying attention to the Reds or baseball at all this off-season is that I occasionally miss some things. And apparently, I’d missed a doozy of a Twitter account until this morning.

At the beginning of December, an account named Seeall Hearall appeared with this as its first tweet.

Call me treasonous but secrecy ain't good for nobody.

— Seeall Hearall (@SeeHearTell) December 6, 2013

Starting with a double negative is an inauspicious beginning. Seeall Hearall made up for it, though, proceeding to divulge all manner of information on purported negotiations the Reds and General Manager Walt Jocketty were having. The majority of the updates focused on the Reds’ attempts to trade Brandon Phillips to the New York Yankees.

Throughout all of this, people were asking both Seeall Hearall and Reds public relations spokesperson (and would-be rock star) Jamie Ramsey questions attempting to verify the account.

Seeall Hearall ignored the questions for the most part.

@JoshDBresser I'd rather ignore him & let everyone enjoy his antics over not being included

— Seeall Hearall (@SeeHearTell) December 12, 2013

Ramsey, fanned the flames of controversy and kept it going by answering a question with a question.

@Tommy_ATC_PTA @SeeHearTell what do you think?

— Jamie Ramsey (@Jamieblog) December 13, 2013

Seeall Hearall had long been saying the Phillips trade to the Yankees was going to happen. But yesterday, it all fell apart.

Seeall Hearall doubled down on the trade rumors, though, and posted this bombshell last night.

#Reds have reached agreement w/ #Dodgers Brandon Phillips & Homer Bailey have been traded to LAD CIN will receive Matt Kemp

— Seeall Hearall (@SeeHearTell) December 13, 2013

It’s unlikely the account is real, but anything that whips up Jamie into a fit is hella entertaining. The off-season is long, and we need something to watch.

More than a month after signing Brayan Pena to be the backup catcher for the Cincinnati Reds in 2014, the Reds finally addressed their catching surplus and traded Ryan Hanigan to the Tampa Rays.

The deal was a three-team deal that also involved the Arizona Diamondbacks. In return, the Reds received 22 year-old lefthander David Holmberg. The pitcher has some potential as a back-of-the-rotation starter, which is an area the Reds were very weak in last season.

This also signals to Devin Mesoraco that it’s time for him to step up.

“(Manager Bryan Price) and I talked about it a lot,” Reds general manager Walt Jocketty said. “We felt he was ready to take the next step. We still have a high regard for his talent. He’s matured as a catcher and offensively the last two years. We think he’s ready to be a frontline guy.”

I hope so, too. Mesoraco’s shown slow, but steady improvement, which is kind of expected from the catching position. It’ll be interesting to see if he’s up to the challenge.

As for the trade, it seems a good one. The Reds traded from a surplus and addressed a weakness. Holmberg isn’t an ace-level prospect, but the Reds don’t need that. Hanigan had one more year before reaching free agency. Basically, the Reds turned that year into several more years of a 4th or 5th starter. Very nicely done.

After a brief hiatus from all things related to the Cincinnati Reds–and can you blame a guy after the brutal ending to 2012 and the wasted 2013–I delved back into Reds news this week.

As is so often the case with the Reds under General Manager Walt Jocketty, nothing happens until it’s happened. No one saw the Mat Latos and Shin-S00 Choo trades coming. And just like both of those trades, there’s nothing of substance in any pending trade rumors.

However, a few minor things have happened while I was ignoring baseball. The Reds signed catcher Brayan Pena. What this means for Ryan Hanigan or Devin Mesoraco isn’t known, but it seems likely that Hanigan will be shopped around.

Also, Jocketty dipped into the ex-Cardinal bucket and signed Skip Schumaker to a $5 million, 2-year deal. Schumaker has versatility in the number of positions he can play badly, but assuming he’s used as a backup and not a starter, he could prove useful. I don’t see the need for 2 years of him, though.

And most recently, last night the Reds chose not to offer contracts to outfielders Xavier Paul and Derrick Robinson. Last night was the deadline when teams had to offer contracts to players on the 40-man roster without them. This doesn’t mean Paul and Robinson won’t be Reds in 2014, but it does mean they’re free agents and can sign anywhere. In particular, it might be worth bringing Robinson back. He was valuable in his playing time in 2013, and at 25, could have room to improve.

Lately, it feels like the Cincinnati Reds have been missing something from their offense. Some terror that flaps in the night. Given some recent current events, I think I know just the thing to let the Reds get dangerous. Carlos Danger.

Here’s tonight’s lineup against the second-place St. Louis Cardinals, thanks to the Carlos Danger name generator.

1. Javier Sly, CF
2. Narciso Smash, LF
3. Jorge Sly, 1B
4. Mateo Menace, 2B
5. Ricardo Evil, RF
6. Efraín Verboten, 3B
7. Diego Threat, SS
8. Inigo Menace, C
9. Antonio Evil, P

That’s a whole lot of sly, evil menaces to tee off against the Cardinals. So long as there are no dick pics.