The New York Mets have hit the jackpot of all trades this offseason. Pending an agreed upon contract extension and passing a physical, Minnesota Twins ace, Johan Santana, will be traded to the Mets for four prospects. Santana is looking for a six or seven year contract extension, something the Mets should be able to pull off. In exchange for Santana, the Twins will get outfielder Carlos Gomez and pitchers Phil Humber, Deolis Guerra and Kevin Mulvey. The two-time Cy Young award winner will front an already potent Mets' pitching staff of Pedro Martinez, John Maine, Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez, and Oliver Perez. Adding Santana to that mix gives the Mets the best rotation in the NL East, if not the NL as a whole. He'll be bringing a 93-44 lifetime record and an average of 235 strikeouts a season over the past four years to Shea Stadium this coming season.

Assuming this deal goes through, the Mets have to be considered as one of the front-runners to reach the World Series next season. Now a lot can happen along the way with injuries to the pitching staff or the lineup, but assuming everyone is healthy all season, watch out! A lineup that features one of, if not the fastest player in the game in Jose Reyes, along with power hitters like David Wright, Carlos Delgado and Carlos Beltran and you have the makings of one of the best teams ever assembled. Normally I hate it when teams are able to do things like this simply because the Reds can't, or rather won't, do it. But in this case, I can't be mad at the Mets. Yes they have a huge payroll like the Yankees and the Red Sox, but they seem to do things more under the radar and with more class and respect for the game. While they stack their team in order to dominate the NL, most fans of the sort don't blink an eye at it. Now if this were the Yankees of the Red Sox that made this deal for Santana all hell would be breaking loose. (Quick disclaimer: I'm a Red Sox fan along with a Reds fan, have been for a number of years...so I wouldn't have been upset had they landed Santana).

The Mets have made the biggest splash in the offseason to this point and it doesn't look like anything else is in the works anywhere else. The next trade that happens could include Baltimore Orioles' pitcher Erik Bedard, but that pales in comparison to this Santana deal. With spring training just around the corner I can feel the anticipation of a new season, even here in Cincy! Congrats to the Mets on landing arguably the best pitcher in the game right now. Now we'll just have to wait and see how well Santana transitions into the NL and how well he can hit too.

This is a completely un-sports related post. I'm really using this to test if I can finally post images and links (my browser hasn't let me do it on my Mac). But, if you've not yet seen VH1's Rock of Love with Bret Michaels, you are missing out on absolute must see TV. It's the greatest show on television. Zero redeeming qualities as you watch beautiful women (and I mean beautiful) throw themselves at Poison lead singer Bret Michaels for the right to date him/fall in love (yeah right). Bret has these women do whatever he says to compete for him. It's fantastic. The women get catty with each other, throw themselves at him and even strip for him. Anyway, I suggest you TIVO or DVR the show and watch and enjoy. It's just good television. Who needs writers, with this type of material. If this link or image doesn't look right or whatever, leave a comment as to how to do it properly.

http://www.vh1.com/photos/gallery/?fid=1577003&pid=2715275

For those of you in this town that enjoyed C. Trent Rosecrans work with The Post before it went under, and have followed him on his blog, there is good news for you today.  Mr. Rosecrans has once again gained employment in our fair city.  He will be working for 1530Homer, and 700WLW, as a blogger/online beat reporter.  The same basic job that he did for the Post, only without so much traveling.  His blog has officially been added to the 1530Homer website, if you're a fan.

I just have one question:  Can we get this guy some fashion help?  Hello.  C. Trent, it's for you.  Mr. Blackwell on line one.

