Press Clippings June 2, 2015

THIS DAY IN REDS HISTORY 1921-Pat Duncan hits the first over the fence at Redland Field. The ball strikes a startled policeman standing on York Street.

MLB.COM Slugging Frazier wins NL weekly honors Reds third baseman hit four homers and led MLB hitters with .500 average By Adam Berry / MLB.com

Reds third baseman Todd Frazier took home his first National League Player of the Week Award on Monday.

Frazier led all Major League hitters last week by hitting .500 (11-for-22) while leading the NL with a 1.227 slugging percentage and 27 total bases over six games.

Frazier's four home runs were tied with Rockies third baseman Nolan Arenado and Mets first baseman Lucas Duda for the most in the NL. He also ranked among the league leaders in doubles (four, tied for first), on-base percentage (.560, second), hits (11, tied for second) and RBIs (seven, tied for third).

With Frazier leading the way, the Reds pulled off a three-game sweep of the Nationals over the weekend. He went a combined 8- for-12 with two homers and three RBIs in that series, capped off by a three-hit, two-RBI performance in Sunday's 8-2 win at Great American Ball Park.

Frazier ended the week on a four-game hitting streak, all of them multihit outings, as he became the first Cincinnati player to win a weekly award this season.

The 2014 All-Star currently ranks second in the NL behind Washington's Bryce Harper with 16 homers, and Frazier's .624 slugging percentage ranks third behind Harper and D-backs first baseman Paul Goldschmidt.

Reds eye top talent with eye toward pitching Cincinnati, picking at No. 11, likely to opt for best player available in Draft By Mark Sheldon / MLB.com / [email protected] / @m_sheldon

CINCINNATI -- The 2015 Draft will take place from Monday, June 8, through Wednesday, June 10, beginning with the Draft preview show on MLB.com and MLB Network on Monday at 6 p.m. ET. Live Draft coverage from MLB Network's Studio 42 begins at 7 p.m., with the top 75 picks being streamed on MLB.com and broadcast on MLB Network. MLB.com's exclusive coverage of Day 2 begins with a live Draft show at 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday, with exclusive coverage of Day 3 beginning at 1 p.m. on Wednesday.

MLB.com's coverage includes Draft Central, the Top 200 Draft Prospects list and Draft Tracker, a live interactive application that includes a searchable database of over 1,700 Draft-eligible players. Every selection will be tweeted live from @MLBDraftTracker, and you can also keep up to date by following @MLBDraft. And get into the Draft conversation by tagging your tweets with #mlbdraft.

Here's how the Draft is shaping up for the Reds, whose first selection is the 11th overall pick.

In about 50 words

This will be the 10th time that the Reds have been led in the Draft by senior director of amateur scouting Chris Buckley. Since 2006, Buckley and his team of scouts have crisscrossed the country in the weeks and months before the Draft looking for potential talent.

The scoop

The 11th pick is the highest spot the Reds have had in the Draft since they used the eighth pick in 2009 to take Mike Leake. Cincinnati has never previously drafted in the 11th spot. The team will have the 49th overall pick (in Round 2) and also owns the 71st overall pick (in Compensation Round B).

The 2015 class, according to MLB.com columnist Jim Callis, isn't thick with top-of-the-Draft talent or many position players, but it does have an abundance of potential first-round shortstops. Teams could challenge the four-time record of seven shortstops picked in the first round, which last happened in 2002.

First-round buzz

In some of the recent mock drafts by MLB.com's Jonathan Mayo and Callis, the Reds have been linked to high school outfielder Kyle Tucker. The Tampa, Fla., product is the brother of Astros prospect Preston Tucker, who was recently called up to the big leagues. Meanwhile, Baseball America likes the Reds to take a college outfielder who might bring some added local interest in Andrew Benintendi from the University of Arkansas. Benintendi is a Cincinnati native and a Madeira High School graduate.

Money matters

Under the Collective Bargaining Agreement, each team has an allotted bonus pool equal to the sum of the values of that club's selections in the first 10 rounds of the Draft. The more picks a team has, and the earlier it picks, the larger the pool. The signing bonuses for a team's selections in the first 10 rounds, plus any bonus greater than $100,000 for a player taken after the 10th round, will apply toward the bonus-pool total.

Any team going up to 5 percent over its allotted pool will be taxed at a 75 percent rate on the overage. A team that overspends by 5- 10 percent gets a 75 percent tax plus the loss of a first-round pick. A team that goes 10-15 percent over its pool amount will be hit with a 100 percent penalty on the overage and the loss of a first- and second-round pick. Any overage of 15 percent or more gets a 100 percent tax plus the loss of first-round picks in the next two Drafts.

The Reds have 11 picks in the first 10 rounds, for a total bonus pool of $7,777,900 that ranks eighth in the league. Their 11th overall pick has a slot value of $3,141,600.

Shopping list

In 10 years of drafting, Buckley has never wavered from the policy of picking the best available player, regardless of the round of the selection. Because of the unpredictability in Drafts and the number of years often required for development, it makes little sense to pick according to the current needs at the big league level.

The Reds often place a premium on drafting pitchers, since it's the position with the biggest risk of attrition in injury and performance. Last June, 23 of their 41 picks were pitchers. In 2013, 21 of Cincinnati's 41 Draft picks were also pitchers.

Trend watch

The Reds love taking talent out of college, in part because of the lower bonus value tied to most collegiate players. In the 11 picks between Rounds 1-10 in 2014, Cincinnati selected nine college players. Of the 41 players the Reds took last year, 27 were from the college level.

RECENT DRAFT HISTORY

Rising fast

A supplemental first-round pick (49th overall) in 2012, outfielder Jesse Winker is the Reds' No. 2 prospect, according to MLBPipeline.com. Although Winker is off to a slow start at Double-A Pensacola, he was an invite to big league camp at Spring Training for the first time this year and could be a September callup if he turns in a strong summer.

Cinderella story

Taken in the 33rd round of the 2011 Draft, outfielder Steve Selsky reached Triple-A Louisville this season and is enjoying a nice year at the plate.

In the show

The Reds have several homegrown players on the current team, including former first-rounders Jay Bruce, Homer Bailey, Leake and Devin Mesoraco and second-rounders Joey Votto, Zack Cozart and Billy Hamilton.

