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Hall of Fame baseball writer Hal McCoy has retired from the Dayton Daily News after covering the Cincinnati Reds for 37 years. Hal's blog, though, will continue to be a must-read for Reds fans. He'll share his thoughts on the team this season and will file updates from Great American Ball Park. You also can catch Hal in print every Sunday in his popular Ask Hal columnHome > Blogs > The Real McCoy | Cincinnati Reds baseball news > Archives > 2008 > February
February 2008
Gonzalez: compression fracture
Shortstop Alex Gonzalez has been diagnosed with something called a compression fracture of his left knee, something that will sideline him for at least three weeks before it is re-evaluated by the Cincinnati Reds.
That takes him to within 10 days of Opening Day. Even if he is OK at that time, fully healed, he is a long shot to be in the Opening Day lineup.
A compression fracture is not a serious fracture and as general manager Wayne Krivsky said, “There are fractures and there are fractures. I don’t have a crystal ball to predict outcomes of injuries, but we’ll evaluate him in three weeks and see where we are.”
For the next week, Gonzalez will wander the world on crutches - something to take the pressure off his knee.
Gonzalez was under the opinion he had nothing more than a deep bone bruise and would be OK within a week, but team physician Dr. Tim Kremchek examined Gonzalez’s MRI and knee Friday morning and diagnosed the compression fracture. The team team a bone scan Thursday and that’s where the compression fracture appeared.
“Just rest, that’s all I need,” said Gonzalez. “I’ll be on crutches for a week to take pressure off the knee. Surgery? No, nothing like that. I don’t need anything like that. Just rest.”
That might be true and it might not. That will be determined in three weeks when he is checked out again.
Meanwhile, who plays shortstop? Jeff Keppinger, Juan Castro, Ryan Freel, Paul Janish, Adam Rosales? Who do you think is the likely candidate? Manager Dusty Baker plans to check them all out over the next few weeks and Krivsky said there are no immediate plans to go outside the organization to search for a shortstop.
One of the toughest things about spring training (other than getting up at 6:30 every morning after a tour de force of some of Sarasota’s finer food and beverage emporiums) is to see sad faces like those of Gonzalez and Jerry Gil and Bill Bray.
Normally, Gil is one of the most pleasant of the pleasants, always smiling, always upbeat.
And the spring started well for him, two hits in the first exhibition game at Clearwater against and a three-run homer in the second game, in Sarasota against the Twins.
On his next at-bat after the home run, he injured a quadriceps in his left leg running to first base and had to leave the game. Afterward, he sat in front of his locker looking as if somebody stole his wallet — which is probably a good analogy.
As a fringe guy, he needed to impress. And he was doing that, drawing significant comments from his manager, Dusty Baker. Now he has to shut it down.
“I’m praying for a miracle overnight so I can play Friday,” Gil said after Thursday’s game, knowing he was supposed to start in center field Friday. Didn’t happen.
It is the same for left-handed relief pitcher Bill Bray, still trying to build up his arm after encountering tenderness the first day in camp. He, too, is a guy who has to impress the manager, and there isn’t a guy in the game who ever impressed the manager sitting on a table in the trainer’s room with his shoulder and elbow encased in ice.
“Bray threw off the mound (Thursday) and they say he is progressing,” Baker said. “I’m hoping he doesn’t get too far behind. Other guys are getting the jump on him. He looks better in the face. Early he looked a little worried, but now he looks a little happier. To me, that means his arm feels better and he must feel better.”
It isn’t so good on Gil, who missed all of last season with an arm injury. When told Gil planned a prayerful night, Baker said, “There is something to prayer and I wouldn’t mind a miracle. He works hard and he plays hard.
“One thing you are fearful of every spring — hamstrings, quads or other kinds of pulls. They keep you out and when you come back you invariably come back too soon because you’re trying to make the club and you end up hurting it again. Or you hurt something else trying to be compensate. So, no matter what he says we have to make sure that he’s 100 percent before he comes back. If not, it could bother him all year.”
TweetWho’s 1, who’s 2?
While the weather for the Reds’ first two exhibition games was frightful - there was a suggestion to start a bonfire in the dugout with Adam Dunn’s big bats - manager Dusty Baker is taking a look-see at the No. 1 and No. 2 spots in his batting order.
Call it a tryout, but mostly it is audition time.
On Wednesday in Clearwater against the Philadelphia Phillies, Baker had Ryan Freel leading off and Norris Hopper batting second.
On Tuesday at home against the Minnesota Twins, Baker had Hopper leading off and Freel batting second.
