2 moves that the Reds have to make this off season

[fewfirstchoice]

First they need to trade for Matt Kemp to plug in Lf and hit #4 in the order. Id say this may work.

Yonder Alonso, J. Cueto, and J. Smith to the Dodgers

an Reds get Kemp and a prospect

Then they need to pry Greinke from the Royals.

Say send Leake, Merasco, Heisey, and Valaika to the Royals

the Reds get Greinke

Then the lineup looks like this.
SP
Grenike
Arroyo
Wood
Bailey
Chapman

BP
Cordero
Masset
Volquez
Bray
Rhodes
Ondrusek


Starters
C- Hannigan/Hernadez split time again
1B- Votto
2B- Phillips
3B- Rolen
SS- Janish
LF- Kemp
CF- Stubbs
RF-Bruce

Batting order
1) Stubbs
2) Bruce
3) Votto
4) Kemp
5) Rolen
6) Phillips
7) Hannigan/Hernandez
8) Janish

Thats a solid club right there.

[mroby85]

First they need to trade for Matt Kemp to plug in Lf and hit #4 in the order. Id say this may work.

Yonder Alonso, J. Cueto, and J. Smith to the Dodgers

an Reds get Kemp and a prospect

Then they need to pry Greinke from the Royals.

Say send Leake, Merasco, Heisey, and Valaika to the Royals

the Reds get Greinke

Then the lineup looks like this.
SP
Grenike
Arroyo
Wood
Bailey
Chapman

BP
Cordero
Masset
Volquez
Bray
Rhodes
Ondrusek


Starters
C- Hannigan/Hernadez split time again
1B- Votto
2B- Phillips
3B- Rolen
SS- Janish
LF- Kemp
CF- Stubbs
RF-Bruce

Batting order
1) Stubbs
2) Bruce
3) Votto
4) Kemp
5) Rolen
6) Phillips
7) Hannigan/Hernandez
8) Janish

Thats a solid club right there.

I'm glad you aren't in charge, lol.

[DocRed]

I'm glad you aren't in charge, lol.

Why? You aren't get going to good players for nothing. Reds fans tend to over-romanticize the quality of their players/prospects.

[mroby85]

Why? You aren't get going to good players for nothing. Reds fans tend to over-romanticize the quality of their players/prospects.

1st of all Johnny Cueto, and Leake aren't prospects anymore, they've been very productive at the major league level.

On top of them you would be losing Jordan Smith, who has been pretty decent out of the bullpen. Yonder Alonso, Chris Heisey, and Chris Valaika.

I guess I don't look at losing Cueto, Leake, and 4 other guys with a lot of potential a wise move for the future. Especially when you're a team with a limited payroll like the Reds, depth is a beautiful thing. What are you going to do if you trade 6 of those guys for Grienke and then he has a major injury? Im not saying I wouldn't trade top prospects for him, but in these deals you're trading guys who are already producing well at the major league level, along with several top prospects. No thanks.

[Krawhitham]

Kemp is only signed through 2011 (for 7 million) and then is a FA

Greinke makes 11:$13.5M, 12:$13.5M and then is a FA

You're adding 20 million and removing very little about 2 million

7 players for 2 seams a little extreme when you could lose the 2 in just a couple years because of FA

[webbbj]

no mention of volquez in this post? fore shaowing? i think yall are giving up your hopes this offseason which is likely to have little activity. i think the reds come back w/ about the same cast of characters next season.

[Vottomatic]

I'm glad you aren't in charge, lol.

Me too.

The reason we're winning now is because 40% of our 25-man roster came through our farm system.

Sure, some of our guys have 2 to 3 years in the majors under their belts, but they should only continue to improve with more seasons.

We need to tweak the roster, not overhaul it.

Agree that Kemp for 1 year is not worth those guys.

I'm up for getting Greinke, and like his contract amounts considering he's a #1 type starter. I'd be more forgiving regarding who'd we'd have to trade for Greinke.

[scott91575]

Alonso, Smith, and Cueto for Kemp? Way too much. Straight up for Cueto would be enough (with maybe a low level throw in). Other than that, I am not sure the Dodgers are looking for prospects. Who knows what they would want with their ownership issues. Yet your trade is way too much for Kemp.

You can also subtract at least one, probably two from the Grienke trade. Leake and Mesaraco would be able to get it done. Catching prospects like Mesaraco are worth a lot, and adding in a first round pitcher with a year in the bigs already is more than enough. Maybe a throw in lower level player. Yet I don't think this team is looking to unload Mesaraco. Hernandez is old and injury prone (plus only has an option year left), and Hanigan is no spring chicken.

On top of all that, as stated, you are adding a ton of salary this team cannot afford.

[lidspinner]

IF KC wont bite on ChrisH,Jordan Smith, Valakia and Yonder for ZAckG then I dont do the trade....Yonder has shown flashes of being very good with the bat....Jordan is a staple to any bullpen in baseball...might not be the front runner, but he would do good for any pen, Chris and Chris look to both be starters in this league....CH looks like he could stay awhile.....that is alot to give up for Zack, who by all means is leaving KC soon as he gets a chance.

