The Cincinnati Reds Caravan came to Indiana over the weekend, with stops both Friday and Saturday. Friday featured Jay Bruce, while Saturday featured Homer Bailey. The RHM crew decided that driving all over the state and standing in line for hours was a fun pastime and headed to both Bloomington to see Bruce and Indianapolis to see Bailey.

The event was well-attended, with the line at the mall stretching throughout the food court. The best moment came during the brief question-and-answer section before the autographs started. A fan asked Corky Miller if he could throw out notorious base-stealer Billy Hamilton.

“Yep,” Miller said. “I could definitely catch him. If he stole 100, he might get on two or three times, but that would be the pitcher’s fault.”

Miller, with his fu manchu facial hair is always a crowd favorite. I look forward to seeing him managing.

Here are some pictures from the Bloomington stop.

John Fay of the Cincinnati Enquirer is reporting that the All-Star Game will be coming to Cincinnati in 2015. It’s about damn time.

Back when Great American Ball Park opened in 2003, it seemed like the Reds would be hosting an All-Star Game at any moment. But then, what with one thing and another, three years passed.

Then comes the new ownership, and surely Major League Baseball wouldn’t still be holding the Schott years against Bob-o and friends, but alas, no All-Star Game was forthcoming.

Then Yankee Stadium was going to close after all those years, so of course you had to have one more romp there before you lost the chance. And hell, Angel Stadium and Kauffman Stadium are pretty old too…might want to take another tour of those.

But the most irksome one, the one that is the cause of the bitter, hateful tone of this post, was when the damn Cardinals got the All-Star Game in 2009. Their stadium opened three years AFTER Great American Ball Park, and (having been to both myself) looks pretty much exactly the same, just with more expensive beer.

They had a better-looking team, of course, but if that’s what counted, we wouldn’t have been visiting Kansas City a couple years ago. It’s irrelevant now, in any event. At this rate, the Reds might not only be hosting the All-Star Game in 2015, but also managing the team. That’d show those damn Cardinals.

The rosters for the World Baseball Classic were released yesterday, and Brandon Phillips will be playing for Team USA.

Phillips was hesitant, at first, but manager Joe Torre convinced him.

“My conversation with Joe Torre convinced me to really do it. I wanted to do it the past. But some of the players got hurt and started off real slow in the season. Talking to Joe Torre, he said representing the country was something I could always say to my kids — to say I played for the country.”

Phillips is the only member of the Cincinnati Reds named to any of the WBC teams. Neither Joey Votto and Johnny Cueto were on their respective country’s rosters. At first, I wondered what the deal was. It’s not like there are any Canadian first baseman blocking Votto.

But it turns out that both Votto and Cueto, because of their injuries during the 2012 season, are on a chronic injury list. That means that the two must pass physicals before being cleared to play.

I wouldn’t mind if neither of them didn’t end up playing in the WBC. I understand there’s some national pride involved in playing for your country, but I’d hate to see any player get seriously injured playing a meaningless game.

It was something other than excellent list segmentation that caused Major League Baseball to send me an announcement of the SABR Analytics Conference that is coming to Phoenix in March, but I was glad to get the email anyway. It’s nice to know that people attending the Cactus League in the second week of March also have the option to drop in at the Sheraton Phoenix Downtown for $595 worth of stat-crunching fun.

Or if you don’t want to shell out the registration fee, you could just hang around in the lobby and try for autographs from front office types, such as Derrick Hall (President and CEO of the Arizona Diamondbacks), Jon Daniels (General Manager of the Texas Rangers), or Rick Hahn (General Manager of the Chicago White Sox).

According to the conference website, some topics that will be covered include:

• General Managers Panel on how analytics shapes front-office decisions (with Jon Daniels, Rick Hahn and Jed Hoyer)
• Measuring Player Performance
• New innovations in baseball analytics
• Player Agents — their view of analytics
• Advances in medical information and its impact on decisions
• New applications of PITCHf/x data
• The use of analytics in scouting
• Player panel — the impact of data and information on performance
• The International Game — the next hot spot for talent development

If you can’t make it in person, you can follow along on Twitter using the hashtag #SABRanalytics. See pictures of how much fun they had last year in the daily photo galleries at SABR.org/analytics/photos/2012.

Via John Fay’s blog, I learned that the Reds have announced their non-roster invitees to spring training, which is just around the corner. Here’s a list for you:

• RHP Nick Christiani – 25 year old who’s been in the Reds’ system all along. He had a 3.34 ERA last year in AAA Louisville.
• LHP Wilkin De La Rosa – 27 year old who’s been bouncing around minor league teams for the last 8 years. He rocked a 2.49 ERA in AA Pensacola last year, so maybe this is finally his shot.
• RHP Justin Freeman – 26 year old who’s come up through the Reds’ system. He had a 2.91 ERA in AA Pensacola last year.
• RHP Drew Hayes – Another 25 year old coming up through the Reds’ system. 3.41 ERA in AA Pensacola last year.
• RHP Chad Rogers – Ooh, a youngun at just 23. Also home grown. 2.92 ERA in AA Pensacola last year.



• C Nevin Ashley – This 28 year old came up with the Rays before becoming a free agent and signing a minor league deal with the Reds in November. He’s got a fairly active Twitter account. He’s a fellow Hoosier and apparently likes yoga.
• C Tucker Barnhart – Just 22 and another Hoosier. Tucker spent last year in AA Pensacola.
• C Corky Miller – What could I possibly say about Corky Miller that hasn’t already been said? I’m just hoping to get a good picture at the Reds Caravan.
• IF Emmanuel Burriss – 27 year old who actually logged some major league experience in the middle infield with the Giants over the last 5 or so years.
• IF Cesar Izturis – Izturis has been the name out of this list that everyone’s been talking about. My take: they’re tempting Dusty Baker with a light-hitting, 32 year old shortstop? Heaven help us.
• IF Kristopher Negron – We saw Kristopher in 5 games with the Reds last year. He even got a hit in one of his 4 ABs.
• OF Billy Hamilton – I heard that Hamilton will be wearing #6–pretty bold for a spring training invitee who’s so young to choose such a low number. I wonder if it’s in honor of the Reds’ last best base-stealing threat (not Drew Stubbs).
• OF Ryan LaMarre – 24 year old who’s come up through the Reds system. He hit .263 in AA Pensacola last year. He’ll also be on the western leg of the Reds Caravan this year.
• OF Denis Phipps – We saw this 27 year old in 8 games in Cincinnati last year. Hit .300. Way to handle the pressure.
• OF Derrick Robinson – This 25 year old switch hitter came up through the Royals’ system and most recently played for the AAA Omaha Storm Chasers. Clearly, they’ve run out of good minor league team names.