Wacky Walt and the Redlegs

"They’re so busy trying to prove to the fans that they want to win, that they’ll never actually win." - excerpt from the Cincinnati Reds' blog Red Reporter

Sometimes despite being the host of a daily sports radio show, even I am rendered speechless.

Let's set the scene: The Cincinnati Reds have lost nine of their last ten games, including three of four to the San Diego Padres at home, who entered that series as the 2nd worst team in baseball behind the Washington Nationals. They are 9 1/2 games behind the first place Cubs in the NL Central, 11 games under .500 overall, and buried in 5th place. Teams in a similar position - i.e. the Pittsburgh Pirates, who have just two less wins - were sellers, departing with Ian Snell, Tom Gorzelanny, John Grabow, Freddie Sanchez, Jack Wilson, and Nate McClouth (a few weeks ago).

Can someone tell me why the Reds were buyers?

Cincinnati inexplicably sent outcast Edwin Encarnacion, and pitchers Josh Roenicke, and Zach Stewart to Toronto for Scott Rolen. Yes, the same Scott Rolen that is 34 years old, has driven in a meager 158 runs in the last three years, and has played more than 115 games in a season just once since 2005. Oh, and he's owed $11 million (!) next season, all of which will be paid out of the Reds' wallet.

Rolen hit 34 HR in '04 - he's hit 54 in five seasons since

I don't have much of a problem with the Reds jettisoning Encarnacion, who has been a big disappointment when he's actually healthy. But, I can't understand why Walt Jocketty was willing to part with Roenicke and fellow pitcher Zach Stewart, who made the jump from Class A Sarasota to AAA Louisville earlier this season. Neither Roenicke and Stewart were considered top prospects, but still, there's no reason to part with a Major League ready pitcher (Roenicke) and a 22-year old (Stewart) for a veteran that can't help you in two years.

At this time last year, the Reds smartly sold off Adam Dunn and Ken Griffey Jr. before the deadline. This year, they sold off three players aged 26, 26, and 22 for a 34-year old on the decline with a lucrative contract.

We have been told that the focus for this team was 2011. Yet, I can't see a 36-year old Rolen batting between Joey Votto and Brandon Phillips in that Reds' lineup. Where does Rolen fit into a future core of Votto, Phillips, Jay Bruce, and top prospect Yonder Alonso?

I asked Will Carroll of Baseball Prospectus what his immediate reaction was to the Reds dealing for Rolen. His response? "A confirmation of their delusion."

I couldn't have said it better myself.

Grading the Pacers offseason

Despite another mediocre season in 2008-09, the Pacers entered this summer with their long-term plan providing promising early returns. Danny Granger made the jump to his first All-Star Game appearance, Troy Murphy had a career year, Roy Hibbert steadily improved, and Brandon Rush ended a rollercoaster season with a bang. While the franchise is still years away from being a serious Championship contender, they're finally moving forward instead of just treading water.

With a late-Lottery Draft pick and $8 million to spend, the Pacers didn't have much of an opportunity to greatly improve their personnel. They used the 13th overall pick on Tyler Hansbrough, and secured veteran PG A.J. Price with their second round selection. The $8 million was divvied up among veterans like Dahntay Jones, Solomon Jones (no relation), and Earl Watson, along with bringing back bench contributors like Josh McRoberts and Travis Diener.

While Hansbrough won't be a star player in the NBA, and doesn't have a ton of potential, he's a workhorse who will find a way to contribute. Price may take a few years of seasoning before he's ready to see the floor, but he did a great job running a super-talented UConn team this past season. Dahntay Jones isn't a scorer, but is a lockdown defender and frees Granger to concentrate on scoring, rather than drawing the defensive assignment of guarding the opposing team's best player. Earl Watson is also a defensive upgrade, and his career PER numbers (11.6 ppg, 7.3 apg) are very solid. Solomon Jones helps the frontcourt depth, is a shot-blocker, and once punched Zaza Pachulia in the face.

