Good Monday Morning!

Here were are, at the All Star Break and your Cincinnati Reds are a full five games out of first place. And, their phenom is gone for a long time (how long we’ll learn later today) with a broken wrist More on Jay Bruce in a moment.

The Reds have flirted with contending, teased us and ultimately let us down a lot through these first 89 games. But whether you choose to believe in this team or not, they are just a mild hot streak away from first place. As we like to says, in the National League Central, all things are possible, first place and last.

There’s great debate around here, you and I have participated, as to whether or not the Reds should trade for players, or simply trade players away and build for next year. The Reds have been building for next year so often, you’d swear the calendar is stuck on December 31st. If the Banks Project were the Reds, it would have been built and rebuilt twice by now.

But as that debate rages, whether to buy or sell, there a more important thing the Reds have to consider. It doesn’t involve trading, waiting until next year or that $10 million monstrosity it left field called a scoreboard.

The most important thing the Reds, the smart guys in the front office, the most important thing they have to deal with is Jay Bruce. He is the centerpiece of the Reds future, the poster boy for ticket sales, the golden boy as he quickly ascended through the depths of the Reds minor league system. And he can not hit a breaking ball to save his life.

The old line about a struggling ballplayer is ‘he can’t hit his weight’. Bruce can barely hit the New York City area code. Today, he is stuck at .207 The Golden Boy is broken, or at least his wrist and his swing are. Bruce can still hit for modest power (all he seems to be able to do is hit home runs) and he can still throw runners out from right field like he’s channeling Paul O’Neill. But at the plate, Bruce seems to be channeling Adam Dunn. Except Dunn never hit .207 for a season. Came close once, but never like this.

Remember, this is Jay Bruce, the Reds number one draft pick in 2005. Dan O’Brien’s ultimate gift to the Reds near death minor league system. Jay Bruce who had a meteoric rise from single A to Triple A all in the span of less than 200-games. The Can’t Miss Kid with the ability to hit the ball to all fields AND hit for power. His first two weeks in the ‘bigs’ were astounding. Offensively, Bruce has been in a free fall since.

Saturday night in New York, sheer hustle (or a bad break on a shallow fly ball, you take your pick) caused Bruce to suffer a broken wrist. You probably saw the highlight ad nauseum (full warning, I’m showing it again tonight on WLWT at 6pm). The last graphic bone broke witnessed on live television this horrific was probably the night that the NY Giants Lawrence Taylor snapped Joe Theismann’s leg in two. It probably ends one of the most disappointing seasons for a Reds player in their history.

Along the way, from Sarasota, to Chattanooga to Louisville, Bruce had a smooth, can’t miss swing. A couple of Springs ago, as he was working in the Reds minor league complex in Sarasota, I spent a morning watching Bruce take batting practice. His swing was effortless, even and the phenom was spraying the ball to all fields. Bruce was The Natural. I don’t know if it was all God given ability or if a hitting coach had worked with him to hone his swing. My guess is, it was a little of both. But, it was fun to watch him work.

And as I was thinking about Bruce and his problems at the plate this week, it seemed reasonable to me, that at some point in his minor league career, a manager or a hitting coach got through to him, connected with him, helped Bruce find the swing that got him to the Majors. Would it not make sense to send the one time phenom back to work with that coach?

The Reds and Bruce have a golden opportunity now. Of course, his wrist has to heal before any of this could happen, but why not send back to his past to ensure his future? If he’s to play again this season, he’ll have to do a minor league rehab stint. So the situation, perhaps embarrassing to a player under normal conditions, will take care of itself.

Sometimes, sending a player back to the minors to fix a flaw in his game works. The Reds tried it a couple of years ago with Edwin Encarnacion, and he returned to hit fairly well. They tried it with Austin Kearns, and it had no effect on him. Lately, it has seemed to have worked with Homer Bailey.

The arguments against it are pretty clear. One: who else do the Reds have right now that can play right field.? Two: what’s to be gained by sending Bruce back to Triple-A to beat up on inferior pitching? The answer to question one is, no one. The answer to question two is not much.

Except….this is a long term investment in a player you’ve chosen to build your franchise around. Bruce has tremendous defensive talents and can hit for power. His problem is consistency from at bat to at bat, and hitting the breaking ball. Jay Bruce is cost certain for the next three seasons. Financially, it’s in the Reds best interest to make it work. With most young players, it’s a marathon. And Jay Bruce fixed, hitting for average and power long term, trumps anything that’s happening this season.

