FanHouse Reds

Footprints in the Snow is FanHouse's look at the paths to be forged by MLB teams this winter as they look ahead to 2010.

The Reds are at a crossroads. They've compiled some nice young talent at the major league level with guys like Jay Bruce, Joey Votto, and Johnny Cueto (plus the injured Edinson Volquez) and they have some prospects close to the big leagues in Drew Stubbs and Yonder Alonso, but that might not be enough to get them quite over the top in 2010.

This winter the Reds have to decide what to do with their roster. Should they keep some of their older, more expensive players and gun for what might be a weak division, or should they sell off on the veterans and try to rebuild a core around the younger guys before they leave town?

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Editor's Note: FanHouse's Jeff Fletcher contributed to this report

CHICAGO -- The Reds' need to slash payroll, according to a major league source, could lead them to explore trading second baseman Brandon Phillips as well as right-handers Bronson Arroyo and Aaron Harang.

Cincinnati's 2009 payroll was about $71 million. General manager Walt Jocketty said during a break Tuesday at the GM Meetings that he "might" have to move some high-salaried players to meet the 2010 goal.

"We're going to probably have less to spend this year than we have in the past," Jocketty told FanHouse. "It just depends on how [ticket] sales go this offseason."

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Every Sunday, MLB FanHouse empties out its notebook in Baseball Brunch.

Ron Gardenhire was asked how teams try to pitch Joe Mauer.

"I can't give you all that information," Gardenhire, the Twins manager, said of his No. 3 hitter. "You'll write it and then other people might figure it out."

So you know, Ron, how to get him out?

"Hell, no, I don't! That's why I don't want to say anything.

Wednesday night, while John Smoltz was in the middle of his worst start with the Cardinals, he could be seen constantly trading balls with the home plate umpire, clearly unhappy with something. After the game ended, he said it was because he felt the balls were improperly rubbed down, causing them to be more slippery than normal and preventing him from getting a proper grip.

The story could've ended there, but apparently Tony La Russa and Dave Duncan have been reading a little bit too much Raymond Chandler lately, because they got their Phillip Marlowe on and after some investigating, are charging the Reds with a larger conspiracy.

Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action with a quick nod to what is ahead.

You Oughta Know ...
That when we told you a few weeks ago that the Braves were just about dead, we might have been a bit premature. Led by Javier Vazquez's third complete game of the season, the Braves beat the Nationals, 4-1, winning their fourth game in a row and 12th out of the past 14.

The Braves are still 3 1/2 behind the Rockies in the wild-card race (and mathematically alive in the NL East, believe it or not), but they do have at least one thing in their favor. They play the Nationals six more times in their final nine games, with the other three against Florida.

In Friday's game, Vazquez added another line to his under-appreciated resume. He is 10-2 since July 7. He has 15 victories this season. The only pitcher to win at least 10 games every year since 2000, Vazquez is second only to Randy Johnson in strikeouts in the decade.

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Every Sunday, MLB FanHouse empties out its notebook in Baseball Brunch.

Bobby Abreu's influence has its limitations.

Vladimir Guerrero is still going to swing at everything.

But besides his fine season -- 89 runs scored, 96 RBI, .823 OPS -- Abreu seems to have passed on his patience at the plate to the rest of his Angels teammates.

"He's got the younger players understanding patience isn't a bad thing," Chone Figgins told FanHouse. "It's not about not being aggressive, but being patient, getting a pitch to hit. There's nothing wrong with being 1-1 and hitting, or 1-2, or 2-2.

"It's not something simple to do, but I think we did a good job of it in spring training and have tried to bring it into the season and have so far done a good job."

Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action with a quick nod to what is ahead.

You Oughta Know ...
That the Rangers could not have fallen out of the playoff race any more quietly than this. Not only have they been losing, but their bats have fallen silent. Including Friday night's 2-0 loss to the Angels, the Rangers have scored just one run in the past five games, a first in franchise history. The last team to score once in five games was the Braves in June 2007.

Scott Kazmir handed them a critical defeat on Friday. The Angels, who had been scuffling themselves on a trip to New York and Boston, came into Texas and pushed the Rangers a season-high 7 1/2 games back in the AL West. The Rangers trail Boston by seven games in the wild-card race.

From the Angels side, Kazmir seems to have turned around his season with the trade from the Rays to Angels. Kazmir had a 5.92 ERA with Tampa Bay, but he's got a 1.42 ERA in four starts with the Angels.

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Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.

You Oughta Know ...
The names Hal McCoy and Ernie Harwell.

Both were honored at ballparks on Wednesday, and their absence from the game will be felt by fans in Cincinnati and Detroit.

Harwell, the long-time Tigers radio announcer, has inoperable, terminal cancer. So the team chose Wednesday night to honor him at Comerica Park, and after a video tribute in the third inning, he thanked the fans:

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Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.

You Oughta Know ...
That the NL West is up for grabs.

With their seventh straight win, the Rockies closed within two games of the idle Dodgers for the division lead on Thursday.

Colorado downed Cincinnati 5-1 with a five-run third inning and six scoreless innings from its bullpen after starter Jose Contreras suffered a strained quadriceps running to first base.

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There are a few different ways that a baseball player can react after being hit by a pitch that he believes was thrown at him intentionally. He can shake it off and walk down to first base, or if that isn't his style, he can charge the mound and end up getting suspended for at least five games. Then there are the guys who just file it away in their minds and plot their revenge against the pitcher that hit him.

Cincinnati's Brandon Phillips falls into the latter category. Phillips informed the media that he's been playing with a hairline fracture in his left wrist that is a direct result of being hit by a pitch from Washington's J.D. Martin, and he also wants Martin to know that he's on the list.