“In case I play both at the same time, I’m seeing who is better where in the order,” said Baker. “I want to see where they hit the best. If I want to hit-and-run, which one can handle that bat better. I have some thoughts, but … you know.”
Hopper wins on that point.
“If I want to double steal, which one is better on the lead and which one is better on the back side?” Baker added. “If I need to bunt, are they even, or is one better than the other (Hopper is a landslide winner in the bunting category)?
“I need to know which one is the smarter hitter - which one can take and which one is a better hitter with two strikes. I have a pretty good idea already, but I have to see.”
Baker said he sometimes sits in his office staring into space, pondering and pontificating over things of this nature, “And sometime I just sit here and nothing comes.”
But he knows it’ll all come to him as he observes exhibition games.
Now, again, it is your assignment. Do you ever play Hopper and Freel in the same game? If you do, where do you bat them? And, based on what Baker is looking for, which one has the advantage in all the categories?
TweetBullpen for Cueto, Volquez?
If youngsters Johnny Cueto and Edinson Volquez find themselves on the outside looking in when Reds manager Dusty Baker selects his five-man rotation, that doesn’t necessarily mean Cueto and Volquez will be told, “Louisville is very nice this time of year.”
That’s not the way it works in Baker’s mind, especially if the two continue to impress this spring.
Asked point blank if Volquez and Cueto are Louisville-bound if they aren’t in the rotation, Baker took dead aim.
“Not necessarily,” he said. “I mean, I come from the Dodger way, where for young guys the next-best thing (other than starting) is long relief. That’s between relieving and starting. It is probably the most pressurized situation on the pitching staff.
“Most of the time you are either behind, you’re losing,” he added. “We did that with Dave Burba (former Reds pitcher from Springfield). He ended up winning nine or 10 games out of the bullpen.
“That’s the job of a long man,” Baker added. “Hold the opposition so your offense can come back. You cannot let the other team add runs or trade runs. If you don’t come back in games, you probably aren’t going to win the division or the wild card.”
Baker cited examples.
“It’s much like the Dodgers did with Pedro Martinez. They put him in long relief before he became a starter,” Baker said. “A lot of young guys start out in long relief. A lot of people don’t realize that Nolan Ryan started out in long relief because he couldn’t break into the rotation (with the New York Mets). Most people don’t remember that Ryan pitched out of the bullpen.”
Houston’s Roy Oswalt started in the bullpen. Johan Santana started in the bullpen.
Martinez made 61 bullpen appearances and two starts for the Dodgers in 1993, then Montreal converted him to a start in 1994. Ryan made 27 relief appearances and 48 starts for the Mets between 1966-70. Oswalt made eight relief appearances for the 2001 Astros before making the 2002 rotation permanently.
“If a guy is not going to start, then long relief is the next best thing,” Baker said.
So what do you think? Cueto and/or Volquez in the rotation, or Cueto/Volquez in the bullpen getting Martinez-like and Ryan-like experience? I’m pretty certain it worked for those two.
TweetBruce’s ‘educational’ process
It sounds and looks like rookie hazing, but Adam Dunn calls it “an educational camp.”
The other day Dunn used the word ‘sherpa’ in a conversation and rookie Jay Bruce asked, “What does that mean?”
And what did Dunn say — or do?
“I gave him a homework assignment,” said Dunn. “I told him to go home and look it up in the dictionary. He came to me the first thing this morning and told me what it meant.”
Asked if he told Bruce how to spell the word, Dunn said, “No, I didn’t think of that. So, there you go. It was a spelling assignment, too.”
The day before, Dunn pulled another prank on Bruce — whose photo was on the cover of Reds Report — a monthly publication. Bruce was dressed in coat and tie with a headline heralding him as the budding superstar.
Dunn handed a copy to Bruce and said, “I’m sure manager Dusty Baker might want an autographed copy of that. Sign one and take it to him.”
Bruce dutifully signed and took it to Baker’s office and the manager was suitably amused.
“He came in all shy and said, ‘It wasn’t my idea,’ ” Baker said. “I said, ‘Sure,’ and he said, ‘It really wasn’t, Mr. Baker, it really wasn’t.’ “
Baker asked whose idea it was and he said, ‘Adam Dunn told me to do it.’ “
Baker said Dunn showed up later and asked, “Did he give you the autograph? I said, ‘Was it his idea or yours, Adam?’ And he said, ‘It was his all the way.’ “
When Baker confronted Bruce with Dunn’s words, Bruce said, “No, it wasn’t, no it wasn’t, Mr. Baker.”
Dunn later said, “So, the kid ratted me out, huh? Hey, I once had to do that, only worse. When my picture was on the cover of Baseball America, Barry Larkin made me sign about 1,000 of them and pass them out.”
