Saguarosstats.pdf

 Hi folks! 

Recently the staff here at Better Off Red agreed that in order to take the Reds Cap Club to the next level was to appoint a club president.  The staff poured over a long list of candidates and spent hours upon hours paring that list down to a final few. 

Eventually Bill "Seg" Dennison, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, the baby from the E-Trade commercials and 5-time Grammy Award-winner Donna Summer emerged from a list of 45,000 potential presidential candidates.  Of those 4, just 1 fit the criteria* to become the "George Washington" of the Reds Cap Club. (* = own a Reds cap).

Ladies and gentlemen, without further adieu, please allow me to introduce to you the first-ever President of the Reds Cap Club....Bill "Seg-Man" Dennison!!!

I spoke to Seg earlier today via email and here's what he had to say:

"It's truly an honor to serve as your President.  I will lead Reds Cap Nation to the best of my abilities and keep it the GREATEST in the World!"  

Congrats, Seg.  Your term starts now.

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And now that we have a new Reds Cap Club president, it's only fitting that we welcome some of the club's newest members. 

Here's Anthony and Lauren Balsly from Mason, OH wearing their Bronson Arroyo caps:

You might notice that bandage on Lauren's knee.  No worries, she's ok.  She recently got scraped up a little bit in Tokyo while successfully defending her Mixed Martial Arts "Under 4 years or 25 pounds" world title.

Our other newest member to the club is recording artist, Lil Wayne of New Orleans, LA.  Welcome to the club, Lil! 

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Mike Leake yesterday wrapped up a very successful Arizona Fall League season.

Cincinnati's 2009 first-round pick finished the AFL season with a 1-2 record in 6 games (5 starts).  He allowed just 3 earned runs (9r) in 19.2 innings with 3 walks and 15 strikeouts.

Attached at the top of this entry is the final stats for the Peoria Saguaros, the AFL team that also included Reds prospects 1B Yonder Alonso, SS Zack Cozart, OF Chris Heisey, RHP Brad Boxberger, RHP Logan Ondrusek and RHP Sean Watson.

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In case you didn't see, Baseball America yesterday released the Reds Top 10 Prospects:

1. Todd Frazier
2. Yonder Alonso
3. Mike Leake
4. Chris Heisey
5. Juan Francisco
6. Yorman Rodriguez
7. Travis Wood
8. Matt Maloney
9. Brad Boxberger
10. Zack Cozart

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That's all for now.  Have a great weekend!  Thank you for logging on, I really appreciate it!

Jamie

In memory of Johnnie B. Baker Sr.

Expanded Roster.pdf

Today the Reds added to the 40-man roster RHP Enerio Del Rosario, OF Chris Heisey, RHP Logan Ondrusek, RHP Jordan Smith, IF Chris Valaika, LHP Philippe Valiquette and LHP Travis Wood...the Reds also outrighted off the roster RHP Daryl Thompson, while OF Laynce Nix refused an outright assignment and elected free agency...C Craig Tatum was claimed off waivers by Baltimore...the Reds current 40-man roster includes 40 players (roster is attached above). 
 

Reds Hall of Famer Bob Howsam is 1 of 20 Veterans Committee Candidates eligible for consideration for the National Baseball Hall of Fame's class of 2010.  Howsam was the general manager and the architect of the Big Red Machine.  If anyone deserves to be enshrined in Cooperstown, it's the guy who put together the best team that ever played the game.  The Baseball Hall of Fame has a nice feature on Howsam here.

Up until Howsam's death last year, we'd get interview requests for Bob trickling into our media relations offices from time to time.  I'd call Bob at his home in Arizona asking if he'd be willing to field these requests.  He usually would, but not before taking a few minutes to talk to me about the Reds and baseball and other random topics.  It's something I'll never forget, chatting idly with the great Bob Howsam.  I got to meet Bob when he was in town for a Reds Hall of Fame function a few years ago, and when I introduced myself, I was flattered that he recognized my name and remembered our chats on the phone.  He was a very special man and hopefully he gets his much-deserved spot in Cooperstown.

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The Reds announced today that former Reds manager and current Cubs skipper Lou Piniella will attend Redsfest on Friday, December 4.  For a full list of those scheduled to appear at Redsfest, click here.

