Crank that offseason plan: Cincinnati Reds

The Cincinnati Reds have been a mess for quite some time now.

With 2000 being the most year they've got their head above the .500 mark, and 1995 being the last playoff appearance, the Reds have been nothing but a Ken Griffey, Jr. sideshow for the last decade.

Now that he's been long gone for more than a year now are the Reds close to relevancy again?

Nope.

After another mediocre season, the Big Red Machine can't expect to compete in 2010, but they'll try anyways, if for no other reason than to avoid high draft picks.

In all seriousness, this team isn't even close to a playoff caliber club at the present time and they don't have the money to clean up the mess that General Manager Walt Jocketty inherited.

The 2009 version of the Reds won 78 games and finished 13 games behind the NL Central Champion St. Louis Cardinals. They could finish .500 in the 2010 season but all that would do is screw them out of another high draft pick.

So what's the plan? Be paitient, don't spend money and try to sell off assets like the late-Michael Jackson.

The Reds will have a payroll in the mid-$70 million range without adding any free agents. Last season they started with a similar payroll so there's not a good reason to expect that to change.

Did I mention that ace Edinson Volquez will be missing most if not all the 2010 season recovering from Tommy John surgery?

Instead of adding payroll for 2010, the best plan for the Reds would be shedding it. The payroll falls in line with most mid-market teams but it shouldn't even be that high given that their best players make under $1 million (Joey Votto, Jay Bruce, Johnny Cueto).

We'll call those three the Killer-J's because if the Reds are ever to build a cornerstone for their franchise, those three will be it.

Before I get into salary purging let's take a look at one of the most pressing situations for the Reds.

Where does Votto, a first baseman, go?

At just under $500 thousand, Votto is too cheap to trade but he has to be moved to the outfield to clear room for stud prospect Yonder Alonso. Votto held his own offensively last year despite some mental health problems and should pair with Bruce and Alonso to form a potential elite 3-4-5 punch.

It might make sense for them to move Johnny Gomes and Willy Taveras out in a trade for some prospects even if it means eating some of the cash. They could stick Votto in left while platooning Chris Dickerson and Drew Stubbs in center.

In theory within the next year or two, this could be an excellent looking outfield if all three reach their maximum potential.

Now onto the messy payroll situation.

Between pitchers Bronson Arroyo, Aaron Harang, Francisco Cordero and third baseman Scott Rolen, the Reds have $46.5 million tied up.

Yikes.

I doubt Jocketty will move Rolen after just trading for him but he should look into it. He still plays great defense and is at least above-average offensively.

Cordero, Cinci's closer, probably has the most value of the bunch and is the least important person to hold onto. He recorded 39 saves with a miniscule 2.19 ERA but a closer getting paid $12 million is a luxury this team cannot afford.

The bad news is that contract in it of itself. The Reds will have to eat at least half to net a prospect of value because of the deep trade/free agent market for closers.

Harang and Arroyo had rough seasons but they've had some success before. It'd be a terrific buy-low opportunity for another team even if it means the Reds only get an low-A minor leaguer out of the deal.

The financial flexibility gained from moving any of these players would be well worth getting undersold on the prospect side of the trade.

If Jocketty can clear even half of these contracts, Jocketty would have roughly $25-28 million to spend if without even adding to the current payroll for the deep free agent class of 2011.

Something to look forward to: Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Josh Beckett, Brandon Webb and Javier Vazquez are all unrestricted free agents after this season.

Instead of quick fixes and burying themselves deeper in bloated contract hell, the Reds best bet is to be paitient and hope that pitchers Homer Bailey and Cueto take a big step forward in 2010.

Breaking? Jermaine Dye to the Reds

ESPN's SportsCenter just reported that the Chicago White Sox have traded right fielder Jermaine Dye to the Cincinnati Reds for pitcher Homer Bailey.

Um, not so fast my friend.

There's no news of that on ESPN's front page or anywhere on their site, for that matter. Nothing on either the White Sox's or Reds' web pages. That's of 11:31 CT, of course.

Reds GM Walt Jocketty is already denying the Winter Meetings' first big rumor.

"Wrong. It's not even close," Jockety said. "We haven't had any discussions with the White Sox since before Thanksgiving."

Postmarked at 9:46 CT from Mark Sheldon.

The Chicago Tribune's Mark Gonzalez's sources (postmarked at 11:25 CT.)also are denying a done deal.

Meanwhile, ESPN is going to replay this edition of SportsCenter that says Dye-for-Bailey is, in fact, a done deal all night long until SC Live airs.

I hope the World Wide Leader learns its lesson. These taped Sports Center's will not fly!

Reunited, and it won't feel good for Wood

Dusty Baker congratulates Kerry Wood on a job well done after throwing 159 pitches in six innings

It looks as if Cincinnati Reds manager Dusty Baker wants to finish what he started five years ago.

Baker managed the 2003 Chicago Cubs to a National League Central Division championship and within five outs of the pennant as starting pitchers Kerry Wood and Mark Prior were abused like a rented mule or white powder in the Bobby Brown household.