The Reds' recent top picks

2014: Nick Howard, RHP, Class A Advanced Daytona 2013: Phillip Ervin, OF, Class A Advanced Daytona 2012: Nick Travieso, RHP, Class A Advanced Daytona 2011: Robert Stephenson, RHP, Double-A Pensacola 2010: Yasmani Grandal, C, Dodgers

CINCINNATI ENQUIRER Todd Frazier named National League Player of the Week By David / Cincinnati Enquirer

Reds third baseman Todd Frazier was named National League Player of the Week, the first such award of his career, according to the Reds.

Frazier led all National League batters last week in hitting (.500) and slugging (1.227) and tied for the NL lead in doubles (4) and HR (4) while ranking second in on-base percentage (.560) and tying for third in hits (11) and RBI (7).

It is the first Player of the Week award won by a Reds player this season.

In May, Frazier hit .327 with nine homers. His OPS was 1.081.

This season, Frazier is hitting .287 with 16 homers and 31 RBIs.

He was an All-Star in 2014.

Reds' big weekend doesn't change plan By John Fay / Cincinnati Enquirer / [email protected] / @Johnfayman

Friday night - after he had his little talk with Bryce Harper, after the Reds had come back to beat the Washington Nationals, after he had likened losing his swing to losing his wallet - that great baseball philosopher Joey Votto talked about what the Reds had to do to get back in the race.

"We have to be competitive when we're down," Votto said. "We have to always be on the attack. We need to come out with more wins. It hasn't been a very good month for us. The only way we do that is having games like tonight, over and over and over again.

"That's the only chance we have."

The Reds did it again Saturday and Sunday, competing the three-game sweep of the Nationals. The sweep came immediately after the Reds had lost 10 of 11.

The general consensus was that the Reds were a fire sale waiting to happen. Then they played probably their best three games of the season.

So does the recent surge mean anything?

Reds general manager Walt Jocketty says it doesn't change the plans short-term.

"Our plan is to be competitive as we can for as long as we can," Jocketty said. "But we're still looking at all the different alternatives. Our scouts are out looking at the other clubs. We're looking for players who might help us as well as prospects."

The Reds, off Monday, go into the three-game series in Philadelphia 22-27 and 10 1/2 games behind the St. Louis Cardinals in the . Catching the Cardinals looks out of reach, but with the second Wild Card in each league, the Reds are five games out as far as the playoffs - with 113 games to play.

Getting back into the race is not out of the realm of possibility.

"If you look at our schedule — particularly after the All-Star break — we have a lot of games in our division and a lot of games at home," Jocketty said. "I feel confident if we play the way we're capable of, the schedule works in our favor."

For the Reds to play like they're capable, the veteran regulars — Votto, Brandon Phillips and Jay Bruce — are going to have to hit. They did in the series against the Nationals.

No one was better than Todd Frazier, who hit .500 with four home runs, four doubles and seven RBI over the last week. Bruce is hitting .377 with two home runs and seven RBI in his last 13 games. Billy Hamilton and Zack Cozart contributed big hits with runners in the scoring position.

"We felt offensively we were better than our numbers," Jocketty said.

One of the things the Reds did is go all in with youth as far as pitching. Three rookies — Anthony DeSclafani, Raisel Iglesias and Michael Lorenzen — are in the rotation. For the Reds to have any hope of being competitive, all three of the above are going to have to pitch well.

The other two pitchers in the rotation, Johnny Cueto and Mike Leake, are free-agents-to-be. The Reds have to be entertaining offers for both.

But nothing is likely to happen with either anytime soon. Cueto returns to the rotation Tuesday after missing two starts with a sore elbow. Leake went 1-3 with a 6.75 ERA in May.

So it's not ideal for the team to sell in either case.

But a couple more runs like they had this past weekend and Cueto and Leake could remain for the long run.

"We think we can be competitive," Jocketty said. "Injuries took a toll on us. But we think we have talent to play better than we have."

BAR: Looking back at Reds' pitching in May By C. Trent Rosecrans / Cincinnati Enquirer / [email protected] / @ctrent

You don't have to go far to look for a month worse than the Reds' May. Cincinnati was 11-16 this May, its worst month since last September, when the team was 10-15.

The Reds finished May with a three-game sweep of the Nationals, avoiding the first single-digit win-total in a full month of play since July of 2009, when the team was 8-19.

I wanted to look back at this month statistically, but in order to keep things reasonable, today I'll look at the pitching and Tuesday it'll be the offense — both of which had their problems.

The first month of the season, the Reds' bullpen was to blame for several losses, but as the bullpen was better in May, the starting pitching was worse.

Reds' starters had an ERA of 5.10 in May, the worst mark in the majors. Here's how the Reds' starters compared in April and then May:

Johnny Cueto — 5 starts 2-2, 1.95; 4 starts 1-2, 4.45

Mike Leake — 5 starts 1-1, 3.03; 5 starts 1-3, 6.75

Homer Bailey — 2 starts 0-1, 5.56; 0 starts

Jason Marquis — 4 starts 2-1, 5.48; 5 starts 1-3, 7.40

Anthony DeSclafani — 4 starts 2-1, 1.04; 6 starts 1-3, 5.34

Raisel Iglesias — 1 start 0-0, 5.40; 3 starts 1-1, 4.32

Michael Lorenzen — 1 start 0-1, 5.40; 4 starts 1-0, 1.85

The Reds' bullpen, on the other hand, went from the worst bullpen ERA (5.91) in baseball in April to smack-dab in the middle of the pack in May, putting up a 3.38 ERA in the month, 13th-best in baseball.

While the save is usually only applied to a team's designated closer, there's an alternative statistic (or two) to look at how a reliever helps or hurts his team — it's called shutdowns and meltdowns. You can read more about it here on FanGraphs, where I got the SD/MD for each Reds' reliever. The basic gist is it uses Win Probability Added (WPA), and if a pitcher helped his team's WPA by 6 percent or more, he gets a shutdown. If he hurts it by more than 6 percent, it's a meltdown.

So, let's look at the SD/MD for each Reds reliever in both April and May.

