After years of failed attempts, Paul Daugherty may have finally written his first good column. Well, it’s not so much as he wrote it as he asked Cincinnati Reds manager Dusty Baker questions and transcribed the responses for the world. Since Baker is actually a nice, genuine, kind of cool guy, the article comes out very nice.

Baker talks about the origins of his omnipresent wrist bands.

I’ve worn the wristbands since I was a kid. Look at any of my bubblegum cards. If I’m wearing short sleeves, I have wristbands on. I put them on before I put on any other part of my uniform. If we’re winning, I use the same color. If we’re losing, I change them every day. Different colors. It’s bad when I run out of color combinations.

Then he talked about being diagnosed with prostate cancer.

I go to Kauai every year. For me, it’s the most spiritual place in the world. That’s where I went when I was told I had prostate cancer. We were going to Hawaii anyway, but my wife read in the in-flight magazine about Kauai, The Healing Island. The Lawae Valley. I walked the mountainsides. A lot of people think Hawaii is the center of the earth. I don’t know, but I feel something there I don’t feel anyplace else. I just prayed about my cancer. I came down from the mountains on Kauai and I knew everything was going to be all right.

Clearly, he has a well-adjusted head on his shoulders and a supportive family.

In the article, Baker also shares his love of wine, and he says that he grows syrah grapes. It doesn’t say, but I can only assume there’s a Dusty Baker wine out there somewhere. I wonder if he makes it in his bathtub.

There are a lot more tidbits about what makes Baker the person he is. Read the article to find out the last time he cried and what his first car was. Go ahead. It’s okay. And it might encourage Daugherty to get out of the way of other people’s words in the future.

While we were in Goodyear, Arizona, the Cincinnati Reds decided that all those off-season, multi-year contracts they’d given away weren’t quite enough, so they saw catcher Ryan Hanigan standing around without one and remedied that.

Hanigan hasn’t done badly for a guy who wasn’t drafted, who didn’t catch much in college and who didn’t reach the big leagues until he was 27. Monday, the Reds officially announced a three-year deal with Hanigan that will pay him $4 million for this year, 2012 and 2013.

His trip to the majors was a long one, and, as John Fay writes, he was in the minors a long time. “He spent three seasons in Single-A and most of three more at Double-A.”

“I had a good opportunity to sign based on the year I had,” he said. “I made a little bit of money coming out of that summer, so I went ahead and signed. The Reds made a good offer.”

I’m happy to have him. He’s a good catcher and should be a good bargain for the Reds over the three years of the contract. I know the Reds have some good young catchers in the minor leagues, but they’re still a ways away. And it does take more than one catcher to get through a major league season.

This year’s winner of the dubious distinction of hottest Spring Training performer out of the gate falls to one Dave Sappelt. Through yesterday’s game, he’s batting .500 and getting on base 47% of the time. But then again, not only is it Spring Training, but he’s also had just 18 at-bats. It’s not the stuff of which legends are made.

It is, however, the stuff that gets people’s attention. Who is Dave Sappelt?

When I first looked up information on him for this little post, I had thought he was an older, journeyman outfielder who was still hanging on and hoping for one shot in the majors. What I found out is that he’s actually a 24-year old prospect.

Sappelt was drafted by the Cincinnati Reds in the 9th round of the 2008 amateur draft. He’s worked his way through the Reds minor league system over the last three years, moving from Billings to Dayton to Sarasota to Lynchburg to Carolina to Louisville. And he’s hit everywhere along the way.

John Fay wrote about him yesterday.

Whenever Dusty Baker is asked about Dave Sappelt, he says: “We know he can hit, but there’s more to it than hitting.”

That “more” has been made clear to Sappelt, too. “I think they want to see how consistent I can be on the base paths. I haven’t made a mistake yet in games. I think if keep that consistency, that confidence, I’ll be a real helper of this team.”

Sappelt has had issues on the basepaths, getting thrown out 42% of the time he attempted to steal last year. That’s not good, but he’s young and has time to learn. He’s also realistic about his chances of making the team this year.

“For me personally, it wouldn’t bother me if I didn’t make it,” he said. “Right now, they have a nucleus of guys that are set to help this team win. I look at myself as guy who’s going to be ready in Triple-A. I’ll be ready to come up and help immediately. I’ll be a guy who can come in and spot start and pinch-hit.”

If he keeps hitting the way he has and learns some better base-running skills, he may do more than that.

Yesterday Chris Jaffe at The Hardball Times took a look at some of the all-time milestones that are due to be met and/or exceeded by managers this year. I’m no fan of how much love one Tony LaRussa gets in the article, but Dusty Baker gets his mention as well, so I figured it was worth a link.

The milestone in question is the 200th career meet-up between Baker and LaRussa (See? It’s always gotta be about TLR). That’s a lot of toothpicks and sunglasses. And despite it all–the base clogging comments and lineup malconstruction and veteran love–I still think we’ve got the better end of the match up, if only because, after all these years, Baker complains a whole lot less.

Yesterday, the Cincinnati Reds posted a picture of this season’s Jonny Gomes bobblehead giveaway on their twitter feed.

See that little spring on his right elbow? His arm bobbles with the head! That should capture his twitchiness at the plate quite nicely.

Gomes’ giveaway night is July 23. The bobblehead will be given to the first 30,000 fans.