Here’s a link to Erardi’s Cincinnati.Com article.
All posts in Former Reds
Who do you root for now?
Not the Phillies, we hope. Unless you thought it was heartwarming the way Halladay threw a no-hitter in Game 1 … or cute the way Chase Utley pretended like he had been hit by a pitch in Game 2 … or gutsy the way Charlie Manuel stuck with Cole Hamels in the 9th inning in Game 3. Don’t make me puke. Besides, the Phillies don’t even have any former Reds on their active roster.
I’ve heard some people talking about pulling for the Rangers because they still like former Red Josh Hamilton. Here’s a look at Hamilton and other former Reds still competing in the postseason:
(Note: I did not include the likes of Chad Moeller of the Yankees and Jose Guillen of the Giants, who were on those teams’ 40-man rosters but were not included on Division Series rosters.)
Hamilton, Rangers
As a Red: Hit .292 with 19 homers and 47 RBIs in 298 at-bats in 2007. Only time will tell whether it was a good idea to give up Hamilton for Daniel Ray Herrera and Edinson Volquez, but right now it’s not looking great. No offense to Volquez, but Hamilton appears to be an elite talent. (Oh, and he’s still only making $3.25 million.) And no offense to Jonny Gomes, but imagine an outfield of Hamilton, Stubbs and Bruce.
Now: A league-leading .359, with 32 HRs and 100 RBIs in 518 at-bats during the regular season. He also led the AL in slugging percentage (.633) and OPS (1.044). In the ALDS, Hamilton was 2-for-18 (.111) with 2 walks, 6 strikeouts and a stolen base (though – in his defense – he missed most of September with bruised ribs).
Jorge Cantu, Rangers
As a Red: 17-for-57 (.298) in 2007 after being acquired from Tampa Bay (along with Shaun Cumberland in exchange for Brian Shackelford and Calvin Medlock). Cantu was released by the Reds during the offseason that followed.
Now: Since being acquired from the Marlins in July (for a pair of minor-leaguers), Cantu is a backup infielder who hit .235 with 1 homer and 2 RBIs in 98 at-bats for the Rangers during the regular season. He struck out in three of his four ALDS at-bats.
Cody Ross, Giants
As a Red: 1-for-5 with 2 strikeouts in 2006 (Cincinnati was an extremely brief stop for Ross, who also played for the Dodgers and Marlins that season.)
Now: An August waiver pickup, he homered and singled in Game 4 of the NLDS to lift the Giants past the Braves. This after he drove in the lone run in Game 1. (No other player had so few RBIs for a team in the regular season and registered a postseason RBI, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.)
Jeremy Affeldt, Giants
As a Red: 1-1 with a 3.33 ERA in 78 1/3 innings in 2008. He parlayed the season into a nice deal with the Giants.
Now: His 2010 campaign (4-3, 4.14) wasn’t quite as strong as his 2009 (2-2, 1.73), but he battled injury. He did not appear during the NLDS.
Austin Kearns, Yankees
As a Red: Finished third in 2002 NL ROY voting (behind Jason Jennings and Brad Wilkerson) after hitting .315 with 13 homers and 56 RBIs in 372 at-bats. But the season was so far the best of his career, as his average dropped in the seasons that followed (.264 in 2003, .230 in 2004, .240 in 2005) before he was traded on July 13, 2006, in the much-discussed Kearns/Lopez/Ryan Wagner for Bill Bray, Majewski, Royce Clayton, Brendan Harris and Daryl Thompson deal (that isn’t mentioned quite so often anymore, probably because Kearns and Lopez haven’t done a whole lot since they left, Bill Bray is still contributing for the Reds and fans have forgotten how terrible Majewski was as a Red). Kearns was at .274/16/50 in 325 at-bats at the time of the 2006 trade. He’s been subpar since the deal, though, with the exception of a decent .266/16/74 campaign with the Nats in 2007 (in which he had 587 at-bats, a huge total for him).