Dunn likes the way Bruce is taking the rookie treatment.
“It wasn’t rookie hazing — if anybody was on the cover like that we would jack with them,” he said. “He takes it well. He is a great guy. And he has very good talent.”
Speaking of Dunn (and Ken Griffey Jr.), the Reds play an intrasquad game today (Tuesday), then open the exhibition season Wednesday against the Phillies in Clearwater.
Dunn and Griffey are not scheduled to play until Friday, missing the intrasquad game and first exhibition game.
“They’ll play Friday and Saturday (both home games),” said Baker. “I’m going to put them on a two-day-on and one-day-off program. That gives them a couple of extra days to work out and train some more. It’s a good time to let some of the younger kids play. As spring goes on and you make cuts, young guys will play less and less.
“The young kids are ready,” Baker added. “It takes them about a week or 10 days and they’re wide open.”
Shortstop Alex Gonzalez also is being held back because of a bone bruise in his left knee. He had an MRI (negative) Monday night and will see team physician Dr. Tim Kremchek (Doc Hollywood) when he gets back to camp Friday.
“I’m going to sit Gonzalez a couple of days,” said Baker. “We’ll wait for him to see the doctor. It’s similar to something that happened to him last year. It is better to find out now than later. He said it’s hurting a little bit and it is a ‘come and go’ type of thing.”
Tweet‘I can play … center field’
Exhibition games begin Wednesday when the Cincinnati Reds visit the mouthful of a name - Bright House Network Field - home of the Philadelphia Phillies in Clearwater.
So, it will be interesting to see who new manager Dusty Baker plays in center field - although it won’t necessarily mean anything.
Will it be Norris Hopper? Will it be Ryan Freel? Will it be rookie Jay Bruce?
The guess here is that it will be Hopper, whom Baker appears to like a lot. Baker has tossed verbal bouquets Hopper’s way all spring, talking about the sound of his bat. When he talks about Freel, he talks about how valuable he is at playing different positions. When he talks about Bruce, he mentions there is more to playing baseball than hitting.
As a leadoff hitter, I like Hopper a lot and his ability to bunt and to beat out infield hits. I know the “numbers and stats” guys are going to talk about Hopper’s inability to draw walks, but I like what Baker says.
He isn’t big on on-base average.
“Sure, you want to get on base, but the most important thing is scoring runs,” Baker says. “You can get on base and clog up the bases. I like players, especially in the third, fourth and fifth positions in the order, who score as many runs as they drive in.”
But what happens if Bruce tears it up this spring? I really like this kid. He is absorbing everything he can from Ken Griffey Jr. and Adam Dunn, following them like a floppy-eared beagle. He is an affable guy and popular in the clubhouse.
It’s the same with first base. While I also love veteran Scott Hatteberg, what happens if Joey Votto rips the ball this spring the way he did last spring?
To me, it is time to see what Bruce and Votto can do. They are a major part of the team’s future and have nothing to prove in Louisville except to make life miserable for minor-league pitchers.
As a new manager who wants to prove something fast, Baker wants to win now and might be inclined to lean toward the veterans.
What do you think? Who should be in center field on Opening Day? Who should be at first base on Opening Day?
TweetTo the principal’s office
When Ken Griffey Jr. is summoned upstairs to meet with somebody in the front office, he kiddingly calls it, “Going to the warden’s office.”
When he gets called to the manager’s office, he kiddingly calls it, “Going to the principal’s office.”
Why Griffey?
“Who you gonna call?” he said. “They always call me. I feel like Ghostbusters. Dusty Baker called me in there Friday and I asked myself, ‘What’d I do now?’ I knew I didn’t do anything.”
What Baker wanted was to tell Griffey what he expected of him and mostly likely it was to show leadership not only during the season but now.
Baker didn’t like some of the things he saw early this week during drills and addressed the team about it before Friday’s workout.
Did it work?
“Much better yesterday (Friday),” he said. “Our overall intensity during drills was much better. I know it is hard to simulate game conditions during drills, but if you drop and kick balls during drills, you’ll do it in games, too.”
And never let it be said Baker isn’t ready for all situations, including Mother Nature. When he heard a rainstorm was forecast for between 11 and 1 Saturday, he adjusted the workout intinerary. Normally, pitchers would be doing their throwing during that time frame, but he switched and started the morning drills with the pitchers throwing.
Asked about his early impressions, Baker said, “You can tell the pitchers who played winter ball, guys like Johnny Cueto and Edwinson Volquez. They’re ready now. But I’ve always beeen impressed with the way Kent Mercker and all the lefthanders are throwing.”
