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Reactions To The Mat Latos Trade

Earlier today, the Reds pulled the trigger on a major deal as they shipped Yonder Alonso, Edinson Volquez, Yasmani Grandal, and Brad Boxberger to the Padres for right-hander Mat Latos.  Here's a look at some reactions to the trade from around baseball and a look at how it will impact both clubs..

• Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports likes the deal for both sides and argues that it takes a quality package of talent to land a 24-year-old potential No. 1 starter.   When looking at all of the pitchers available on the trade market, including Gio Gonzalez, Matt Garza, Wade Davis, and Jair Jurrjens, Latos possesses the most upside.
• If the Reds make the playoffs in 2012 and/or in '13, in a weak division, and Latos helps, this trade will have served its purpose for the club, tweets Buster Olney of ESPN.com.
• One source told Dan Hayes of the North County Times (via Twitter) that the club had "a ton" of concern about Mat Latos' maturity issues.  Latos turned 24 years old last week.
• The first rival evaluator Olney (via Twitter) spoke with loved the trade for the Padres.  That same evaluator raised concerns about how Latos grows mentally as a pitcher and thinks that his fastball command is the big question mark for him (Twitter link).
• The Rockies were briefly in the mix for Volquez this week before he was traded to San Diego, tweets Troy Renck of The Denver Post.
• Even though it's fair to say that Alonso and Grandal were blocked by Joey Votto and Devin Mesoraco, respectively, Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com (via Twitter) still feels that the Reds gave up a lot to land Latos.
• After watching Latos pitch in 2010, John Fay of the Cincinnati Enquirer (via Twitter) could not have imagined the Padres dealing the talented pitcher.  However, Latos' 2011 wasn't quite as impressive.
• More from Olney (via Twitter) who thinks the Reds would have been better off dealing Votto for a huge haul of prospects and plugging Alonso in at first base.  However, the Reds want to try to keep Votto and view him as their own Albert Pujols (Twitter link).  Rival executives don't see how they'll be able to hang on to Votto while keeping their payroll under control.
• The Padres view Boxberger as someone who can eventually be a potential closer, tweets Scott Miller of CBSSports.com.  Baseball America ranked the 23-year-old as the 10th best prospect in the Reds' farm system.

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