Now: .235/2/7 in 102 at-bats for the Yankees since being sent from the Tribe for minor-league pitcher Zach McAllister. He didn’t have an at-bat during the Yankees’ ALDS sweep of the Twins.
Dustin Moseley, Yankees
As a Red: Well, kinda. He was the Reds’ first-round pick (34th overall) in 2000. He pitched for Dayton, Stockton, Chattanooga and Louisville before he was traded during the 2004 offseason to the Angels for Ramon Ortiz.
Now: He was 4-4 with a 4.96 ERA for the Yankees during the regular season; he hasn’t appeared for them in the postseason. In his 5-year MLB career, he’s 12-11 with a 5.28 ERA.
Of the names on the list, Kearns had by far the longest stint with the Reds. Interestingly enough, Affeldt is the only other guy who even played a complete season with the Reds.
Curiouser and curiouser
A friend of OMGReds.com confirmed to an OMGReds.com contributor that he saw Francisco Cordero, Juan Francisco and Aroldis Chapman walking around together at Kenwood Towne Centre (which you may also see spelled “Kenwood Towne Center” from time to time) Thursday afternoon. What’s odd is the Louisville Bats – believed to be Francisco and Chapman’s current team – played a home game Thursday evening against Columbus. Chapman did not appear in the game and WAS listed among available players on the bench. Francisco did play, so he obviously managed to be in suburban Cincinnati during the afternoon and in Louisville that same evening, which is not unheard of. (The two locations are approximately 110 miles apart.)
Redreporter.com pointed out just this morning that Chapman didn’t appear in Louisville’s loss to Indianapolis on Wednesday either, which would make him “fresh for a weekend series.” And IF it were the case that the Reds were going to promote Chapman in advance of the upcoming series against the Cubs, did he even bother to go back to Louisville tonight when he was already here today? Can anyone confirm that he was in the dugout at the Bats’ game tonight? Just wondering.
Also, if he were promoted already, it would allow Chapman to avoid the madness that would be the pregame team autograph session the Bats have scheduled for Sunday.
Then again, wouldn’t the Reds have announced/promoted it right away (that Friday would be Chapman’s debut as a Red) if they had promoted him already? Probably, yes. So really, what can we deduce? That Chapman has, in fact, reportedly visited a shopping mall in greater Cincinnati. According to a fairly reliable source.
Also, in case you missed it, here’s a topical and strong feature about Chapman from the Enquirer’s John Erardi.
Gala highlights
The Red Jackets are here! Members of the Reds Hall of Fame line up at the end of the Gala.
UPDATE: We’ve posted a photo gallery with images of Sunday night’s festivities, and we’ve added videos that you’ll get to at the end of the post …
Pardon us in advance if we go a little overboard with our coverage of the 2010 Reds Hall of Fame induction gala, but you’d be pretty fired up too if you had just been in the same (big) room with the entire current Reds roster (minus the ill Scott Rolen) in addition to the likes of Johnny Bench, Eric Davis, Barry Larkin, Lee May, George Foster, Jack Billingham, Hal Morris, Tom Browning and all three Nasty Boys. Oh, AND Chris Sabo and Pedro Borbon.
Sparky addresses the crowd via video message
BP waves to the crowd
Hall of Fame broadcaster Marty emceed and at one point exclaimed something like, “How about those first-place Reds!” Slyde from redreporter.com and a couple of others I chatted with pointed out that “first-place Reds” wasn’t entirely accurate given that the Dodgers stink and gave up a 4-0 lead to lose AGAIN Sunday to the Pujols-less, Molina-less and Rasmus-less Cardinals, who took a 1/2 game lead in the division. Later in the program, Marty corrected himself as only Marty can:
I don’t give a damn that the Cardinals won today!