Aroldis Chapman — 7/0; 3/3

J.J. Hoover — 4/0; 1/2

Tony Cingrani — 0/0; 3/3

Pedro Villarreal — 0/0; 0/0

Carlos Contreras — 0/0; 0/0

Manny Parra — 0/2; 0/0

Jumbo Diaz — 3/3; 6/1

Burke Badenhop — 1/4; 0/0

Kevin Gregg — 0/5; 0/1

Ryan Mattheus — N/A; 0/0

Raisel Iglesias — N/A; 0/0

Michael Lorenzen — N/A; 0/0

Chapman's -0.30 win probability added was his lowest since July of 2013.

MINOR-LEAGUE ROUNDUP

• Triple-A: Louisville 5, Pawtucket 1: Jon Moscot improved to 7-1, giving up a run on four hits and three walks over six innings. SS Eugenio Suarez hit his seventh homer, and CF Ryan LaMarre was 2-for-4 with two doubles.

• High-A: Clearwater 18, Daytona 5: Five of seven Tortugas pitchers gave up runs, as the Threshers scored four in the fourth, eight in the sixth and six in the eighth. LF Phillip Ervin was 2-for-5 with two RBI.

• Low-A: Dayton 6, Lansing 5, 10 innings: SS Luis Gonzalez singled to drive in CF Nick Benedetto with the winning run in the 10th inning to give the Dragons the win. Starter Seth Varner left the game with an injury in the fourth, having allowed five runs (three earned), before the Dragons came back from a 5-1 deficit. C Garrett Boulware had a two-run homer in the sixth to tie the game, his fourth of the season.

Doc's TML: Are Reds' kid pitchers for real? By Paul Daugherty / Cincinnati Enquirer

Now that it's safe to come out and discuss The Club, at least for the moment, let's give it a hesitant go.

Daily pulse-taking isn't a good idea in sports generally. It's never a good idea in baseball, unless it's October, and even then it can be a fool's game. See: 2012 Cincinnati Reds. Best to chalk it up to a good weekend and make no proclamations.

What was different? The measurables: They hit w/RISP, 2 of the 3 rookie pitchers gave them a chance to win, and even Iglesias was decent. Joey Rakes is returning to form, T. Frazier is becoming a fastball-whomping machine, the bullpen is stabilizing.

The non-measurables: They showed they could take a punch. They played very hard. They relaxed.

I'm still a huge M. Byrd fan, stats be damned. He did non-analytical things to help win two of the three games. On Friday, he drew a one-out walk in the 6th , Reds down 2-1. Great and needed AB that sparked a 3-run inning. Then he scored from first on a one-out double by S. Schumaker, hustling all the way and wanting to slam into Nationals catcher Wilson Ramos, who was blocking the plate.

On Sunday, he started the 6-run 7th by busting it down the line on a high chopper to 2B, for an infield hit. "The easiest thing in this game is to hustle,'' Byrd said afterward. Amen and amen.

JJ Hoover couldn't win last year; he can't lose now. BTW, stupid, moronic, nonsensical, crazy, insane, lame save rule struck again Friday night. Hoover comes into a bases-loaded, two-out situation in the 8th, Reds down 2-1, and Ks Ian Desmond. Reds score 3 in their half. Chappy records the cheap save.

Solution: Awarding saves shall be at the judgment and discretion of the official scorer, and not bound by some arcane definition. A save shall be awarded to the pitcher who, in the scorer's judgment, got the toughest out(s) of the game.

Did you know that if a reliever pitches the final three innings of a game his team wins, he gets a save?

Could be 10-0, doesn't matter. Save.

Chappy cherry-picked two three-runners over the weekend. The notion teams need a great closer is entirely overblown. Change the rule, make it less so.

DDBP IS HURTING. Say what you will about Phillips. The man plays hurt, and has for three years. Now, he says he has bone spurs in his toe, a condition he thinks could require surgery. He's not having it. He also went 2-for-5 Sunday, with a double and a homer.

IT'S TOO EARLY TO GET EXCITED about the rookie starters. Let's see Disco (I call him that not because we're buds, but because his real name is too hard to type), Lorenzen and Raisel make the full circuit of the league, and begin adjusting to the adjustments.

MPWS have a pitcher named Jeff Locke, who was 8-2 at the 2013 All-Star break, and made the all-star team. He went 2-5 the rest of the way. He's 10-9 since and as recently as last night pitched BP to the Padres (six runs in three innings).

The weekend was nice and, in fact, Disco and Lorenzen have been surprisingly good to this point. Let's look again Aug. 1.

BIG START FOR CUETO AND ALL OF REDS NATION in Philly tomorrow night.

IN BASEBALL, YOU DON'T KNOW NOTHIN'. Here's today's TM column, as proof.

MOBSTERS, I NEED HELP. I mean baseball expertise. Office wants top two Reds players at every position, all time. I'm terrible at stuff like this. Help me stay lazy. Thank you.

Now, then. . .

GOL-DANG ROUGH, MAN. . . That ad for the race at K-Y Speedway: I didn't know every NASCAR fan talked like Goober Pyle. Do they all make moonshine, too, and serve as extras on Justified?

ROB MANFRED WILL NOT REINSTATE PETE. . . That's my take after researching and writing this profile of the commissioner of baseball.

On the one hand, he is a big fan of the game. Not in the lyrical, white-gloved Bart Giamatti sense. Manfred busted a few front teeth when he was 11, when he crashed his bike on his way to his Little League game. . . and still played SS in the game.

He respects Rose's contributions to baseball enough to give his request a fair and full hearing. He seems willing to examine the issues with an open mind. But given what I heard, I don't see him saying yes. Manfred has made it clear he sees nothing out of whack about punishing a drug cheat for 162 games (A-Rod) and Pete for 27 years.

More oddly, he sees no issue with being corporate partners with DraftKings, a fantasy (ie, gambling) website. Or having casino ads on outfield walls.

He admits that times have changed regarding gambling, and says Baseball has to change with them. But he doesn't seem partial to include Rose in that change. Maybe most telling, he said in March that he didn't see how Rose could sort-of be reinstated. That is, be given something of an ambassadorial role within the game, most likely with the Reds.

