Reds Caravan is on the road

The 2013 edition of Reds Caravan commenced from the Reds Hall of Fame Thursday morning with a large cast of characters, including Brandon Phillips (pictured), Jay Bruce, Billy Hamilton, Walt Jocketty, Marty Brennaman and more. Dusty Baker was also on hand, but did not board a bus this year.

Click here  to get the full itinerary for all three legs of Reds Caravan. There will also be updates from the road, namely on Jamie Ramsey’s Better off Red blog. Marty told me he expects to have his own daily writeup from the Northern leg with Jamie.

I will be cherry picking a couple of stops this weekend — Columbus and Hamilton. Hope to see some of you there.

Some quick notes from this morning:

*I could write the annual player who slimmed down story on Jay Bruce, who looks leaner than I’ve ever seen him. However, Bruce insists he hasn’t dropped any pounds this winter. I will have a story soon in the Around the Horn series I’ve been doing on Bruce’s thoughts on Choo in center field. Bottom line, Bruce is going to camp as the right fielder, but is willing and able to play center field if called upon.

*There has been no movement in talks with the arbitration players. Like I wrote on Sunday, a hearing or two could be possible this year.

*Nothing new on Scott Rolen.

*Baker and Jocketty lost power overnight at their homes. It made for some chilly sleeping. Baker said his power returned around 6 a.m.