We're even scooping the official site on this one, not a peep on there about these moves yet as of the time of this post!

First, the bad news:

* Ryan Freel has been placed on the 15-day DL.

* Jon Coutlangus has been optioned to Louisville.

* Gary Majewski has been recalled from Louisville.

Now, the good news:

* Eddie Guardado has been activated from the DL.

That's 13 pitchers and only three OFs on the 25-man. That's just way too close for comfort to seeing Conine in the OF.

Good to see Eddie back, too, but as for the rest, this is the big bullpen shakeup Pete McCanWin hinted at the other night?

Cooter: 3.93 ERA, 118 ERA+, 36-2/3 IP, 31 H, 15 ER, 3 HR
Coffey: 6.04 ERA, 77 ERA+, 44-2/3 IP, 61 H, 30 ER, 11 HR

Coffey stays in the bigs and Coutlangus goes to AAA?

Utterly ridiculous.

And as if that isn't enough, Majewski is back. gasoline Latte to go along with Gasoline-Frappucino. Well, tonight and tomorrow are $1 hotdog nights at GABP. I guess the Reds figure that if Coffey and Majewski give up 28 runs in the seventh inning, nobody will care because everyone will be in the hotdog lines instead of watching the game.

HMZ

The Reds have acquired IF Jorge Cantu, OF Shaun Cumberland, and cash from the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in exchange for P Brian Shackelford, P Calvin Medlock, and future considerations.

The key to the deal for the Reds would be Cantu, who is 25 years old and has played mostly 2B and 3B in the majors, with a handful of appearances at 1B and one at SS. In 2005, his best season with the Devil Rays, he put up .286/.311/.497 BA/OBP/SLG with a 112 OPS, hitting 40 doubles, 28 HRs, and collecting 117 RBI. The writers in Tampa voted him the D-Rays' MVP that year.

The following year was an injury-plagued letdown, and although he hit a respectable .255 this spring he was beaten out by B.J. Upton and ended up being one of the final cuts in spring training, reportedly due in part to being defensively suspect. He was not happy and let it known that he wished to be traded. He did get called up several weeks later, but mostly sat on the bench, and a week ago Thursday was sent to Class-AAA Durham. He again asked to be traded, telling reporters in St. Petersberg, “I'm not a minor league player. I think a change of scenery would be best” and “I don't have anything to prove down there. I guess I have to go.”

His agent is Steve Canter, who has compared Cantu's situation to Milton Bradley and Shea Hillebrand and characterized Cantu as “an experienced second baseman with a power bat.”

The Reds, of course, already have one of those in Brandon Phillips, so it remains to be seen what the future holds for Cantu with the Reds' organization. He's on the 40-man roster but will be assigned to Louisville.

I would be remiss in my duties as Crack Hard Facts Staff if I were to fail to report that Cantu also has, or had, his own blog. Although there hasn't been a new entry since August 23, 2006, you can get a glimpse of Cantu up close and personal by visiting Jose Cantu's World:

http://jorgecantu.mlblogs.com/

Shaun Cumberland is 22 years old with no major league experience. He'll be assigned to Chattanooga. He was playing at Class-AA Montgomery, where he was hitting .246 with half a dozen dingers and 34 ribbies. Last season he was at Class-A Vidalia California League), where he hit .258 with 16 homers and a hundred ribbies and swiped 28 bases, but struck out 133 times in 530 at-bats.

Staff Writer Todd Zolecki of The Philadelphia Inquirer suggests the Phillies bringing on Kyle Lohse to fortify their rotation:

But the Phillies don't seem to have enough pieces to land somebody such as Dontrelle Willis or Matt Morris. (It would be incorrect to assume that free-agent-to-be Aaron Rowand would be enough to land a pitcher like that.)

Kyle Lohse, anybody?

Lohse, who will be a free agent after the season, is with the Cincinnati Reds. He is 5-11 with a 4.68 ERA, which would make him the No. 4 starter on this staff.

“It depends on the starter,” Gillick said. “I don't know if there are any impact pitchers out there. But I'd say it'd be questionable if we had enough to get an impact pitcher. We hope to find somebody to do a credible job in the rotation, but we don't have a lot of those bullets to use.”

Gillick has two more weeks to try.

Interesting. I would hope that Krivsky would have some solid ideas about what to get in return. As entertaining as I would find a fight between the Phanatic and Gapper, it wouldn't be enough in exchange for our third starter. No, cheesesteaks wouldn't be enough either.

There seems to be a revolving door on the entrance to the Reds' clubhouse these days. In the latest episode of “As The Revolving Door Turns” we find that as of Monday 7/8/07, Homer Bailey has been optioned to Louisville. Infielder Pedro Lopez has been called up from Louisville to fill the thus-opened slot on the 25-man active roster.

Unless somebody goes on the DL, Bailey has to stay at Louisville for at least ten days, meaning he wouldn't be eleigible to return until July 19. This would seem to preclude Bailey making his previously scheduled start against the Braves on July 16. Not that there's any shortage of pitchers who could start that game. Saarloos is back on the 25-man and could do it. So could Gosling. Or they could call up Livingston, or Dumatrait, or Ramirez, or…well, you get the idea. Or Wayne Krivsky could find another team's GM wandering around drunk at the All Star game and convince him to trade a starting pitcher to the Reds for a couple of warm ballpark beers and an autographed mugshot photo of a Florida DUI offender to be named later.

Lopez (as you'll recall the instant I mention it) was claimed by the Reds off waivers from the White Sox back on May 21. Don't rush out to buy your Pedro Lopez jersey just yet, however. For one thing, Lopez hasn't even been assigned a number yet. For another thing, they can option him back to Louisville at any time. There are now seven infielders on the active roster, and only 11 pitchers. They customarily carry 12 pitchers, so I'm sure that revolving door will be spinning again relatively soon.

If you're going to a Reds game soon, make sure you buy a program so you can keep up with the comings and goings at GABP. Or at least read red-hot-mama.com before you go. Let's break it down by department…

“Hey, What Happened To…?” Department:

Juan Castro, 15-day DL retroactive to Friday; Marcus McBeth, optioned to Louisville; and Ricky Stone, designated for assignment (DFA).

“Hey, Who's The New Guy?” Department:

Jared Burton, reinstated from DL; Kirk Saarloos and Jeff Keppinger, recalled from Louisville.

“Poetic Justice” Department:

Rob Butcher fired, replaced by RHM.

Well, just kidding with that last one…but we can dream, can't we?

HMZ