Latos to Reds, Alonso to Padres

[HollywoodLeo]

Crap, I need a new fantasy baseball team name.

[Prez WilCo]

Crap, I need a new fantasy baseball team name.

Onya Neesbiches

[DirtyKash]

Crap, I need a new fantasy baseball team name.

Albert's Poo-holes

[Foster]

Albert's Wife is a Greedy Bitch?

[HollywoodLeo]

Cubs and Rays expressing interest in Rizzo.

[catman]

This trade puts a lot of pressure on the Reds to win this season or next. He will be a FA following the 2013 season and will command a huge salary.

[Slyder]

Per Rosenthal's tweet


Wow! Big move for the Reds who were thought to have been in on Gio Gonzalez. The Padres trade their ace of the future for a 1B when they already have one. Interesting move and I'm sure there will be more to come. I will be gone all day so someone keep it updated.

After chewing on this trade a bit because I wanted to see the full picture which ended up being (and I didn't know that much about Latos)....

Alonso, Grandal, Boxberger, and Volquez as Leo stated. Volquez is one of these guys with a 5 million dollar arm and 50 cent head holding him back. He's no lose, I fell off the Volquez bandwagon a long time ago. He was a salary dump, amazing how far one can fall.

Boxberger was one of the rising stars in the Reds Farm System and was believed to be looked at as a potential Cordero replacement as early as 2012. But relievers are so flamable and in so high quantity I won't lose any sleep over the loss.

I hate that we had to burn Alonso and Grandal in the same deal, I was hoping they could use each as a seperate blockbuster trade with Billy Hamilton being the 2nd piece of a major trade. Both Alonso and Grandal were both "blocked" from their natural positions so the Reds traded from a position of strength to bolster something that had to be done.

It is a lot to give up but there is a report that Toronto was in on Latos so the Reds had to. I like this deal going forward even with talk of "immaturity" because our entire rotation is under 26 (Latos, Chapman, Cueto, Bailey, and Leake) and under control for many years. We HAD to do something if we were going to compete with the top teams in baseball. 2010 was a mirage of luck, if we stuck with the rotation we had last year we would be lucky to escape "near 500" team.

The rotation going forward:
1 Cueto/Latos
2 Latos/Cueto
3 Bailey/Leake
4 Leake/Chapman (although I am starting to doubt whether Chapman will be given a shot)
5 Arroyo

Is much stronger with a 2nd top tier caliber arm who has actually lived up to the hype and remained healthy.

I don't think the Reds are done we still have a glut of guys who project as solid "corner infielders" (Valaika, Francisco, among others), centerfielders so I was wanting Walt to start picking his horses and going with them rather than let the numbers crunch force us to give up on guys who might have had even a little value. I see another trade for pitching (Bailey in Oakland maybe) or left field. Like I said in the Cuddyer thread, I wish this had been done before he signed, he would have fit fairly well in Cincy as a 3b/lf (whichever he was more comfortable) option even at 10 mil per year and could be used to give other guys a day off so that we don't wear out Miguel Cairo like Dusty had to this year.

Scale 1-10 (1 being the Tony Perez trade and 10 being Volquez for Hamilton) I'd rate this deal about a 3.5 in the short term, it should be a win for both teams in the long term. I really think Alonso will do big things in baseball he just knows how to hit. Grandal I don't know enough to comment but anytime you get a catcher who isn't a black hole with the bat its usually considered a great thing. It is something the Reds had to do if they wanted any chance at competing and drawing more fans. The only question was would it be Latos, Garza, Shields, or another high caliber pitcher.

[Slyder]

This trade puts a lot of pressure on the Reds to win this season or next. He will be a FA following the 2013 season and will command a huge salary.

I heard on another site that the Reds had control of him for 4 years.

[love_that_reefer]

Yeah Latos won't be a free agent til 2016. He's arbitration eligible in 2013.

[Prez WilCo]

The rotation going forward:
1 Cueto/Latos
2 Latos/Cueto
3 Bailey/Leake
4 Leake/Chapman (although I am starting to doubt whether Chapman will be given a shot)
5 Arroyo

That rotation looks better than last years for sure.

Being a big Reds fan I am little torn. I really think Alonso gonna be a stud. Grandal was expendable because of Mesaraco. Losing Volquez doesn't bother me with our group of young pitchers. I think Boxberger will be good but like Slyder said bullpen guys are everywhere.

Latos scares me. He had some shoulder trouble beginning of last season. And his stats are good but it is in Pitcher friendly San Diego.... not hitter friendly GABP. I mean Harang had a 3.60 ERA for goodness sake in his one year there. Latos had a 3.47 or something last year. I don't know his splits or anything..I'm just saying. It helps that he is just 24. Hopefully he keeps getting better and better.

But with Pooholes gone and hopefully Fielder gone and Braun suspended. And the Reds addition of Latos. I like the Reds chances to go for division title.

question...... Is Leake gonna be on any innings limits this year or is he full go?

[HollywoodLeo]

Latos has a 3.57 career ERA away from PetCo and a 1.154 WHIP (by comparison he's 3.11 ERA and 1.155 WHIP at PetCo)

More to the point, he's 1-0 with a 1.93 ERA in 2 games at the Great American Ballpark.

Maturity and/or health may or may not be a concern, but he's not a product of PetCo.

[missionhockey21]

Did the Reds give up a lot? Without question. But how often do young pitchers, with strong seasons, and four years of team control get traded for a fair value? Young pitching without glaring issues is a premium and about the rarest thing for a team to find on the market. The Padres didn't have to make a deal, they would only budge if an offer came in good enough to compensate for a star talent loss and that meant getting several good pieces to strengthen their system.

Alonso has All-Star potential and should rake in PetCo. Hopefully for the Reds this means that they feel confident that at least they have the money to make a serious offer for LTC to Votto. Grandal was blocked on the depth chart like Alonso, but again, high ceiling and a fast mover. Boxberger could be a great reliever but as Slyer noted, this isn't all that uncommon so I am not too upset. Volquez is the variable here IMO. It makes complete sense for the Reds to trade him, given salary and performance, but if he bounces back and finds his control... the deal will look lopsided as I really think Alonso is a pretty sure bet right now for as much as a rookie can be going into 2012.

With all that said, I am happy. The Reds have a legit TOR talent. Couple him with an ever maturing Cueto and I think the Reds have a very capable 1-2 to go against any team and hold their own to kick off a 5 game series. Moves need to be made still this offseason, like finding a closer, but this fills a big gap.