On the Cormier move

Designating Rheal Cormier was something the Reds had to do. You can't keep a guy in the bullpen if the manager is not going to use him, and Jerry Narron wasn't using Cormier.

The deal will go down as one of Wayne Krivsky's worst. I can't blame him for the making the trade. Cormier had a 1.59 for Philly when the Reds acquired. You can chalk up the fact that he didn't pitch well for Reds -- 0-1, 4.50 ERA -- to bad luck. But giving him the extension to make the deal is going to cost the Reds $2 million. Cormier would have vetoed the trade if the Reds hadn't done the extension. But . . .

Right-hander Brad Salmon, the guy the Reds brought up to take Cormier's spot, is said to throw up to 95. The Reds desperately need someone like that.

The biggest effect is from a PR standpoint. It shows they're willing to eat salary to better the team. A lot of my e-mailers were beginning to doubt that.

By the way, it's raining here at PNC.

I feel fine right now, but expecting to come down with something at any moment. I was alone on elevator at the William Penn when it stopped on the seventh floor. Twelve members of East Alabama Ballet Club -- and this wasn't a big elevator -- got on. Two of them were talking on cell phones and getting reports on the two ill members of club. The rest begin to chime with their various ailments in high-pitched voices of 13-year-old. I just tried to hold my breath in the corner. There's a huge convention for junior ballet in town. It's made me feel tall.