Mercker, a non-roster 40-year-old coming off elbow surgery, was told what Baker said about the winter ball pitchers and what Baker said about him.
“Winter ball guys? That’s cheating,” said Mercker with a grin. “What he said about me? That’s great. I’ll build on that.”
Speaking of Griffey, the subject was hair and haircuts and Griffey remembered a hilarious story from his days as a kid when he hung around the New York Yankees clubhouse with his father, Ken Griffey Sr.
First baseman Joe Pepitone wore a wig and Griffey didn’t know that. Apparently owner George Steinbrenner didn’t know it, either.
“One day Steinbrenner told Pepitone to get a haircut,” said Griffey. “I watched as he walked to his locker and took off his wig. He pulled another wig off one of those styrofoam heads and put it on his head. I was stunned. I’d never seen anything like that. Pepitone kept three different wigs in the locker of different lengths to make it look as if his hair was growing.”
TweetYou pick the rotation
Want to be Dusty Baker? Want to help Dusty Baker?
With the addition of Josh Fogg as a candidate for the Cincinnati Reds pitching rotation, Baker’s choices keep growing. There isn’t quite a Baker’s Dozen, but it’s close.
And as Baker keeps saying, “We’re looking for a surprise, somebody we don’t expect to really surprise.”
Your assignment today is to weigh in with your thoughts on a five-man rotation. Nearly everybody is going to put Aaron Harang and Bronson Arroyo in the first two spots. Then what?
The candidates are, in alphabetical order:
Jeremy Affeldt. Bronson Arroyo. Homer Bailey. Matt Belisle. Johnny Cueto. Josh Fogg. Richie Gardner. Aaron Harang. Matt Maloney. Edinson Volquez.
While it isn’t necessary to have a lefthander in the rotation, Baker likes lefthanders. And the Reds have only two candidates — Affeldt and Maloney.
Affeldt spent the last few years in the bullpen but when the Reds signed him the plan was to give him a try at starting. Does that change with the arrival of Fogg?
“We made Affeldt a promise,” said Baker. “I keep my word. We’re hoping it works because you need a lefthander in there. I’d like to have a lefty. If not, we still have a lot of rotation candidates and he is still one of the best relief pitchers around.
“It is kind of a no-lose situation for both us and him,” Baker added. “We hope he makes it as a starter, a great starter. If not, we have a great reliever and we can put somebody else in there.”
Your thoughts?
TweetFogg coming to Reds?
When Cincinnati Reds manager Dusty Baker and general manager Wayne Krivsky say the hunt continues for starting pitchers, they apparently mean it.
Free agent pitcher Josh Fogg told friends in Denver that he has agreed to a one-year $1 million contract with the Reds.
Both Baker and Krivsky were attending a team party Wednesday night and were not available, but it is known that the Reds have been trying to land the righthanded starting pitcher.
Fogg was 10-9 with a 4.38 earned run average in 29 starts last season for the National League champion Colorado Rockies. It has been reported that the Rockies were prepared to offer Fogg a one-year $5 million contract, but Fogg and his agent believed they could land a multi-year contract.
But that didn’t happen and with timing running out and teams forming their squads at spring training, Fogg decided it was time to act and said he has agreed to sign the one-year deal with the Reds.
Most likely he must pass a physical before the Reds announce the signing.
Fogg is the second pitcher from Colorado’s staff who is a free agent to sign with the Reds. Earlier this month the Reds signed lefthander Jeremy Affeldt.
Affeldt was a relief specialist with the Rockies last year and the Reds had hopes of converting him back to a starting pitcher, which he was early in his career. But with Fogg, the Reds could strengthen their bullpen by placing Affeldt in it.
TweetLooking for Sparky
Dusty Baker is clear on the subject: “I’m old school.”
That’s why he is trying to call former Cincinnati Reds manager Sparky Anderson to invite him to spring training camp.
“I’d love to have Sparky around for at least a couple of days,” Baker said Wednesday morning before workouts began. “I’m not ashamed to say I’ve used a couple of his formulas.”
When Baker managed the San Francisco Giants he said he called Anderson more than once for information.
“Sparky had this different formula about how to play doubleheaders,” said Baker. “I’d always heard you do everything you can to win the first game, but Sparky had a different formula in getting it done. I called him once and said, ‘Sparky, explain that doubleheader formula to me again.’ “
Said Baker, “I call it, ‘Going to the library,’ when I called guys like Sparky and Bill Walsh (former NFL coach) and Al Attles (former NBA coach). It even has happened to me.”
