Reds sign Wilson

[M2]

Originally Posted by westofyou

Sure it does.

But the horse that pulls that wagon is the ability to contend enough to make a rush in season if need be, that means stability in the farm system, money to buy guys to get over the hump and depth all around.

Stuff that the Reds are currently lacking in.

That's a hard sell to FA's at this point, if a better pitcher who makes more jack than Wilson is to be had it will probably be by a trade.

Honestly, do you think the average baseball player has any clue as to the relative strength of a team's farm system? Or that the same ballplayer needs to hear anything more than "We're committed to doing everything necessary to making this franchise a winner and it all starts with YOU." to make him think he's going to a franchise that's on the right track?

I understand there's some that will look deeper and be big-market-powerhousecentric, but the Reds can tick off the names of their better players on offense and that's going to impress more than a few pitchers out there -- Adam Dunn? That guy kills me. Be nice to have him on my side for once.

The Reds had a certain chunk of PayFlex to start this offseason. My figuring was that, if they kept a laser focus on getting at least one quality pitcher, they had up to $9M to spend on said pitcher if there was no payroll increase. That can buy you someone pretty good regardless of your zip code. That sum might be down to $5M now, meaning that trade may be the only sensible avenue to finding the kind of talent the Reds need.