Good discussion. At first I liked your idea, King, about putting Griffey in the leadoff slot. Then I remembered he hasn't hit lefties too well during the past decade. Especially ones who can spot it low and away. I want guys to get on, and then run. That's not Ken (anymore at least). He's an RBI guy now.

But you're dead on about Freel. He should be a lifelong backup, except when a center fielder goes down for an extended period. Cincinnati loves Freel because he reminds us of Pete. The man flies around the field and he is a general badass of a little man. But that shouldn't earn you the contract he got.

And, I think kinda sucks as a dude. I was sitting (drinking) on the front steps of a frat house at UC after a reds game one night a couple years ago. A huge black Escalade rolled up slowly. It was Freel and Graves. Freel driving. He was hootin and hollerin and askin where the party was at. He had a huge bottle of jack in hand which he was taking to the face. Then, he decided to chuck the half-full bottle in the air, which came down on someone's car and broke their windshield. He sped off.

And, he got a DUI less then 2 hours after the 05 opening day game.

Jay Bruce needs to play.

But, King, with Griffey, Dunn and Bruce, you might need Hopper (or Freel) to start when the Reds are facing a lefty. They should start over whichever guy needs a break or whichever guy isn't hitting too well at that time.

And Edwin Encarnacion isn't that great of a third baseman. If he goes 2 games without a hit Dusty should put in Freel to light a fire.

Striving to be a socialist dictator.

We root root root for the home team.

King, your measure for basepath speed is miscalculated. Stolen bases don't tell much of the story. What is important? Simple. It's when a guy is on second - can he score on a routine base hit?

Does he have the 'go' to beat the throw?

Griffey doesn't, Hopper and Freel will give it their best go.

The offense shouldn't be a concern for the Reds. They will score plenty of runs. Will Harang twirl 25 wins? Can Bronson Arroyo add another 17?

Pitching is the bottom line. The Reds won't win a pennant until the wall is moved back or we land the best sinkerballer in the game.

Let's Larry Summers this Washington Post writer!!!!

But are they the ones calling press conferences to complain about it??? Or is it reporters stirring the pot??

Brady Quinn handled himself pretty well the other day (in a similar, yet unrelated topic).

Will today's primary votes make or break the possibility of a second Clinton presidency? And if they break it, whose fault will that be?

You can blame her or the voters. Your post seems to blame the voters. Our bad. It's our fault there won't be a possibility of a second Clinton presidency.

Was Brett better than Terry Bradshaw?

Is so damn good. He is a blast to watch. Any strike, especially low ones, are just freaking hammered. I also love the way he deals with the media. He cannot figure out that he needs to be more of a prick.

Randy Johnson and Griffey and A-Rod and Tino and Edgar. Wow.

King, you put together solid offseason, you look sharp and ready to go.

vidoes on the horizon?

It will be painful times for high flying bankers and hedgies, and for the NYC tax revenues.

We will just have to deal with the consequences.

And the consequences could even help America's economy.

Oh look, this PE fund wants to buy your company - to restructure it and outsource half the jobs and make a killing in 4 years time. They want to buy your company with a small fraction of the total price, and then they'll lever up all this debt to make it work. Aww, they can't get the leverage now, too bad. I guess those jobs will stay in America until they can get the leverage to send them to India.

When did Heath become a she?

Where have you been? During the past 5 years or so every academic paper uses 'she' as the pronoun of choice. I was urged to use 'she' by professors while in college because "'he' is just too divisive. it's patriachal"

So I used she. You'll figure it out.

I'm a healthy 24 year old male. The way I see it, I could have another 65 years on this god forsaken planet. And, I'm walking around with these earth murdering toxic testicles. What did I do to deserve this vile existence? My existence is an ecological nightmare. Now I stay up at night cursing my selfish narcissitic parents for having me. What were they thinking, Pablo? Those pricks.

So my options are castration or suicide or both.

Pablo: what should I do?

I don't know who you are or where you've come from but, THANK YOU for joining this site. I've been singing the same tune for some time. It's nice to have some company.

unicorn-piss.... priceless.

Always fun to look into the future.

What I'm most worried about in the next couple decades of America sports: the futility of small market baseball teams. Regardless of whether I follow my small market team on podcasts or blogs or webfeeds or on TV or radio or newspaper - it's not going to be good news. And it's only going to get worse.

In the post-dotcom, post-Enron era, the attorney general of New York landed some uppercuts on the high and mighty. But now he's the one lying on the mat. By his own hand

Actually, Andrew, his own hand could have kept him out of this mess.