Friday, I called Pete Rose and asked him to join me on my Sunday morning radio show on 700 WLW in Cincinnati. Rose agreed to an interview. But before agreeing (I had left voice mail for him and didn’t realize he had done this before he returned my call) Rose placed a call to the Reds clubhouse in New York, at Citi Field. He wanted to speak personally with Bruce. They talked about hitting for about 20-minutes on Friday night. Rose told me, he gave Bruce six minor adjustments to work on, but emphatically told the young outfielder do NOT change your swing. That. Rose says, is suicidal for a hitter. He also told Bruce to not believe that he’s in a slump. Rose maintains if a pitcher believes a hitter is in a slump, he’ll own him. It’s a ‘lull’, Rose says, that Bruce must believe he’s in the middle of. He says he promised Bruce he’d watch his games over the next week or so and call him back with some more advice. Now, of course, that’s on hold. But if Jay Bruce wants to return to the kind of hitter he was in the minors, maybe it’s worth his while to buy a plane ticket to LA and seek out Rose for some personal coaching. Why not? The Hit King has already taken an interest

A wonderfully gifted and funny man died this weekend, far to young. Shad O'Shea was a local Cincinnati legend, a throwback to the time when radio was fun and very important in people's everyday lives. He was 'old school', with the wit and irreverence of modern day. He knew the difference between engaging a listener and simply reading liners and giving time checks. He worked at radio stations from California to Louisiana to Ohio, and some places in between. Shad, before running a successful recording studio and owning the Fraternity record label, live the nomadic life of a rock and roll DJ in the 50's and 60's. He worked with talent that would go onto work at some of the biggest rock and roll radio stations in the USA, and some that would never get out of the 500 watt station they were stuck at. He treated everyone the same.

I met Shad a few years ago. He treated me like I knew him forever. He helped me with a project I was working on when I freelanced at WGRR-FM in Cincinnati, recounting stories of his time as a DJ and some of the characters in the music business he ran into along the way.

He wasn't old, and to my knowlege at least, wasn't in poor health. But now he's gone. A good ole boy, as we like to say in the broadcasting business. Arf, arf Shad. You were a bona fide original.

I got to thinking about this the other night, one of those things that hits you when you’re up too late and you can’t get to sleep. You know how it goes.

I was thinking about virtues. I don’t know why, maybe it was the bourbon. Maybe it was one of those Catholic High School flashbacks that haunt a lot of us. As I recall, or as I recall the good Christian Brothers of Ireland beating into me, there are seven virtues in life, Plato and Aristotle had a hand in it. The Church got involved, Cardinal and Theological stuff. Prudence and justice are virtues. So are faith, love and charity. Hope is right up there. But maybe the toughest virtue for all of us in the super hit seven is restraint. Patience would be another word for it. And I got to thinking about how that virtue applies to your Cincinnati Reds.

That team tries our patience, doesn’t it? Not quite as much as your Cincinnati Bengals, of course, but the Reds are getting there.

Patience is lost in this 300 TV channel instant internet universe we live in. We don’t want to wait for anything. We want it now, last Thursday, if possible. So when a team preaches patience and it hasn’t won significantly in over a decade, patience is the last thing a fan wants to hear.

What has it been for the Reds, one winning season since 2000, two since 1995? If you’re under 20, you have no recolection of the Reds in the post season playoffs.

That’s the kind of stuff that tries patience. That’s why we want it now. Delayed gratification? Define delayed.

This season is rolling on and the time to get things right is rapidly ending. We begin today with the Reds three and a half games out of first place, a team with terrific talent as some positions, serviceable talent at others and some guys who might be better off in places like Louisville or Scranton.

As the season rolls on, the Reds are a team that is beginning to offer more questions than answers. And we’ve been here before, haven’t we?

What do you do with Jay Bruce? He couldn’t hit a beach ball right now. His batting average has slipped to .212. He strikes about as often as his hero Adam Dunn. He looks lost. So if you’re the Reds what do you do with Bruce? How do you fix the player who’s the face of your future? Send him to “AAA” and let him find his swing there? I’ve heard that suggestion a lot this week. You think that discovery is waiting for him in Louisville? Against minor league pitching? The kind of pitching Bruce devoured on his meteoric rise to Major League Baseball.

Do you bench him? Ok, who else you got? And by sitting on the bench he’ll find his swing again by doing what, spitting sunflower seeds onto the dugout floor?

What do you do with Homer Bailey? I’ve said on this show that I believe Bailey will not pitch another meaningful game for the Cincinnati Reds this season. He’s inconsistent in “AAA” (incidentally, the same place you might’ve suggested the Reds send Jay Bruce) and when Bailey has arrived in Cincinnati, he’s brought with him great stuff and horrid control. Homer Bailey has been traded about six dozen times on talk radio in this town since we last saw him a couple of weeks ago. I heard someone call in after one game and suggest the Reds should just release Bailey.

