Steve Phillips = Fail

[CrespoBlows]

How do you restore a once-proud franchise? Glad you asked.

By Steve Phillips

 

The Reds haven't made the playoffs in 13 years, and a slow start this season cost GM Wayne Krivsky his job. So how can new boss Walt Jocketty build a new Big Red Machine?

 

Baseball Tonight analyst and former Mets GM Steve Phillips has a few ideas.

 

1. TRADE JUNIOR Yes, Ken Griffey Jr. is one of the few reasons to visit Great American Ball Park, but it's time to make the tough decisions. Griffey is signed only through this year, with a club option for 2009. As a 10-and-five player, he can veto any deal, but Chicago is a popular destination, so call White Sox GM Ken Williams, who's tried to get Griffey in the past, and ask for Josh Fields or Carlos Quentin. The Sox have a shot, and Griffey would be huge in Chi-Town. Then call up top prospect Jay Bruce, and put him in center for the next 10 years.

 

2. DUNN DEAL Use Adam Dunn's power as a chip to get pitchers. The Reds have a limited budget and an even smaller ballpark, so they must deal for arms and develop them. Dunn is in the last year of his deal, so maximize the return by giving an interested team a 72-hour window to negotiate an extension. Go to the Giants, who need offense to replace Barry Bonds, and ask for Matt Cain. Go to Toronto and request a package that includes Adam Lind and Dustin McGowan or Shawn Marcum. Call Cleveland, which is desperate for bats, and ask for Cliff Lee and one of these three: OF Franklin Guti?rrez and lefties Jeremy Sowers and Aaron Laffey.

 

3. BYE, BYE BRONSON In 2006, Bronson Arroyo was a great acquisition by Krivsky, but at age 31, and after throwing 656µ innings the previous three years, he's not the same pitcher. Get what you can, and get out from under his contract, because financial flexibility is critical for a small-market franchise. There are plenty of teams dying for starting pitching: Texas, Detroit, Houston, Milwaukee and Baltimore come to mind. After trading Arroyo, bring up Homer Bailey, and give him the ball every fifth day. Scouts think he can be special; let's see if they're right.

 

4. CALL HANK Have owner Bob Castellini ring Hank Steinbrenner and tell him you've got a way to move Joba Chamberlain into the Yankees' rotation. Offer Jared Burton, who's whiffing hitters in bunches, and Jeremy Affeldt for Phil Hughes. Sell Burton as Chamberlain's eighth-inning replacement and Affeldt as the situational lefty the Yanks lack. Throw in Arroyo if they want. Make it an owners deal. Castellini and Hank will love it; GM Brian Cashman will hate it. The bottom line is that Aaron Harang, Johnny Cueto, Edinson V?lquez and Hughes would give Cincy four very different looks.

 

5. SHORT CUT The Reds have a tough decision when ?lex Gonz?lez returns from his left-knee injury in a few weeks, because Jeff Keppinger has proved he can play shortstop every day. What to do? Trade utility man Ryan Freel to the Dodgers for Scott Proctor. LA can use a supersub, and Proctor can pitch the eighth inning if Burton is traded. Then Keppinger stays put and Gonz?lez becomes a defensive specialist—one with a lot of value if another club loses its starting shortstop

 

[jacksonianmarch]

That would be an awful deal for us

[Cocos Disciples]

How this man ran a baseball team is beyond me.

[Jayhawk Bill]

How much does Steve Phillips think that 4.5 months of Adam Dunn is worth? Five years of Matt Cain? An ace plus a prospect from Toronto? The current best starting pitcher in the AL, Cliff Lee, plus change?

 

I'll give him this much: anybody who could pull off these deals would improve Cincinnati. That said, if he were making these suggestions on a message board anonymously, Phillips would be the target of ridicule.

[ORS]

That said' date=' if he were making these suggestions on a message board anonymously, Phillips would be the target of ridicule.[/quote']

This is a change to how he's currently regarded?

[Jayhawk Bill]

This is a change to how he's currently regarded?

 

Valid criticism.

 

Of course, he's paid good money to spout that crap.

[Mr Crunchy]

Steve Phillips is an ass hat and I feel he's got the gig on ESPN to target the large audience of homosexuals that follow the game in San Francisco.

That said

Arroyo became toast almost immediatley after the 05 season,he threw what? 230 ip in 05..

and never again was he anywhere near as good as the 1st half of that season.

Cinci gave him 2/25M and then added an extension to that as well?

I always liked arroyo but after watching him this year its evident hes got little left.

The reds have some new faces out there pitching and Harang and Cordero are established vets who get it done.

The trade to dc a couple years ago that sent lopez and kearns never panned out as they wished.

I love watching Dunn play,he reminds me of Canseco except he cant hit or run as well.

The reds were hitting something like .115 with risp and 2 out and the ss keppinger was the only guy delivering in the clutch...

40hrs 200ks?

Jocketty is a good baseball guy but the reds park is taylor made for hitters as is phillys.

It maybe a chore to develop young arms in these places.

[ORS]

I do agree with Phillips on moving Dunn and Griffey, however, his estimation of their value is bonkers. This is a team on the cusp of being really good if they can flip those two for some talent that is still a year out. Preferably a potential catcher of the future (I wonder if the Rangers would be interested in Dunn for Teagarden).

[Mr Crunchy]

i always liked the reds because they most resembled the sox and were the best team in baseball when i was a kid.

i still managed to like them after 1975

[Jayhawk Bill]

I do agree with Phillips on moving Dunn and Griffey' date=' however, his estimation of their value is bonkers. This is a team on the cusp of being really good if they can flip those two for some talent that is still a year out. Preferably a potential catcher of the future (I wonder if the Rangers would be interested in Dunn for Teagarden).[/quote']

 

That's a much closer approximation of Dunn's value, ORS. I think that Dunn is worth a little more than Teagarden, though, unless there's new medical evidence that Teagarden's past reliability issues are fully resolved.

 

Beyond that, the Rangers aren't contending...I'd wonder if the Rays would ditch Gabe Gross and offer, as well, a good prospect--perhaps, say, ground-ball AA pitching prospect Wade Davis--for Dunn. Getting Dunn as a DH could give the Rays a real shot at the AL East/Wild Card this season. Davis might survive in Cinci if he could keep getting ground balls.

[Mr Crunchy]

thats what the reds need

ground ball pitchers,guys who can keep the ball in the park.