C-Trent Out at Homer

Just found out via Twitter that C. Trent Rosecrans, blogger extroidanire for 1530 Homer, was laid off today along with several other workers at Clear Channel Cincinnati.

His page has already been deleted from the Homer website.

I loved the guy’s writing, insight, and his taste in music.  I wish him all the best in his future endeavors as a journalist.

You can still follow him via Twitter at twitter/ctrent or his personal website http://ctrentrosecrans.com/

RedsFest Wrap

After attending my first RedsFest on Saturday, I came home very impressed.

RedsFest is a very professional operation that ran smoothly.  From the autograph and photo booths to the memorabilia show, and the main stage events, everything was very well put together, each of the different aspects of the event kept me at the Duke Energy Center far longer than I originally thought I would would be there.

If you were at the “Hot Stove Report” with Dusty, Jocketty, and some of the front office staff, I was the one who asked the question about statistics and how the Reds use them in evaluating players.  The moderator holding the microphone didn’t know what sabermetrics was.

My question was: “Most major league teams are now dedicating specific departments for statistical analysis, how are the Reds using sabermetrics and statistical analysis now, and in the future?”  Jocketty and the rest of the brain trust gave a pretty standard answer of “Good scouting [ie. more eyeballs on a player the better] is primary and stats are used as back-up”.  He also noted that there is a lot you can do with statistics, and with comptuers holding so much information, it should be used in conjunction with scouting.

I guess I was looking for something more like the Mariners are now doing under their new GM, but I guess Jocketty is too old school for such newfangled technology and forward thinking.

I didn’t get anything signed since I didn’t have season tickets (they had a season ticket holder only line) nor was I a kid (they also had a ‘kids only’ line) and I didn’t want to stand in line for an hour in the other lines to have someone sign a ball.  It almost felt like watching the line for Santa Claus on “A Christmas Story”.  The players only sign for an hour and there is no guarantee that you get your one item signed.  Hopefully someone cool comes to our Reds Winter Caravan stop in January.

The “kids only press conference” was a riot and “Reds Idol” was pretty good as well.  Brandon Phillips is goofy. Chris Dickerson is a cool cat.

There were also a lot of former Reds. Eric Davis, Lee May, George Foster, Jack Billingham were in attendance.  New Red Ramon Hernandez (acquired from Baltimore for Ryan Freel) also showed up and introduced himself to the crowd.

The only “personality” I saw at the event other than Marty, Jeff B., Chris Welch, and George Grande was C. Trent Rosecrans. He had a dry erase board with “C. Trent Rosecrans Live-Blogging”.  It was quite funny.

All-in-all, RedsFest was definitely worth the short drive from Louisville on a rather dreary Saturday morning and made me only slightly less depressed about the upcoming season.  I would definitely go back next year.