"You're either in or you're out of the game, to some extent,'' he told ESPN.com's Jayson Stark in late March. "There may be some sort of middle ground (but) I think it is difficult to sit in New York and monitor a situation where somebody is allowed to do X, but not Y. There's not enough eyes and ears to do that.''

Without that middle ground, there will be no deal. What Baseball might do – what it could and possibly should have done a decade ago, or more – is say this to Rose:

"We'll reinstate you, but you can't sign autographs in a casino anymore.''

That would put the onus on Pete, and who knows what he might do?

It's a win for Baseball, either way. If Pete agrees, the game gets him out of casinos. If he doesn't, the commissioner can say he tried.

HARPER MIGHT BLOW US OFF. His dad/pitcher is recovering from rotator cuff surgery, so young Bryce is considering not entering the HR Derby at the ASG. ESPN.com:

This isn't a scary situation in which Ron Harper is seriously ill -- he's recovering from rotator cuff surgery. So the "problem," as far as this goes, is that he won't be available to put cookies on a plate for Bryce in July.

Keep in mind, Harper didn't say he was opting out of the All-Star Game in Cincinnati, just that he hasn't made up his mind about participating in the Home Run Derby. Apparently because we don't know yet who's available to play-act Craig Ehlo to Harper's Michael Jordan in a bit of July fun, the game's great staged showcase for slugging prowess.

If Harper was so concerned for his dad that he was going to skip all the All-Star activities, that would be one thing. But if Harper is in Cincinnati as an All-Star accepting his due from fans at the ballot box, there really isn't much excuse for his opting out of the Home Run Derby. That's a scenario that would leave fans feeling cheated of something that's supposed to be fun.

Let's hope that doesn't happen. To paraphrase the man himself, "That'd be a clown move, bro.''

Does still threaten baseball's integrity? By Jim Owczarski / Cincinnati Enquirer

At Neil Burtis Field in Hamilton, you'll see it. There's the hip-high right fielder who tossed dirt into the air, and hopped with joy as it blew into the face of a teammate. A coach, bent low at the waist, threw an arm around a player to whisper words of encouragement. The simultaneous leaping of eight players as the ninth caught the ball – on the fly!

In the middle of this exhibition of pure baseball sat two mothers, their children getting trounced on Ray Nichting Field, one of the larger of the five West Side Little League fields.

One noted how three players on the winning team had been held back from advancing to the next level of Little League so they "could get that one more superstar year."

"I don't blame them," she continued. She said she did the same thing with one of her children. "I'd want my kid to think they were better than they are."

It was time for me to leave. Just like that.

The idea of the game as it's "supposed to be," was broken in that conversation, regardless of its validity. At least for me, on that day.

That 84-degree day is just one, small example of what makes the discussion of such a nebulous phrase – "the integrity of the game" – even less tangible.

The game as we know it has lived through game fixing scandals, segregation, and now performance enhancing drugs. At nearly every turn, from an overly enthusiastic bat flip to a too-tight fastball to changing your fantasy starter just before first pitch to arguing for Joe Jackson and Pete Rose for the Hall of Fame, the "integrity of the game" is chopped, milled, sifted, rinsed – but it can never be finished.

It can't be.

Costas: Is it fair, authentic, real?

"In general, it's an ideal, the ideal that you can believe that the competition is on the up and up, that the competition is fair and authentic," said Bob Costas, the NBC sportscaster who has been broadcasting baseball for over three decades.

"I don't think it has to mean that every single ballplayer – this was never true and is never going to be true – that every single ballplayer is some all-American boy off the Wheaties box," Costas continued. "We prefer that they not find themselves on a police blotter, but as long as they respect the game and play the game fairly, that's good enough for me because the game itself is entertaining and interesting enough to me."

What integrity means, how it feels, is intensely personal. To the world, you are not right. Nor are you wrong. Especially in matters of sport, of baseball. This isn't a cop-out. It's not murder. Integrity is not morality.

What it is, is a childlike trust – an unspoken agreement – that what you're seeing is what you're getting.

Define it how you wish – the integrity of your game is assuredly different than your neighbor's, your mother's, your father's – but the one thread of connectivity between us all is a fundamental belief that what we are seeing on the field is real.

Over time, that belief has been shaken.

The was a fraud as players profited by losing. Professional baseball before 1947 was second-rate as black athletes were unjustly excluded.

Where these issues fall on the line of integrity seem universal. They're wrong. So when did the line blur? Amphetamines were OK to use in the open. Heavy steroids were OK, too, but only in private. And then we found out what those substances did to alter what we thought was real. And what of a manager who gambled on his team? Is there room for equivocation there? Did the line move without a lot of us noticing?

Maybe it did. Using performance enhancing drugs is cheating by creating a playing field that is not level, but what led to Congressional hearings and a heaping dose of venom directed at those we know – and those we believe – used, was that we were duped. What we believed to be genuine was instead counterfeit.

Yet, that era is just another sloppy chapter in the game's living history, and some who wrote it should be inducted into the Hall of Fame. They existed. They played. If their numbers and team accomplishments count, so should they. But I understand the argument against them.

La Russa: The game is what matters

To Tony La Russa, who began his professional baseball career as a teenager in 1962 and ended it in the Hall of Fame as a manager, baseball's integrity is real because the game is real.

He doesn't gloss over or condone the use of PEDs, which enhanced several players he managed, but instead lumps it in with the other streaks that have, at one time or another, darkened the game.

For La Russa, baseball is Felix Hernandez vs. Mike Trout, just as it was Bob Gibson vs. Hank Aaron, and all that goes on after the ball is thrown.

"There have always been these periods where the game has been confronted and challenged and in the end what preserves it is you go back to the essence of one team against another team and who scores the most," La Russa said. "And the game keeps surviving."

Out on the fields in Hamilton, that thought is what echoes as well. Ryan Lindsey is 43, a Hamilton native who is currently coaching and umpiring in those youth baseball games. Integrity is about fair play, playing hard and honesty.

But then what of the dirt kicked up outside the diamond? What of fudging boundary lines and residences to play on a particular team, or altering a birth certificate, of gambling, of recreational and performance enhancing drugs? What of the near-billion dollar daily fantasy game DraftKings that and Disney, the parent company of one of the game's primary broadcast partners (ESPN), have equity in?

To each his own.

