No, not Chris Denorfia, but he is lately of the Reds. They've signed Alex Sanchez, who was released from the Louisville Bats last June.

Desperate for an affordable but experienced center fielder, the Marlins are taking a chance on the first player disciplined in 2005 under baseball's toughened steroids rules.

Alex Sanchez, a career .297 hitter with speed but questionable defense, will compete for the center field spot in spring training after signing a minor-league deal Friday.

I guess “desperate” is the key word. They want someone with a good glove to cover their cavernous outfield; a guy with “questionable defense” doesn't seem to fill the bill. Not to mention one who hasn't hit nearly as well since he was busted for steroids use.

I was poking around AJC.com, looking for news on the long-rumored Laroche-for-Gonzo-for-Melky trade, and came across this:

At the risk of spoiling the New Year’s celebration for many of you, l’m going to cut to the chase and tell you that Chris Reitsma will not be returning to the Braves.

OK, stop the derisive applause.

This according to the beleaguered reliever’s agent, who told me Sunday that Atlanta wasn’t among the dozen teams that expressed interest in Reitsma after the Braves non-tendered him last month.

Agent Mike Paolercio said six teams have made “legitimate offers” for Reitsma, who posted an 8.68 ERA and .362 opponents’ average in 27 appearances before the All-Star break, then went on the DL and had season-ending elbow surgery.

One of those teams is the Reds:

He said he’s well into negotiations with “several teams” including Cincinnati, where Reitsma was a setup man, closer and fan favorite before being traded to Atlanta before the 2004 season.

(Yes, he was a seriously popular pitcher in Cincy, much as Dan Kolb was in Milwaukee and Bob Wickman in Cleveland. Hey, at least one of them didn’t see his career fall to pieces in Atlanta.)

The Reds' new closer?

Though he didn't pitch well in Atlanta, he seems to have made friends there nonetheless:

While most of you never met him, let me go on record as saying Reitsma was about as decent and good a dude as I’ve ever met in 12 years covering baseball. I know that probably doesn’t mean a lot to you, because, as I said, he did stink for most of his final 12 months here.

But next time he visits Turner Field, it really wouldn’t hurt to give him a little polite applause. Or at least quiet indifference. At least don’t roll down your window and yell obscenities at him. If you guys ever got to meet him and talk to him, you’d know what I mean. Good dude.

And in other news, Brendan Harris was dealt to Tampa, for a PTNL or cash. (The PTNL is probably not Josh Hamilton.)

Because it's almost time to bring down the curtain on 2006, and this is a time we tend to look back at the past (as well as ahead to the future…that's why they put Janus on the calendar, folks!), I've decided to help offset the shortage of Reds-related news during this holiday season by posting this, my list of the ten greatest moments in Reds history.

It wasn't easy. Also, I limited it to events that happened during my time as a Reds fan…so stuff like Johnny Van Der Meer's consecutive no-hitters isn't here because that stuff was before my time. OK, here goes…the first three were no-brainers:

1. Reds Sweep Oakland in 1990 World Series - Nobody, and I mean nobody (except maybe the Reds themselves) gave the Reds a prayer against Oakland in the 1990 WS. Everybody you talked to was sure the A's were going to clobber the Reds. One person - only one - asked me if I thought so too. She didn't like the answer, either. I told her, “Well, don't bet your house on it.” Eric The Red - Eric Davis - set the tone in Game One with a homer in his first at-bat of the series. The Reds never looked back. So Dawn, if you're reading this - I was the guy in Good Guys West who told ya so. Hope you enjoyed the Series!

2. Reds Sweep Yankees in 1976 World Series - No offense to anyone who's a Yankees fan, but I live in the Buffalo area…I'm a Reds fan…and because of the Yankees it's almost impossible to see a Reds game on TV here. Due to this, I hate the Yankees, and enjoy watching them lose almost as much as I enjoy watching the Reds win. So imagine how much fun it was watching the Reds beat the Yankees four times in a row to repeat as World Champs following…

3. Reds Win 1975 World Series - This was the one featuring Carlton Fisk's famous homer in Game Six, but the Reds overcame a 3-0 fifth-inning deficit to win Game 7. Ken Griffey Sr. scored the last two runs.

4. Johnny Bench's game-tying homer leading off the ninth inning of the 1972 NLCS against the Pirates. I can still hear Al Michaels on WLW radio: “Change hit in the air to deep right field! Back goes Clemente!! At the fence!! SHE'S GONE!!!”

