I'm waiting for a cab in front of the Boston Sheraton at 4:30a.m. Friday. As my cab pulls up, George Brett — yes, that George Brett, Mr. Kansas City Royal, Hall of Famer — steps out of the door. He sees the cab and starts to take it.

        Then he realizes I've been waiting for it and offers it to me.

        “You going to the airport?,” I say. “Want to share it?”

        I'm looking to save the company a little coin and have a story to tell.

        Here's the story:

        Brett introduces himself. I tell him I cover the Reds. We talk about baseball and the meetings.

        After a lull in the conversation, he says: “Let me ask you this: Did Tim Foli and Ron Oester get in a fight last year? And Foli bit Oester?”

        I tell the story of the coaches' brawl.

        “Foli charged Oester. Oester got him in a head lock. Foli couldn't breath, so he bit him.”

        Brett gives me an incredulous look.

        “And Oester got fired?”

        We ride in silence, while Brett presumably ponders the bizarreness of Reds. Then he asks, “Did (Bob) Boone hire Greg Luzinski to be the hitting coach?”

        “No. Jim Lefebvre, and he hired Ray Knight for the other opening.”

        “Ray Knight? That's a little strange, isn't it? A manager who got fired coming back as a coach?”

        We ride some more in silence.

        “Does Johnny Bench come around much?” Brett asks. “I like Johnny. Do the Cincinnati fans still love him there?”

        “Well, you've got the Pete Rose thing,” I say. “A lot of Rose people are ticked at Bench over the Hall of Fame thing. Bench got into it with Marty Brennaman, the radio guy, at the Hall of Fame ceremony because Marty was going to say something about Pete in his speech.”

        “Yeah, I remember that,” Brett says.

        He tells the driver to go to Delta first, because my flight is an hour earlier than his. Or maybe he's just tired of listening to stories about the side shows to Reds baseball. I start to pay the tab.

        “This one is on the Royals,” he says.

        Seems fair. I gave him some stories to tell.

        MEMO TO MR. LINDNER:

        Reds CEO Carl Lindner should step in and make the money available to sign Jeff Shaw. Shaw's a great guy and a very good pitcher who wants to play for the Reds at a discount rate.

        The Reds can't offer him a contract until Pokey Reese's salary is somewhere else. The problem is Shaw could sign elsewhere.

        The Reds should spend some revenue from the 2003 season now and get this done.

        DOESN'T ADD UP:

        The Reds have an estimated $43million payroll. Ken Griffey Jr. ($9.7million), Barry Larkin ($9million), Sean Casey (around $5million), Danny Graves (around $3million), Scott Sullivan ($2.2million) and Todd Walker ($2million) would eat up more than $30million.

        That leaves $13million for the other 20 players. The average salary in 2001 was $2.1million. So the rest of the roster will be filled with very young or well-below-average players.

        If the Reds can't move Reese, they will have $8 million to pay for 19 players.

        So if Reese isn't traded, the Reds might have to non-tender him. Although Reds general manager Jim Bowden says the team won't do that.

        THE TOP 10:

        Baseball America just came out with the top 10 prospects for the teams in the National League Central.

        The Reds list: 1. Austin Kearns, RF; 2. Ty Howington, LHP; 3. Wily Mo Pena, CF; 4. Ricardo Aramboles, RHP; 5. Dustin Moseley, RHP; 6. Ben Broussard, 1B; 7. David Espinosa, SS; 8. Gookie Dawkins, SS; 9. Dane Sardinha, C; 10. Ranier Olmedo, SS. Interesting note: Only Broussard (25) is older than 22.

        John Fay cover the Reds for the Enquirer.

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