Patience.

Maybe the Reds front office has it because it knows that the last thing you turn and run from is raw talent, particularly young, raw talent. It probably also has something to do with money. It’s always about money, and young players like Bruce and Bailey are years away from being expensive players.

But probably it’s about patience. The smart guys at Great American Ball Park seem to be going down that road, maybe with no other choice.

Maybe we should too. Plato and Aristotle would be proud. And after all they have the ears of the Gods

The Cup has come home to Cincinnati. Not the Stanley Cup. We don't have an NHL franchise. Ken, tell the story about how we could have had an NHL team here but the owners of the Cincinnati Stingers...one of whom now owns the Reds, took the money instead of the franchise....please, make the voices in my head stop.....

Anyhow, we have the Kelly Cup now. The Cincinnati Cyclones won the Cup last night, in a 3-1, game 6 win over the Las Vegas Wranglers. Then, the Cup made its way to Cadillac Ranch in downtown Cincinnati, where the team and fans gathered to celebrate the win. This would be me drinking from the covted Kelly Cup.

10 years ago right now, I was covering the Stanley Cup playoffs. Working for a television station in Washington, DC, we were hot on the trail of the Capitals, who were swept in four games by the Red Wings. No swigs then, of course. But last night? Plenty...

Gotta thank #1 son for sending along this video of the Reds top draft pick, Yonder Alonso, the left handed hitting first baseman from the University of Miami. The dancing scenes are priceless...

The word is, he'll be tough to sign, wanting a big bonus and a major league contract. We shall see.

I'm talking sports Sunday on 700 WLW. I'm on the air from 9am-12:40p EDT. You can catch me on the 50,000 'flame thrower', or on line at 700wlw.com, or on XM Radio channel 173. Reds, Bengals and a lot more this Sunday.

Hmmmm, interesting 'take' by our old pal Jerry Crasnick on espn.com about Dusty Baker's youth movement in Cincinnati.

And over at si.com, John Heyman weighs on on Jay Bruce.

If you live in the greater Cincinnati area, Sports Rock! this Sunday night will feature, among other things, the Cyclones complete with an in house visit by the Kelly Cup. The fun begins at 11:35p only on Cincinnati's channel 5.

Have a great and safe weekend! And check out my web site: www.kenbroo.com.

Now, maybe we know the rest of the story. Here's the exclusive tonight from si.com on what may possibly be up for former Bengal Odell Thurman.

If this is the case, then the Bengals had no choice but to cut ties. Thurman seems to be a troubled man, on a collision course to a very short life. The Bengals, because they took on so many troubled players under Marvin Lewis and now seem intent on cleaning out their locker room, couldn't afford the luxury on waiting to see if Thurman would ever be well enough to play again. But, they should've known when they drafted Thurman, this could be the outcome. Very sad.

Former Red, Josh Hamilton has been named the American League Player Of The Month for the second straight month! Hamilton says his dream, before becoming a professional baseball player, was to win the Home Run Derby at the all star game. He's going to get that chance. Hamilton leads all AL outfielders in voting. It's great that Edinson Volquez has made this trade a 'win win' for both the Rangers and Reds. But think about this: if the Reds under general manager Jim Bowden had been able to develope starting pitching, the Reds would've been able to keep Hamilton because they would've already had pitchers the cablibre of Volquez.

Of course, if Jay Bruce keeps this up, he may make us forget about Hamilton and a lot of other former Reds.

More Jay 'love' today from USA Today.

Cast your vote at the top of my blog for the most likely scenario for Bruce this season.

Check this out. Do you think the pitcher and catcher in this Georgia high school game were out to get the umpire?

If they weren't out to get the umpire, they missed a helluva chance.

Check out my web site: www.kenbroo.com. I'll have this week's "Broo View Podcast" posted midweek. But you can access and download the archives in my "Podcast and More" section.

See you tonight, at 6 & 11p on WLWT Channel 5 in Cincinnati!

Yet another angle here on Jay Bruce's elevation to the Cincinnati Reds. If indeed, the answer to all of our questions in life is "money", then this story in Beyond The Box Score may lend a lot of truth to it.

I don't know if he's going to be a major force this season, but I think Jerome Simpson, the player the Bengals took in round #2 of this year's draft, will be a very good player here for a long time.
Chick Ludwig of the Dayton Daily News plays 10 questions in this latest installment of "Ludwig At Large".

