Few of DanO's thoughts for the meetings

[redsrbetter]

12/02/2005 11:00 AM ET
Reds focused on pitching at Meetings
Cincinnati can use abundance of hitters as trade bait
By Anthony Castrovince / MLB.com

CINCINNATI -- For weeks, general manager Dan O'Brien has had the puzzle pieces in front of him. Now it's time to put it all together.
O'Brien will head to next week's Winter Meetings in Dallas hoping to address what has been the most pressing piece of offseason drama for his pitching-hungry club: the trading game.

The Reds are expected to be big players in the trade market because they have four outfielders -- Wily Mo Pena, Austin Kearns, Adam Dunn and Ken Griffey Jr. -- and two catchers -- Jason LaRue and Javier Valentin -- capable of everyday playing time.

With those assets dangling from his line, O'Brien is dipping into the Hot Stove trade waters with the goal of landing some pitching help for his Reds.

"The Winter Meetings, in some regards, are the culmination of work invested to try to find appropriate matchups with other clubs," O'Brien said. "We're hoping to come away addressing our club's needs, most likely via trade and possibly through free agency, because there will be a lot of player reps there."

But with a thin pitching market in this free agent season, O'Brien has said before that he expects trades to be his biggest focus this offseason.

His trip to Dallas offers an opportunity for the wheeling and dealing to begin.

"I would say there are some possibilities," O'Brien said. "I don't think this comes as any surprise to say we have a large number of very good offensive players that clubs have interest in. Our focus is on pitching. If there is a deal to be made, that will probably be the premise of it."

So who are the Reds after? That's the mystery. Trade possibilities abound on the lips of fans, but O'Brien refuses to toss any specific names into the trade winds.

But it's no secret there are quite a few teams with pitching to spare who are looking to improve their offense. In the Reds' division alone, the Astros and Pirates certainly fit in that category.

That brings up the question of whether O'Brien would be interested in dealing with a team in the NL Central.

"We have no reservations of dealing with any club, including any team in our division," O'Brien said.

What O'Brien does have reservations about is dealing away his younger core of talent. That's why the left side of the infield -- third baseman Edwin Encarnacion and shortstop Felipe Lopez -- aren't expected to go anywhere.

But which of the outfielders can be expected to leave Cincinnati? Again, that's a mystery O'Brien has chosen not to reveal. He's likely to listen to offers for any of them, young or old.



Pena seems the most logical choice to be put on the trading block, given that the Reds seemed to favor Kearns for the right-field duties by the end of the 2005 season. In fact, Pena recently offered what amounts to a "play me or trade me" ultimatum to the Reds to a reporter in the Dominican Republic during Winter Ball.

O'Brien, though, dismissed that ultimatum.

"I have not had any dialogue with Wily Mo or his agent on that topic," he said.

No, the majority of O'Brien's dialogue in recent weeks has been with other GMs.

"We've had very straightforward dialogue with those clubs where we feel there's a potential match," he said. "I think both sides have a realistic understanding and appreciation for the others' position."

This is the time of year all of those involved with the game -- both from the inside and outside perspectives -- appreciate, because all of those puzzle pieces begin to form the bigger picture.

"It's exciting," O'Brien said. "It involves a great deal of prep work and there are long days and long nights ahead. But I wouldn't change it for anything."

http://cincinnati.reds.mlb.com/NASAp...=.jsp&c_id=cin

[redsrbetter]

Sounds like the untouchables are going to be EdE and Felo. Very good news here. With this article, I feel a little more comfortable with DanO's focus as well. Yet i nothing will ever take away my fear of him.

[CincyRedsFan30]

I hope Dunn is on that untouchables list too unless we're overwhelmed.

One thing seems clear: it appears pretty obvious that O'Brien will trade at LEAST one player at the Winter Meetings next week.

[Geki Ace]

Dunn's most definitely not on the untouchable list, but I do think O'Brien is asking for more than most teams are willing to pay for him.

