Scott White

You thought maybe he'd turned the corner. You thought maybe he'd evolved his way of thinking. You thought maybe, having spent that time on TV, with all those diverse viewpoints surrounding him, he'd learn to embrace a few other than his own.

You thought maybe, but you thought wrong.

Reds manager Dusty Baker has and always will prefer old players -- no matter how washed up and statistically backward -- to young players -- no matter how outrageously talented.

He did it San Francisco. He did it Chicago. And now Cincinnati, get ready for your future -- a wasted one.

How else do you explain the signing of Corey Patterson when, by almost every indication, mega prospect Jay Bruce looked primed to take over in center field?

His minor-league statistics called for it. The trade of Josh Hamilton begged for it.

But Dusty had other plans. Dusty didn't want a kid in center. Dusty worried that he might need some -- I don't know -- coaching.

And it was all too predictable. I had planned to write about this subject even before the signing of Patterson, after I had come across this quote, made in response to Bruce leaving Sunday's game with a tight left quadriceps:

"One thing that makes us a little wary is that he's had this injury a couple of times," Baker said. "You do a lot of running in center field. To have an injury like that re-occur in a player that young makes you a little apprehensive."

I knew it. Right there, he had his excuse.

Bruce can't play center. He's too fragile. Guess we'll have to go sign an older guy.

And so they did.

And now Baker has a center fielder who he'll bat leadoff because he runs fast. Forget his .300 on-base percentage.

Granted, Patterson hasn't officially won the starting job with this signing, but he will. It's equally predictable.

And to think I wanted to go out on a limb and predict the Reds to finish second this year. Suddenly, I'm not so sure.

Deep breath.

OK, I'll do my job and relate this thing back to Fantasy. In truth, I didn't like Bruce so much from a Fantasy perspective this season. I know I'll sound backward myself for saying this, but I tend to avoid rookie hitters in Fantasy. I think they more often end up Alex Gordon than Ryan Braun.

Patterson, on the other hand -- if he plays every day -- could definitely hit 15 home runs and steal 30-40 bases. So from a Fantasy perspective, I guess this signing is good news.

But I don't like it for the Cincinnati Reds, and I don't like it for Fantasy 2009.

That's all for now.