It's tough to say what Reds fans are more excited about: Jay Bruce's opening night or Corey Patterson getting demoted to the minors. Bruce's arrival has been eagerly anticipated. Patterson's awful play has been eagerly denounced, almost universally, by Reds fans.

To call Bruce's major league debut good, would be like calling a steak from the Precinct satisfying. Great is the operative word for both.

I don't think Bruce will single-handidly make a difference to whatever the Reds do this season. But he will provide a lift, and quite possibly a key hit that the Reds weren't getting with Patterson in the line up. If he keeps the Reds in the race, it will quell some of the trade talks that are beginning to simmer. Check out what Ken Rosenthal writes today at foxsports.com.

My money is still on Dunn re-upping with the Reds. Griffey may simply play out the season, take the $4 million buyout he has coming and retire.

But I could be wrong....

Vince Young contemplated retirement, after one season? Really? My pal Mike Florio from profootballtalk.com has a 'take' on this. Watch...


Shut up and play....

About time doesn't cover it. It's more than about time that the Cincinnati Reds called-up their best prospect,outfielder, Jay Bruce. Whty he wasn't on the opening day roster is beyond me. Yes, Bruce struggled in early exhibition games. But to send him back to the minors and go out and sign Corey Patterson for $3.5 million was either a bad deference to Dusty Baker or flat out stupid on the part of management.

Read this, by espn.com's Rob Neyer on Bruce's call-up. It's about a third of the way down the page.

Reds owner, Bob Castellini can bark at his former GM, Wayne Krivsky for some bad deals, like signing Mike Stanton, Rheal Cormier and Juan Castro, but the Patterson deal is on the owner. Krivsky said in his farewell news conference that he was told to sign Patterson, 'whatever it takes' Krivsky says he was told. So far, no one named Castellini has denied it.

With Bruce now a Red, where does he play? Probably centerfield for now. Depending on what happens with Adam Dunn and Ken Griffey, Jr., Bruce could eventuall wind up as a corner outfielder. He's a left-handed bat, problematic for a team that can't hit left-handed pitching. But Bruce needs to play. He can't sit. And you don't want to platoon this kind of talent. I wonder where that leaves Ryan Freel?

I think David Beckham is more sizzle than steak. Like a lot of European "football" stars who've come to America throughout our many dabbels in professional soccer, Beckham arrived past his prime. But this is still impressive. Check it out.

And remember the Kobe Bryant commercial, jumping over an on rushing car? There was a parody of that, the car running down Kobe. Now the crew from the cable show "Jackass" has come up with their own spin on it. And Kobe plays right along.

Random thoughts....I don't care if you can't tell me if a puck is vulcanized or stuffed, you have to be caught up in what the Cyclones are doing. They're single-handidly revitalizing hockey in Cincinnati, exorcising the deamons from the Mighty Ducks, Tigers and Stingers.....I wish Ben Mauk well, but if he doesn't get an extra year of eligibility from the NCAA, I don't think the UC football team will be hurt all that much....UC's baseball team deserved an NCAA Tournament bid....My new favorite TV show is "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives" on the Food Network. I'm surprised the guy who hosts the show, Guy Fieri, doesn't weigh 400 pounds with all the free food he consumes.....I think my pal Chick Ludwig of the Dayton Daily News is a bit hard on him in "Ludwig At Large", but I'm disappointed in Willie Anderson not participating in the Bengals 'voluntary' workouts. I expect more from Willie, I guess.

That's it for now. Check out my web site: www.kenbroo.com for the best in sports. I should have my next "Broo View Podcast" posted by Wednesday.

Here’s what I’ve taken away from the first round and a half of this NCAA Tournament. There are no great teams anymore in college basketball. None. I think it’s the one year rule, early entry, the fact that just about every team in the top six conferences plays on TV virtually every game…all of that are the reasons why there are no great teams. Kansas, North Carolina, Duke, UCLA, they’re reputations, not greatness. Not anymore. The on court difference between a UCLA and say, a Villanova is one player. The difference between great and good is that razor thin.

You know, when I was a senior at Ohio, then known as Ohio University, we played UCLA in Pauley Pavilon. UCLA had Keith Wilks, Bill Walton and the wizard, John Wooden on the bench. We had Denny Rusch, Walter Luckett and a coach who’s nickname was Gentleman, Genntleman Jim Snyder on the bench. We had no shot of keeping this game within 20.

For the most part, in Division I basketball, those kind of days are gone. No team, like UCLA, is in any danger of going on an 88-game winning streak.

