Are we poised for a big deadline deal?

[UCBrownsfan]

I think Walt's been looking more at the deadline than the offseason for any big splashes. 1) It can give an attendance surge, 2) the player comes in for half the price, and 3) You know better your position, and how guys are performing. This is what I see being our biggest advantage over the Cardinals/ Brewers this year. Stay within 5 games by the deadline and we can easily get better at 4-5 roster spots with the right moves.

Deadline Tradeable assets - 2 SP's, Cordero, Hernandez and Alonso.

I think the peak of Cordero's value may be the deadline. We have 2-3 possible closer replacements (including Chapman) - and a contending team with a closer issue may be willing to trade some value for half a season of Cordero and his contract.

With commitments to Cueto and Arroyo, I could see us at the deadline trading maybe Bailey, Volquez, + Alonso (and probably more) for say Josh Johnson. Then Leake is brought up from AAA. Arroyo, Wood, Cueto, Leake, +TOR trade

I also could see Hernandez being dealt at the deadline to another contender needing catching depth - with a slight shift to Hannigan/Mez. Mesaraco very well could be ready to help the Reds this year, but Ramon Hernandez could be buying us 1 full year of control + a decent deadline return.

[bounty37h]

We def have some parts to play with. The best part is we dont "have" to do anything, and are in a position to let other teams come to us and we dictate what it will take to make things happen.

[mattfeet]

"With commitments to Cueto and Arroyo, I could see us at the deadline trading maybe Bailey, Volquez, + Alonso (and probably more) for say Josh Johnson. Then Leake is brought up from AAA. Arroyo, Wood, Cueto, Leake, +TOR trade"

I would NOT make that trade ATM. No sir.

-Matt

[Pony Boy]

"With commitments to Cueto and Arroyo, I could see us at the deadline trading maybe Bailey, Volquez, + Alonso (and probably more) for say Josh Johnson. Then Leake is brought up from AAA. Arroyo, Wood, Cueto, Leake, +TOR trade"

I would NOT make that trade ATM. No sir.

-Matt

It is impossible to sit here right now and evaluate how good or bad a deal that would be because those are 3 players that we are going to learn a whole lot about over the next few months. If Bailey and Volquez have sub-4 ERAs and Alonso is OPSing .950 in Louisville that is a horrible deal.

[HalMorrisRules]

I dont think Walt makes it through Spring Training without making a substantial deal. I think we will see a starting pitcher get dealt towards the end of ST when other teams start to panic about their starting staffs.

[bounty37h]

^Thats when ya let em panic a little more, let other teams make moves and have needs come up as well, sweat it out and get desperate, then jump and up the pot on em.

[DaytonFlyer]

Yes, I think we need to have the guts to pull the trigger on getting rid of one of these starters once teams start trying to overpay us. We just need to make sure we keep the right ones. Nobody is untradeable (except probably Votto and Bruce and maybe Wood).

That's where we have to trust Walt and the rest of the FO staff. Let's hope it works out.

[CySeymour]

If the Reds are in the race, and Cordero is doing well enough, no way Walt moves him at the trade deadline.

[Roush's socks]

Anything could happen by then. Our starting pitcher "surplus" could quickly change. Both Bailey and Volquez had injuries last year and neither one of them is a lock to be effective. Bailey has always been more about potential than results. Really only Arroyo and Cueto have proven they can go a full season with fairly consistent results. I would be very careful before trading away a promising young starter like Bailey, Volquez or Leake. It's kind of like rolling the dice and hoping you guess right which one of them will grow into a TOR pitcher and which will be mediocre.

Trading Cordero may be more of an option since the bullpen looks pretty loaded and someone like Massett could maybe do his job. Coco has the salary to land a serious player, and packaging him with Alonso could do the trick. But if Cordero is havinbg a good year, and the Reds are contending, then I think it would be hard to trade away your closer in the middle of a pennant race.