Off day and other things

If ever I needed a day off, it's today. And I've got one -- sort of. The Reds don't play. Still have to write something Reds' related. I'm not sure exactly what it will be. The Reds did re-assign Paul Janish to the minor league camp.

I've been tossing around the Ken Griffey Jr. thing in my mind since Jerry Narron's announcement. Here's what we know:

--Narron has made a pretty bold move. My guess is it's a move no other manager in the Griffey Era had the authority to make. Narron spent a lot of time talking to Jim Leyland before Monday's game. This is a move Leyland would make in a heartbeat. I'm sure the subject of Leyland's handling of Barry Bonds in the early days came up.

--The ball is in Griffey's court. How he reacts to this will shape his image in Cincinnati for the long term. If he says, "Whatever's best for team, I'm OK with it," he'll look very good. If he complains about the move, he's going to look bad. My guess is he won't talk about it.

--Josh Hamilton was a huge factor in the Reds forcing the issue. They think he can play right or center well enough to cover for Griffey and Ryan Freel. Freel is about as injury prone as Griffey.

--Griffey's going to have to get in the lineup this week to be on the active roster on Opening Day. The hand may prevent him from doing that.

I'm going to be on radio with Lance McAlister at 3:20 today. It will be good to get the talk show callers' take from him.

One note on yesterday. All that Griffey-to-right-field stuff came after the game in Lakeland. So I wrote it up, got in the car and called the office about the change of plans. Was informed that my Reds notes had not landed. Then I called the wife about dinner plans. Then the office called back and wanted another story for the sports cover because Griffey was going on the front page. In short, I was thoroughly distracted. Distracted enough that I failed to remember I was woefully low on gas. The Mighty Monte Carlo died at 80 in the left lane of I-75. I managed to get it to the side of the road -- the power steering goes out when the engine stalls -- and coast most of the way to the exit. I was planning to run before dinner, so my new route was to the nearest gas station and back. Took about 30 minutes, including the purchase of a $6.99 one-gallon, plastic gas container. Felt like an idiot every step of the way. By the end, a tired, sweaty idiot.

The story has a happy ending. The meal at Barnacle Bill's was delightful. Grouper Katrina. Laura had a lobster bigger than her head and about the same price as my first car. I could eat Grouper Katrina every night. Of course, I'd weigh 257 after a month or so.