OBSERVATIONS: Is Hunter Greene Ready for ‘The Show?’

UNSOLICITED OBSERVATIONS from The Man Cave trying to figure out what to do until baseball returns. . .and that’s if it does return without a work stoppage. And the odds are that there will be a lockout.

—You probably missed it, but the Cincinnati Reds signed a pitcher, not quite the magnitude of Noah Syndergaard (one year, $21 million with the Los Angeles Angels).

No, the Reds signing was right out of Dollar General to allegedly bolster the bullpen. They signed right handed pitcher Connor Overton to a minor league contract with an invitation to major league camp.

He pitched to a 4.70 earned run average in 15 1/3 innings last season with Toronto and Pittsburgh. He reportedly is a fly ball pitchers. Oh, boy.

The Reds finally added Hunter Greene to their 40-man roster, but that doesn’t mean you’ll see him in a R3ds uniform this season. Putting him on the 40-man protects him from the Rule 5 draft during the upcoming winter meetings.

Is Greene ready for The Show? He began last season at Double=A Chattanooga and was 5-and-0 with 1.98 earned run average in seven starts. He was promoted to Triple-A Louisville and was 5-8 with a 4.13 ERA in 14 starts.

What d’ya think?

—They’ve resolved the dispute in Cleveland. There will be two sports teams called the Guardians.

The Cleveland Guardians roller derby team filed suit against the Cleveland baseball team for stealing their nickname.

The suit was settled and the roller derby Guardians remain and the old Cleveland Indians are also th – – – – dians. I still refuse to acknowledge it.

Was it an omen this week when on the first day the team’s gift shop began selling – – – – dians merchandise, a sign outside the shop bearing the team’s new moniker came crashing to the concrete? Methinks not.

And be careful when you buy Guardians tickets or you might be watching jammers, back blockers and hip whippers instead of shortstops, backstops and sacrifice flies.

—QUOTE: “OK, Atlanta, it’s your turn, right now, chop, chop.”
—An Ask Hal question that didn’t make it before the last Ask Hal of the season:

How many players with 3,000 hits are not in the Hall of Fame.

The first one has 4,256 hits. . .and Pete Rose is not in for obvious reasons. There is another who will never make it due to his PED involvement. Rafael Palmeiro has 3,020 hits and will forever be looking in the Hall’s windows.

There are four with more than 3,000 who are not eligible yet because they haven’t been retired the required five years: Albert Pujols (still playing), Ichiro Suzuki, Adrian Beltre and Alex Rodriguez.

A-Rod comes up for vote next year and he was so involved in the PED mess it is 50/50 or less that he makes it.

—QUOTE: From Rafael Palmeiro to a senate committed investigating illegal substance abuse in MLB: “Let me start by telling you this: I have never used steroids.” (And his nose grew longer than Pinochio’s.)

—There was so much hype and hyperbole attached pre-season to the University of Dayton basketball team. Before the season began, the Flyers sold out all 17 home games and fans couldn’t wait to see the high-voltage recruits.

Then came a close encounter escape against University of Illinois-Chicago and incomprehensible losses to UMass Lowell and Lipscomb.

All three are low mid-majors, although Lipscomb is a good team with exceptional talent.

After Wednesday’s loss to Lipscomb by 19 points, UD coach Anthony Grant put it perfectly:

“This team is full of potential, full of potential. But potential can be a dirty word, too, because it means you haven’t done it. At some point, our guys have to make that change from being a bunch of guys who have potential to being guys who understand what it takes to win in college basketball. We have work to do, fellas. We have work to do. We have work to do.”

Obi Toppin? Please come back.

—Note to the UD Flyers: St. Bonaventure, picked to win the Atlantic 10 title, is good. . .very good.

Just ask Clemson coach Brad Brownell, a former Wright State coach. His Clemson team had the Bonnies by the throat, a 16-point lead late in the first half.

And Clemson still led by double digits midway through the second half. But St. Bonaventure’s all-seniors starting five went on a 21-2 gallop and won, 68-65. The Bonnies made 10 of 12 from three-point territory in the second half.

—QUOTE: From the legendary Oscar 
Robertson on today’s basketball: “You look at today’s game and has transformed into a game where almost every shot is either a three-point shot or a dunk. (The Big O was a master of the 12 to 15-foot jumper, a shot that has disappeared from today’s game like the dial telephone.)

—I’m not sure my book, ‘The Real McCoy: My Half-Century With The Cincinnati Reds,’ is on any Paris book shelf. But my editor, John Baskin of Orang Frazer Press, sent my the French translation: “Le vrai McCoy: mon demi-siècle avec les Reds de Cincinnati.”

OK, wise guy. Send me the Japanese translation.

And, dear readers, do yourselves a huge solid by reading Baskin’s book, “Lords of Smashmouth: The Unlikely Rise of an American Phenomenon.” It’s the best tome on Ohio State football you will ever read.

And I don’t know the French translation

—Spotted on the back of a truck: “If you are not using concrete, it is your own asphalt.”

—I have to get up early every morning. Starbucks needs me.

—Things I hate to do:

*Put new toilet paper on the roller.

*Empty silverware out of the dishwasher.

*Tie the trash bags (can never find the straps).

*Shave (Attempts to grow a beard are disastrous. I look like a poodle with mange.)

*Squeegie the shower glass.

*Wear socks.