Want more proof that there are no great teams in college basketball anymore. Take a look at your bracket this morning. It was a mess before the second games of opening day.

This is important to understand, given where Xavier is this morning. Yes, it’s in the round of 16. It’s one win away from equaling the best NCAA Tournament run in school history. But what team still standing today has better guards than X? Are the inside players that UCLA, Stanford and Kansas have really that much better than Xavier’s? No. Which is why I believe there is not reason to believe that Xavier can’t make it to the Final 4. West Virginia is hot. So was Georgia. UCLA has talented big men, some with outstanding pedigree, so did Purdue. I’m not predicting Xavier will make the final four. Because to do that, would run against my theory that no great college teams are anywhere this morning. But I am says that the path to the final four is as wide open to Xavier today as it is to any other team.

Xavier is the right team, with the right combination of players are the right time in the game of college basketball. Terrific guards, good inside players, smart coach and a team that plays excellent defense. Not saying the final four is going to happen. But tell me today, what team has a better chance of getting to San Antonio, right now, than Xavier. I’ll tell you: no team.

We are exactly one week from opening day. One week from tomrrow, the games start to count. Bronson Arroyo was smacked around pretty good by the Astros Saturday. He says he’s not concernred. I am. Arroyo pitched a grand total of six innings before Saturday. He want six yesterday and gave up four runs, three earned.

What I’m more concerned about. And what I’d like to talk about today, is what’s going on in centerfield. Is there anyone around here who’s wondering exactly what the Reds smart guys are thinking about?

I have a theory. And I know there are a lot of people who think exactly the opposite. My theory is, you never trade someone who has the potential to win 162 games a year for you, for a guy who can potentially win a game for you once every five days. In other words, you never trade an everyday player for a pitcher. Unless that pitcher’s name is Greg Maddux and the year is 1995.

But I understand some of baseball’s smart guys don’t agree with that. And that’s OK. So when the Reds wanted to deal Josh Hamilton in the off season and they got the Rangers’ best pitching prospect, Edinson Volquoz, I said, OK, it opoens up a spot for Jay Bruce in the outfield. Sounds good to me. Well, where is the best prospect the Reds farm system has produced since Johnny Bench today? I’ll tell you where: on some back lot, on some water logged turf in Sarasota. The big club plays on the Big One this afternoon. Jay Bruce will be playing on a field with a chain link back stop..

Your opening day centerfielder will be Corey Patterson. The Reds traded away one of the top five outfield arms in baseball to open up a spot for Corey Patterson. Sounds like a plan to me!

And what, exactly did Jay Bruce do to lose his fight for a starting spot to Corey Patterson? He got hurt, missed five games with a sore leg. He only hit ‘262’. There is a theory now, that Jay Bruce will be a better corner outfielder than a centerfielder. I wonder if that theory has anything to do with Adam Dunn making 13-million in the final year of his contract and Ken Griffey, Junior, a year away from a team option 16-million dollar season?

Here’s what would have been the best path for the Reds to travel this spring with the man voted the best player in all of minor league baseball last season. Are you ready? Stand by. This is a radical concept that may need some thinking. Why not just begin the spring by telling Bruce: centerfield is your job this season. You have nothing else to prove by playing another inning of minor league baseball. Son, grab a bat, go up there and hit. The job is yours even if you fall flat on your face. We have that much faith in you and your talents. If I’m a major league baseball prospect and my manager or general manager told me that, I’d run through the left field wall for them.

Instead, what Jay Bruce was told was: go to Louisville. We’ll call you when we need you. Jay Bruce, the best prospect the Reds have developed since Johnny Bench, the best in over 40-years. Losing out in the battle for centerfield to Corey Patterson and Norris Hopper. Norris Hopper, who’s hitting ‘238’ this spring and has gotten on base a grand total of 28-percent of his at bats. A man still looking for his first major league home run.

Josh Hamilton for Edinson Volqoz. OK, fine, Marge Schott decimated the Reds scouting department so badly during her regime it couldn’t find a pitching prospect with a GPS. I understand it. But you open an outfield spot and give it to a combination of Patterson and Hopper? And you send the best player in all of minor league baseball back to the minors? 

Really?

I may be wrong. It wouldn’t be the first time. But I think this is a big mistake.

Check out my web site:  www.kenbroo.com

Interesting reading on mlbtraderumors.com about what the Reds may or may not do with minor league phenom, Jay Bruce.

I think even thinking about trading Bruce is cause for dismissal from the Reds front office. He's literally the best prospect this franchise has produced since the Adam Dunn-Austin Kearns class.