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Originally Posted by dsmith421
That article is pretty much spot on, and echoes the thoughts of more or less everyone from Cincinnati I've talked to recently.
Turns out Krivsky is just as incompetent as O'Brien. Who knew?
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Rare post by me, but I had to respond after seeing this comment.
In truth, only time will tell if this trade is good or bad, but I for one think it makes the Reds a better team today and, likely, for the future. Whether that corresponds into a postseason berth this year, who knows? But ultimately I believe the organization is headed in the right direction.
Consider:
- Kearns has been a non-factor on this team for, what, three years? His first half of this season was productive, yes, but with Kearns you always felt like there's more he should be giving. His work ethic has been openly questioned by people much closer to the organization than I, which is cause enough to look to jettison a player after the five-year stretch this team has been through. If Castelinni and Krivsky have shown us anything, it's that malingering will not be welcome in the new Reds regime (see Hancock, Josh).
- Lopez, for all his physical gifts, has had one - count 'em - one good season. Last year. His erratic defense and poor right-handed hitting are reasons enough to question his long-term wealth to this team. For all the good he's done, it's clear he's taken a step backwards this season.
In return for these two you get two young, strong arms who, if you could somehow project their current performances into the Reds season, surely would have cut down on the 13 blown saves this bullpen has accumulated by half, maybe more. At their current level of performance, both outclass most of the Reds bullpen as it stands now, and the ceiling on both appears to be high.
The name of the game, folks, is pitching. This team will score runs without Kearns and Lopez, in my opinion. But how many runs can we keep the other team from scoring with a better bullpen and, in Clayton, a short-term shortstop who at the very least isn't going to kick the routine play?
It's a gamble, I believe, worth taking.
And then there's this. Both are making less than $2 million this year. Both likely stand to get healthy raises if they go to arbitration this offseason (despite Lopez's falloff). It's not out of the realm of possibility that both could go to $3.5 million or so.
Seems to me, some of that money could go toward more pitching in the offseason.
Which, again, makes this a better team.
Here's to a strong final 2 1/2 months...