There was a really memorable segment where Bench, Foster, Billingham, Cesar Geronimo and Gary Nolan shared their favorite memories from the 1975 World Series. Bench made it clear he’s a fan of the 2010 Reds:
We’ve seen it on the field so far this year. When guys have been hurt, somebody’s picked them up. And that’s the way it was in our year (1975). Never forget that there’s 25 players and they’re all gonna contribute. … Our great success came because of all of the great support players, the role players that came out and did their job. They knew what their job was, and when they had to do it, they did it. And I’m just as happy for them; that’s why all 25 players were World Champions, and that’s why we all got rings. So thanks to all of those people.
Wow. Quite a contrast to how Bench is portrayed in Joe Posnanski’s ‘The Machine,’ huh?! :)
In another segment of the event, it was very cool the way the 25th anniversary of 4,192 was acknowledged. (Sabo later said he thought Pete was going to come out during this segment.)
Norm, Marty & Dibs
A family member, Cairil Mills, had some very well-prepared and well-articulated remarks about Tony Mullane, who was apparently quite a fascinating individual. You just don’t get pitchers who throw a complete game during just about every outing anymore!
During his induction speech, Borbon explained that he considers Cincinnati the best baseball city in the country. (St. Louis can put that in its pipe and smoke it.)
Chris Sabo
Three memorable quotes from Sabo’s speech (which actually referred to Pete Rose for a good two minutes or so):
I’d like to thank all of my former teammates, especially with the ’90 team for coming here … it was a fun team. I might not have shown it when I played, but I loved playing with all of you guys. Great teammates. We might not hang out off the field, but we had a good time on the field.
He’s not here, but I actually owe a lot to Pete Rose. He’s one of the few guys who believed in me when I was in the minor leagues, when people thought I was crap. He actually gave me a chance. And thankfully, Buddy Bell got hurt and I got a chance.
I’m just glad you guys all came out. I’m also glad this weekend’s ending and I can go home and have a couple of beers.
I’ve cut down a couple of the better video clips we got, including a pair of emotional recorded messages from Sparky Anderson. OK, I’m warning you, it’s not some dude in a Mike Leake shersey having an impromptu dance-off with Hammer or Norm MacDonald hosting the ESPYs, but it’s really pretty cool stuff if you’re a fan. Also, the audio quality is good but the video quality isn’t great.
Famefest
Championships past are on display at the Reds Hall of Fame & Museum
The Reds Hall of Fame & Museum have released their full schedule for this weekend’s “Famefest” as well as a list of all Reds Hall of Famers and Reds alumni that will be in attendance. There are some great names from Reds history that will be in town this weekend. Hope to see you at the yard taking it all in!
UPDATED events and times from redsmuseum.org
Reds Alumni scheduled to appear this weekend:
Reds Hall of Famers: Johnny Bench, Jack Billingham, Pedro Borbon, Tom Browning, Leo Cardenas, Eric Davis, George Foster, Cesar Geronimo, Wayne Granger, Tommy Helms, Barry Larkin (Sat./Sun. only), Jerry Lynch, Jim Maloney (Sat./Sun. only), Lee May, Joe Morgan (Fri./Sat. only), Gary Nolan (Sat./Sun. only), Jim O’Toole, Chris Sabo and Mario Soto.
1990 Team Members: Glenn Braggs, Keith Brown, Tom Browning, Norm Charlton, Eric Davis, Billy Hatcher, Barry Larkin (Sat./Sun. only), Hal Morris (Fri./Sat. only), Randy Myers, Paul Noce, Ron Robinson, Chris Sabo and Herm Winningham.
Fans will have many chances to meet and greet with their favorite HOF’ers and Reds players from the 1990 World Championship team. All meet and greet sessions are free with Hall of Fame admission.
