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."
LOS ANGELES -- Randy Wolf and Mike Lieberthal are pals, a pair of Southern California kids who formed a battery for years in Philaelphia, a partnership they took to the Dodgers in 2007.
Through it all, they enjoyed a lot of good times on the baseball field, but none in October. Their Phillies teams finished second four of their last six years together, and in 2007 in Los Angeles, they managed to be there for the year in between playoff appearances.
Wolf said the jinx was either him or his former catcher. This year, he found out who.
"I'm not a big believer in that," Wolf said, "but luckily it went away."
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 Cardinals have hit the skids. Well, relatively speaking. The Cardinals have lost two games in a row for the first time since July 25-26. Even worse, their loss on Saturday came after closer Ryan Franklin blew his second consecutive save opportunity, allowing the Braves to score twice in the ninth in a 7-6 defeat.
It's just a hiccup for the Cardinals, who remain 10 1/2 games up on the Cubs in the National League Central. Their magic number for clinching the division is 11. Still, any slump by Franklin is bound to raise some eyebrows, especially this close to the playoffs.
Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action with a quick nod to what is ahead.
You Oughta Know ... That at least for a night Ryan Madson was the Phillies closer.
A day after Madson came on with the bases loaded in the ninth inning to clean upBrad Lidge's latest mess, he was manager Charlie Manuel's first choice to protect Philadelphia's 6-5 lead over the Nationals. He didn't disappoint, allowing just one hit as he locked down his sixth save of the season.
From the Windup is Matt Snyder's extended look at some aspect of America's pastime each Thursday -- it's running Friday this week.
Earlier this week, Brad Lidge's nightmare 2009 season continued, when he allowed a walk-off homer to Andrew McCutchen. Ed Price covered the outing the following morning. The abysmal performance by the Phillies' closer underlines the only weakness of the defending World Series Champions.
From the Windup is Matt Snyder's extended look at some aspect of America's pastime each Thursday.
Every Hot Stove season, each team reshapes its roster in an attempt to better themselves. After each transaction, whether a free agent acquisition, trade or something else, writers and bloggers everywhere provide knee-jerk reactions on each particular move. Though the majority of the analysis is educated, it's still just conjecture. Today, we'll take the long view and look back at some of the maneuvering this past offseason and see how it played out on the field.
Looking to cycle spot-starters each day? Check out the Stream Team, where we tab pitchers that are likely to help you in your quest for fantasy gold.
I had a little trouble choosing between Jeff Niemann and Mat Latos for last night's spot start. Luckily, I took Niemann, who brought us another win (our 12th in August) by pitching 7.1 innings and allowing one run and one walk while striking out five.
On the flip side, Latos was rocked for five earned runs in 3.2 innings. In his last two starts, Latos' ERA has jumped from 2.43 to 4.82. With the imposed inning limit on his arm, I would discard Latos in redraft leagues, unless you play in an NL-only or very deep mixed league.
Let's start with his 7.2 innings of work on the mound. Wolf gave up three earned runs and five hits. But he struck out an amazing ten batters while walking none. And this isn't the first good outing for Wolf in a while. In fact, quite the opposite.
If you take out the four earned run game on August 6th against Atlanta, you have to go all the way back to June 24th to find another day where Wolf didn't provide the Dodgers with a quality start. Nine of his last ten outings have been quality starts and he's sporting a 3.13 ERA over that time. He only has four wins to show for it, but that sounds like a run support issue and not a dig on Wolf.
"I'm not worried about leading anything," third baseman Michael Young said. "The big thing is, the fans are coming out; they are really enthusiastic and really into it. The team has a ton of confidence. We know we are a good team. We can bounce back from a tough loss and go right back out there. This team is really playing with confidence."
Editor's Note: FanHouse's Jeff Fletcher contributed to this report
LOS ANGELES -- 
Looking to cycle spot-starters each day? Check out the 
Starting Five