Loving the game

I was disappointed to hear that conversation in Hamilton, but not surprised. I've covered amateur and professional sports for far too long. But it did violate that baseline trust, of walking onto a field of children, playing a game, and learning it wasn't quite what it seemed. Is that enough for me to swear off it all?

"Despite all of the inevitable flaws and controversies that will surround sports in one way or the other, because, after all, they involve human beings, what you have to believe is that the competition itself is basically fair," Costas said. "Will there always be gamesmanship, will there always be people looking for some kind of edge? Yes. But, I think most of us have a common sense understanding of where that line ends and where crossing it goes into something that jeopardizes the integrity of the game."

No matter what our lines of demarcations are, we do have them. Those we love, the games we love, are always allowed certain indiscretions until our hearts are irreparably scarred. But again, only you can define that line. And only you can determine the level of forgiveness once it's been blurred, or crossed.

Whatever your definition of integrity is, it comes back to that ribbon of reality that connects us all. The reason Major League Baseball, as a governing body, as a league of business partners and competitors, must protect that ribbon is because integrity has to be substantive. It cannot be a veneer. It can be scratched, chopped, milled, sifted and rinsed, but it can never disappear.

If it does, what of the game is actually left?

Costas: Rose HOF ban 'cruel and unusual'

Some things about Pete Rose's current situation are simple to understand. He was banned from baseball in 1989 for breaking rule 21, gambling as the manager of the Cincinnati Reds.

He was not banned from the Hall of Fame until 1991. The two were separate, until they weren't.

And for nearly a quarter century, that is what has fueled this debate over Rose's place in the game.

Sports broadcaster and baseball aficionado Bob Costas still sees it simply.

"This is very simple and I've said this forever: Baseball made a significant mistake by not separating the Hall of Fame from every other aspect of Pete's punishment," Costas said. "To the public, this is all about the Hall of Fame.

"The public is not confused about the idea that a participant gambling on the games, even if he never bets against his own team (is wrong). If you're gambling on the games you're potentially getting yourself into debt with unsavory characters. And/or the way you manage your own team could be affected by if you bet on your team – the way you manage your team to win it might be based on needing to win that one game in a way that doesn't fit properly into the goals of the season. You leave your starting pitcher in for 150 pitches. You use a relief pitcher for a sixth night in a row.

"You can't have any connection to gambling. It is a clear and unambiguous rule posted in every clubhouse that lifetime banishment was attached to that. Lifetime banishment. So, Pete is serving that sentence."

He continued: "But they didn't put in the ineligibility for the Hall of Fame clause. That wasn't in Bart Giamatti's decision. The Hall of Fame's board of directors decided that two years after Giamatti's decision. And the public says, I think rightly, I agree with them, temper justice with mercy and put him on the Hall of Fame ballot.

"If I saw his name on the Hall of Fame ballot and I were a voter – and I'm not because only writers are – if I were a voter, I would vote for him."

Not only should Rose be on the Hall of Fame ballot, Costas believes Rose should have been able to be honored by the Reds, in whatever capacity the organization saw fit, long ago.

And the fact there has been some consternation over what Rose can and can't be a part of during July's All-Star game irks Costas as well.

"First of all, I think it's silly and absurdly punitive to say that he can't (have a role)," Costas said. "They're letting him take part, I think, and he'll have a role in the All-Star game and they let him have a role in the All-Century team. I think ceremonial things – and the fact that FOX is paying him directly to be a baseball commentator I think – is a smart move. His point of view is interesting. He knows the game inside and out, and people want to hear from him. I think that's a smart move."

But the line that remains drawn, and should stand, is the banishment from the game for breaking rule 21.

"The idea that he can never be in the employ of baseball again, that he can never receive a dime from baseball, to be officially attached to baseball, makes sense," Costas said. "That's the penalty. That's the penalty. Other stuff just seems like cruel and unusual punishment to me."

Enquirer staff played last game at Crosley Field By Mike Dyer / Cincinnati Enquirer

Filthy and out of shape, Crosley Field was down to its last out in late August 1970.

The basepaths were cleared of paper cups and popcorn boxes. Even the restrooms were unlocked.

All for one final baseball game at the corner of Findlay Street and Western Avenue, one last hurrah before it died its ignoble death by indifference.

The final chapter of the Reds at Crosley Field had been written nearly two months earlier when the team left for Riverfront Stadium. But a group of Enquirer employees took the field on Aug. 23, 1970, completing four innings in front of an overflow crowd of 37.

The exhibition was labeled the "honest-to-goodness last baseball game at Crosley."

Why not have some fun at the old ballyard?

The Reds split a doubleheader with the Mets at Shea Stadium on Aug. 23. But those results were likely trumped that day by the bragging rights earned in The Enquirer newsroom on Vine Street when The Enquirer Endescribables "soundly defeated" the Enquirer Motleys 6-2.

The game had started at 1:20 p.m., ending four adventurous innings later, according to Enquirer reporter Tommy West, who just so happened to also be the winning pitcher that day.

Theater critic George Palmer, microphone in hand, provided commentary on the field and around numerous dugout beverage coolers for The Enquirer game.

Ben Kaufman, religion reporter at the time, doesn't remember anything about the game or how the staffers were able to access Crosley Field since it was officially closed.

He knows, though, that he was there.

"It really happened," said Kaufman, who lives in Clifton. "This is not a fantasy."

Crosley Field was an endangered ballpark late that summer of 1970. Talk of the wrecking ball was everywhere.

"Rigor mortis surrounds ancient and abandoned Crosley Field," Enquirer reporter Jack Murray wrote July 19, before taking the field in the staff game a month later. "Nobody really cares either."

But The Enquirer staffers certainly wanted to enjoy some of Crosley Field's final days.

Artist Elmer Wetenkamp remembers Palmer calling the action and another staffer goofing off in the stands. Wetenkamp, a pitcher, lasted a few innings and took the loss (0-1) on the mound. He managed to hold the Endescribables to several hits and only a few walks.

Details of the game were interwoven into a full game story with a photo the next morning.

"I remember I was dead tired, having driven in from Pittsburgh that morning," Murray said. "I remember striking out once and not doing much offensively or defensively."

