Reds think small with Randa deal

By Paul Daugherty
Enquirer staff writer

Trading Joe Randa for kids is nothing but Cincinnati spinning on the small-money hamster wheel. It's getting crowded there now, the Reds having joined the Pirates, Brewers, Royals and others.

Only in baseball do people think this way. I mean, would you trade your 5-year-old Toyota Camry, running great with 60,000 miles on it, even up for a new car that had never been tested? Do you exchange your steak dinner for a soy burger, because soy potentially could taste better, maybe, possibly, if everything goes well?

The only thing that matters in Baseball is money. You don't win by trading your best players. You win by keeping them. Otherwise, all you're doing is building for a future that never arrives. It's telling that the Reds want to move Ken Griffey Jr. and Adam Dunn. That's something hamster teams do.

Trading established players for kid prospects is a good way for small-spending teams to become competitive.

Really?

Check out the all-star roster of players the Reds acquired in July and August the previous three years:

Brian Moehler, Matt Boone, Shawn Estes, Jeff Bruksch (sounds like a dental problem), Charlie Manning, Tim Hummel, Phil Norton, Phil Dumatrait, the one and only Jovan Moran, Joe Wilson, Gabe White and Tyler Pelland.

Not to diminish the skills of any of these gentlemen, but ... where are they?

Dumatrait's still in the system. He's 3-10 at Chattanooga.

The Reds did get Aaron Harang from Oakland, for Jose Guillen, and dealt Aaron Boone to the Yankees for Brandon Claussen. Matt Belisle came from Atlanta, for Kent Mercker. Elizardo Ramirez (5-2 at Louisville) came from Philadelphia for Cory Lidle.

Harang is the best of the bunch, but he's just 6-8. Claussen is on the first floor of a 20-story building, walking up. After that?

The Reds traded two very good, everyday players (Boone, Guillen), two highly qualified-at-the-time relievers (Scott Sullivan and Scott Williamson) and a so-so starter (Lidle) for a little Maybe and a lot of Nothing.
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