FOX Sports Ohio Redsfest, presented by Kahn's, benefiting the Reds Community Fund will be held at Duke Energy Convention Center in downtown Cincinnati on Friday, December 4 from 4:00 to 11:00 p.m. and Saturday, December 5 from 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m...1-day tickets are $15 for adults and $7 for fans 12 and under...2-day tickets are $20 for adults and $10 for kids...tickets are on sale now via the internet at reds.com, by phone at (513) 381-REDS, at all area Meijer stores and at Great American Ball Park administration offices.

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39 years ago today, Johnny Bench was named National League MVP for 1970.  Tony Perez came in 3rd.

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What an outstanding story by Patrick Hruby exposing a Cambodian refugee's motives in promoting baseball in his home country.  Simply fantastic reading.

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Where's your Reds Cap Club photos? 

ALL ABOARD!

First Some News: SS Zack Cozart and RHP Logan Ondrusek finished up their Arizona Fall League seasons a little early.  Cozart is suffering from a thumb injury and Ondrusek has reached his innings-pitched limit.

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Sour Grapes Alert:  Since the amount of coverage the RedHawks get in Cincinnati suggests Miami University might as well be located in Miami, Florida, you might have missed the fact that my boys from Oxford (Ohio, 35 miles from downtown Cincinnati) nearly upset the Kentucky Wildcats (Lexington, 89 miles from downtown Cincinnati) last night in Rupp Arena.  Miami lost thanks to poor officiating and a last second shot by the newest basketball messiah John Wall.  I'm not bitter though....well, maybe just a little (ok, a lot). 

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Even Bigger News: Don't you love when you get a package in the mail?  Today I received my brand new digital voice recorder and I'm super excited about breaking this thing in.  In concurrence of getting my new toy, I've lined up some interviews with Daniel Ray Herrera, Paul Janish, Adam Rosales, minor leaguers Danny Dorn, Matt Fairel, Devin Mesoraco, and a few other surprise guests. 

I also might test this recorder out by secretly recording my colleague Larry Herms while he's in his office belting out his favorite Dionne Warwick songs.  Stay tuned.

(If there's anyone else you'd like me to contact for a blog chat, let me know...)

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On This Date In Reds History 1992: The Reds traded Norm Charlton to Seattle for Kevin Mitchell.  In 3 seasons with the Reds ('93, '94 & '96) Mitchell batted .332 (248-for-747) with 55 HR, 167 RBI, 131 R, .414 OBP and a .631 SLG% in 225 games...Also on the very same day, the Florida Marlins selected minor leaguer Trevor Hoffman from Cincinnati in the expansion draft.

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So if I had a dollar for every time someone's asked me what I do in the offseason, I'd probably be rich enough that Kate Hudson would want to date me (or at the very least, Kevin Federline). 

Anyway, now that the season is over, I'm still required to work regular office hours.  I'm currently working on my biggest offseason project - the 2010 Reds Media Guide, specifically the Player Development section of the guide.

The project for me goes like this...

Once the World Series ends, I pay a trip to the Reds office building to see Director of Minor League Administration Lois Hudson.  She gives me a full organizational roster and a stack of about 200 individual "Cincinnati Reds Player Biographical Information Sheets," detailing the vitals for each player in the Reds system (full name, height/weight, date of birth, birth city, current place of residence, age, bats/throws, school, etc). 

I use the information from these sheets, along with the individual player's statistics to begin the base of the player's "bio."  If the player went to college, I use my resources to find his college bio and pluck information from that as well.  I also scour Baseball America, Stats Inc., MILB.com and other sites for any helpful info that I can use.

The idea is to find stuff that's useful to the media when/if they mention our players.  It's also handy for teams that acquire one of our players, as they can take the information from the bio I wrote and include it in their press release announcing the player acquisition.

Once I finish all of the minor league player bios, I'll write the bios for our minor league teams' coaching staffs and then make any changes to the section that are necessary.  Just before the media guide goes to press, there are usually a few personnel changes made by the team that require altering the Player Development section (sometimes I'll have to write a few last-second bios). 

Upon completion of the Player Development section, I'm available to help out Larry and Rob (and this year, Jim) with their sections of the guide.  Since I'm usually the last one to finish his section, they're usually the ones offering to help me.