Not that anyone noticed, according to the newspaper report, because, well, "the scorekeeper never made it back from the cooler."

Still, some pertinent details remain. Reporter Kaufman played center field for The Enquirer Motleys that day and made a spectacular catch to save some runs in the top of the first inning.

His day was not perfect. In the third inning, he misjudged a fly ball, which allowed runners to be waved home.

Unfortunately for Wetenkamp and Kaufman, Motleys manager Bob Harrod – described a bit too gleefully as "the balding city editor" – was none too pleased with the outcome.

Harrod told the team he was scheduling batting practice for 6 a.m. the next day and announced his entire starting lineup had to work the 3 p.m. to midnight newsroom shift until further notice.

The Enquirer staff baseball game occurred just a weekend after the Ohio Valley Jazz Festival, the forerunner to today's Cincinnati Music Festival Presented by P&G (formerly the Macy's Music Festival), had taken the field.

Another music event – a show headlined by Isaac Hayes - was three to four weeks after the jazz festival in 1970 and drew 2,000 people, according to longtime area music promoter Joe Santangelo.

Where does Cincinnati rank as a city for baseball fans? By Carol Motsinger / Cincinnati Enquirer

The Cincinnati Reds may not be at the top of the division standings.

But the team's hometown just made the top three of another listing: 2015's Best & Worst Cities for Baseball Fans.

Cincinnati ranked third overall in the country, behind No. 1 St. Louis and No. 2 Pittsburgh, according to the list from WalletHub, a financial information and tool resource from Evolution Finance.

The organization researched metrics for 272 of the most populated cities in the country.

The factors considered included the performance level of each city's teams, average ticket and minimum season ticket prices, stadium accessibility, number of sports bars per capita and more (Here's a detailed look at the methodology.)

This is how Cincinnati fared in this formula, with overall ranking for some key metrics:

• 108th – performance level of MLB and college baseball teams • 6th – average ticket trice for an MLB Game • 26th – minimum season ticket price for a college baseball game • 23rd – stadium accessibility • 10th – number of championships won • 21st – number of division championships won • 12th – attendance

MLB, Reds hope to host world's largest game of catch By Sydney Murray / Cincinnati Enquirer

Major League Baseball, the Cincinnati Reds, Chevrolet and Guinness World Records are organizing what they hope will be the world's largest game of catch during All-Star Week.

By the way, there is currently no record for the largest game of catch.

Children ages 8 to 18 can participate in the July 9 event, and must complete an online registration form at allstargame.com/catch. At least 500 children must participate to set the record.

The event will take place at 6 p.m. on July 9 at the Procter & Gamble Cincinnati MLB Urban Youth Academy in Roselawn.

There will be a limit to the number of children who can participate, but MLB's Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities Senior Director David James said he expects between 1,200-1,500 participants.

Participants must play catch for five minutes to set the record, but James said they will probably have the participants throw for about 15.

James said MLB wants to continue to engage more kids and get more to play baseball, softball and other "stick-and-ball" games.

Baseball can teach children that when they fail, the most important lesson is how they respond to that failure, James said.

"Baseball is very reflective of life," James said. "I still strongly believe baseball is America's pastime."

Participants will receive a T-shirt, baseball and snacks. Other sponsors include Aquafina, Gatorade and Kellogg's.

After the event, the Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation will host a youth instructional clinic for anyone at the event, not just those who participated in the game of catch.

If possible, each child should bring their own baseball or softball mitt.

James said this will also be an opportunity for local residents to see the academy, located at 2026 E. Seymour Ave.

Similar to all MLB Urban Youth Academies, the Roselawn location offers educational and baseball vocation programming, including tutoring, as well as clinics and free seminars on umpiring and athletic field management.

Other parking is available at Cincinnati Gardens and Midpoint Crossing, with shuttles to and from the academy.

DAYTON DAILY NEWS Should they ‘baby’ Lorenzen, Iglesias? By Hal McCoy / Dayton Daily News

UNSOLICITED OBSERVATIONS from The Man Cave while listening to the rain pelt outside and wondering why the Cincinnati Reds didn’t have Michael Lorenzen and Raisel Iglesias in the rotation on Opening Day.

It didn’t happen mostly because the Reds are concerned about the number of pitches Lorenzen and Iglesias might throw this season and plan to ration those innings carefully.

A veteran American League scout is as perplexed about this as I am and said, “I don’t understand why teams do that. Let the guys pitch and build up their arms. And the Reds should be concerned about winning now.”

REMEMBER WHAT THE Washington Nationals did to Stephen Strasburg? He missed most of 2011 after Tommy John surgery, but came back for 2012. He was 15-6 with a 3.16 ERA in August, but when he reached 159 innings the Nationals, despite being in the thick of the race, decided to shut him down for the rest of the season to protect his arm. He made 30 starts in 2013 and was 8- and-9. Now he is battling an assortment of injures and left the mound early last week in his Friday start against the Reds.

So how has that ‘protective custody’ worked out for him and the Nationals?

JOHNNY CUETO, pronouncing himself ready, willing and able to pitch, returns to the mound Tuesday night in Philadelphia after missing nearly two starts with soreness in his elbow.

And how about his future with the Reds? His agent, Bryce Dixon, had some interesting comments on the Sirius radio MLB networ with former Re ds general manager Jim Bowden.

“I’ve told Johnny just to be ready in case he does get traded,” said Dixon. “This (year) is his arbitration extension that we signed and we didn’t get a no-trade clause in the deal. So as far as where he goes is up to the Reds.

“They’ve made no indications to Johnny that they want to trade him,” he added. “But, reading the tea leaves, if they fall out of contention it makes no sense from their end (not to trade him) because if they ride out the season with him and don’t make the playoffs (and he signs after the season as a free agent) the Reds are stuck with only a compensation pick. And from where I sit they probably can get more for him on the trade market.”

UNtiL LAST WEEKEND, when they swept the first-place Washington Nationals and played superbly, the season looked bleak. But now? They are 10 ½ games behind the St. Louis Cardinals and that’s dreamland to think they might catch them. But second place and a wild card remains within grasp. They are only 3 ½ games behind second place Chicago and 3 ½ behind third place Pittsburgh.

What to do, what to do?