[ghettochild]

meetings are in dallas, i'll go heckle dano

[Providence A's]

http://news.cincypost.com/apps/pbcs....30365/1035/SPT

Reds have trade bait as winter meetings open

By Marc Lancaster
Post staff reporter

The Reds scored more runs than anyone else in the National League last year. They also gave up more runs than anyone else.

In the most simplistic terms, general manager Dan O'Brien's goal this offseason is to do all he can to improve on the latter statistic without doing too much damage to the former.

That quest will kick into high gear next week, as baseball's winter meetings begin Monday in Dallas. The Reds didn't generate any buzz whatsoever at last year's gathering in Anaheim, but they did initiate a flurry of moves upon returning home.

That pattern could repeat itself this year, but there seems to be more of a possibility that the Reds will step into the limelight at some point next week, simply because of other teams' interest in a few of their players. And make no mistake, if the Reds are to address their perennial objective of improving the pitching staff, any significant addition probably will come via trade.

"Following up on the general manager meetings and leading up to the winter meetings, there has been a tremendous amount of interest expressed in a variety of our position players," O'Brien said on a Friday conference call with local reporters. "The focal point for us in all of these conversations revolves around pitching coming back to our ballclub."

With that in mind, O'Brien said he isn't limiting his focus to clearing up the longstanding logjam among core outfielders Ken Griffey Jr., Adam Dunn, Austin Kearns and Wily Mo Pena. In fact, he implied that he wouldn't be averse to holding on to all four if a better deal could be made for another piece of the roster.

"I don't think you can focus on the outfield situation, because at this point there are a number of different avenues with our position players that are available to us," O'Brien said. "It's basically a matter of looking at what would bring us the best possible package of talent in return. Whether or not that involves an outfielder remains to be seen. ... Sometimes you've got to have flexibility in considering moving people around the diamond to different positions."

If not an outfielder, the only players on the roster the Reds would consider trading that would bring the kind of return they're looking for likely would be first baseman Sean Casey and catcher Jason LaRue.

Plenty of teams are looking for catching help, and the arbitration-eligible LaRue could be an attractive bargaining chip for Cincinnati. Casey would appear less so, mainly because he'll be paid $8.5 million in 2006, the final year of his contract. If Casey is dealt, the Reds would be able to fill that hole internally by moving Dunn to first, but there is no in-house replacement for LaRue.

One other player who could depart in a minor deal or as a piece in a bigger trade is right-hander Ramon Ortiz, who is eligible for arbitration after the Reds declined their $4.55 million option on him for 2006.

Whether or not a deal is consummated in Dallas next week, O'Brien sounds determined to another crack at filling the pitching void that has troubled the Reds for so long. Last year's moves - trading for Ortiz, shelling out $25.5 million for Eric Milton and re-signing Paul Wilson - certainly didn't do the trick.

O'Brien didn't close the door to dipping back into the free-agent market for a pitcher, but indicated that the rapidly rising prices of the available arms make another Milton-level deal unlikely. That's especially true considering O'Brien said he is working with about the same payroll he had last year, about $60 million.

Raises due to the nine players eligible for salary arbitration this year probably will eat up a good chunk of the money the Reds will save by clearing the contracts of Danny Graves, D'Angelo Jimenez and others off the books, thus making it more difficult to contend in what is shaping up to be a free-spending marketplace.

"In projecting our budget for next year, we included all of the arbitration-eligible players, and right now we're prepared to have every one of them on the ballclub," O'Brien said. "Ultimately, certainly that impacts the extent to which we can be involved in the free-agent market."

The only sure thing heading into Dallas is that the Reds can't go to spring training with the same pitching staff that dragged the team down to a 73-89 record in 2005 and expect to do any better.

a similar article to the one redsrbetter posted.

[Providence A's]

The Reds scored more runs than anyone else in the National League last year. They also gave up more runs than anyone else.

In the most simplistic terms, general manager Dan O'Brien's goal this offseason is to do all he can to improve on the latter statistic without doing too much damage to the former.

That part of the article really says it all for this team (and their AL counterpart Texas Rangers)...how do you improve the weakness without weakening the strength? The difference being pitchers in Texas melt in the summer and the Reds, if they can get good pitchers, will be OK.