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Hansbrough isn't flashy, but should provide solid minutes

In the process, the Pacers did have to let Jarrett Jack walk to Toronto because of his inflated price tag, and rejected a $7M+ option for Marquis Daniels. With Mike Dunleavy's injury situation still up in the air, the team has no backup plan should Danny Granger go down with injury. As of right now, there is only one backup wing (Brandon Rush), but a logjam at point guard.

The Pacers still have one roster spot to fill, but we know 14 of the 15 that they'll carry into the 2009-10 campaign (* projected starters):

PG: T.J. Ford*, Earl Watson, Travis Diener, A.J. Price

SG: Dahntay Jones*, Brandon Rush

SF: Danny Granger*, Mike Dunleavy

PF: Troy Murphy*, Tyler Hansbrough, Josh McRoberts

C: Roy Hibbert*, Jeff Foster, Solomon Jones

That's likely not a playoff team, and the Pacers could very well find themselves back in the dreaded NBA purgatory - the grouping between high-Lottery pick to low-seed playoff team where they've been the last few seasons. However, last year's team won just one more game than the 2007-08 team did, yet I think we'd all agree that they improved. Improvement isn't necessarily translated into wins and losses. By adding depth, and most importantly, players that can actually defend, this team is better-suited for a run at the 7-8 seed in the East than they were last season.

Brickyard Takes

- Overall, I thought it was a solid B to B- race. There wasn't a lot of passing up front, but that's to be expected at a place like Indy. This track wasn't built for stock car racing. However, between Juan Pablo Montoya's inexplicable pit penalty, and a mildly-exciting final 20-lap duel between Jimmie Johnson and Mark Martin, the race was about as good as you'll see here. It doesn't fully erase the bad feelings from last year's tire debacle, but it's a good start.

- Speaking of Johnson, is it just me or does the #48 car always start stepping on the gas and blowing away the competition at this point in the season? JJ's third Indy win in four years could catapult him to an unprecedented 4th straight Cup championship.

- I fully believe in conspiracy theories, so when JPM was penalized for speeding in the pits, I couldn't help but think he got screwed. I mean how can a driver of his caliber and his experience with a FIVE SECOND LEAD allow himself to make such a crucial mistake? It cost him a sure victory - nobody was touching the #42 car on Sunday.

- I wonder how much more losing it will take for people to give up on Dale Earnhardt Jr. Junior qualified 3rd despite having the "flu" (I heard from a trusted source Dale Jr. was this kind of sick as opposed to this kind of sick), and ran in the top ten all day, only to blow his engine late and finish 36th. Afterwards, he chalked it up to "driver error". Dale hasn't had a top ten finish in a points race since April's Aaron's 499, and is 22nd in the points standings. I know people don't root for losers, so I'm assuming it's only a matter of time before I stop seeing one-third of the fans at the Brickyard with #88 National Guard gear on.

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Dale Jr. makes Danica Patrick look like Richard Petty

- Outside of Johnson, I thought it was a great day for both Carl Edwards and Joey Logano. Edwards' #99 Aflac machine was slow all week, but he was able to climb from 41st to a 15th place finish. The 19-year old Logano, making his first ever Brickyard start, finished a strong 12th despite starting dead last (due to changing motors).

- It was a bad day for Joe Gibbs Racing as both Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin had car issues. Busch's blown tire and 38th place finish drops him to 14th and out of The Chase for now. As for Hamlin, he's still solidly in The Chase, but had a drive-shaft problem which sent him back to 34th.

Brickyard Picks

With the 16th running of the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard coming up tomorrow, I have decided to share with you my picks for Sunday. NOTE: I have dropped from 2nd to 8th in both of my Fantasy NASCAR leagues over the past four weeks, so please use these with the proper caution.

A Group: Jimmie Johnson
I could go with the cagey vet Jeff Gordon, who is looking for his fifth Brickyard title, but this is usually the time of year when Jimmie turns on the jets. The defending champion has only found Victory Lane twice this season, but is firmly in third place in the points standings thanks to 13 top-ten finishes.

