Thursday, December 8, 2005
Trade may mark new Reds regime

By John Fay
Enquirer staff writer

DALLAS - The Sean Casey trade is probably the first tangible evidence that the Carl Lindner Era is coming to an end for the Reds.

As of late Wednesday, the Reds still had not announced the trade that will send Casey to Pittsburgh for left-hander Dave Williams. An announcement should come today.

The Casey trade is the kind of deal that was unlikely to happen on Lindner's watch. Sentimentality often ruled with Lindner. Remember the Barry Larkin signings?

The Casey trade is a baseball decision. The Reds will save money, not hurt their offense much and help their pitching staff.

That the Reds will lose a very popular player in the process doesn't bother fans who follow the numbers closely. But it has casual fans about to burn their Reds caps.

If the trade helps the Reds get back to winning, both factions will be happy.

The impression owner-to-be Robert Castellini has left on people he has met in the organization is he wants to win - right away.

The ownership transaction is a foregone conclusion and is likely to happen soon. Sources say Castellini will meet with the ownership committee today in Chicago.

Castellini might have had a hand in the approving the Casey deal.

Reds general manager Dan O'Brien says he's answering only to chief operating officer John Allen.

"The only individual I deal with is John," O'Brien said. "Where it goes after John, I don't know."

It's known that Allen has had meetings with Castellini, so it's reasonable to think Allen would not have approved a trade of Casey without first clearing it with Castellini.

That makes sense, if Allen has any hope of remaining a Reds employee after Castellini takes over.

The general consensus around the Reds is Castellini will shake things up.

The Casey trade did that. The trade will save the Reds $7.1 million if there's no cash involved.

O'Brien, who still will not talk about the Casey trade, did reveal two things Wednesday:

Money saved in Casey's deal will not be used for the raises due arbitration-eligible players. "Arb-eligible players have been included in the budget," O'Brien said. "All of them."

The Reds had discussions with Barry Axelrod, Matt Morris' agent, about the free agent right-hander Wednesday. "We had a lengthy meeting," O'Brien said. "It's still in the preliminary stage."

Morris arguably is the best free-agent starter left on the market. He has a 101-62 career record and a 3.61 ERA. He's a former 22-game winner.

He would be the Reds' No. 1 starter.

The Reds might or might not get Morris, but the fact they were willing to trade Casey, a favorite among both fans and teammates, for a chance to do so says a lot.

On Lindner's watch, Casey probably was a Red for life.

If Castellini had something to do with the trade, it shows a willingness to make an unpopular decision to try to get the Reds back to winning.

A little winning really would shake things up in Redsland. After all, it has been five long seasons since that has happened.

Cliff Peale contributed to this

report.

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