Well the good folks over at mlblogs.com have once again prevented me from logging into my blog, so thanks to Red Hot Mama I will post my analysis here in the Diaries section of her site until I get the glitch worked out at my own blog.

Let's start with Alex Gonzalez, our new shortstop. My initial reaction was one of disappointment, but I did include a disclaimer that I didn't know much about the kid and would have to do more research. I am now convinced this was an excellent move by Kriv-dawg who now finds himself on the hotseat because of the fallout from the Kearns/Lopez deal. Gonzalez is no stranger to WINNING, being the owner of a nice shiny world series ring from that miraculous Marlins team of 2003 and more recently having been in the thick of a heated pennant race with the Red Sox. His defensive range is superb and he makes incredible plays look routine. No one questions his defensive prowess, it is the offensive woes that have raised more than a few eyebrows amongs the Redlegs faithful. After having done my diligent research I am not concerned about his offensive shortcomings, assuming he bats at the bottom of the lineup. If narron bats him 2nd we are in big trouble, but not even Jerry Narron could do something so irrational, right? What's that you say? He batted Royce Clayton 2nd? Hmmm, good point… yea we might be in trouble.

But seriously… It is not unusual for AGon to have a big month. For instance he batted .352 this past June and followed that up by hitting .325in July. Not too shabby. His paltry OBP is less of a problem if he bats 8th, and he does have surprising power that could mesh well with the favorable conditions of GABP. 20 home runs at the bottom of the lineup would be quite nice, and its not so hard to imagine. It should be noted he batted an anemic .103 with runners in scoring position and 2 outs last year, so his clutchness is highly suspect, but again if he is batting 8th it is ok, and its safe to assume he can only improve on that kind of statistic. He'll be just 30 years young next season, so it is entirely possible he matures as a hitter sometime soon. David Ross, for instance, found his stroke at the same age. The Red Sox fans were far more happy with AGon than they were with Renteria, so that should tell us something as well, because you could do a lot worse than Edgar Renteria as your SS.

Let's move on to Mike Stanton, a new member of the bullpen. Here's another guy with a winning history. He's been in the heat of pennant races and playoffs, having won a world series championship as a member of the Yankees. No one questions his mettle in pressure moments as he was one of Mariano Rivera's primary set-up men. What we do question is his age. Still, nothing ventured, nothing gained, and there aren't many options in the free agent market so this was a perfectly understandable gamble. Apparently Kriv-dawg had to add an extra year on the contract (making it a 2 year deal) to beat out the competition and secure Stanton. I will make the bold assertion that Stanton cannot possibly make the current bullpen any worse.

Last and definitely least is good ol' boy Jason LaRue, who is either the greatest poker player ever, or simply could care less about playing in the postseason, because he is thrilled at the prospect of being shipped off to Kansas City, baseball's equivalent to purgatory. The ironic and best part of this lowpoint in his career will be when he gets into a heated battle with John Buck for the starting position. My money is on Buck because even LaRue admits he is a slow starter. I guess him and Luke Hudson can have a couple of cold ones as they relive better times, like the vaunted 2004 season when Hudson outdueled Kerry Wood at Wrigley Field. I wonder if LaRue was catching that day….

And that's that. Right now the million dollar question is if Adam Dunn is being shopped around and if so, what will we get for him. If we can't get adequate compensation Kriv-dawg might wait until his stock gets higher, like he did with Kearns last season. Assuming Dunn sticks the lineup looks like this:

1> Freel RF
2> Phillips 2B
3> Griffey CF
4> Encarnacion 3B
5> Dunn LF
6> Ross C
7> Hatteberg 1B
8> Gonzalez SS

which means the second game of the season the lineup Narron posts will be this one:

1> Phillips 2B
2> Dunn LF
3> Hattebrg 1B
4> Griffey CF
5> Encarnacion 3B
6> Alex Gonzalez SS
7> Denorfia RF
8> Javier Valentin

Ah the Reds, such a funny team. Anything is possible with this club of characters.

The official press releases on three player moves are now posted to the Reds' official website:

Alex Gonzalez, SS, and Mike Stanton, P, are signed to free agent contracts. The official press releases state “terms of the deal were not disclosed”.

However, the deal for Gonzalez is being reported as threee years, $14 million with a $6 million mutual option for a fourth year (and a $500,000 buyout). The deal for Stanton is being reported as two years, $5.5 million, with a vesting option for 2009.

The third deal is Jason LaRue to Kansas City for two minor league mascots and an autographed picture of Jim Sundberg.

Just kidding. It's LaRue to the Royals for a player to be named later. Some reports say no cash was involved, others say the Reds included an undisclosed amount of cash in the deal. If I had to guess, the deal LaRue signed under previous GM O'Brien was a two-year, $9.1 million contract. Since he was traded after Oct. 15, his 2007 salary would jump from $5.2 million to $5.45 million. My best guess would be that the Reds might have made up the difference. And, presumably this cements Javy Valentin's position as the backup to David Ross, which ought to brighten RHM's day.

Anyway, it's official - in with Gonzo and Stanton and out with LaRue. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to sit back and wait for RHM to post something on these moves before I comment further. After all, it's her blog. :-)

HMZ

The Major League Baseball All-Star Japan series ended this past week with the MLB sweeping for the first time since 1935.

The final game ended in dramatic fashion with Jose Reyes providing a walk-off home run for the win.

I like the idea of the international series, as it can only help promote baseball. I wouldn't have minded seeing more coverage of it domestically, but that's probably a bit much to ask for considering NFL and college football are in the midst of their seasons.

Even though it's been going on infrequently for years, I hope the series leads to more international baseball stuff, like an improved baseball World Cup, for starters.

You read it first right here on RHM: Brook Jacoby has been hired as the Reds' hitting coach, replacing Chris Chambliss.

Jacoby was with the Reds farm system as a coach from 2000-2002. He's also got some experience at the MLB level, serving as interim hitting coach with the Rangers.

As a player, Jacoby played 11 seasons (primarily at 3B) with the Indians, Braves, and A's. He was an All-Star in 1986 and 1990. He retired as a player after the 1992 season.

Wow. I'm out of the loop for a week, and find out that WLW fired Andy Furman. I can't remember how long the bombastic guy's been on that radio station. I definitely remember first hearing him back in the 90s.

The end of an ignorant and inflammatory era, I guess. No, wait. This is sports talk radio we're talking about. And 700 WLW, home of Willie Cunningham.

No, I'm afraid the ignorant and inflammatory will continue ad infinitum.