Baker said he was playing with his son when his wife said, “You have a call.” Dusty said he was busy until his wife said, “It’s Bobby Knight. He wants to talk to you.” When Knight said he wanted to visit Baker to pick his brain, Dusty said, “Really????”
Baker also is comfortable enough in his own skin to admit that even though he has had success and has been a manager in two venues, “I was kind of nervous my first day in camp this year. My son was shocked when I told him I was nervous.”
Baker laughed, though, when somebody asked what he missed during his forced absence last year from the manager’s chair.
“I missed the thrill of kicking somebody’s butt and somebody kicking my butt,” he said. “I love baseball, but it just isn’t everything. Sometimes you have to step back. Sometimes you wonder why you play this barbaric sport with a stick and rock, why you worry so much about it. But it’s fun, isn’t it?”
TweetDouble Dose of Sad News
T’was a day of sadness in the spring training camp of the Cincinnati Reds.
First, former Reds President/General Manager Bob Howsam died at his Sun City, Ariz., home. He was 90.
And while it isn’t official, it doesn’t look as if former Reds broadcaster Joe Nuxhall won the Ford Frick Award that would put him in the Hall of Fame.
The official announcement isn’t until 2 p.m., but the Hall of Fame has not given the Reds PR department a head’s-up. When Marty Brennaman won the Frick Award, the Reds PR department was notified the day before.
And Nuxhall’s partner, Brennaman, was not in camp Tuesday, another indication. If Nuxhall made it, Brennaman most likely would be in camp to avail himself to the media.
Howsam was the construction engineer of The Big Red Machine. His son, Bob Howsam, Jr., had asked several people to autograph baseballs last week for his father’s 90 birthday party, schedule next week. Howsam was born on Feb. 29 (leap year), 1918.
Bernie Stowe, an employee in many capacities with the Reds since 1948, was one who autographed a ball for Howsam and said, “He was one of a kind. He treated everybody like a human.”
Howsam, an advocate of a strong minor-league system, recognized the shortcomings of his team in the early 1970s and made a trade that brought in second baseman Joe Morgan, center fielder Cesar Geronimo and pitcher Jack Billingham, the final pieces that led to the Reds winning the World Series in 1975 and 1976.
TweetGoing, going and long gone
A soupy fog and a few raindrops were around early Monday morning, but by the time the Cincinnati Reds were ready for Day 2 of spring training the sun was peeking through fluffy clouds.
Even without the fog, new manager Dusty Baker was still feeling his way around - off the field as well as on. Baker got lost Sunday trying to find his way back from the complex to his condominium on Siesta Key.
But Baker isn’t as lost as some of the names on a chart hanging in his office. The chart lists all the pitchers in camp just two springs ago when Wayne Krivsky took over as general manager in February 2006.
“We keep that chart up there because it was the last one (former pitching coach) Vern Ruhle put together,” said Krivsky. Ruhle died of cancer last year.
There are 31 pitchers on that chart. Twenty-two are no longer in the organization, “And a lot of them are out of baseball,” said Krivsky.
“That’s a lot of turnover in two years,” said Baker as he looked at the chart. After a slight pause and a grin, Baker added, “Wayne came in and cleaned house. But it was needed, wasn’t it?”
Indeed, it was.
Of the projected starters just two years ago, only Aaron Harang is left. The others were: Brandon Claussen, Eric Milton, Dave Williams and undecided between Mike Gosling, Justin Germano and Elizardo Ramirez.
There are 33 pitchers in camp this spring and only three were in camp two years ago - Harang, Matt Belisle and Todd Coffey. Kent Mercker was there, too, but he left and came back again.
Even with 33 prospects and suspects in camp, Krivsky remains attentive toward adding a pitcher and said, “If there is one out there we can get, if the price is right …”
Kyle Lohse is out there, but the Reds had him last year and traded him. Josh Fogg and Jeff Weaver remained unsigned, too.
“For this time of year, that’s a lot of talent still out there,” said Krivsky. “I’ve never seen it quite like this.”
Baker, of course, would like as many pitching options as he can get, but he knows time marches on and said, “Everybody is looking for one (starting pitching). Even Boston, now that Curt Schilling is down. There are some guys out there unsigned, but if you bring a guy in right now you have guys in your camp who say, ‘Hey, they’re still bringing guys in. Are they dissatisfied with me?’ “
TweetThose were ballplayers
Dusty Baker walked the City of Sarasota Sports Complex on Friday and saw that each of the practice fields were named for Cincinnati Reds legends — Pete Rose, Joe Morgan, Johnny Bench, Tony Perez.
