O'Brien babbles in O'Brien-speak about possible offseason moves

[CincyRedsFan30]

With weak free agent market, trades could be way to go

By Anthony Castrovince / MLB.com

CINCINNATI -- General manager Dan O'Brien doesn't expect the Reds' participation in the Hot Stove season to be all that hot at all.
The Reds certainly won't be as active in the free agent market as they were a year ago, when they surprised everyone in baseball with their sudden addition of $17 million to the payroll.

"I would say that, in our opinion, relative to depth and quality, this is a fairly light Major League free agent market," O'Brien said. "On that basis, I would say the likelihood of us being as significant a participant as last year is unlikely."

The Reds didn't fare any better in 2005 than they did in '04, though. And they still embark upon the Hot Stove season with plenty of question marks.

"Last year, we had a specific gameplan and, obviously, we were able to execute that at the proper time," O'Brien said. "We have a similar gameplan in effect this year, but the nature and the depth of options available to us are far more limited than last year. That doesn't mean there may not be a desirable player or two that we end up ultimately signing, but right now it looks like a thin crop overall."

Especially in the area of the Reds' greatest need -- pitching.

And so O'Brien is expected to venture other routes toward his goal of improving the Reds' pitching staff.

O'Brien heads into the winter months with three main objectives: Prepare for the possibility of arbitration with up to nine players, consider trade options involving his position players and scour the Minor League free agent pool for potential help.

While the Reds aren't likely to make a big splash in the free agent market, they are in a position to make some noise with trades.

Teams have already begun approaching O'Brien about trades involving his four outfielders (Adam Dunn, Austin Kearns, Wily Mo Pena and Ken Griffey Jr.) and two catchers (Jason LaRue and Javier Valentin).

And though O'Brien ultimately plans to keep the left side of his infield -- third baseman Edwin Encarnacion and shortstop Felipe Lopez -- intact, he said he's willing to listen to trade ideas involving almost any of his position players.

"Our strength is in our position player lineup," O'Brien said. "And so we all can sit here and say you've got some depth here and there. But the bottom line is we have got to be open-minded at acquiring pitching for offense. We've got to be open-minded. Period."

The Reds must be similarly open-minded about the possibility of finding help in the Minor League free agent pool.

"We can't overlook any potential talent source," O'Brien said. "It's why we're working as hard and as aggressive as we are in the Minor League free agent market, it's why we have deployed all of our scouts in Latin America to scour Winter Ball for prospective free agents, it's why we're taking a look on the international front to the Far East. None of us can predict how productive these projects will be, but we will not leave any stone unturned."

Nor will the Reds ignore the internal housekeeping that must be taken care of. Dunn, Kearns, Pena, LaRue, Valentin, Lopez Ryan Freel, Ramon Ortiz and Aaron Harang are all eligible for salary arbitration.

In short, the bills are on the way.

"We are obviously prepared in our overall budget to have those individuals continue on the roster," O'Brien said. "It's our goal with every particular player and their representative to reach an agreement before the arbitration process. We make a genuine effort in that regard. But we're prepared to go through the process, as unpleasant as it may be."

Another process O'Brien and his staff must keep an eye on is the sale of the club. Carl Lindner is handing his controlling interest in the club over to Robert Castellini.

Once that deal is completed and approved, it's anyone's guess as to whether the Reds can expect any additional boost in payroll or change in personnel before the '06 season.

"I'm not at liberty to comment on the ownership situation," O'Brien said. "All I can tell you is we will continue to go forward with our baseball business."

Heat or no heat.

[missionhockey21]

Can we get this guy out of here before damage is done? I want to believe so, but logic tells my hope otherwise.

Let's just hope the new owners have Adam Dunn pillow cases and would personally wreck Dan O's life if he dealt him.

[CincyRedsFan30]

LOL mission. That Dunn line is funny.

Seriously though, we need him gone(if the deal is approved by December as it looks like it will be) as soon as the new owners are officially in place.

[Wally Mo Pena]

sounds to me like he wants to trade dunn. listen to how much he stressed being open minded. I think there are two players on the team that anyone would be upset about if traded, Dunn and Lopez, and some people wouldn't be that upset about lopez. So why do we all have to be so open minded? if the general public is willing to see 7 out of ten position players delt at the drop of a hat, why stress being more open minded?

[redsrbetter]

You guys are going to hate me, but I would be open minded about trading Dunn. Just not as open minded as DanO would be. I would be open minded in a Santana deal where the Twins are desperate to get some offense and can afford a guy like Santana even because of a lot of pitching talent coming up. I wouldn't be open-minded for a guy like Jose Lima. And I see DanO feeling differently.

[CincyRedsFan30]

sounds to me like he wants to trade dunn. listen to how much he stressed being open minded. I think there are two players on the team that anyone would be upset about if traded, Dunn and Lopez, and some people wouldn't be that upset about lopez. So why do we all have to be so open minded? if the general public is willing to see 7 out of ten position players delt at the drop of a hat, why stress being more open minded?

That could be, although I think it's more of a situation where our definition of "open-minded" isn't in synch with O'Brien's version of the term. To him, I think "open-minded" means getting into a serious discussion about a specific trade of a player. That shows how being aggressive isn't one of his fortes.