After four years of doing ...something for the Nationals, Barry Larkin has decided to take a position with the MLB Network that is launching on Jan. 1.  Leatherpants offered him the first base coaching position, but Larkin turned him down.  Smart move, I think.

Interestingly, it says that the Reds also offered him a position, though it doesn't say what it was.  I'll be honest, it hurts a little bit that my favorite player ever is severing his ties from this club.  But perhaps, looking on the extreme bright side of things, Larkin will polish his analytical skills and broadcasting presence to one day step in as an analyst for the Reds.

It's official, people.  Your new centerfielder and leadoff man is Willy Taveras.  Financial terms have not yet been disclosed, but it's a 2 year deal.

Courtesy of the Cincinnati Reds official website.  Let's just hope his OBP is a lot closer to 2007 .367 than his .308 of last year.  And, uh, hope you like stolen bases.  He should at least be better than Freel or Patterson.

I was thinking of going to the Reds Hall of Fame today.  I didn't realize that I would be missing the past quite this much.

I'm lifting this whole from C. Trent, because it's important.

It turns out that former Red reliever Ricky Stone developed a malignant brain tumor in August and, because he was pitching in Taiwan at the time, doesn't have insurance in America.  A group of MLB wives, headed by Nelson Figueroa's wife Alisa, are setting up an auction with the proceeds going to help Ricky Stone's treatment.

Here is the e-mail that Alisa Figueroa sent to C. Trent.

Please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Alisa Figueroa. My husband, Nelson, pitched for the NY Mets this season.

I hope you can publicize our online memorabilia auction to be held this coming week to benefit 33-year-old Ricky Stone, relief pitcher for Astros (2001-2004), Padres (2004), and Reds (2005, 2007), who was stricken with a malignant brain tumor in August 2008. Over 100 baseball players donated signed jerseys, bats, baseballs, and baseball equipment to help Ricky. In August of this year Ricky Stone, a former MLB Pitcher, was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. Earlier in the season Ricky had been playing baseball in Taiwan. Because of this the Stone family had insurance in Taiwan, but none in the States. Tracey, Ricky's wife, was to begin a job with insurance for the entire family on Monday morning and Ricky's seizure was the Thursday evening preceding her job.

Major League Baseball is an amazing family. Almost immediately after learning about what had happened to Ricky Erin Pote (husband Lou) was in touch with me. Erin was in Taiwan. She and I had never met. Our common link was that we were both friends with Ricky and Tracey. Erin said, "I want to help. What can we do? Do you think we could collect items for an online auction to help them out?".

As I had been one of the founders of the MLB Wives auction for 9-11, I told her we could try to do it. The first step was to contact other wives. The second step, as Ricky and Tracey are incredibly strong Christians, was to contact all the team Chaplains and ask for their help. The response we had was absolutely amazing. In the past two months since our first request we have received over 100 unique items. These items represent twenty teams. We have items from current Baseball Hall of Famers, Golf and boxing hall of famers as well. We also have items from some rookies who wanted to do anything they could to help another member of the baseball "family" in any way they could.

Erin and I have joined together with Helping Hands Ministries, Inc. (a 501c charity) in order to set up a fund for the Stone family through them. This will allow all items purchased through this auction to be a tax deduction. In addition this allowed us to partner with eBay's Mission Fish program so that 100% of the monies from this auction can be donated to Helping Hands Ministries, Inc. and in return, to the Stone family. Also, we have COAs from Herman Darvick who is an independant consultant for PSA/DNA experts. Finally, we have a website with information about the Stone family and the auction (http://rallyforrecovery.blogspot.com).

Now the last and most important part of making this auction a success is what we are hoping to receive from you. As baseball writers your words reach the fans. Tho articles you write inform and inspire others. We are hoping that you will be able to write something to inform those readers in your area of our auction and the specifics.

I am including two attachements. One is a press release written for Erin and I from a friend who does this sort of thing as a profession. The other is our list of items for our auction. I am including this spreadsheet so that you can see items you think may be more specific for your own city should you choose to write a piece on your own about the auction. The general website, again, is http://rallyforrecovery.blogspot.com. The press release has a link to our eBay store.

I think I can speak for all of us here when I wish Ricky a speedy and full recovery, and wish his family luck during this hard time.  If you want to do more to help, click on those links, and they'll provide more information for what you can do.

Why, he's going to invest in an ownership group that is bidding to bring an expansion MLS franchise to St. Louis, of course!

Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols, the National League most valuable player and a native of the Dominican Republic, is backing the St. Louis bid for an MLS expansion club.

"I am very proud and excited to join the effort to bring Major League Soccer to the St. Louis area," he said in a press release issued this afternoon. "This means a lot to me and my family, as we all love soccer and we believe in MLS. Plus, this is something that will be great for our community, especially our youth. I strongly encourage St. Louis business leaders and sports fans to join me in this effort. St. Louis is an unbelievable sports town and we'll be a great city for Major League Soccer."