“I’m always talking about baseball players and people ask me, ‘What are baseball players?’ ” Baker said. “Those guys are baseball players — Rose, Morgan, Bench, Perez. They could go 0-for-4 and still beat you. They seldom did anything to cost you a game. Those are what I call ballplayers.”
And Baker is still looking for ballplayers for his first edition of the Reds. One of them is free agent leadoff hitter Kenny Lofton.
“I’ve talked to him and, yes, there is a chance we can still get him,” Baker said. “I’ve talked to (outfielder) Corey Patterson, too. It depends on how it fits into our budget and roster. Right now we don’t have a roster spot and he’d like a major-league contract.”
At this late date, though, some players — even marquee players — might accept minor-league contracts with invitations to major-league camp just for the chance to win a spot on a major-league team.
Lofton would make for a decent leadoff hitter against right-handed pitchers. Most scouts say it isn’t advisable to play him against left-handed pitchers.
If Lofton arrives, what happens to rookie Jay Bruce?
“Bruce already has told me he can bat leadoff,” Baker said with a laugh. “I haven’t seen Bruce play, but I’ve heard a lot. He is a star of the future and, who knows, he may be a start of the present. But there is more to the game than just hitting.”
Baker considers finding a leadoff hitter a top priority.
“A leadoff hitter is the most underappreciated spot in the batting order,” said Baker. “You have to have one and they are hard to find. I led off most of my minor-league career and my old manager, Mickey Verson (Richmond), challenged me to get on base to lead off the game.
“That puts the starting pitcher into the stretch right away, puts him into an uncomfortable situation,” Baker added. “Starters throw about 90 percent of their pitches in the wind-up, not the stretch.”
It was 8:30 Sunday morning as Baker spoke, devouring a bowl of cereal after going through a physical examination along with his pitchers and catchers.
“That was as thorough an exam as I’ve ever seen,” he said. “Really, really thorough — knees, joints, feet. That’s great. Seems they are into preventing injuries rather than reacting around here and that’s great. When you’re into rehab, it’s too late.”
TweetOh, that first day!
After 36 years, one would think an old-timer would know better. Yeah, right.
After 36 years of covering spring training, one would think one would know better than to argue with the sun after a winter of hibernation that leaves one so white it looks as if he spent the winter painting closets (As Marty Brennaman would say).
But with minimal sleep the night before to catch a 6 a.m. flight Friday, it was a tired scribe who arrived in Sarasota. With the sun bathing the Siesta Key sand, why not an hour or so of tanning? Read a book.
One chapter into the book, I fell asleep. For two hours. Now my knees are singed like fried scallops and my face is as red as if I got caught telling an off-color joke in church.
But it’s the first day of spring training and it’s off to camp, where everybody is happy. No pressure yet. No games. Just boring exercises and drills.
Pitcher Kent Mercker, 40, a late signee trying to make the Reds for his fourth different tenure, arrived at camp at 9 a.m. At 11 a.m. he walked by and said, “Hey, I’m still here. Been here two hours and nobody told me to pack and go home. I even saw the General Manager - and I’m still here.”
Adam Dunn and his son, Brady, walked into camp for a brief pit stop. “Just here to make sure all my stuff got here,” he said. “I’m off to Daytona to watch the Daytona 500. I’ve never been there in person. I’m pumped.”
Manager Dusty Baker arrived Friday and was pleased to learn that Ken Griffey Jr. was not only in camp Friday but was on the field chasing fly balls.
Baker admits he is still learning his players, so he can be forgiven for one faux pas at his first media chat Saturday. When referring to Reds pitcher Homer Bailey, he called him Homer Bush, a former New York Yankees infielder. He’ll not only learn Bailey’s name in a hurry, he’ll learn all about what Bailey is about on a pitcher’s mound.
Griffey, of course, owns the longest tenure of anybody on the roster. Can you guess the next three? OK, so don’t guess. The answer: Adam Dunn, Ryan Freel, Aaron Harang.
Baker is looking for leadership and while he wouldn’t admit it publicly he may be searching for it from Griffey, with whom he talked on the phone a few times this winter. Baker also talked to Hank Aaron recently and was piqued by what Aaron said.
“There is a lot with Junior that people haven’t tapped,” said Baker. “When you’ve been in the game 20 years, in the big leagues since you were 19, you know what you’re doing and what you’ve done and what’s going on. You might not always say it, but there is a lot there.
“I talked to Hank Aaron the other day,” Baker added. “Hank and Junior are on the board together of the Boys and Girls Clubs of America. Hank said what a pleasure it was for him to be around Junior. He said you could tell what kind of guy Junior was - a family man and all that.
