The Trade

It's been a while since I posted because of work, vacation, family and other summertime things, like drinking, so the frustrations of a miserable June by the boys and a continuation of bullpen woes in July left me a little blue--which is a problem when you are Mr. Redlegs. Hopefully the team is headed in the right direction for the final third of the season.

I have my doubts. The trade of Austin Kearns and Felipe Lopez to Washington for two young, inexperienced middle relievers, Gary Majewski and Bill Bray, plus geezer Royce Clayton and two minor-leaguers that are projected by no one to be anything more than reserves, really fried my taters. I don't care what Buster Olney wrote about the cost of bullpen help. When the Braves landed closer Bob Wickman for a Class A catcher, then you fully understand that giving up two starting position players zeroing in on their prime for two unproven middle relievers was dumber than dirt.

Many fans on the Reds blogs have been saying trust Krisvky. That much is hard to deny. More so, his scouting background is the National League--and we don't mean Jim Bowden's kind of scouting (scoping out babes in the crowd while reading Baseball America). Krivsky has a keen eye for talent and knows what type of players he wants.

But my immediate reaction was he could have gotten one of those relievers with Lopez and that somehow Bowden fleeced Krivsky into tossing in Kearns. There were six to eight teams interested in Kearns and he's a commodity that could have brought a lot more--if not now, then in the offseason. The rumor around the Nationals is that Bowden is taking offers to flip Kearns for young talent.

Shouldn't that have been the Reds' option?

Reds fans (and apparently the coaching staff, too) had become disenchanted with Lopez's production, work ethic and hypersensitivity to getting more days off since Juan Castro was brought in. I dunno. The kid had a terrific season last year when people just left him alone and let him play. Coaching--whether in youth sports or the pros--means "coach 'em up," as Steve Spurrier likes to say.

Why couldn't Lopez be coached up? Yo, Bucky-Fucking-Dent, just what is your job?

But I think what bothers me more than the mathematics and common sense of this trade is the painted illusion that this team is a contender. Play for now? Does anyone honestly believe a team with Scott Hatteberg at first, Royce Clayton at shortstop, Rich Aurilia at third and a platoon with rookie Chris Denorfia in right is a wire-to-wire contender of any form?

No matter what the standings say today, there's still one-third of the season remaining and August is called the dog days for a reason. The pretenders are quickly weeded out as you have gone through the league a third time, players get fatiqued and wary, pitchers wilt with dead arm, and you are simply exposed for what you are.

Rarely does a team enter September that doesn't belong there, via talent or kismet. So with this awful trade, the Reds may have improved their bullpen, which was killing them. But they also grossly weakened themselves on the field, for a sustained playoff run, and worst of all, for the near future of the franchise.

Don't let the front office and media Kool-Aid drinkers tell you otherwise.