Finally, prior to completing the media guide, we have to proofread it.  This is easily my most disliked part of the process, but it's probably the most important.  The 2009 Reds Media Guide encompassed 512 pages of information, so obviously there has to be several sets of eyes editing and proofing to make sure we didn't mess up (too badly).  Just like any publication that size and containing that amount of information, there are going to be some mistakes.  But having people proofreading it greatly reduces the amount of errors in the final product.  

It's quite a project that takes a while to complete, but it keeps me pretty busy in the offseason.

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Well, that's all for now...assuming you're still awake after all of that, I'd like to personally thank you for reading the blog.  I appreciate it very much! 

Keep those Reds Cap Club pictures rolling in...we have some new members this week as well as a big announcement! 

See ya

Jamie

Today the Reds announced that Class AAA Louisville's coaching staff will include manager Rick Sweet, hitting coach Adrian Garrett, pitching coach Ted Power and athletic trainer Tomas Vera; Class A Lynchburg's coaching staff will include manager Pat Kelly, hitting coach Tony Jaramillo, pitching coach Rigo Beltran and athletic trainer Dale Nitzel; rookie league Billings' coaching staff will include manager Delino DeShields, hitting coach Alex Pelaez, pitching coach Bob Forsch and athletic trainer Charles Leddon; rookie Arizona League Goodyear's coaching staff will include manager Julio Garcia, pitching coach Tom Browning, hitting coach Jorge Orta, head athletic trainer Clete Sigwart, assistant athletic trainer Charlie Rodriguez and strength and conditioning coach Zach Gjestvang.

The only big changes here include former Reds bench coach Pat Kelly taking over the manager duties at Lynchburg.  He had been the GCL Reds skipper for past few seasons.  Delino DeShields, who was Billings' hitting coach last season will serve as manager of the Mustangs in 2010.  Julio Garcia moves from Billings' manager to AZL-Reds skipper.  Joining Garcia in Goodyear will be Reds hall of famer Tom Browning, who'll work as pitching coach. 

Ramon Hernandez will return to the Reds next season...Here's the press release:

REDS, RAMON HERNANDEZ AGREE TO DEAL
Catcher Signs 1-Year Contract With An Option For 2011

CINCINNATI - President of Baseball Operations and General Manager Walt Jocketty today announced that the Cincinnati Reds and C Ramon Hernandez have agreed to terms on a 1-year contract through the 2010 season with an option for 2011. Terms of the contract were not disclosed.

"We're very happy to have Ramon back for next season," Jocketty said. "He provides us with stability behind the plate, both offensively and defensively. Last season he showed his versatility by playing first base for an extended period of time. Re-signing him was a priority for us this off-season."

In 81 games last season Hernandez hit .258 with 13 doubles, 5 HR and 37 RBI. With Joey Votto on the disabled list in June, Hernandez started at first base in 18 of the Reds' 21 games. From July 20-September 18 he missed 57 games while on the disabled list with a left knee injury that required surgery.

On December 9 of last year Hernandez was acquired from the Baltimore Orioles, along with cash, in exchange for IF/OF Ryan Freel and minor leaguers IF Justin Turner and IF Brandon Waring. While with the Orioles he had signed a contract through the 2009 season with a club option for 2010.

Over the weekend I continued my quest to find local businesses that pledge allegiance to the Cincinnati Reds.  I ended up in one of my favorite spots - Stones Lanes in Norwood (3746 Montgomery Road).  Stones is located right in the heart of Xavier Musketeer country, and like many of the buildings in Norwood, it's big and old and full of personality.

Similar to the city in which it's located, Stones has recently undergone a renaissance of sorts.  The bowling center has replaced its old wooden lanes with modern synthetic ones, popular with the more serious bowlers.  New carpeting and improvements to the ball returns have also been a nice addition.

An eclectic mix of clientele can frequently be found at Stones; young, old, advanced, beginner, college groups and groups of families have all been known to enjoy themselves there. 

Stones openly supports several of the local sports teams - especially the Cincinnati Reds.  Reds posters, pennants, pictures and signs are prevalent throughout the lounge/restaurant area.  A red wall lines the inside of the lounge with the old 70s/80s Reds logo painted in the center.  Above the logo hangs a  display case containing an autographed picture of Eric Davis, photos of the Big Red Machine and a bowling pin signed by Brandon Phillips. 