[fewfirstchoice]

IF KC wont bite on ChrisH,Jordan Smith, Valakia and Yonder for ZAckG then I dont do the trade....Yonder has shown flashes of being very good with the bat....Jordan is a staple to any bullpen in baseball...might not be the front runner, but he would do good for any pen, Chris and Chris look to both be starters in this league....CH looks like he could stay awhile.....that is alot to give up for Zack, who by all means is leaving KC soon as he gets a chance.

KC would want a young starting pitcher in return for Grenike. So if you dont add one they will not bite,
Kemp is under team control for 2 more years not 1 more. Till after the 2012 season.

[757690]

I like the targets, just think the deals are giving up too much.

Kemp is on the trading block because of bad work habits, and a perceived lack of desire to play. He is also coming off his worst year ever, both offensively and defensively. He is damaged goods. The Dodgers are not happy with Loney, so Alonso might be desired, but they really need a strong starting pitcher, and a good one will be all that it takes to get Kemp. They will want one of Cueto/Volquez/Bailey. The trick for the Reds is figuring out which one will be the best to trade. It's a toss up right now, imo.

As for Greinke, he too is coming off his worst year ever, plus he will make $27M the next two seasons. If the Royals trade him, they will want cheap, young talent, as they are a few years away from contending. Probably more guys in A and AA than major league ready guys. They definitely would be interested in Alonso, as they need bats. They will find a place for him if he is hitting. A Greinke deal would probably look more like this...

Yonder Alonso, Juan Duran, Phillippe Valiquette, Juan Carlos Sulbaran and Neftali Soto.

[lidspinner]

I like the targets, just think the deals are giving up too much.

Kemp is on the trading block because of bad work habits, and a perceived lack of desire to play. He is also coming off his worst year ever, both offensively and defensively. He is damaged goods. The Dodgers are not happy with Loney, so Alonso might be desired, but they really need a strong starting pitcher, and a good one will be all that it takes to get Kemp. They will want one of Cueto/Volquez/Bailey. The trick for the Reds is figuring out which one will be the best to trade. It's a toss up right now, imo.

As for Greinke, he too is coming off his worst year ever, plus he will make $27M the next two seasons. If the Royals trade him, they will want cheap, young talent, as they are a few years away from contending. Probably more guys in A and AA than major league ready guys. They definitely would be interested in Alonso, as they need bats. They will find a place for him if he is hitting. A Greinke deal would probably look more like this...

Yonder Alonso, Juan Duran, Phillippe Valiquette, Juan Carlos Sulbaran and Neftali Soto.

not saying your wrong.....and not saying I am right...but I just dont see us giving that much up for anyone not named Doc Halladay.

Go look up previous trades for top notch pitching and see what was given up...maybe it is on par with what you posted, but I think the trade I was saying is overpaying by a ton.....you just dont see teams giving up more than a few prospects for anyone nowadays, let alone 5 prospects.....who knows? But I do know that I want ZG on this staff.

Zack G
Bronson
Cueto
Volquez
Leake/Wood/Chapman......these guys are gonna have to split time if we want them in the playoffs...got to watch those innings

so if we trade Leake or Wood.....that leaves us with Bailey as more trade bait or that much needed 6th starter when pitchers need rest or injuries occur...Sam L and Matt M gives us a few more options.....

so LEake or Wood should be able to gain us a good LF bat to go along with already getting our Ace for the staff. Let Janish take over SS and our team just got better by at least 15 games and should make us a staple for the playoffs these next 3 years.

[Stray]

Is Kemp really that much better than Gomes? Enough to justify paying him that much more? To me he's not, and not even close.

I'm all for upgrading LF, but I don't think Kemp is the answer. I'd like to see what it would take to get Greinke, but I wouldn't give up the farm for him or anything and that is what it would likely take.

We have a really good young core, and some potential aces on our staff. We're going to be better next year, and you never know, guys always become available at the trade deadline and I'd like to see us be more active then assuming we're in the race.

[Vottomatic]

Reds trade Heisey, Cueto, Phillips, Cordero, Neftali Soto, and Brad Boxberger to Seattle for Chone Figgins and Felix Hernandez.

Cordero and Phillips have 1 year left on their contracts for a total of $23M approximately. Seattle takes on their contracts to allow the Reds to financially take on Figgins and Hernandez's contracts, and on top of it Seattle gets a starting OFer, #2 quality young proven starter in Cueto, and 2 quality minor leaguers. Seattle was unhappy with Figgins this year, so they get rid of their so-called problem. The Reds get rid of Cueto and won't have to deal with the problems it causes when playing the Cardinals. Masset/Chapman/Ondrusek close as a tandem.

That is my blockbuster deal of the century.

[RedLakerFan24]

Jason Bartlett and Matt Kemp