Press Clippings December 25, 2015

THIS DAY IN REDS HISTORY 1995 - Ron Gant signs a free agent contract with the Cardinals. Gant has appeared in 119 games for the Reds, collecting a .276 batting average with 29 home runs and 88 RBI.

CINCINNATI ENQUIRER Rosecrans: Griffey an easy vote, rest of the Hall ballot is tough By C. Trent Rosecrans / Cincinnati Enquirer / [email protected] / @ctrent

There was no analysis, no hesitation, no thought — a simple check went by the name Ken Griffey Jr. on my Hall of Fame ballot.

I take great pride in the amount of work I put into my Hall of Fame ballot, but in my second year voting for ’s highest honor, I spent only the split second it took to find Griffey’s name on the alphabetical list of 32 names before checking the box next to Griffey’s name.

Voting for the Hall of Fame isn’t easy, but voting for Griffey was.

Griffey’s name was a welcome sight to what has become so much more than a baseball debate. For many of the players on the ballot, there are questions that have nothing to do with the numbers or accomplishments on the field. But Griffey is different.

It’s more than the 630 home runs or the 10 Gold Gloves or even the backwards hat. Griffey was great, but he was also one of the game’s great ambassadors. With Griffey on the field, baseball was fun. But he was also the guy who wouldn’t let a wall stand in the way of making a catch. And if there was ever a perfect swing, it came from Griffey.

My vote for Griffey will be one of many, and I’m not sure anyone else will but much thouhht into it, because there’s no question — and there hasn’t been for 20 years — that Griffey belongs in Cooperstown.

The Hall of Fame limits voters to just 10 selections from its ballot, but I saw at least 15 names, if not more, who could have earned my vote if the Hall were allow it. But they don’t, so I had to limit my picks to nine after Griffey.

While there are ways to figure out who to vote for, what I did is just rank my top 10 and cut it off from there. It wasn’t easy, that’s for sure.

Here are the other nine who got my vote:

• : There’s no doubt in my mind he used steroids. What I don’t know is who else did, all I know is what I saw on the field and Bonds was the best player in my lifetime. I’ve struggled coming up with this position, but it’s what I’m comfortable with, flaws and all.

• Roger Clemens: See Bonds, replace “player” with “.”

• Curt Schilling: Schilling is the postseason pitcher some seem to think Jack Morris was. Schilling has a Hall-worthy regular-season resume, but his postseason puts him over the top. Five times in his career he started a playoff elimination game — and five times his team won that game. Another three times he started a postseason clinching game — and all three times his team won.

• : The only reason he’s still on the ballot is that some assume he used Performance Enhancing Drugs, yet there’s been no real evidence. The numbers say he belong.

• Mike Piazza: See Bagwell.

• : I’ve never seen a good argument for not voting for Raines. He’s perhaps the second-best leadoff man of all time, he just so happened to play at the same time as the best (). Raines numbers are similar to , except that Gwynn has the magical number of 3,000 hits and a .338 career average. However, Raines reached base more times than Gwynn and his on-base percentage was just three points lower than Gwynn. Gwynn had more than 500 more hits than Raines, but Raines had more than 500 more walks than Gwynn. And once Raines was on base, his 84.7 percent career percentage is the best in baseball history — and he had almost 500 more stolen bases than Gwynn.

• : I’m higher on Walker than most, but to me he was as complete a baseball player as I’ve ever seen in my lifetime. He was a five-tool player. Yes, he benefitted by playing at Coors Field, but consider this — of his 383 home runs, 228 were elsewhere.

• Mike Mussina: His 3.68 ERA doesn’t wow you, but the difference is when he pitched. Mussina pitched in the toughest division in baseball during the greatest offensive period in baseball history. So even though he had a 3.68 ERA, in 11 of his 18 seasons, his ERA was a full point below the league average and he averaged 81 percentage points better than the league average through his career.

• Alan Trammell: Trammell’s case for the Hall is nearly identical to ’s. Larkin made it in his third ballot, while Trammell is down to his final ballot.

That’s 10, which means I left off Edgar Martinez, Mark McGwire, , Jeff Kent, , Billy Wagner and , who all have compelling cases, they just came up short compared to the other 10.

Making these decisions isn’t easy — or at least all but one wasn’t easy. Griffey? That was simple.

ESPN.COM Path to the playoffs: NL Central By David Schoenfield / ESPN

The Central has had both wild cards in two of the last three seasons and one wild card in 2013 and 2011. It's been the toughest division in the NL and while the Milwaukee Brewers and Cincinnati Reds are taking a step back into rebuilding mode, the top three teams could once again all make the postseason.

Here's a look at each team ...

…

Cincinnati Reds

2015: 64-98, minus-114 differential

Projected 2016 record from FanGraphs: 79-83

2015 payroll: $118.8 million

Projected 2016 payroll from Baseball-Reference: $103.3 million

The Reds are in the same boat as the Brewers. They tried to give it one more run last year but blew out his elbow, was awful again, got hurt, Billy Hamilton didn't hit and and Leake were eventually traded. The Reds started rookie in their final 64 games and ended up losing 98 games, the franchise's most since 1982. Whatever did happen to Paul Householder?

Anyway, the Reds have traded Todd Frazier for second baseman/shortstop Jose Peraza, a glove-first slap hitter with speed. They tried to trade , but we know what happened there. They apparently had a deal in place to trade Brandon Phillips to the Nationals, but Phillips invoked his 10-and-5 rights to veto it. Bruce has been minus-0.3 WAR the last two seasons, so even if somebody wants him, he won't bring much in return.

As of now, the Reds aren't as bad as the bottom feeders in the NL East. They still have one of the best hitters in baseball in Joey Votto. Hamilton and Zack Cozart are elite defenders. All the young starters at least picked up experience. And for now, they still have Chapman and Phillips.