Its the only was to try to understand why it was done because at the surface, their isnt any way to justify the deal.
There is no other side. WTF are the Reds doing?!?! You don't trade for defense. Ok, they got bullpen help but at the expense of 2 good hitters? Jesus Christ.
Wow . Kearns & Lopez??? Kearns in streaky but I'm sorry those 2 guys alone are 2 nice bats in the lineup.
This also gets Edwin Encarnacion back in the lineup (just came of the DL)...nice bat so far this year until he got hurt and he had a nice 1/2 of a rookie season last year. You could say that the Reds only lost Kearns in this trade...and as someone else pointed out Freel derservedly is assured of an every day spot in the lineup now.
Maybe it was, but the improved defense is the reason they won the World Series. Intentional or not, the deal proved that defense is more important than people think. It's also why the Sox are in first place right now.
Regardless of what you think of Kearns, the guy had 50 RBI's, and as a top of the order guy. Lopez was on pace to score 100 runs, walk over 90 times, and steal over 40 bases. I don't think upgrading middle relief and defense is going to make up for that. Even in a bandbox. -X-
Majewski is a really good reliever, but I guess Cincy is giving up on Kearns ever becoming a star. Not sure why they would trade Lopez for Clayton in the deal. I would keep typing, but Herm is on WFAN right now, and I hate him.
That's why both players acquired in the deal were on new teams the next season? Cabrera was pretty good offensively with the Red Sox, especially for him, which made the deal alot more paletable in the short term. An absolute disaster of a defensive SS might in actuality cost you a game or two over the course of a season, while a very good defenive SS might save a game or two over the course of the season. The idea that the defensive play of Cabrera and Alphabet Soup are the reason the Sox won the WS is absurd. Of course, the Sox couldn't come out and say "look, we held on to Nomar for so long and let him create such a disruption that not only are we only going to get 2 defensive replacements back for him, but we have to give up a good prospect just for the pleasure of dumping him". Hence the "we were looking to upgrade our defense!"
I liked Austin Kearns a lot, even if he was streaky. I'm not sure this deal will work for the Reds now OR later....
Honestly it looks like the Reds just took themselves out of competing for that WC spot. This comes after the report that thye wouldn't move any minor leaguers for Dontrelle Willis or Tom Gordon.... unreal. I'd be fuming if I was a Reds fan.
Clayton hasn't been awful this year, and he upgrades defensively. Kearns is a loss, but Cincinatti can afford to lose a guy like him for some relief pitching. It sounds horrible on the outside, but Cincinatti could afford to lose some offense for some relief pitching. They did give up way too much, though.
I said that before I looked at his stats. I saw he was hitting .269, and Clayton has decent speed, so I figured his OBP was close to .340, but on second look, nope.