(courtesy of the Washington Post's Soccer Insider)

This is kind of unexpected, particularly because Dominicans usually care less about soccer than Americans do.  The MLS is putting a new team in Seattle next year, a new team in Philadelphia in 2010, and are currently accepting bids for two more franchises, bringing the total number of teams in the league to 18.  St. Louis has a strong amateur soccer following and would be a great place for a team, only they propose to build a stadium on the Illinois side of the river in one of the scummiest areas of the country.  Lord only knows why MLS didn't just relocate the Kansas City franchise to St. Louis, but there you go.

There's an interesting trend of athletes from other sports backing the MLS.  Oscar de la Hoya is a part owner of the Houston Dynamo, and Steve Nash is backing a bid for an expansion team in Vancouver (which would create a nice rivalry with both Seattle and Toronto FC).  Soccer powerhouse Barcelona has put in a bid for a franchise in Miami that would presumably operate in a manner similar to Chivas USA.  It's hard to imagine MLS saying no to Barcelona, but Miami fans tend to be very... noncommittal.  And considering that soccer isn't very popular with Cubans either...  The really intriguing thing would be if MLS did accept Barcelona's proposal and built a stadium in Miami.  What would the Marlins think?  There's a very good chance that the current economic climate has scuttled any real chance for them to build a new stadium, but if a (cheaper) soccer stadium were to go up before a new baseball stadium, would that be the final straw that caused the Marlins to pack up their two world championships and move?

Also, don't forget to watch the Columbus Crew take on the New York Red Bulls in the MLS Cup, Sunday at 3:30 on ABC.  Or you can watch the USA take on Guatemala in World Cup Qualifying (USA has already clinched advancement to the next round) tonight at 8:00 on ESPN Classic.

This is the point in the season when everyone starts starving for some baseball news.  Sure, we can look forward to Edinson Volquez finishing fourth in the NL Cy Young (and the BBWAA giving him 9 votes for AL Cy Young too, eligibility be damned!), but right now we're gonna have to take baseball news whether it relates to the Reds or not.

Following in the wake of the Holliday trade, NL East rivals the Washington Nationals and the Florida Marlins made a trade.  The Fish sent starting pitcher Scott Olsen and left fielder Josh Willingham to the Nats for second baseman Emilio Bonifacio, pitcher PJ Dean, and shortstop Jake Smolinski.

Stop yawning!

The trade is a little baffling to me.  Scott Olsen is a pretty decent haul for the Nats, but honestly, I thought his record was a lot better.  He was 8-11 last year, and is 31-37 career.  His k/bb ratio last year 113/69.  He's no better than league average.  Of course, considering the Nats only had two starters last year that were anywhere near or above league average, it just goes to show that you've gotta start somewhere.  I would assume that Willingham will be coming off the bench, because Elijah Dukes plays left field, and you don't wanna be stealing his position, dawg.  I ain't even bullshittin'.  But since the Nats can't seem to go an entire season without every single position player getting hurt, it's good to have depth.

The Marlins are, shockingly enough, cutting costs.  Yes, their payroll was only $21M last year, but that could stand to see some trimming.  They'll save $800,000.  Bonifacio is pretty good with the glove, but Dan Uggla has a bat that you don't take out of the lineup.  Smolinski looks like he might have a decent bat in the future, but I think the real target might be PJ Dean.  He went 4-1 with a 1.57 ERA in the GCL, and according to Google, is a mixed martial artist.

So is there any Reds connection at all?  Well if the Marlins are serious about scaling back the payroll and getting younger (and it looks like they might be, since they traded first baseman Mike Jacobs to the Royals), Charlie Scrabbles's idea of making a run at Cody Ross just got more feasible.  What do you think?

Tickets go on sale Monday for Redsfest, which will be Friday, Dec. 12 and Saturday, Dec. 13.  It's only $20 for a two day pass, which is an even bigger bargain considering that a one day pass is $15.

C. Trent has the details:

Current and former Reds players expected to attend Redsfest XI include Gold Glove second baseman Brandon Phillips, first baseman Joey Votto, outfielder Jay Bruce and Reds Hall of Fame outfielder Eric Davis.

The first 10,000 fans attending Redsfest each day will receive a free drawstring backpack and a Reds winter ski cap, courtesy of Kahn’s.

The Redsfest Main Stage will feature popular activities such as kids-only press conferences involving Reds players, a Reds Idol karaoke contest, a Hooters wing eating contest and the Reds Hot Stove Report with general manager Walt Jocketty and manager Dusty Baker. Reds starting pitcher Bronson Arroyo will perform in concert on Friday night.

A celebrity Wiffleball home run contest will be held on Friday evening at 6:30 p.m. featuring local media personalities as well as former Reds players, upcoming prospects and local celebrities. The home run contest will kick off the weekend of programming on the 10,000 square foot Gorilla Glue Field of Dreams, that will also include the Chipotle Wiffleball Tournament.

There's also a Texas Hold Em tournament, and if you knock out a Reds player, you get the jersey off their back.  I've never been to a Redsfest (been to a RenFest though), and I'm not likely to make it to this one, but damn!  It looks like a good time.

No word of a trivia competition, after Slyde provided such a dominating performance.  What will he dominate in this time?