From Reds.com:

CINCINNATI -- The Reds and infielder-outfielder Ryan Freel agreed Monday to terms on a two-year contract extension through the 2009 season.

The 31-year-old Freel, who stole 110 bases in his first three full seasons with the Reds and already has four stolen bases this season, was on the second year of a two-year deal he signed prior to last season.

I'll have to update later with numbers once I see them. C. Trent has equally limited information, but I bet he'll have an update soon.

Of course, there aren't going to be many people who are against this. I mean, Freel's a great, exciting player with an obviously positive impact on the team's performance.

I do wonder why now, though. General Manager Wayne Krivsky definitely has a penchant for extending contracts way earlier than they need to be, so maybe it's nothing. On the other hand, with the number of bloggers and podcasters for other teams that have expressed their desire to see Freel on their own team, I have to wonder.

UPDATE 7:22 p.m. -- Freel's getting $3 million in 2008 and $4 million in 2009. Check out C. Trent's comments on the matter. There are some quotes from Freel. There's also some totally rambling and irrelevant stuff about Rob Butcher, which I assume is an effort to give the PR man some good PR man himself after he didn't represent himself so well in a conversation with me.

The Reds reinstated LHP Eric Milton today from the 15-day DL. He'll be making his first start of the season in a few minutes against the Pirates' Opening Day starter, Zach Duke.

On the one hand, you've got the like the way that the Reds' offense has dealt with the Pirates' pitching so far this series, but on the other hand, Milton is a seriously unknown quantity. You know he's got it in him somewhere, but he's had a frighteningly bad streak lately. Similarly, the Reds have been facing the bottom of the Pirates' rotation, though I'm not convinced that there's really that much of a difference between the Pirates' #1 and #5. They're the strength of the team, for sure, I'm just saying that they seem to all have a similar skill level.

To make room for Milton on the 25-roster, the Reds put RHP Jared Burton on the 15-day DL with a strained left hamstring. I don't remember him getting hurt that game, but I do remember him walking three in his one-third of an inning. That's a sort of injury, I suppose. I do wonder whether the A's would have reason to call shenanigans, especially if Burton continues to come down with injuries whenever the Reds need a spot on the roster.

In any event, I'll miss the game this afternoon doing Easter things with the fam. But my thoughts will be with Milton. Go Reds!

Check it out on The Official Site:

Active Roster
Pitchers

• Bronson Arroyo
• Matt Belisle
• Jared Burton
• Todd Coffey
• Rheal Cormier
• Jon Coutlangus
• Aaron Harang
• Kyle Lohse
• Kirk Saarloos
• Mike Stanton
• David Weathers

Infielders

• Juan Castro
• Jeff Conine
• Edwin Encarnación
• Alex Gonzalez
• Scott Hatteberg
• Brandon Phillips

Outfielders

• Adam Dunn
• Ryan Freel
• Ken Griffey Jr.
• Josh Hamilton

Catchers

• Chad Moeller
• David Ross
• Javier Valentín

Odd, you may think, that there are only 24 guys on the roster. There's some mystery surrounding that, as BubbaFan goes into in this comment. The 25th guy will be announced before game time tomorrow.

C. Trent also provides the list of guys on the DL:

• Bill Bray
• Chris Denorfia
• Jerry Gil
• Eddie Guardado
• Norris Hopper
• Jeff Keppinger
• Eric Milton
• Elizardo Ramirez

Eight guys on the DL? Yikes, though Guardado hardly counts since we knew he was out from the get-go. That Denorfia injury could haunt the team: with Griffey in the starting line-up, four outfielders is not enough.

In not-so-surprising news, Eric Milton was scratched from his start in Dayton yesterday with lower back stiffness. He may go on the DL. Like so many reasons in the past why Milton has been unable to perform, I hope that when this one is resolved, he's back to the adequacy that he's got stowed somewhere deep down. In the meantime, it sounds like the CTS and I were on to something when we declared Milton the fifth starter. From C. Trent:

The rotation for the next couple of days is Harang, Arroyo, Lohse, Belisle and then back to Harang. So it looks like Belisle is officially the fifth starter, or maybe the fourth and we'll see who the fifth is. However, that rotation, Narron said, isn't “set in cement”

In much more surprising news, in the same post C. Trent reports that the Reds released Dustin Hermanson after he refused assignment to Louisville. When did the party line change from “Hermanson is our closer” to “he's not even on the team”? Was it those four runs he gave up in a third of an inning against the Marlins yesterday?

But Wayne Krivsky sounds like he has something else up his sleeve as these mysterious comments indicate:

And another thing, Wayne was kind of on edge about the whole 25-man roster and the talk of it. He also dropped something about how he may be at 24 today at 3 p.m. when they must turn in their roster, but there will be 25 tomorrow.

I haven't found any corroborating sources for this news, BTW, but I'm assuming that C. Trent's got the early scoop and not a great April Fool's Day gag.

So says John Fay:

Outfielder Norris Hopper will not be coming north with the Reds.

“He might be DLed,” Jerry Narron said.

Does that mean Chad Moeller gets the last spot for a position player?

“He's got a good chance,”Narron said.

Hopper will go on the DL and stay here to rehab. Dewayne Wise also make the trip to Dayton, so there a chance he could make it if the Reds decide they need an outfielder. Remember, Ryan Freel hasn't played since he hit the wall in Clearwater. He is in the lineup today.

So I guess that leaves us with just Jeff Conine to back up the outfield, which is super-awesome. When Griffey hurts himself this season, I hope they realize they're not going to be able to do their normal screwing around pretending he's day-to-day for two months before putting him on the DL. They're going to need that roster spot immediately.