Bengals

        The Bengals this evening made the following roster moves:
            * Signed four of the club's crestricted free agents: C Kyle Cook, G Nate Livings, QB Jordan Palmer and OT Dennis Roland.
            * Signed five of the club's exclusive rights players: WR Quan Cosby, LS/TE Clark Harris, S Tom Nelson, HB Cedric Peerman and LB Dan Skuta.
            * Waived two players -- WR Shay Hodge and K Clint Stitser.


Ooops
       From the Bengals
The Bengals’ announcement of roster moves earlier today included an incorrect report of CB Morgan Trent being waived.  Trent has not been waived and remains on the training camp roster.

Where did J Jo go?

From Bengals.com:  "I was under the assumption in the conversations I've had since before the lockout that we were going to get him back. I was pretty much told we were going to get him back," Zimmer said. "It will be interesting to see what the next guy is. Whether he's here, or at training camp, or on the street somewhere, or if he's on another team, or Canada. Who knows? You have to find somebody out there and play and if we can't find a guy exactly what we're looking for, we'll have to alter some of the things we're looking to do."

Ooops...check out photo #11

Bengals

Bengals roster moves
            The Bengals today have made the following roster moves (further moves may be announced after 6 p.m.):
            * Released DE Antwan Odom in the Terminated/Non-Football Injury category.
            * Waived OT Andrew Mitchell in the Waived/Non-Football Injury category.
            * Placed QB Carson Palmer on the Reserve/Did Not Report list.
            * Waived CB Morgan Trent.
            * Signed two draft choices, G Clint Boling of Georgia (fourth round) and HB Jay Finley of Baylor (seventh round).
            * Signed one college free agent, C-G Ryan McKnight of South Dakota State.
            * Placed CB Adam Jones and DT Pat Sims on the Active/Physically Unable to Perform list. Active/PUP designates players who are unable to practice as camp begins, due to injury, who may be activated as soon as they are medically cleared.
            * Placed LB Keith Rivers on the Active/Non-Football Injury list. Active/NFI designates players who are unable to practice as camp begins, due to injury, who may be activated as soon as they are medically cleared.

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Happy Birthday

Dan Driessen is 60 years today
Amazingly...he had 31 doubles, 91 RBI and 31 SB's in 1977 whe he replaced the traded Tony Perez. It would be his career year.

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Reds-Giants-Ramon?
SFGiants remain interested in Ramon Hernandez if Reds make him available, source says.
Jon Morosi, FoxSports.com National Baseball Writer
on Twitter @jonmorosi

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Show preview
3:05 ESPN 1530
6:06 Inside Pitch 700 WLW
Topics
Reds
Bengals

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Don't forget my Daily Deal

Hoosier Links Golf Course
Scroll down to Deal of Day button on left for a 2 for 1 deal

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Link of the day

This is the best website I can offer you for contract status of every MLB player.

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Reds

Reds target Bourn, Pence?

Up against it
The Reds stand 50-55 (.476) and 6.5 games back of Milwaukee.
Reds have 57 games remaining
The Brewers are 57-49 (.538) on pace to win 87 games.
At that pace, in order for the Reds to win 88 games they'd have to finish 38-19 (.667)
Let's say it takes just 85 games to win NL Central:
To win the divsion by a game the Reds would have to finish 35-22 (.614) while the Brewers go 27-29 (.482).

Reeling Reds should sell, not buy
St Louis Post Dispatch
While the injury-plagued Cardinals are miffed about losing two straight games to the lowly Astros, they are still feeling better than the Reds today.
The Reds just suffered a four-game sweep on their home field, succumbing to the visiting Mets. They fell five games below .500 and 6 ½ games off the National League Central pace.

Stat
Listener David
Since the All Star Break last year: Cueto 28 starts, 175 innings, 2.78 ERA but with a record of only 10-9.

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Bengals

Reedy: Brian Leonard in the fold...2 more years


Plenty of RB's still available on free-agent market

J Joe gone
John Thornton, All Pro Blogger
The only way I can justify the Bengals not signing J Joe is if they felt his price tag got too high and they were worried about his injury history. But other than that, I can’t give the team a pass for this. I know what he would have signed for last summer and I was shocked it was so low. When agents get involved and you allow other teams throw offers at your players, this happens. He should have been slapped with the franchise tag before the lockout.