However, my favorite item displayed at Stones has nothing to do with the Reds, rather it's a Cardinals poster advertising the implosion of old Busch Stadium.  The poster is color-coded to show where Cardinals fans can view the implosion (safely out of the way) and where Cubs fans can view the implosion (in the seating bowl).

If you get the chance, stop by Stones to roll a game or two, then check out the cool Reds stuff!    

(My good friend Jack Tripansky poses in front of a Reds mirror at Stones)

If you know of any businesses that support the Reds, please email me at jramsey@reds.com, and I'll check 'em out. 

Jamie

Hi folks - Happy Reds Cap Day!  To join the Reds Cap Club, simply email a photo of you modeling your Reds headgear to jramsey@reds.com and you'll be recognized on the blog as the club's newest member.  And by the way, the Reds Cap Club has a big announcement coming soon, so stay tuned...

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Two of the Reds' minor league affiliates, Dayton-A and Carolina-AA, have announced their coaching staffs for the coming season.  No major changes for either team except Ken Griffey Sr. will join the Dragons as hitting coach and Tom Brown, who had been Class-A Sarasota's pitching coach the previous 3 seasons will serve in that same role with Carolina beginning in 2010.  As for Griffey, he's also been named special assistant to Reds player development.

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After a slow start to the Arizona Fall League season, 1B Yonder Alonso is beginning to heat up for the Peoria Saguaros.  Yesterday he went 2-for-4 with 2 RBI and a run scored.  He's now lifted his batting average to .290.  MLB.com contributor Robert Emrich has a nice write-up on Alonso here.   

Adam Rosales, who's probably right now smiling and/or running as fast as he can, is batting an even .300 in 28 games for Mexicali in the Mexican Winter League.  Last night he played left field and went 3-for-3 with a double, RBI and a walk.  His 24 runs rank 4th in the league.

Other notable winter league stats:

SS Zack Cozart is batting .340 in 13 games with the Peoria Saguaros of the Arizona Fall League.  Cozart has 2 homers, 10 RBI and a .560 slugging percentage.

OF Chris Heisey is batting .308 in 21 games with the Saguaros.  He's mashed 5 homers, driven in 14 runs and owns a hearty .641 slugging percentage.  His 13 extra-base hits rank T3rd in the league while his 50 total bases are good for 4th.

RHP Enerio Del Rosario is 2-1 with a 2.31 ERA in 9 games (11.2ip, 3er) for Cibao of the Dominican Winter League.

LHP Ben Jukich has allowed just 5 earned runs over 15.2 innings (12k) in 4 starts with Cibaenas of the Dominican Winter League.

Reds 2009 first-round pick Mike Leake is 0-2 with a 2.31 ERA in 4 games (3 starts) with the Peoria Saguaros (11.2ip, 8r/3er, 2bb, 9k).

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On this date 69 years ago, Frank McCormick was named National League Most Valuable Player for the 1940 Reds World Championship season, becoming the third consecutive Red to win the MVP award (Ernie Lombardi 1938, Bucky Walters 1939).  McCormick batted .309 with 19 homers and 127 RBI.  He led the league with 191 hits, 618 at-bats and 44 doubles.  In 1958, he was enshrined into the Reds Hall of Fame.

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That's all for now...keep those photos coming! Also, I'm still taking your suggestions on where the best places are in town that support the Reds.

Thank you for logging on! 

Jamie 

It was on this date 45 years ago that former Reds manager Fred Hutchinson died of cancer at the age of 45 in Bradenton, Florida. 

One of the most respected figures in the game of baseball, "Hutch" was credited with turning the Reds into a perennial contender in the early 1960s.  In 1961, he led the Redlegs to their first pennant in over 20 years.

Hutchinson was an all-star pitcher for the Tigers in the late 40s/early 50s (he lost 4 years of playing time while serving in WWII), including a stint as the Tigers' player/manager in 1952 and 1953.  He became the answer to a trivia question when in 1946 he gave up the longest home run in Fenway Park history, a 502-foot blast by Ted Williams.  (The seat on which that home run landed was painted red to mark the feat and is still the only red seat in the seating bowl at Fenway)

After his 16-year relationship with the Detroit organization ended, Hutchinson went on to manage the Cardinals from 1956-1958, earning Manager of the Year honors for the '57 season.  Because Hutch rarely smiled, Cardinals broadcaster Joe Garagiola once joked that Fred was "really happy inside, only his face didn't know it." 