“Hank doesn’t give compliments very often,” Baker added. “So that meant a lot to me. He has met most of the superstars of the game and this is the first time he raved about meeting one, ever to me. Hank doesn’t talk too much, but he talked quite a bit about Junior and that really impressed me.”
TweetLong-term deal for Phillips
Brandon Phillips and the Cincinnati Reds have agreed in principle to a long-term deal, a source close to the negotiations told the Dayton Daily News on Thursday night.
Terms and length of the deal were not available, but the long-term deal is done and an arbitration hearing between the Reds and Phillips has been canceled.
Phillips was asking for a one-year contract worth $4.5 million and the Reds were offering a one-year, $2.7 million deal. The long-term deal wipes that all out.
Phillips, 26, had a breakout season in 2007, blossoming as a star both offensively and defensively.
The Stone Mountain, Ga., resident, acquired from the Cleveland Indians during the spring of 2006 for right-handed pitcher Jeff Stevens, hit .288 and was a 30/30 player - 30 home runs and 32 stolen bases (in 40 attempts). He also drove in 94 runs and scored 107. He was the team’s clean-up hitter most of the second half.
On defense, he was spectacular and probably should have won the Gold Glove. He led the National League in fielding percentage for a second baseman (.990) and made only eight errors.
TweetRoger, the Unartful Dodger
As spring training begins, baseball arrives with two black eyes of blinding proportions. The game’s best all-around player, Barry Bonds, and best pitcher, Roger Clemens, are closer to jail than the Hall of Fame.
Bonds already is under siege for perjury, and four FBI investigators were in the hearing room Wednesday when a stuttering and stammering Clemens dodged questions and gave conflicting answers during his congressional testimony about his possible use of steroids and HGH.
While his accuser, Brian McNamee, was calm and composed throughout the hearings, most of the time Clemens appeared ready to explode (‘roid rage?) the way he did when he picked up a broken piece of jagged bat and threw it at the Mets’ Mike Piazza during a Yankees-Mets game.
If the FBI decides to investigate the truth or lies of Clemens’ testimony - what if they find his DNA in those syringes and bloody gauze pads? - Clemens’ next uniform could be prison blues.
I’m probably not the best and most objective person to weigh in on Clemens, already buried under tons of negative media verbiage.
We, uh, have a history. Goes back a long way, too.
It was in the 1980s after Clemens, pitching for Boston, struck out 20 Seattle Mariners. My paper sent me to Boston to do a piece on Clemens, who, after all, was born in Dayton.
An appointment was set up with the Boston public relations man, who told me to be in the Fenway Park home clubhouse at 2 p.m. I was there; Roger wasn’t. He ambled in at 3:30 and walked to his locker. I walked over, stuck out my hand and said, “Roger, I’m Hal McCoy and I …”
“I know who you are,” he said. “Can’t talk to you today. Come back at 2 tomorrow,” he said.
I was back at 2 the next day when he walked in at 3 and said he had to do a photo shoot for People magazine. When that was finished, he ignored me again, walking into the training room. Again I approached him to say, “Look, I’m only here to do an interview with you. My paper sent me just for that. If you don’t want to do it, I’ll go home.”
He told me to meet him in the dugout before he did his daily run around the park. The interview lasted 12 minutes and was conducted while he laced on his shoes. And the only thing to come out of the interview worth anything was Clemens’ quote about his hometown: “The best thing about Dayton was seeing it in the rear-view mirror.”
Fast-forward to a couple of years ago when Clemens was pitching in Houston and the Reds were in Minute Maid Park. Because I am legally blind, in some parks I use what is called an Ott-Lite, a table lamp brighter than florescent bulbs, to brighten my computer screen. Never had a complaint.
Clemens was pitching that day and the Houston PR person approached me politely and said, “Can you either turn off that light or cover it with something? One of our players says it is shining in his eyes.”
I laughed as I snapped off the switch and said, “Let me guess. Roger Clemens.” The man nodded his affirmative. In fairness, the press box in Minute Maid Park IS one of the lowest in baseball, but in several other games there were no complaints.
So that’s the background as I weigh in on this.
What struck me during the hearings, other than Clemens contradicting himself and backpedaling and doing more hemming-and-hawing than a seamstress, was how he threw more people under the bus than were on the bus.
His agent, Randy Hendricks, is one of the best and most capable agents in the game. Clemens tossed him under the bus, blamed him for not telling him that investigator George Mitchell wanted to talk to him about steroid allegations. Clemens was told; he knew Mitchell wanted to talk to him.
His nanny was tossed under the bus when she confirmed that Clemens was at a party with acknowledged steroids user Jose Canseco, where it is alleged Clemens and best friend/pitcher Andy Pettitte talked about HGH use.
