I'm back blogging

I'm back on the job. It's a been a very difficult few weeks for my family and I. As a lot of you may know my brother, Tim, died after a long battle with cancer. It was probably the hardest thing I've gone through in my life.

But you've got to go on. I'll try to -- with a healthy dose of perspective.

One aside before we move on, I want to thank the people at Mercy Western Hills Hospice in particular and hospice workers in the general. They do God's work.

As for the Reds, a little bit happened while I was out, eh?

I weighed in a bit on the Wayne Krivsky firing. I think it came down to some bad contracts, problems working with others in the front and Bob Castellini's impatience with losing.

But one thing that occurred to me today: What if the big-trade with Nationals had worked out? If Gary Majewski was healthy and pitched like he was capable of, if Royce Clayton was better than marginal, and if Bill Bray was more consistent? (I know that's a lot of ifs) But the Reds would have likely finished above .500 two years, maybe even won the division. Instead, they finished 80-82.

The trade that was supposed to fix the bullpen didn't. More roster tinkering was done that offseason, including signing Mike Stanton. You really can the case that the Nats trade was the beginning of Krivsky downfall.

And the fact that it didn't work was just back luck -- the case of Majewski and Bray.