The Reds’ pitchers and catchers, including Punxsutawney-native Devin Mesoraco, report for spring training on Feb. 11, signaling the start of yet another baseball season.  

Many people were unhappy that the Reds signed Dusty Baker to a two-year extension shortly after the end of the team’s 2012 season, but the people happiest with the news are the Reds players themselves.   

MONDAY OCT. 8: Pizza Hut will give an audience member at next week’s presidential debate at Hofstra University free pizza for life if they exploit the town hall format of it and ask one of the candidates if they prefer sausage or pepperoni as a topping during the debate.  

It’s too bad it took a mini-stroke for Dusty Baker to get a little bit of relief from his critics. Baker will be leading the Reds to their second postseason appearance in the last three years, but he’s far from beloved in town — he’s hardly even respected.  

It took all the way until the first day of July, nearly a week from the All-Star break, to figure out just what was off about this baseball season. We’ve had plenty of exciting games  still there was something missing, and I couldn’t put my finger on it until the National League All-Star rosters were announced. Tony La Russa, we missed you.   

Most people don't remember the dude from high school who drove a Volkswagen. Why would you? He's probably right now sleeping in someone's front yard adjacent to the site of his most recent driving accident. The AP reported today that the new leader of the German automaker will soon enter discussions with NASCAR about entering one of its dangerous little cars into a race.  

The Reds are a young, talented club with big upside in a couple years. They're the envy of many clubs for their young pitching, which could become dominating. They have a couple of young, left-handed hitters to replace the old ones they let go. They've been getting younger for a while now, and if getting younger means getting better they might start getting better soon.  

Bob Castellini went on the radio a couple weeks ago to clarify that he is, indeed, excited about the upcoming Reds season. And who isn't? The Reds season is baseball season, after all. Castellini didn't go so far as to say the Reds are going to win this year, but if he did say it who would believe him anyway?