Recently, the Cincinnati Reds fired general manager Wayne Krivsky, in favor of former St. Louis Cardinals GM Walt Jocketty. From the standpoint of a fan neutral to the Reds, I have always been critical of the job that Krivsky did with the Reds. He made a great move in acquiring pitcher Bronson Arroyo (though I'm a big fan of Wily Mo Pena). But he committed one of, in my opinion, the worse in-season trades in baseball history when he traded SS Felipe Lopez and OF Austin Kearns for a couple of relief pitchers who are now in the minor leagues.

Having not written much the past couple weeks, here's a quick rundown of all the sports at UT recently:

Today marks the official beginning of baseball's exhibition season, and that means it's time for predictions. I'll do the American League today, and move on to the National League tomorrow, going division by division.

AL West:
1. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
2. Seattle Mariners
3. Texas Rangers
4. Oakland Athletics

The Houston Astros made their biggest offseason move since Roger Clemens went from "no" to "maybe" about 12 years in a row. Miguel Tejada, most famously from the Oakland teams of the early 2000s, was traded from Baltimore this morning in a multi-player deal.

Houston gets: SS Miguel Tejada

Baltimore gets: OF Luke Scott, 3B Michael Costanzo and pitchers Dennis Safarte, Matt Albers and Troy Patton

The California Angels (I'll stick with that moniker, as the franchise's geographical identity crisis is unsolvable) have been wheeling and dealing in the short time since the MLB season has come to an end. While they likely won't shore up the bully by signing free agent pitcher/talk show host Tony Danza this winter, they have already made some impressive but gutsy moves that hope to pay off when the 2008 season begins.