Despite the Reds 3 game "sweep" of the Fish, they are still one of baseball's worst. Ironically they are killing it in the minors...with baseball's 4th best record of all the farm systems. This is nothing new for the Reds. Jay Bruce has been one of the top prospects in all of baseball for three years running, moving up in the rankings every year from #30 to #8 to #1. Why is this? Because everyone else in front of him in past years is making the big bucks in the big leagues now!

Walt Jocketty wants to make sure that Bruce doesn't come up to the Reds and sit. "We're not comfortable that there is adequate playing time...". There is a simple solution to this problem. PLAY HIM! Of course Jr. or Dunn aren't going to sit on a regular basis, but by my count there are three OF positions and that's only 2. Arguments?

-He's not a true CF. Is Freel? Is Hairston? Clearly Norris Hopper must have urinated in Dusty's cereal bowl since the Reds are bringing up infielders from AAA to play CF. So is Bruce any worse?

-He's another left handed bat in a lineup filled with lefties. One difference...he's hitting .380 off lefties. Clearly the lefty-righty thing doesn't bug him as much as it seems to bug Dusty.

-You are paying a lot of money to Freel and Patterson to sit them. So we let the mistakes of the past doom the future? We're paying a lot of money to a couple guys who are sitting on the couch too. Freel can still spell pretty much anyone. Patterson can be a late inning defensive replacement for any OF. There's a lot of money on the bench, does it matter if there's a bit more?

-The Reds won't have a true leadoff hitter. Freel and Patterson's combined ON BASE % is .308. which would rank about 330th in the big leagues this season. The Reds DON'T have a leadoff hitter. For the record, Bruce's OBP is a tick shy of .400.

-He won't hit in the bigs like he did in AAA. 1) How do you know? 2) Votto is. Hairston seems to be doing ok. Even if he hits 70 points lower, he'll be the best healthy contact hitter on the Reds until Keppinger gets back.

Really, what more can this kid do to prove that he belongs up here everyday?

Walt Jocketty's record speaks for itself and he knows 100 times more about the game than I but..."We want to let the center-field spot develop more before we decide," Jocketty said. What in the sake of all that is holy could that possibly mean?!? What "development" could possibly occur that would make things better as is? Seriously, wasn't there a follow up question to this? "Mr. Jocketty, with all due respect, what development are you waiting to see?". Something that simple would suffice. Why aren't simple elaborations demanded when mysterious statements like this are made?

Jay Bruce has 22 hits in his last 10 games. Corey Patterson has 22 hits since April 7th. Adam Dunn has 25 hits all year. Jay Bruce has as many hits this year as Patterson and Freel combined in 55 fewer AB's.

Instead of worrying about finding AB for him, how about worrying about finding AB's for Patterson and Freel?

Stats AVG:.366 HR:8 RBI:33 SB:7

¢ - Try to bring some common sense from a common perspective and provoke thought...not conflict but thought...My opinion is seldom the majority and often proved to be incorrect, but it is based on logic and statistics, not just pollyanna, fanatical thinking. Feel free to disagree or make a case for why I'm an idiot...I certainly don't feel that I'm any smarter than anyone else.

♥ - I love to write and I have a lifelong amorous relationship with sports, although in nearly my 40th year this relationship is waning and I'm hoping by giving myself this outlet I can focus on the things that interest me and ignore the absurdity that has become the state of the game today.

$ - Models, actors, singers, writers are discovered every day in different ways (aside from going on reality TV and creating fake drama)...one can't be discovered if one is invisible... I have no delusions of this ever being any more than a hobby/outlet for me rather than someone value it enough to pay for it. However, I read some of the garbage that some paid writers spew out there (Gregg Doyel and Mike Freeman from CBS Sportsline come quickly to mind) and I guess I think I can't produce worse... There is very little intelligent writing out there and most of the public doesn't care to read it anyway. People like controversy and are drawn to it...the car wreck analogy. It's repulsive but it gets people in an uproar and that's all that the goal seems to be anymore.

So CBS puts people like Doyel or Freeman out there, not because they are overly talented, but because they are willing and eager to write something that will piss a large segment of the population off and revel in the response that it gets and pass that off as talent. If I wrote something about how much the Patriots stunk, I'd get a lot of people calling me a moron. For a professional it wouldn't be "responsible" writing (since it's not true) but people would certainly respond to it. If I wrote something intelligent and thought provoking (which hopefully I am able to do once), probably no one would care because people don't want to think anymore, they just want to react...

I think Freeman and Doyel are here for a reason: they are narcissistic (Freeman checks his own message boards for responses and Doyel has his Hate Mail column...), arrogant, and willing to have their name associated on a regular basis with large groups of people who are upset at what they write. Are they talented? Not really. Intelligent? If so, it doesn't show in their writing. But they do what CBS wants and that is generate a response. I'm hoping there is still a small segment of people that want to learn and think instead of just react to someone with a stage to berate them and feel some sense of superiority while doing it...

And so it goes...let the absurdity begin...

My thoughts coming soon (as if you give a crap):

-Why am I doing this? I don't know but I'll take a guess at what I think.  ¢ or ♥ or $ ???

- Emotion in sports. The Nats chanting on the bench like little leaguers, Goose ripping Joba, the fist pump in golf, soccer players ripping off their shirts after a goal, rushing the court, the throat slash, and the end zone dance... Is there a line? Where?

Al Bello/Getty Images

-Average MLB payrolls...a question to be posed on the concept of "average"...yep, statistics lesson right off the bat.