B Group: Tony Stewart*, Juan Pablo Montoya
Smoke has kissed the bricks two of the last four (2005, 2007) races, and I don't really count last year's tire fiasco against him. The #14 has had a dream season so far - his first as owner/driver - and has opened up nearly a full-race lead in the Sprint Cup points standings. Also, unlike other drivers, I believe Stewart when he says that winning at Indy trumps even the Daytona 500 in his opinion.

As for JPM, if not falling victim to a blown tire last year, he probably would've been in contention. The former Indy 500 champion scored a runner up finish in the 400 two years ago, and has more experience on this track than about 90% of his competition.

C Group: A.J. Allmendinger
Last year was A.J.'s first career start at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but he finished 10th and even led four laps. I know it doesn't make much sense to use last year's caution-fest as a barometer, but he's run the best out of the C Group drivers so far this season.
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If I'm picking a winner, it has to be Stewart. Just like Helio Castroneves this past May, I feel like this is the #14 car's race to lose.

Goodbye, Jamaal!

Maybe a downtown parade would be a bit overboard, but I think a major celebration is in store now that Jamaal Tinsley has departed our fair city. The troubled guard was finally bought out by the Pacers after a lengthy stand-off with the team. The final number is $10.7 million of the remaining two years and $14.7 million left on his deal.

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If you're doing the math at home, that means that the Pacers paid Tinsley over $17.5 million in the past year to play all of zero minutes.

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Tinsley's departure means that Indy can finally move on

It’s hard to believe, but Tinsley spent over eight years in Indianapolis after a Draft Day trade in 2001. While most wouldn’t question his talent on the court, his lack of conditioning and publicized off-the-court issues didn’t exactly enamor him to Pacer Nation. I don't think Tinsley was necessarily a bad guy, just a bad decision-maker that surrounded himself with the wrong people.

Putting an end to the Tinsley era, hopefully is the final nail in the coffin of a dark tenure in Pacers basketball. The Brawl, downtown shootings, club incidents, marijuana use, harboring friends with murder warrants – we can bury all of that along with any faded memories of Jamaal Tinsley.

With a core of Danny Granger, Roy Hibbert, Brandon Rush, and the newly-minted Tyler Hansbrough, hopefully the Pacers have turned the corner both from standings standpoint, and more importantly a character standpoint.

So we bid you adieu Jamaal. If you can fit through the threshold, don’t let the door hit you on the way out.

Vick Destinations?

On today's show, we discussed the possible landing spots for Michael Vick should he be reinstated by Roger Goodell. Here is a short list that I came up with:

San Francisco – they haven’t had a legitimate quarterback there since Jeff Garcia left after the 2003 season. Since then, the 49ers have trotted out Trent Dilfer, Alex Smith, Cody Pickett, Tim Rattay, Shaun Hill, Chris Weinke, JT O’Sullivan (eat your heart out Moses Moreno!). Now the team is deciding between two terrible options in Hill, or the bustilicious Smith to be the full-time starter. Yikes.

Seattle – Sticking with the pathetic NFC West, Seattle head coach Jim Mora Jr. has a lot of familiarity with Vick from his time in Atlanta. By all indications, the two had a pretty solid coach-player relationship. Matt Hasselbeck (soon-to-be 34) is on the downside of his career and the Seahawks don’t have much else going on at that position.

Oakland - I guess anything is possible with the erratic Al Davis. The Raiders don't seem to be fully behind former #1 pick JaMarcus Russell, and some have questioned his work ethic. When you're as bad as the Raiders have been lately, it could be worth rolling the dice.

Jacksonville – wouldn’t this be hilarious? The team committed $60 million to David Garrard, only to see him fall on his face in 2008 (13 INT, 81.7 QB rating). Maybe they could run a few trick formations with Vick and Maurice Jones-Drew?

Cincinnati – dude’s an ex-con. It’s a match made in heaven.

Peyton, you so crazy!

It's no United Way PSA, but it's not too shabby...