This was the first post of a thread in Old Red Guard: Just thought it was interesting for a topic, though it's been topicked to death over the last 10 months.

Find the RH bat

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We talk about this in other threads, so I thought I'd create a specific thread for it. If the Reds are in the race in June/July, we all expect them to be on the hunt for one thing: A big RH bat for the middle of the lineup. Let's throw out some names.

The obvious one is Matt Holliday. I think this is tough because Billy Beane isn't going to give him up for anything less than a king's ransom, even though Holliday has struggled. He is one of the few GMs who will let Holliday walk and consider the draft picks adequate compensation. So that's a tough deal to make, although Holliday would be a great fit.

Other names suggested:

Jermaine Dye
Miguel Tejada
Andruw Jones
Jayson Werth

Let's try to get creative, but not too creative. For example, this player probably will be either a corner outfielder or a third baseman. So let's avoid scenarios where we add this guy and move Votto to LF or add that guy and move Phillips to SS. Those things aren't going to happen mid-season. Also, let's stick to RH bats. No debates about the LH-RH thing. Regardless of your personal opinion on this subject, it's pretty clear the Reds favor the RH bat unless there are no realistic options (hence the late pursuit of Abreu).

If they're picking up a butcher in the field, the bat better be exceptional. It's clear they are placing a premium on defense, and it's working.

So what do we think? Any names out there we haven't considered?

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My personal opinion about it, is that we don't need a RH bat. We have Edwin and Phillips, who have both proved over the years very capable of producing against Left-handed pitching, which is the reason one wants to obtain a Right-handed bat. We have Owings off of the bench, and Nix is proving to be valuable, too. Let's see though what the state of the team is at the end of June, and how well Edwin is playing at the time. I expect that he'll be playing well, and we'll forget all about this idea.