So I know most of you guys have given up on the Reds, but today another big trade occurred for our Cincinnati ex-sluggers. Adam Dunn was traded today to the Arizona Diamondbacks for a minor-league pitcher and two players to be named later. This trade followed pretty closely on the heels of the Griffey, Jr. trade to the Chicago White Sox.
All in all, I was pretty pleased with the trade of Griffey, Jr. He was well past his prime and was not putting up the kinds of numbers that he was once capable of. Also, next season was the last of his contract, and the Reds would almost certainly have had to pick up his option and pay him $16.5 million for being a has-been. Getting rid of Griffey, Jr. also cleared up a log jam in the outfield and allows some younger players to come up and get some time. I would have liked to see him pass Sammy Sosa on the career HR list as a Red, but to get out from under his contract was pretty lucky.
The trade of Adam Dunn, however, has left me a little puzzled. The minor-league pitcher - Dallas Buck - was a top-prospect, but has already undergone Tommy John surgery. He's never been in the majors, and while he's still quite young, there's no telling when or if he might be able to produce at a major-league level (or if his arm will be as good as it once was). Adam Dunn, for all his strike-outs and defensive liabilities, was always a long-ball threat and did get quite a few walks in recent years. I've cursed and praised Adam Dunn in the same sentence, so I'm still on the fence on this one, but I think with the recent trade of Griffey, Jr., I don't like this trade so much.
Also to be considered is that the Reds currently have 2 aactive outfielders listed on the 40-man roster (Patterson, Bruce) and we're now sticking guys like Jerry Hairston to fill in the holes. I know it's easy to make a player an outfielder, but seriously! 2 outfielders?
At the end of the day, the Griffey, Jr. trade, along with the Dunn trade, were both money-savers. Dunn was a free agent after this year and if the Reds weren't planning on keeping him (rumor has it that Dunn was not a favorite of Dusty Baker or the new GM), then getting something for him might be a good thing. I think it was more dropping some salary now than anything else. Oh, and the fact that the Reds suck and have no chance at the playoffs.
4 comments:
I had hope for the Reds, but I just don't know about this trade. We don't have enough pitchers and we now have almost no consistent hitting. The Reds break my heart every summer, and ND breaks my heart in the fall. I think I may start following professional German team handball and save myself the agony.
If the Reds don't take the $20m they'll be saving by trading these two and make a serious run at a staff ace in the off-season, e.g. C.C. Sabathia or Ben Sheets, then I have no clue what Jockety is doing. He must have some sort of long-term plan. Right?
Don't forget that Sean Casey is a free agent at the end of this year. Wouldn't it be awesome to get the mayor back to Cincy?!
I think nearly everyone "in the know" thinks this was a great move by the Reds. Dunn was gone after this year, and all we would have gotten was 2 conditional draft picks. Now we actually get 3 prospects. We got way more than if we let him walk. I'm actually surprised anyone was willing to take him!
As for my feelings on Dunn, I am kind of sad. It is hard to find a hitter with a guaranteed 40 HR anymore. We obviously don't have the players to replace him, so we will be hurting for O for a while.
As for next season, I also hope Jockety has some plan in mind. He seems like a pretty smart guy (except for that bum Patterson). I don't see us signing some ace, but a couple key free agents would help a lot. I'm not writing off next season yet. Look at the Rays!
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