Brown's stubborn ways hurt Bengals
Bob Hunter, Columbus Dispatch
Most of us might even agree with that. Palmer should honor his commitment. But we also know that the Bengals treat contracts just as cavalierly as Palmer when it is in their best interests. NFL contracts aren't guaranteed beyond the current season, and like every NFL team, if the Bengals believe a player is expendable, they simply release him no matter how many years he has left.


Anyone for this guy....again? Madieu Williams cut by Vikings

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Chad

Bengals, Ocho produce win-win
ESPN
.....credit the Bengals for at least moving on from half of the Ochocinco-Palmer era. The pair performed well for several seasons, but that window to lead Cincinnati to a title shot closed years ago.
The Bengals realized that with Ochocinco. It's difficult to understand why they don't view it the same way with Palmer.

Ocho should turn Twitter off in New England
Yahoo
On Thursday, Ochocinco was given the first day of the rest of his professional life, freed from a sinking ship in Cincinnati right into a Super Bowl contender in New England.
Now is the time for him to step back from the showmanship, to shut off the Twitter feed, to buckle down and remind people that behind all the style there is substance. He doesn’t need to catch a million touchdowns, just serve as a good, solid option on a well-oiled machine.

So long Ocho
What a mixed bag when I reflect on Chad Johnson. He arrived in Cincinnati as a 2nd round pick out of Oregon St. He departs Cincinnati a decade later as a circus clown with declining football skills.
In between he gave us a lot...a lot good....a lot silly...a lot frustrating.
He leaves as the franchise leader in catches, yards, and TD's among WR's.
But sadly he lost his way over the years. He was once such a gifted receiver. He had the best feet I've ever seen. Remember his trip to Indy with Carson to watch Peyton Manning and Marvin Harrison? That Chad is so far in my rearview mirror.
His play should have spoken for him. But that was never good enough for Chad.
He craved more. Instead of working to improve his game he transformed himself into a marketing machine. But his skilled declined and he became a charicature of himself. He went from team to "me". His route running got sloppy. He dropped passed. He showed up his QB. He mocked his coach.
He thought name changes, tweets, Super Bowl radio row bashing of the team, cage match challenges to his coach and bull riding was fun. But in the process he went from Pro Bowler to productive to fun to silly to annoying to simply a tired and boring act. If only Mike Brown had accepted the trade to Washington.
Now he's gone. It's a shame it had to end this way.
Hey Chad...don't forget your clown nose and big red shoes. Good luck wearing them around Bill Belicheck.

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Stuff

Don't be surprised if LaRuss winds up with White Sox next year

Offseason routine may explain Adam Dunn's slump


Rough debut for Gomes
Washington Post
In his debut with the Nationals, Gomes went 0 for 3 and was hit by a pitch during their 5-2 loss to the Marlins. Gomes made two crucial outs, grounding into a bases-loaded double play in the third inning and striking out with two down and runners on the corners in the seventh.

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Thought of the day
Listener Jonathan
Was just thinking, if you bought a Bengals jersey of one of the popular players either last year or the year before, would any of them actually be on the team now?  I mean, I still wear my Rudi Johnson jersey (never buy a running back, they only last two-three years!).
Ocho-Cinco- gone
Owens- gone
Palmer- retired
Benson -?
Joseph - gone
Dhani Jones - ???
Who would have the most popular jersey left?  Maleuga?

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Bengals

Texans agree to five-year deal with Joseph
Houston Chronicle

"I'm real excited about this, excited about becoming a Texan," Joseph said. "(Free agency) has been a grind, and I'm glad to get it over and get back to work.
"The Texans have a great offense and a lot of talent on defense. I think I can help the defense. I've got experience, and I'm very competitive, and I'm ready to go to work."
Joseph, 5-11, 190, is joining a defense that ranked 30th, including 32nd against the pass.
"It's very, very, very hard to leave Cincinnati," he said. "They drafted me and gave me my start. But now I'm looking ahead to Houston, not behind at Cincinnati."

Reedy: Joseph bound for Texans

Hobson: Joseph to Texans

Chad traded....

Patriots acquire Ochocinco
Boston Globe
This may be the one time where a move that was surmised by many around the Patriots as possible actually came to bear: Belichick has said before that he has a great deal of respect for the former Chad Johnson, and Ochocinco has made no secret of his admiration for Belichick and the Patriots.

Poll question: 85% in Boston Globe poll say they are happy he's a Patriot

Collinsworth: Chad to Patriots perfect

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