kearns on jason stark's list

[Wally Mo Pena]

9. Austin Kearns

We're not even going to start by firing out those annual Adam Dunn or Junior Griffey trade rumors. What's the point? The Reds are more of a threat to sell the team to Pete Rose than they are to trade those two guys. Kearns, on the other hand, is officially available -- for a change.

GM Dan O'Brien has been telling teams he doesn't want to go to spring training with both Kearns and Wily Mo Pena. But even though clubs like the Royals, Cardinals, Cubs and Astros (among others) have massive interest in Kearns, the Reds keep scaring them away by pasting Nieman Marcus price tags on the forehead of a guy who has hit .237, with a .329 on-base percentage, the last two years, and played himself back to triple-A in June.

One team that expressed interest this winter said the Reds wanted four players in return -- a starting position player, two of its best young pitchers and a prospect. So either O'Brien prefers to move Pena, or he'll find himself with the same overcrowded outfield next year that he had this year.

[redsrbetter]

This means DanO is favoring a Pena move IMO. I like the idea, and I am sure he is still open on something with Kearns. To be honest, I like how all GMs will learn thatthey should not approach DanO without being ready to deal a good player. DanO is actually laying down the law. But we can't help but think this could hurt us as well. Unless he is making it easier for teams to acquire Pena (likely), we may not see a deal made at all.

I fully expect Pena to be gone in a few days. DanO has pressure put on by Castelinni and he may make a move sooner than later. I am very excited about today and hopefully DanO is talking to the right guy right now and is making a credible fit for the right move.