I just fear Rolens injury problems will creep up on this team...
You'll be missed Zach Stewart and Josh Roenicke(Great guy.. met and chatted with him at RedsFest)
I just fear Rolens injury problems will creep up on this team...
You'll be missed Zach Stewart and Josh Roenicke(Great guy.. met and chatted with him at RedsFest)
Look for either Harang or Arroyo to clear waivers and be traded in August. With the $11-$12 million savings, we can make a hefty downpayment on a real TOR free-agent pitcher this winter, say, Brandon Webb.
Then we can use the savings from Gonzalez leaving ($5.375 million) and Hernandez leaving ($8 M) to get us a decent free-agent SS (say Scutaro, now with the Blue Jays), free-agent LF (say the Yanks' Nady signing cheap after coming off an injury-plagued season) and maybe even a reliable catching tandem partner for Hanigan (say KC's Miguel Olivo).
Go that route, and in a weak NL Central division, we can most certainly compete in 2010. Consider the possibilities:
Lineup:
CF Dickerson/Heisey/Stubbs
2B Phillips
1B Votto
3B Rolen
LF Nady
RF Bruce
SS Scutaro
C Hanigan/Olivo
Rotation
Webb
Volquez
Cueto
Harang
Bailey/Owings
Closer
Cordero
I'm just saying that that is what makes sense to me. They HAVE to unload one of them to give them room to build upon this move going into next year. There are just too many holes to leave the status quo.
Then again, we had the same holes before the 2009, so who the hell knows? :sad:
http://www.torontosun.com/sports/bas.../10329196.html
OAKLAND -- When the Blue Jays started shopping Scott Rolen these past couple of weeks it was as a courtesy to a player who had asked to be moved closer to his Indiana home for personal reasons.
But when the deal was struck, it was so attractive to the Jays that general manager J.P. Ricciardi said he would have had to consider it under any circumstances.
Rolen was dealt to the Reds yesterday in exchange for third baseman Edwin Encarnacion and pitchers Zach Stewart and Josh Roenicke.
“We were able to get younger at third base and we really, really like the arms we got back, plus we saved $6 million (on Rolen’s 2010 salary),” said Ricciardi. “We weren’t going to trade him just for the sake of trading him but, even if he hadn’t asked (for the trade) we would have had to take a hard look at this as presented.”
Encarnacion is making $2 million this year and will earn $4.75 million next year, about $6.25 million less than Rolen. In limited playing time this year, the 26-year-old from the Dominican Republic was hitting just .209 with five home runs, well off his career averages.
In 514 big-league games he has averaged .261 with 71 homers and 263 RBI.
Roenicke has split his season between Triple A Louisville and with the Reds. At Louisville, he appeared in 27 games with 12 saves and an ERA of 2,.57. With the Reds he has a 2.70 ERA in 11 games.
Stewart was a third round pick in the 2008 draft but has rocketed through the minors, pitching at A, Double A and Triple A this year. In his two minor-league seasons, he has a 5-5 record with a 1.52 ERA and seven saves.
“We’ll evaluate (Stewart) a little more before we decide what to do with him,” said Ricciardi. “He might be a starter but our scouts think he might be closer to the big leagues as a back-end-of-the-bullpen kind of guy.”
One thing that I like is how 4/5 of the infield will look:
C - Hanigan
1st - Votto
2nd - Phillips
SS - ????
3rd - Rolen
Yeah, you were originally a Reds fan, right?
I'm strongly considering it man. I can't believe I'm saying that. I hated the Cardinals there for a few years but my opinion of them has changed completely in the last year or so. They are just a great organization dedicated to winning. They'll do anything to win. They're fans are unbelievable. They don't run their great players out of town or give up on young players early. I'm sick and tired of the Reds crap.
Baseball Prospectus: We're scratching our heads here
Rolen is having a fantastic season (.320/.370/.476 with defense about five runs above average), but even assuming he has waived his no-trade clause, this one's a puzzler. The remaining money on Rolen's deal (about $3.5 million this season, and $11 million for next) represents a substantial burden for a notoriously cost-conscious team, and given that the Reds have lost 18 of their past 26 games, they're hardly contenders -- fifth in the NL Central at 9½ out, ninth in the wild-card standings at 10½ out
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We're scratching our heads too.
I could see making a move like this if we were on the cusp of winning the division, making the post-season, and needing that little extra UMMMPH. But we're not.
"In my day you had musicians who experimented with drugs. Now it's druggies experimenting with music" - Alfred G Clark (circa 1972)
This is classic. It comes from the school of "The Reds? They have no right to try to be good soon. Their role is produce possibilities on a low payroll. "
I'm sure Fay, cited in the article, would be the first to say that it's too soon to estimate next year's payroll.
If the Reds acquired A-Rod these guys would all say -- "Why? It's not the right plan. It's too soon. It's too late. Not now. Not later. Never."
Really, now, this trade is a bold move, a risk, but Rolen may be a Hall of Famer, he's not that old, so folks should just live with it. Maybe they'll win a few games.
If the Reds are as stupid as I fear and extend Rolen two more years and $20M , I'd probably put the over/under at about 200 total games played. A competent GM would consider that, think the under all too likely and be too scared/smart to make the deal, much less include a solid young arm.
That really wasn't my point. My point is the hand wringing over dealing prospects, esp. pitchers, throwing out "future Cy Young" hyperbole, when he has not thrown one pitch in the Major Leagues, when there is a high probability that he will be nothing but someone who made it to the majors. Your words in a Zach Ward thread the day he was traded were "I liked him." Now, there apparently wasn't really anything to like.
And who knows if he wasn't just exhibiting a hot streak of his own at higher levels in the minors.
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