5. Pete Rose Collects #4192 - Charlie Hustle lines a first-inning single into right center off the Padres' Eric Show to break Ty Cobb's record. There followed a standing ovation that went on for a full seven minutes. A much better September 11 (1985) event than the one that comes to mind when that date is mentioned now.

6. On Fathers' Day 2004, with his father and his son watching from the stands, Ken Griffey Jr. takes Matt Morris deep for his 500th career homer.

7. Tom Browning's perfect game against the Dodgers in 1988.

8. Tom Seaver's No-Hitter - How perfect it was that the cover of the Reds program in 1978 was a tribute to Tom Seaver. Almost a year to the day he was traded to Cinci from the Mets, Seaver pitched the only no-hitter of his career, a 4-0 win over the Cardinals.

9. Pete Rose ends the 1970 All-Star Game (played in Cinci) by annihilating AL catcher Ray Fosse at the plate.

10. June 2, 1989 - Eric Davis saves the hard one for last, getting a triple in his final AB as he hits for the cycle.

Here's hoping 2007 brings something to add to the list. To Amanda and Jon and all of you out there, best wishes for a Happy and prosperous New Year!

HMZ

Well, this is the time when people traditionally get soddenly retrospective. No, not Friday night without a date. New Year's - the time of endings…and new beginnings.

This year saw the end of Bubba Crosby's four season stint with the New York Yankees, and the beginning of a new opportunity with a new team - the Reds. So, for my first Red Hot Diary, I'd like to look back at the highlights of Bubba's career as a Yankee, as a way of introducing him to Reds fans. Without further ado:

BUBBA'S TOP 10 YANKEE MOMENTS

#10 March 22, 2004 - Bubba hits an inside-the-park grand slam. The third base coach gives Felix Escalona, who had been on 1B, the green light, and Crosby, by then only a few feet behind Escalona, thinks the sign is meant for him. And he makes it.

#9 April 9, 2004 - Bubba homers in his first at-bat as a Yankee. The game was hopelessly out of reach - which is why he was in it - but he gave the fans something to cheer.

#8 September 24, 2005 - A fine diving catch.

#9 May 11, 2006 - Grand theft Bubba! Bubba robs Mike Lowell of a two-run homer. (Gotta have the good gloves in with Shawn Chacon on the mound.)

#6 September 23, 2005 - Another great diving grab. Bet he had grass in his teeth after that one.

#5 May 15, 2006 - Bubba makes a leaping, tumbling circus catch, landing hard on the warning track. Mike Mussina is grateful: “You can't make a better play than that. It turns a double and guys running all over the place into a sac fly.”

#4 July 14, 2006 - Mariano Rivera was on the mound with a two-run lead, but it looked like the game was slipping away. It was Bubba to the rescue, with this great play. Yes, it ended up a WebGem.

#3 April 26, 2006 - Three-quarters of the world is covered by water; the rest is covered by Bubba! Bubba made a couple of nice plays in this game. Though the announcer thought he was Johnny Damon.

#2 April 11, 2004 - The Crosby Clambake. Bubba's first start as a Yankee. Mike Mussina had struggled to earn his 200th win, but Bubba almost single-handedly won it for him. He made a great catch and homered. (Actually knocked a piece of the facade off the upper deck!) Then made another nice catch.

#1 September 19, 2005, The Bubba Crosby Game - With the Yankees desperately trying to catch the Red Sox in a brutal stretch run, Bubba Crosby hits a walkoff homer, bringing the Yanks to within half a game of Boston. Alex Rodriguez's reaction, both on the field and later, talking to the press: “Holy (bleep)!!!” (Bubba had a great night all around. While the rest of the team struggled against Eric Bedard, Bubba went 3 for 4. He scored two runs - 2/3 of the Yankees' offense for the night. And helped get the remaining run in.)

Bubba's provided Yankee fans with a lot of memorable moments. It was tough to pare it down to ten. Here's hoping for even more great moments with the Reds.

Happy New Year!

…it's December 23, which means that in two more days, RHM and CTS will wake up and find their living room buried in hastily discarded wrapping paper, the furniture lost beneath a large pile of toys (and the even larger pile of kids fighting over who gets to play with 'em next).

Don't laugh, either, because if you have kids, your own living room may well bear a striking resemblance to what I've just described.

Anyway, what I'm getting at here is probably obvious by now, so I'll just come right out and say it: Merry Christmas, everybody.

John D. Kasupski, KC2HMZ
Tonawanda, New York