Monday, February 1, 2010

Reds trade Taveras

Yesterday, I said the Reds would need to make some move with the 40-man roster to make room for O-Cab. We didn't have to wait long for that move. Apparently, Walt Jocketty had the same apprehension I did about Dusty still wanting to play Taveras, because he traded him, along with Adam Rosales, to the A's for Aaron Miles and a PTBNL. The A's then promptly designated Taveras for assignment.

I guess the first big question has to be what's going on in Oakland? Why take the financial hit on Taveras to replace utility man Miles with utility man Rosales? I don't think Rosales has enough upside to justify that kind of hit. There has to be more to the story from the A's side of this deal.

But never mind for the Reds. The Taveras saga is now over in Cincy. Jocketty blew it by giving him two guaranteed years, and Dusty compounded the problem by refusing to move him out of the lead-off spot. (I wonder if the A's would like Mike Lincoln?) Surely, this clears centerfield for Drew Stubbs. it also gives the Reds an extra $1.3 mil. which can go toward O-Cab's new salary or into a pot for Jermaine Dye.

Miles becomes the main utility infielder for the Reds, and both he and O-Cab can now be added to the forty man. Miles had a miserable year last year for the Cubs, finishing with a .185 avg. and a .466 OPS. His career numbers, however, are .282/.322/.356. The A's got Miles in December as part of the Jake Fox deal with the Cubs. This deal reunites Miles and Jocketty who were together in St. Louis in 2006 when the Cards won the series.

The other question from this deal is what happens to Janish? Obviously, he'd be a good back-up at short because of his glove, but wouldn't the Reds be better off with a guy like Drew Sutton as the back-up, since he hits lefty and has some pop? The answer might depend on who wins the left field derby or if the Reds go with a platoon in left. I'm still holding out hope they'll trade for Perkins and sign Dye.

2 comments:

Scott Blume said...

I am a big fan of Jocketty and today was another example of why he is good for the Reds. As your site predicted yesterday, a move on Taveras needed to be done and less than 24 hours later he is gone. Good work Z. I think Dye may be too big of a name for the salary numbers available. Saying that, Jocketty has created nice additions to the line up at an affordable price. As I looked at the projected line up by Mr. Baseball yesterday I think a LF that is projected to hit 8th needs some attention. http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20100131/SPT04/301310027/1071/Roster+as+our+++Mr.+Baseball++sees+it

Dave Zahniser said...

I saw that post and agree with you. I'll have my proposed line-up posted soon. Waiting to see if there's another move.