Just why was Reitsma traded?

[Catch22]

It can't be a one-way street. If arb-eligibles only drive in the outbound lane, it doesn't matter if the team makes a good call on a guy like Reitsma. The Reds have to find a way to retain and acquire arb-eligibles as well as send them packing. No one's winning anything with a team comprised of Year 1-3 players. It's the activity on the inbound lane which will define this team and DanO's stewardship of it.

This is exactly what I was trying to say M2! Thanks you for putting it so succinctly (I have a hard time condensing my toughts sometimes). Maybe after following the Reds for the last few years, I've become a bit cynical - but it seems to me that the talent bus has been driving in one direction since I started watching this team. If the last three years are any indication, three to four years from now everybody will be talking about the good prospects that Bong and Nelson have netted. Maybe this is the last leftover effects from the Bowden era, but I suspect that Bowden's, and now O'Brien's marching orders are coming from the top. And those orders do not include trading cheap players, for more expensive ones.

I hope that I'm proven wrong, but lets just say that I won't hold my breath.

[Aronchis]

Catch, the Reitsma deal was all O'brien, he saw a MR who would get more expensive next year so he dealt him off now.

You just aren't going to get much inbound, that is something you are going have to accept. Did the Marlins have much inbound this winter? No. The key is targeting the players you want to get with cheaper players you value less while keeping your cheapos you value more instead of going for more expensive players.Reds players always seem on the train out of here because the product isn't good from the bottom up. So you are perpetually rebuilding. Bowden's endgame would have required a 90mill payroll just for the Reds to make it to the playoffs. He wasn't bringing up enough cheap talent from the minors, trades from Vets and scouting Internationally to make a good product that could win 90 games from the bottom up with a moderate payroll. He at best, had 500 teams. That gives management every reason to smack you down and show you up. Compare the Reds arms to the Pirates Arms during that 4 game series. Who has done better over the last 3 years stocking young pitching? The Pirates now need pop in the lineup and some maturity in the rotation they will dwarf the current Reds. The Reds will collapse at some point this summer, they don't have enough good arms and offensive talent to make up for the bad decisions over the last 6 years. But if O'brien even gets one power arm out of Lilde,Griffey,Casey,Graves whoever he deals off, it is more than we have seen for awhile. Other teams Managements will make mistakes. That is what will define O'briens legacy in Cincy, because it destroyed Bowden.