Johnny Cueto is starting for the D.R. against Panama.  So far, he’s throwing the ball hard, but all over the place.   Team USA plays tonight. Use this thread to discuss both....

From Hal McCoy: He handicaps Owings as the favorite (2:1), Bailey (5:1) [though he does credit Bailey for the biggest turnaround (on and off the field) that he’s seen in 37 years, Masset (10:1), Ramirez (50:1), Thompson (100:1). But his most interesting comments concern Johnny Cueto: NOW, I HA...

A reader has a question: I looked at the Wikipedia article (real reliable, I know), and came across this: “In Cincinnati, one fan paid for a plane to fly over Riverfront Stadium that dragged a sign reading ‘Owners & Players: To hell with all of you!’” Unfortunately, Wiki...

Finally! Spring is here: It’s time for the tarps to come off the pitching mounds and for the catching equipment bags to be unzipped. Spring Training is here. A total of 29 pitchers and eight catchers are slated to report to Reds Spring Training on Saturday and they will get started right away....

Over at ESPN’s Page 2, they’ve got an interesting project going. They started with Pittsburgh: Don’t know if you’ve noticed, but in 2009, a sports fan can purchase the replica jersey of virtually any player from any of our beloved professional sports … including semidefunct...

From ESPN magazine (Jan 26) issue: K Korner says: The Reds think Ramon Hernandez, whom they acquired from the Orioles in December, is their solution at catcher. Dusty Baker values defense behind the plate, which is why he often played Paul Bako there last season. But Baker will find out that the 32 ...

From the Cincinnati Enquirer: Barack Obama couldn’t do it. Victoria’s Secret models failed, too. But Cincinnati Reds Hall of Famers Johnny Bench and Joe Morgan delivered in the clutch for comedian Ellen DeGeneres by luring George Clooney onto her daytime talk show. The actor and huge Red...

If you want to continue being a Reds fan without going insane, do not read this article by Mark Sheldon over at MLB.com. I really want to be optimistic about 2009, but this piece is full of nuggets that should make any good Reds fan sick to his stomach. Some highlights: Hairston, Chris Dickerson, No...

Baseball America has two interesting articles running that rank minor league catchers by caught stealing percentage and passed balls per 120 games. Here are how the Reds catching prospects fared. Caught Stealing Percentage # CATCHER ORG LEVELS CS SB ATT PCT 18 Tatum, Craig CIN AA/AAA 35 58 93 37.6% ...

From CincinnatiEnquirer.com: Cincinnati Reds President of Baseball Operations and General Manager Walt Jocketty today announced the signing of free agent OF Willy Taveras to a two-year contract through the 2010 season. “Willy Taveras fills two significant needs for our ball club, a speed base ...