Either way, one could argue that Baker's abuse of a pair of aces damaged the Cubs' chance of winning during his time at the helm. Yet, that's not stopping him from wanting to reunite with his former wounded ace.

"We have a closer already in [Francisco] Cordero, who we have under contract for a few more years," Baker said Monday. "But somebody can use Kerry Wood. I am going to call him. I like Kerry Wood as a person, not just as a ballplayer, but as a person. I will give him a call and see what's up."

I don't believe it. Dusty, if you liked Wood as a person then why did you use him so much to the point his arm turned into spaghetti towards the end of your tenure in Chicago. I hope Kerry has caller ID and turned away as soon as he saw 'Baker, Dusty' pop up.

Could you imagine the voicemail?

"Hey dude, it's Dusty. Remember, we used to be cool in the Chi? Anyway I was wondering if you wanted to play in Cincinnati. You know, white people love Cincinnati because it's really in Kentucky. Call me back, dude."

And to be honest, I'm not sure how Baker could work up the nerve to say he liked Woody as a ball player. It's tough to make a judgement like that when said player pitched only one healthy season under your watch.

Thankfully, Wood has a guardian angel. A shocking one at that in Reds GM Walt Jocketty, who once held the same position with the rival St. Louis Cardinals.

Jocketty squashed Baker's dreams of putting an end to Wood's career once and for all.

"It would be pretty tough with (Francisco) Cordero as our closer," Jocketty said. "I love (Wood's) talent. But I imagine there are going to be offers out there for him to close."

I never thought I'd see the day a former Cardinal looked out for the well-being of a soon-to-be former Cub. But it came. I guess the apocalypse is closer than I thought.

Photo Credit: Tribune.com Sports

Dusty Baker Is At It Again

Pitchers of Cincinnati, protect your arms. Dusty Baker is on the loose.

Lost in the Rich Harden buzz was the fact that Reds manager Dusty Baker is making his second trip to Wrigley Field this season. Thankfully (for Harden) Dusty is managing the Reds, not the Cubs.

And I know that there are a lot of people that love Dusty, and I think those people are idiots. Yeah, sounds blunt, but they are.

Sure, Dusty won 840 games in San Francisco, but so could I if my team was lead by the HGH-assisted numbers posted by one Barry Lamar Bonds from 1993 to 2002.

So that brings us to the present, where Dusty Baker is 43-49 and must be living through a nightmare. He has asked Adam Dunn and Edwin Encarnacion to sacrifice just to see them hit game-winning homers. After blocking top prospects Joey Votto and Jay Bruce, he's jerking them around the order. He oversaw his team bat out of order (thanks to Corey Patterson) on May 12th. Think that's not a common occurrence? Not for Dusty, because it happened when he was in San Francisco and in Chicago.

And as much of a nightmare as it is for him to manage them, the feeling must be mutual for that Cincy pitching staff.

Let's take Aaron Harang for example. Coming into this season, he was making a name for himself as a certified ace and strikeout machine. He won 16 games in 2006 and 2007 on some cruddy Reds teams while striking out 484 batters and compiling a respectable 3.74 ERA in that time. Those are some pretty impressive numbers if you take into consideration half of those starts had to come in the hitter friendly Great American Ballpark.

And this year, Harang looked to be back on his grind. Even though his record was 2-6 after 10 starts his ERA was still respectable (3.50) and was still racking up the punchouts (63 in 74.2 innings).

Everything changed May 25. In a game the Reds eventually lost 12-9 in 18 innings to the San Diego Padres, Baker used Harang (who volunteered himself) for FOUR innings on three days rest where he struck out nine batters in the process to preserve the tie.

Since that game, Harang is 1-5 in the eight starts since that date. He's pitched seven innings only twice and has allowed 36 earned runs in that span of games. His ERA (which stood at 3.32 after the extra inning appearance) has ballooned to 4.76.

Oh and don't think that kind of treatment hasn't rubbed off on the youngsters too.

Since that game young stud pitcher Edinson Volquez has seen his ERA go from 1.31 to 2.36. By the way, he took the loss in that game pitching 1.2 innings.

Dusty Baker seems hell bent on turning Harang and Edinson Volquez into Kerry Wood and Mark Prior. Want proof? Reds fans, unless you love pain, I suggest you scroll down past the italicized section.

“Almost all foreign pitchers throw more than American pitchers,” he added. “Rarely do you hear anybody say some American pitcher has a rubber arm.” Bronson Arroyo was mentioned and Baker said with a sly grin, “He’s Cuban.” Actually, he was born in Key West. “Close enough. Key West is as close as you can get to Cuba,” he said.

Wow! That's almost as silly as rationalizing starting Lenny Harris because black players were bred to work in the heat because "that's why they brought us here."

I didn't know Dusty was a great historian.

I did know Dusty wasn't a great manager.

If you're a Reds fan, you've gotta hope Walt Jocketty realizes the same thing.