 

Media day in Arizona for all the Super Bowl participants. Yippee. A whole bunch of nothing usually comes from this. Here's a tidbit I saw from the pretty boy, Tom Brady and it doesn't pertain to his wardrobe or his gimpy ankle. It's still as ridiculous and makes me wonder how good of a QB Brady might actually be. A great QB must make good decisions. This quote from Tom Brady makes me wonder if he can think logically now. I might be placing a bet on the Giants now. Brady urged everyone to go see Al Gore's garbage film, "An Inconvenient Truth," because "it really is the truth." He then bragged about/confessed to driving a hybrid. If you think Gore's movie is the truth, you don't deserve to have 3 (or 4) Super Bowl rings and a beautiful girlfriend. Here's an inconvenient truth for you Tommy Boy, you're a douchebag.

With all due respect to NBC, the Reds Rewind games that are airing every Monday night on FSN Ohio is the real "Must See TV", especially if you are a baseball fan.  I didn't grow up in this area.  I grew up in Houston, Texas and to this day am still an Astros fan.  But I live in the Queen City now, and the Reds are my adopted team.

So it was wonderful for me to have the chance to actually view some Reds history.  I am a diehard baseball fan as well.  From that perspective, the Rewind games have you covered also.  Last night they aired Game 4 of the 1990 World Series vs. the A's.

It was truly a treat to get to let at this game some 17 yrs. later.  Just some things that you have to watch for:

1.  The fashion styles.  The ballplayers were wearing the pullover polyester jerseys.  Pants were up about calf high, showing the appropriate amount of legging color, unlike most players today that wear their pants legs all the way down to their ankles.  Then, of course, you have the hair, facial hair and accessories that were in style then that you forgot about.  The Carney Lansford porn 'stache was unintentionally hilarious.  Seeing Sabo's goggles gave me flashbacks to the pair I owned when I played basketball in junior high.   And the 'fro from Dave Henderson couldn't have been nice.

2.  Players that you forgot played for certain teams.  I completely forgot about Lansford, Willie McGee and Willie Randolph playing for the A's that season.  And on a side note:  Randolph looks exactly the same. 

3.  Things you suddenly realize on make sense now years later.  Watching the 8th inning last night, when the Reds decided to try and break through on Dave Stewart by bunting and forcing them to field their positions, I suddenly realized that this was the exact same tactic that LaRussa used on the Tigers 2 seasons ago in gaining an upset victory in the World Series.  In 1990, Piniella bunted in counts where you wouldn't bunt (Braggs in an 0-2 count), used players to bunt that normally don't bunt (O'Neill), and when the A's made errors, he just kept on bunting (bunted 3 or 4 players in a row).  Sound familiar?

In 2006, LaRussa had the Cards do the exact same thing.  Tigers made error, after error, so the Cardinals kept on bunting.  The Tigers pitching staff eventually made 5 errors, leading to 8 unearned runs in the series and lost the series to the Cards 4-2.

It's things like this that, that make watching the Reds Rewind games all worth it.  And don't even get me started on having the opportunity to hear the great Jack Buck call a game.

Do yourself a favor.  Next Monday night, turn off the American Gladiators (or whatever other reality show you're watching due to the writer's strike) and turn on Reds Rewind on FSN Ohio.  It won't steer you wrong.

And for your delight, here is a sketch of the Carney Lansford porn 'stache.

 

The Crosstown Shootout is fun and good for the city and showcases the quality of basketball in Cincinnati. And yeah, I'm not going to lie, I want UC to beat Xavier every time they meet each other. But tomorrow night, when UC travels to Morgantown and take on their old coach Bob Huggins, this will be THE game for the Bearcats. As a UC fan, I would sacrifice winning the rest of the games this year, just to get this win over West Virginia. It would go a long way to bringing back the stubborn Huggins supporters who've yet to come back to Clifton to support Mick's up and coming team. Cronin has already defeated one of his mentors on the road this year when the Bearcats stunned Rick Pitino and Louisville earlier this season. Cronin would love nothing more than defeating his other mentor, Bob Huggins. And, as a UC fan, it will be something to watch a game with Huggins on the other side. It will be great to see how Cronin coaches again the man who taught him so much.