The eight year veteran offensive lineman was released by the Bengals today.  He appeared in 17 games the last two seasons for the Bengals, but only had one start for the team.  Moore finished the 2005 season on IR with a dislocated right knee.  Moore only played in four games last season.

The Bengals got rid of Moore because of their faith in young offensive linemen Eric Ghiaciuc and second round draft pick Andrew Whitworth.

Rudi Johnson has lost some weight as he is down to 218 pounds, but he has retained his power.  Johnson is one of the most feared power backs between the tackles, and will see an increased workload if Carson Palmer isn’t ready to go from Day One.  Johnson has averaged 22 carries a game the last two seasons.  The battering ram has rushed for 2,912 yards the last two seasons with 24 rushing TD’s, 12 carries of over 20 yards and an astonishing 152 first downs.

Johnson is a throwback, in that, he mostly blocks on passing plays as evidenced by him only catching 38 passes for a meager 174 yards.  But that is just a little nit-picking, because they don’t need him to go out for passes.

The Reds are sending mixed signals….are they buyers or sellers as the trade deadline is approaching?  The Reds made a good move in acquiring Eddie Guardado for basically a box of used baseballs.  “Everyday Eddie” will certainly help the bullpen at the end of games.  But the trade that went down today with the Nationals is downright bizarre.

The Reds traded Austin Kearns, who was hitting .274 with 16 homers and 50 RBI, Felipe Lopez who was hitting .268 with nine homers and 30 RBI with 23 steals and young reliever Ryan Wagner to the Nationals for an interesting package of players.  Gary Majewski, who has been a decent set-up man since arriving in the majors three seasons ago, and pitching well this season (3-2, 3.58 ERA, 1.34 WHIP) was a key to this trade.  The Reds also added lefty reliever Bill Bray who was considered one of the top pitching prospects in the Nationals’ system.  Bray was 1-1, with a 3.91 ERA for Washington.  Royce Clayton, the cagey veteran shortstop, will help out defensively but he’s only hitting .269 with no homers, 27 RBI and 8 steals.  Brendan Harris, a utility IF, has a .210 career average in 100 AB.  Daryl Thompson is a right handed fireballing starting pitcher who could pay dividends for the Reds in the future. 

This trade will hurt the Reds offensively, but it’s hard to argue with the need for major-league ready relief pitching if the Reds are gonna try for that wildcard.

Brazell was an Olympic hurdler that is a great athlete….just not a great football player.  More than likely, he’ll end up returning kicks or be on the practice squad.

Many didn’t have Kilmer getting drafted at all out of Penn State.  Kilmer is a great athlete that plays hard and will probably be used on all of the special teams this season.  He has experience at both WR and DB at Penn State.