Friday, July 16
5-6:30 p.m. – Meet and greet with returning Hall of Famers (photos OK, no autographs)
SCHEDULED TO APPEAR: Bench, Billingham, Borbon, Browning, Cardenas, Davis, Foster, Geronimo, Granger, Helms, Lynch, May, O’Toole, Sabo, Soto
Saturday, July 17
11 a.m. to 3 p.m. – Meet and greet with select 1990 team members (photos OK, no autographs)
SCHEDULED TO APPEAR: Brown, Robinson
3-4:30 p.m. – Meet and greet with returning Hall of Famers (photos OK, no autographs)
SCHEDULED TO APPEAR: Bench, Billingham, Borbon, Browning, Cardenas, Davis, Foster, Geronimo, Granger, Helms, Lynch, Maloney, May, Nolan, O’Toole, Sabo, Soto
2010 HOF Induction Weekend Remaining Event Schedule
Friday, July 16 – Reds vs Colorado Rockies (7:10 p.m.)
- MC Hammer concerts (pregame and postgame)
- 1990 team celebration (postgame)
- Fireworks presented by Klosterman Baking Co. (postgame)
Saturday, July 17 – Reds vs Colorado Rockies (7:10 p.m.)
- FameFest at the HOF will include baseball instruction, cornhole, caricature drawing, games, meet and greets, mascot visits, a band, sponsor booths, inflatable for kids, and more (10 a.m. to 4 p.m.)
- New Inductee Press Conference (5:45 p.m.)
- Chris Sabo Bobblehead presented by John Morrell (free to the first 30,000 fans)
- HOF Induction Ceremony (pregame)
Sunday, July 18 – Reds vs Colorado Rockies (1:10 p.m.)
- Vintage baseball game (Noon)
- Powel Crosley Jr. Award presentation (pregame)
- 2010 Induction Gala presented by Extra Bases at Duke Energy Convention Center (6-10 p.m.)
Featuring the entire 2010 Reds roster along with current and former Hall of Famers
We salute you, Cobra fan
Solid.
OMGreds spotted a Dave Parker jersey at GABP last week.
Well played, good sir.
Griffey Retires
Retired.
Holy cow, The Kid is done. According to ESPN.com, Junior told the Mariners Wednesday night that he was hangin’ ‘em up.
“While I feel I am still able to make a contribution on the field and nobody in the Mariners front office has asked me to retire, I told the Mariners when I met with them prior to the 2009 season and was invited back that I will never allow myself to become a distraction,” Griffey said in a statement.
“I feel that without enough occasional starts to be sharper coming off the bench, my continued presence as a player would be an unfair distraction to my teammates and their success as a team is what the ultimate goal should be,” he said.
It will probably take a while to sink in, but I’m sure a lot of us feel that a piece of our childhood is now gone. Personally, I always enjoyed watching Griffey during his time as a Cincinnati Red. I can’t wait to see him deliver his speech in Cooperstown.
Eh. Peter Edward being inducted into a baseball hall of fame
Say whaaaaa? Yeah, Pete’s going into a professional baseball hall of fame. Just not THAT ONE. You know, that counts? Supposedly?
Seems that ol’ Chuck Hustle is being inducted into the Shrine of the Eternals at The Baseball Reliquary.
Again, Saaaaay whaaaaaaaa?
Okay, what’s the deal here? Well, according to the philosophy of The Shrine of Eternals, Pete may be the perfect candiate for induction into the Monrovia, California based hall of fame:
The Shrine of the Eternals is similar in concept to the annual elections held at the Baseball Hall of Fame, but differs philosophically in that statistical accomplishment is not a criterion for election. Rather, the Shrine’s annual ballot is comprised of individuals – from the obscure to the well-known – who have altered the baseball world in ways that supersede statistics.
Rock on, Pete. Considering other baseball odd-balls like Bill “Spaceman” Lee, Doc Ellis and Bill Veek also grace the halls of the Shrine of the Eternals, he fits in well. What do we need to do to get Tony Mullane up in that mother?
It’s not all about Pete though, he’s got company. Three candidates are selected from each year’s Eternals ballot. The 2010 inductions also include Casey Stengel and Roger Angell, longtime baseball writer for The New Yorker.
Road Trip?