TODD FRAZIER put together an awesome week and was rewarded by being selected National League Player of the Week, the first member of the Reds to win it this season.

Frazier hit .500 with a slugging percentage of 1.227, both tops in the league for last week. He hit four home runs, four doubles, had an on-base average of .560 and drove in seven runs.

Frazier’s walk-up song is Frank Sinatra’s ‘Fly Me to the Moon.’ If Frazier keeps rolling this way he might change his song to Sinatra’s ‘It Was a Very Good Year.’

IT HAS BEEN a long, hard process for San Diego Padres pitcher Cory Luebke, the Maria Stein native and graduate of Marion Local.

The former Ohio State left hander last pitched in 2011. Early in the season he was 3-and-1 with a 2.61 ERA in five starts. He hasn’t pitched since. He tore the ligament in his left elbow and underwent Tommy John surgery. After doing the difficult rehab work, it was determined he needed a second Tommy John surgery. Now, finally, it appears he is close to returning. The 6-4, 205-pound left hander will pitch a simulated game Tuesday in Peoria, AZ. and if that goes OK he will begin a rehab assignment in the minors.

THERE ARE TWO book signings this week for ‘The Real McCoy.’ On Tuesday we will be at the Kettering-Moraine Library on Far Hills in Kettering at 6:30 and on Wednesday we will be at the Fort Recovery Middle/Elementary School Auditeria on Sharpsburg Road at 6:30.

Votto walks on three pitches, and no one notices By David Jablonski / Dayton Daily News

CINCINNATI — Reds first baseman Joey Votto, a master at getting on base, topped himself Sunday when he reached first on a three-ball walk in the seventh inning of an 8-2 victory against the Nationals.

No one on the field or in the dugouts noticed when Votto took first base on the third ball. The umpire didn’t notice. No one protested. Votto scored one of the six Reds runs in the inning as they broke open a 2-2 game.

It wasn’t until after the game the Reds revealed what had happened.

Votto has walked 28 times. He’s tied for fifth in the National League. He ranks 14th in on-base percentage (.383).

Votto set a club record with 135 walks in 2013 and another record by reaching base 316 times via hit, walk or error. He also owns the Reds record for on-base percentage in a season (.474 in 2012).

The Reds were off today and start a three-game series in Philadelphia on Tuesday.

FOXSPORTS.COM Outlook for 2015-16 free agent pitchers could be dimming By Ken Rosenthal / FOX Sports

The great free-agent pitching class of 2015-16 might not turn out to be so great after all.

Granted, the season is not even one-third complete. But some in the class already are injured or experiencing health scares. Others are experiencing a decline in performance -- slight in some cases, but enough, perhaps, to make teams think twice about investing heavily in them.

Put it all together, and Dodgers right-hander Zack Greinke likely will be more motivated to exercise his opt-out clause than he was even at the start of the season. Again, much can change before November. But consider where these prominent members of the class stand at the start of June:

* David Price, LHP, Tigers. Close to his usual brilliant self.

Price's 3.15 ERA ranks 17th in the American League, though his expected ERA according to xFIP (Fielding Independent Pitching with a normalized home-run rate) is higher.

His strikeout rate is down to 7.63/9 from 9.82 last season, his walk rate is the highest it has been since 2012. But his swing-and-miss percentage is about where it usually is, and his average fastball velocity in May (95.13) was his highest since September 2012, according to brooksbaseball.net.

Worry about other guys.

* Jordan Zimmermann, RHP, Nationals. Similar to Price, but somewhat more concerning.

Zimmermann's strikeout rate is down, his walk rate is up, his expected ERA is higher than his current 3.26 with a normalized home- run rate.

On top of all that, his swing-and-miss rate also is down, and his average fastball velocity in April (92.82) was his lowest since he was coming off Tommy John surgery in August 2010.

That velocity, however increased to 93.56 in May. Tough guy to bet against, as evidenced by his seven straight quality starts.

* Jeff Samardzija, RHP, White Sox. Trending mostly upward.

Samardzija's strikeout rate is down from last season, and his average velocity in May (94.84) was off a tick from the same point a year ago. But he has been excellent in three straight starts and four of his past five. His strikeout rate is down, but improved since the start of the season.

* Johnny Cueto, RHP, Reds. A leading trade candidate, he will start for the first time in 13 days Tuesday night in Philadelphia after experiencing inflammation in his elbow.

Hold your breath.

* Scott Kazmir, LHP, Athletics. Another leading trade candidate, Kazmir left his start last Wednesday with muscle soreness behind his left shoulder.

The good news: He threw a 30-pitch bullpen session Sunday and told the San Francisco Chronicle afterward, "It was a little bit of a relief how great everything felt after just a couple of days rest."

Hold your breath.

* Doug Fister, RHP, Nationals. On the disabled list since May 15 with a strained right flexor tendon. Fister resumed throwing last week, but there is not yet a timetable for his return.

* Mat Latos, RHP, Marlins. On the DL since May 23 with inflammation in his surgically repaired left knee.

Latos, scheduled to throw a bullpen session on Monday, wasn't completely healthy before he went on the DL, and he wasn't as bad as his 6.12 ERA indicated, at least according to his peripherals.

* Mike Leake, RHP, Reds. His 2.36 ERA on May 11 prompted speculation that he could be an attractive under-the-radar trade candidate.

Since then, Leake has a 12.36 ERA and six homers allowed in three starts. Slump or trend? Too small a sample to say.

* Wei-Yin Chen, LHP, Orioles. His 3.21 ERA is better than his final mark was last season, but his peripherals are mixed. Likely to regress some from his 2.98 ERA over his last eight starts.

Which brings us back to Greinke.

OK, his 1.48 ERA is deceptively low based on his peripherals, and he would hit the market at 32 if he sacrifices his remaining three- year, $71 million guarantee.

Still, some Dodgers players believe that Greinke is an excellent bet to remain elite due to his adaptability. Five years ago, he had one of the game's best sliders. Now he has perhaps the second-best changeup after Felix Hernandez's, and his soft-contact percentage ranks seventh in the majors.

The big question, perhaps, is whether Greinke would be comfortable taking huge dollars to become an ace with another team when he can stay with the Dodgers (likely on a renegotiated deal) and remain the No. 2 behind Clayton Kershaw.

