Reds Hope To Add Lefty Reliever

The jays are loaded with lefty relief... anything there?

keep the prospects and sign beimel or ohman

Alan Embree could be a decent/cheap alternative for the reds

hopefully the best lefty relievers keep getting picked off so that the Mets end up with nada.

tom,

i am sorry about the possible overuse of capital letters. i try to use them for emphsis because, as a reds fan for 33 years, i am tired of the last two owners blowing smoke up the fans collective rear ends.

when bob ca$htellini bought the team before the 2006 season, he came in saying he was going to "bring championship baseball back to cincinnati". then, he basically did nothing for two years.

usually when somebody comes in and buys a business that is in trouble and makes a big proclamation like that, they have a plan in place and action soon follows. i don't consider giving a loser like jerry narron a contract extension and then firing him a little over a year later a plan.

i don't consider hiring walt jockitchy in january, 2008 as an "advisor" and having him look over the shoulder of wayne krivsky a plan.

i don't consider firing wayne krivsky after the team starts off 9 and 12 and proclaiming, "the losing stops now" a plan.

i don't consider the reds hiring bill bavasi, a guy who sucked as gm of the mariners and cam bonifay, a guy who sucked as gm of the pirates, a plan. i call that a bloating of the beraucracy which leads to too many ideas leading in too many directions which then leads to inaction because nobody has a clue about what a plan looks like.

finally, i really don't consider ca$htellini coming out and saying within the last week that he expects payroll to increase slightly and then jockitchy saying that some of the free agents the reds looked at but who signed with other teams as being "a little pricey", a plan.

jockitchy said getting a right handed power hitter who can play left field was a priority. he said trading for one was more likely than signing one as a free agent - just look at what he just said about pat burrell being a little pricey. so, what does he do? he lets the nationals trade for josh willingham and scott olsen and get them cheaply.

tell me the reds didn't have the same kind of talent washington gave up for those two and i will say you are wrong. the nationals gave up b level talent to get those two guys. guys who would have filled needs on the reds and who wouldn't have broken the bank.

the reds could have put willingham in left field, olsen as a number five starter and resigned jeremy affeldt. that way, they would have filled three holes without having to trade away anybody like volquez, cueto, arroyo, bruce, phillips or votto, they still would have had players to use as trading chips and payroll would have only increased by about $12 million dollars.

as i see it, affeldt signed for $4 million a year and both willingham and olsen should be getting about the same amount per year if they win in salary arbitration. with the reds trading away kgj and dunn and shedding the other free agents contracts, they got rid of about $37 million in payroll. with pay increases to harang, arroyo, cordero, phillips, a gon and freel and an increase in edwin e's salary after his arbitration case, the reds are projected to still have about $20 million available for players. if $12 million went to affeldt, willingham and olsen, that would leave $8 million for a short stop and a catcher. of course, those figures are based on the reds just getting back to the $74 million dollar payroll they started 2008 with. if ca$htellini plans on increasing it a little bit, then there would be a little more they could work with.

now, however, with the reds not getting those guys and not filling holes inexpensively and jockitchy saying that he is still going to try and fill the holes through trades instead of free agency, reds fans better watch out.

expect jockitchy to go out and trade arroyo for an overhyped catcher from the rangers. then expect more youth to be traded for an over the hill or past their prime, high priced outfielder like maglio ordonez. a guy who used to be able to produce but who is getting older and who has no range on defense.

then, because the reds have no more youth to trade and the payroll has increased to almost its limits, watch as a gon stays at short stop and the rest of the roster is filled with inexpensive, crappy players who dusty baker thinks "still have something" left.

then watch as the reds stumble through yet another losing season. a season filled with bad defense from the old outfielder which costs the young pitchers runs they shouldn't have given up.

watch as baker continues to put guys on the field who shouldn't be there (paul bako in september), make out bad line ups (corey pattersuck in the lead off spot, kgj in the three hole, joey votto in the seven hole), manage a team that plays bad fundamental baseball (how many guys did the reds have in 2008 that got caught stealing, picked off, miss signs, bat out of order, not be able to bunt and/or not be able to hit behind the runner?) and then act as if the problems are not his but somebody else's ("this isn't my team, this is wayne krivsky's team").

watch as a gon goes down with another injury. same with freel.

watch as attendance falls and people start counting down the days until the bengals season starts.

then watch as ca$htellini has a fire sale because the team lost too many games, lost too much money and has too many high priced veterans.

then watch as the cycle of losing starts all over again.