His wife, Debbie, was tossed under the bus when Clemens talked about her using HGH and said he had no idea McNamee injected her with HGH.
And then there was Clemens visiting legislators in their offices before the hearing and some of those elected officials and their staffs asking for autographs.
From what I’ve seen and heard, McNamee was most credible, which is saying something because the guy has been proved a liar. But he told the truth about Pettitte and Chuck Knoblauch, both of whom admitted using illegal substances. So why would he lie about Clemens?
And there are too many holes and discrepancies in Clemens’ testimony. He sounds a whole lot like Pete Rose during his 15 years of denials.
As of now, you can add me to the list of writers who won’t vote for Clemens for the Hall of Fame, and the way it is going it might not be long before I send in an empty ballot.
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The UPS box is full — T-shirts, shorts, swim suit, Birkenstocks, suntan lotion (Protection Factor 45) and, oh, a few pens and notebooks.
For the 36th time in my baseball-writing career, I’m headed to spring training with the Cincinnati Reds, ever hopeful that before I do a George Burns (reach 100 years of age) that I will once again cover a winning team.
The last one was 2000, the last year Trade Jack McKeon polluted the manager’s office (with my help) with cigar smoke.
C’mon, guys, I’m 67 and sinking fast.
For the next six weeks, I will try to answer the nagging questions surrounding the Reds while trying not to get too sun-burned during the day or lose too much money at the dog track at night.
There is a reason my good Sarasota friend, Phil “Boomer” Denis calls me Captain Greyhound. And there is a reason there is a greyhound running at Naples-Fort Myers called Gary’s Real McCoy.
You know you’ve been around a long time when they name the media workroom after you. And sometimes embarrassing. The media room at Ed Smith Stadium is called the Hal McCoy Media Workroom and a picture of me hangs on the door.
A few years ago a Toronto writer stopped at the door, looked at my picture and said, “I didn’t know Hal McCoy died.”
Not yet, pal.
I’m sticking around to see what new manager Dusty Baker can do. I think he’ll do a lot, but perhaps I’m prejudiced. I’ve known and been friends with Baker, Mr. Class Act, for a long time - back to when he managed the Cubs and the Giants.
Every time he saw me, he said, “Hello, Hall of Famer,” but I think that might have been because he didn’t know my name. That’s OK, as long as he quickly learns the names of his new players.
What will he be looking for this spring?
ONE — A starting pitching rotation. The givens are Aaron Harang and Bronson Arroyo. After that it is Eenie, Meanie, Miney and Mo. Matt Belisle, Homer Bailey, Johnny Cueto, Edinson Volquez and Jeremy Affeldt are the top candidates.
Personally, I’m skeptical about Affeldt making the transition from a situational bullpen left-hander with the Colorado Rockies to a starter in less than a year. He made more than 70 appearances last season, but barely pitched over 50 innings.
Now they want him to start, and he wants to start, but that’s like asking a guy who ran the 100-yard dash most of his life to suddenly run the mile. Somebody is going to get winded.
There is still talk that GM Wayne Krivsky is sniffing around the carcass of Oakland pitcher Joe Blanton, a 14-game winner last year. But if the cost is a combination of Homer Bailey-Johnny Cueto, or Bailey-Joey Votto or Cueto-Votto, tell Oakland to keep Blanton or send him to the Red Sox or Yankees.
TWO — As of now, there is no legitimate leadoff hitter who figures to be in the starting lineup. Ryan Freel has experience, but there is no guarantee he is over last season’s head and knee injuries and there is no guarantee he will beat out rookie Jay Bruce.
If Norris Hopper can somehow beat out both Freel and Bruce, then he is a capable leadoff hitter, a guy who can bunt at will and get on base, especially against left-handed pitchers.
There is talk the Reds are chasing free agent Kenny Lofton, a 40-year-old who has played for about every franchise in the majors but the Reds, and a guy who can bat leadoff. Stay tuned on this one because he and Baker have a history, Lofton having played for Baker both at San Francisco and Chicago.
There is much more to be determined and decided — like what days will I go to the Broken Egg to see if Dick Vitale is on the porch signing autographs and reading a stack of out of town newspapers.
And some stuff about the Reds, too.
IF YOU aren’t doing anything Friday night at 11, check out Comedy Central and a special with comedian Mike Birbiglia.
I first encountered him in 2004 when I was in New York for the Baseball Writers Association of America dinner. During his routine, he said, “Most baseball writers never played the game and can’t write about it.”
When I got up, I said, “And some comedians can’t tell jokes.”
Well, there is more to the story and Birbiglia talked about it and me during the show.
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