ASSOCIATED PRESS As baseball goes high-tech, stealing a base still old school By Joe Kay / Associated Press

CINCINNATI — Billy Hamilton doesn't bother to watch video of pitchers' moves to home plate. When he reaches first, one of baseball's top base stealers goes more by observation and instinct.

While technology has significantly changed the game with every nuance measured and broken down statistically, a computer printout can't give him what he needs when he leads away from the base.

"I see so many things happen when I'm on the bases, so I can't go into a game and say this is what the pitcher does," Hamilton said. "You've got to play it by ear, watch them during the game and see what kind of moves they make."

While charts of every batted ball let teams shift on hitters, base stealing is still largely observational even though runners and managers have all the data they could want.

"They have technology out there: Pitchers' times to the plate, runners' base stealing times, catchers' throwing times," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "But it's not a perfect science. Pitchers vary their moves at times. You still want to use your eyes and a stopwatch, your old-fashioned way of doing things."

Simply put, there are too many unmeasurable variables involved in that mad, 90-foot dash to the next base.

Following this weekend's games, major league runners were successful at stealing 69.3 percent of the time — the same percentage as in the 1999 season, according to STATS. The success rate has fluctuated between 70.2 percent and 74.4 percent over the last 12 years.

While statistically-inspired defensive shifts have helped dampen offenses, the running game is pretty much the same. And so is the way teams prepare for it.

"We still use the stopwatch on the running game," Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said.

So do the other teams. First base coaches pull them out of their back pockets and time a pitcher's move to the plate during a game. It helps them to know how quickly the pitcher is getting rid of the ball during any given inning.

If it takes less than 1.2 seconds to get the ball to home, there's not much point in trying to steal. Hamilton learned that as a rookie last season, when he would run anyway and was thrown out a major league-leading 23 times while stealing 56 bases.

He's being smarter about it this year and has a major league-leading 21 steals in 24 tries.

"You steal off the pitcher, not off the catcher," Hamilton said. "It doesn't matter who's catching. When I see a guy is 1.2 (seconds) to 1.5, I know what type of lead I need to get, what type of jump I've got to get."

After the weekend, the Reds led the majors with 49 steals in 60 attempts, an indication they're picking their spots well. The Dodgers had the worst success rate in the NL, with only 12 steals in 27 tries.

In the AL, the Tigers had 45 steals and the Astros 43. The White Sox were worst with only 15 steals in 29 tries.

Someone as fast as Hamilton doesn't have to worry so much about the catcher, but other runners take into account the catcher's ability to get rid of the ball and make an accurate throw. The Cardinals' Yadier Molina, the Rangers' Robinson Chirinos and the Nationals' Wilson Ramos were the best at throwing out runners last season, according to STATS.

Managers don't need a detailed breakdown to figure that out.

"Sometimes all you have to do is look at the stats sheet and see that a guy has given up 20 stolen bases and has only three caught stealings," Reds manager Bryan Price said. "You plug in a combination of things."

Pitchers will vary their moves to first base and to the plate, trying to throw off a runner's timing. They'll hold the ball longer. Throw over to first more often. Try anything to make the runner reluctant to take off.

Meanwhile, runners and managers are watching to see if a pitcher loses focus on a runner, which makes it easier to take the next base.

During a game last month at Great American Ball Park, hard-throwing Cincinnati closer Aroldis Chapman wasn't paying much attention to Atlanta's Phil Gosselin on second base in the ninth inning.

Chapman took too long to throw his first pitch — 1.7 seconds to get the ball to home — and Gosselin decided to steal third. He succeeded, then scored on a wild pitch for a 2-1 win over the Reds.

Gosselin didn't have a stopwatch time or a statistical analysis at hand. He used his eyes, trusted his instincts. "I said to myself if he's slow again, I'm going to take a shot again and go for it," Gosselin said.

TRANSACTIONS Date Transaction 06/02/15 Texas Rangers selected the contract of Joey Gallo from Frisco RoughRiders. Miami Marlins optioned Steve Cishek to Jacksonville Suns. Arizona Diamondbacks optioned Matt Stites to Reno Aces. 06/01/15 Milwaukee Brewers selected the contract of RHP Tyler Cravy from Colorado Springs Sky Sox. San Francisco Giants signed free agent RHP Erik Cordier to a minor league contract. San Francisco Giants signed free agent IF Kevin Frandsen to a minor league contract. Atlanta Braves recalled Cody Martin from Gwinnett Braves. Atlanta Braves designated LHP Donnie Veal for assignment. Chicago White Sox optioned C Rob Brantly to Birmingham Barons. Washington Nationals recalled Felipe Rivero from Syracuse Chiefs. Washington Nationals optioned Matt Grace to Syracuse Chiefs. Los Angeles Dodgers traded RHP P.J. Walters to Washington Nationals for cash. signed free agent OF Teodoro Martinez to a minor league contract. Texas Rangers placed 3B Adrian Beltre on the 15-day disabled list. Left thumb Laceration Houston Astros optioned Michael Feliz to Corpus Christi Hooks. Milwaukee Brewers optioned C Juan Centeno to Colorado Springs Sky Sox. Milwaukee Brewers activated C Jonathan Lucroy from the 15-day disabled list. Los Angeles Dodgers transferred LF Carl Crawford from the 15-day disabled list to the 60-day disabled list. Right oblique strain. Los Angeles Dodgers optioned RHP Matt West to Oklahoma City Dodgers. Seattle Mariners optioned Chris Taylor to Tacoma Rainiers. Seattle Mariners recalled Mayckol Guaipe from Tacoma Rainiers. Los Angeles Angels sent Marc Krauss outright to Salt Lake Bees. Los Angeles Dodgers selected the contract of David Huff from Oklahoma City Dodgers. Colorado Rockies recalled Tommy Kahnle from Albuquerque Isotopes. Colorado Rockies placed RHP Jordan Lyles on the 15-day disabled list. Sprained left toe Tampa Bay Rays recalled RHP Andrew Bellatti from Durham Bulls. Houston Astros activated LHP Brett Oberholtzer from the 15-day disabled list. Milwaukee Brewers optioned Tyler Wagner to Biloxi Shuckers. released RF Grady Sizemore.