In 1959, Hutchinson became skipper of the Reds, leading Cincinnati to a 443-372 (.544) record in 6 seasons.  In 1961, his Reds won the National League pennant for the first time since 1940, but lost to the Yankees in the World Series.  The following season, Fred's Reds won 98 games, but amazingly it was only good for 3rd place. 

Following the 1963 season, a routine medical exam revealed that Hutchinson had malignant tumors in his lungs, chest and neck.  He remained Reds manager for the 1964 campaign, but his health was greatly deteriorating.  After being hospitalized for some time in July, he returned to the Cincinnati dugout the following month.  The day after his 45th birthday, Hutchinson's health forced him to turn the club over to his first-base coach Dick Sisler on August 13 for the remainder of the '64 season.

Hutchinson officially resigned as the Reds manager on October 19, 1964 and died 3 weeks later.  The Reds immediately retired his uniform #1, making Hutch the first person to have his jersey number honored as such by the team.  Because of his strength and courage he showed during that '64 campaign, SPORT magazine named him "Man of the Year". 

Hutchinson was inducted into the Reds Hall of Fame in 1965, the same year that his brother, Dr. William Hutchinson created the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Fred's hometown of Seattle.  Today the center is one of the most widely respected facilities of its kind.

After Red Sox pitcher and Washington native Jon Lester was diagnosed with Lymphoma in 2006, he received his chemotherapy treatment at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.  Following the 2008 season in which he went 16-8, Lester was named the recipient of the Hutch Award, an honor given out annually by Major League Baseball to the player who "best exemplifies the fighting spirit and competitive desire to win." As you might have guessed, the award is named after Fred Hutchinson.

In 1999, during the peak of "GriffeyMania" in Seattle, the Seattle-Post Intelligencer named Fred Hutchinson, not Ken Griffey Jr., as "Seattle's Athlete of the 20th Century."  In another lasting tribute to Hutch, a 1-foot tall cast-iron image of him is at the end of every aisle of seats in Seattle's Safeco Field.

It was announced today that the Lynchburg Hillcats of the Carolina League will serve as the Reds' advanced Class A affiliate for the 2010 season.  Located in Virginia, the Hillcats will replace the Reds' Florida State League team in Sarasota. 
 

This move was finalized when the Florida State League approved the Pittsburgh Pirates' bid to purchase and take over the Sarasota Reds and move that club to Bradenton.  The Pirates had been Lynchburg's parent club since 1995. 
 

The Reds' version of the Hillcats will call City Stadium home.  City Stadium is the oldest ballpark in the Carolina League and opened in 1940.  Joe DiMaggio drove in the ballpark's first 2 runs during an exhibition game between the Yankees and Dodgers.  The stadium underwent a $6.5 million renovation beginning in 2002 and completed in 2004.

Thanks to Wikipedia, here are some interesting facts (or if you prefer, "minutiae") relating to Lynchburg and the Lynchburg area:

•Lynchburg is approximately 430 miles from Cincinnati.  It's now the third-closest affiliate to the Queen City in terms of mileage.  (Dayton Dragons 50 miles, Louisville Bats 105 miles, Carolina Mudcats 538 miles, Billings Mustangs 1,522 miles).
•Lynchburg's nicknames include "City of Seven Hills," "The Hill City" and "A City Unto Itself."
•Lynchburg is located in Amherst County of Virginia, with a population of approximately 73,000.  The city sits along the James River at the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
•Dr. Charles Browne Fleet invented Chap Stick in Lynchburg.
•Poplar Forest, where Thomas Jefferson once lived is located in the Lynchburg area.
•Appomattox Courthouse where General Lee surrendered to General Grant to end the Civil War is located about 20 miles west of Lynchburg.
•Lynchburg is the home of the annual Sedalia Center's Chili Cook-Off where approximately 50 cooking teams battle for the prize of "Best Chili."

ballpark photo courtesy of littleballparks.com

city photo courtesy of tripadvisor.com