Oh, you want to go? Well then, here are the deets:
When: Sunday July 18, 2010
Time: 2:00 pm
Where: Donald R. Wright Auditorium, Pasadena Central Library, 285 E. Walnut St., Pasadena, CA. (Sounds fancy)
Admission: Free admission, yo.
More Info: Phone (626) 791-7647
Really though, I think I’d rather head out west to check out “LASORDAPALOOZA“. Tommy hates the Reds so much that it actually makes me like the guy. What passion!
Tip of the double ear flapper to ESPN 2.
Breaking former Red news
Why so much about former Reds lately, you might ask? I guess it’s sometimes interesting to think about whether you miss someone. Like a former flame. Are you better off without them or do you kind of wish they were still around?
Anyway, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale Tweeted that the Giants have signed lefty reliever and former Red Jeremy Affeldt to a 2-year, $9.5 million extension.
From Nightengale:
Affeldt will receive $4.5 million in 2010 and 2011 with a $5 million option or $5o0,000 buyout in 2011. Affeldt was originally scheduled to receive $4 million this season in the final year of a two-year, $8 million deal but the contract was revised.
That’s pretty big bucks for a non-closer, but you could argue that Affeldt has been one of the best set-up men in baseball – and he’s only 30. In 2009, he had a 1.73 ERA and allowed 42 hits in 62 1/3 innings. You don’t exactly want a guy like that to get away anytime soon.
The year before, of course, he was a Red. Wasn’t quite as dominant – 3.33 ERA, allowing about a hit per inning – but he actually didn’t walk as many guys (2.9 BB/9) as he did last season as a Giant (4.5 BB/9).
Fact is, his ERAs the past three seasons have been 3.51, 3.33 and 1.73. Pretty impressive.
Anyone miss this guy? (Dumb question.) Anyone think the Reds were foolish for not keeping him around for more than one season?
Fogg-eddaboudit
They say news about former Reds comes in threes.
NYdailynews.com reported that the Mets released pitcher Josh Fogg.
The 33-year-old Fogg hadn’t appeared with the Mets this spring after hurting a side muscle; he was released at his request to pursue a contract elsewhere. He was 0-2 with a 3.74 ERA in 45.2 innings with the Rockies in 2009.
A man of contradictions
Direct quotes from Adam Dunn that appear in the first item of a washingtonpost.com notebook, when asked about the importance of playing in all 162 games in a season, which he’s never done. (He played in 161 in 2004 and has played in 160 twice.)
“It’s hard to play 162. I’d like to try. I love playing.”
“I think that there are some days you need to take off. You don’t need to play 162 games. You don’t need to. We got guys that are very capable of playing. I think about 155, that’s a good number. You got to have a break.”
“I really don’t care. I got a lot of other things to worry about than playing 162 games. But I’ll try this year. Do I think that it’s necessary? No.”
Hmmm … I actually feel a little dumber. And I’m a little surprised he didn’t try to take a potshot at the Reds while discussing his fascination/indifference with regard to playing every game in a season. I’m sure he thought about tacking on a “since I’m not a Red anymore” to the end of the “I love playing” sentence.
Denorfia sighting
Nice feature from MLB.com about Padres non-roster invitee and former Red Chris Denorfia. Looks like he may face his former team yet this spring; Reds take on a San Diego split squad on Saturday and welcome the Padres to Goodyear on March 30.
Jerry Jr. joins brother
The San Diego Padres reached an agreement with former Red Jerry Hairston Jr. on a one-year deal worth $2.125 million on Monday, according to MLB.com.
From MLB.com:
He will be the second member of the Hairston acquired by the team in three days.
On Saturday, the Padres reacquired Scott Hairston from the A’s for third baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff. Scott Hairston played parts of three seasons (2007-09) with the Padres before he was traded to the A’s in July.
We say good for Jerry Jr. Chase Weems, the player we acquired for Jerry Jr. from the Yankees last season, hit .179 in 67 at-bats in Dayton after we got him, but he just turned 21 yesterday. Speaking of birthdays …