THE 1990 Reds swept the favored A’s in the World Series thanks in part to the Nasty Boys, a trio of intimidating relievers named Rob Dibble, Norm Charlton and Randy Myers.
Reds manager Jack McKeon, 10 years later, is dreaming of late-inning bullpen that could rival the one Lou Piniella had.
McKeon already has Danny Graves and Scott Williamson closing games and dreams of adding Mark Wohlers, an intriguing longshot, to the late-inning mix.
Wohlers underwent a Tommy John elbow reconstruction 11 months ago and threw in a game for the first time Monday for one of the Reds’ Class A affiliates.
Wohlers threw 25 pitches in one inning. He surrendered a home run, walked one, struck out three. The Reds are hoping the elbow ligament was the cause of Wohlers coming down with a severe case of Steve Blass Disease.
When MLB and the Players Association get together the result isn’t always acrimonious meetings followed by dreadfully dull newspaper labor stories. The Baseball Tomorrow Fund, a joint effort awarded grants to six youth baseball programs, including a $60,000 one to Harlem RBI Real Kids Baseball League. Nice touch.