Wayne Krivsky Sits On A Throne Of Lies

That could be the case, and if it works, bully for him.  But that's quite a tight rope to walk from the Reds perspective.  Acquiring players because of potential trade value is a risky proposition.  What happens if the NL Central is like it was last year (very good possibility) and the Reds are 5-10 games under .500 but are only 5 or 6 games out first place?  Will fans accept selling off players when a playoff spot is a possibility?

Or more likely, what happens if these 40 year old players decline like older players often do?  Will they really have much value?  All of these guys are backups (Conine) or middle relievers (Stanton and Cormier).  I'm not sure they have much trade value in the first place.

I'm just not convinced that trading old, declining players is the best way to refurbish a weak farm system.  Unless getting players like Justin Germano and Travis Chick are what you would consider building up the farm system.

I would say I envy your optimism, but I get the feeling your opinions are really more of a wish to go against the grain than optimism.

1.  If Freel is the starter in RF, he's half the price of Kearns and not nearly as good offensively or defensively, and older.  But, they're still looking for another OF, which they wouldn't be doing if Kearns were still here.  Or, you could say that Kearns = Freel + Conine in salary, but Kearns going to hit much better than either, and Conine will be comically bad in RF in comparison.  Oh, and he's almost 14 years older than Kearns.
2.  I'd much rather take my chances on Harris, who hit well in AAA last year and is $2M cheaper than Conine, who's power has disappeared the last 2 years, and is 14 years older.  With that $2M, they could address other problems.
3.  How can Krivsky's draft be a disaster?  Five words:  Jay Bruce over Tim Lincecum.
4.  AGon is 30 (so he isn't young), and only twice had an OPS+ over 80 in a full season (his career OPS+ is 78; Royce Clayton's is 77); he hasn't played a full season (502 PA) since '04, and only 4 times in 8 seasons.  Lopez, while worse defensively, is younger and a much, much better hitter.  And likely would cost no more next year.  As I said, you want young and better?  Flip BP and Lopez; isn't it at least worth trying before giving up on a guy who's a good hitter even for a 2b?  And even if you want to sign AGon in the offseason, don't you think Lopez could bring quite a bit on trade, say more than 2 middle relievers, one of whom is hurt?
5.  The Trade is a disaster already because Lopez + Kearns is too much to pay for two middle relievers, one of whom might turn into a closer.  Especially since we threw in a guy who was just as likely to become a quality closer.

Bull-honkey.  I feel no joy in the Reds getting worse.  I invest a lot of my free time into following and thinking about the Reds.  I want nothing but for them to succeed.  From what I see, I do not believe they are moving in that direction.  That, and that alone, is why I hate the moves that Krivsky is making.  

Until I realized that he had made the roster 0.16 years younger, I thought he was a really bad GM, but now you've made me see the light.  Thanks!

I don't see anything especially patient about how he's brought them along.  Votto struggled in 2005 and had to reprove himself in '06.  Bailey is a 20-year old at Double-A.  There's nothing especially patient about this.

In terms of age, Denorfia moving into Kearn's spot was a lateral move, but from the point of view of payroll, it was a significant savings of almost $5 million a year. One of the reasons Denorfia struggled in Cincinnati was because of the bogus  coaching he was getting on his hitting approach.

In terms of offensive production, this is a negative move.  In terms of defensive ability this is probably a lateral move.  If you are not willing to pay Kearns $5 million (and it's actually probably more like $4 mill.) for the offensive upgrade that he provides over Denorfia, then you are going to build a team that never progresses.

That's why Chamblis is gone and Brook Jacoby, an understudy to one of the greatest hitting coaches in the history of baseball, is now on board.

You are putting a lot of eggs in the Brook Jacoby basket.  I sure hope you are right.

Krivsky is smart and he does his homework. He was the guy who snagged Hamilton, one of the smartest moves at the winter meetings.

He also picked up Bubba Crosby and Chad Moeller well before any other team was even thinking about signing those types of players.  Picking up Hamilton was a smart risk, but I don't know if I'd call it one of the smartest move of the meetings - there were some good signing of major league players like Cruz and Alou to one-year, reasonable dollar contracts.  I'll give Krivsky credit for taking a chance on Hamilton, but I'm not going to start calling him smart just for picking up a player that has a very slim chance of being in the Reds organization in 2007.

Any moran can go out and spend big money. And you get a player who's overvalued and has a huge ego. That's not the way a small market team gets to the playoffs.

First of all, I hope that typo is intentional, because it's hilarious.

Not all high paid players have huge egos.  Eric Milton doesn't have much of an ego.  I don't think Dunn has much of an ego, though I'm sure there are plenty that disagree with me.  I'm just saying, that a smart GM like Krivsky could find players that aren't going to be prima donnas.

But I've never asked for Krivsky to spend big money.  I agree that small market teams can't win that way, though it's not the money but the long contracts that they should avoid.  A one-year, large dollar deal isn't so risky if it means the Reds get an important piece to the puzzle.

What I have a problem with is that Krivsky is just doing a lot of sitting on his hands and waiting.  The only way this team is a playoff contender in 2007 is if the NL is as bad as it was in 2006.  And it looks like 2008 is going to rest on the hope that Votto and Bailey can be impact players because they won't have any more money to spend then - Milton's $9 million comes off the books, but there will be arbitration and natural raises that will eat away at that I'm sure.

It seems to me like Krivsky is putting a lot of hope into a very thin minor league system.  I don't mind teams building from within, I've been wishing the Reds would do that for years, but I'd feel a lot better about it if the Reds had a decent stockpile of prospects coming up.  Or if Krivsky was out trying to grab minor leaguer steals from other teams, but I can't think of anyone other than Jerry Gil that would fit that description, and frankly I'm not that impressed with him.

Sorry for the long-winded rambling.  That weak off for the holidays left me with diarrhea of the keyboard, apparently.

I hate it when people act like the only sound arguments are the ones they agree with.  It's the kind of crap that politicians and blow hards on TV pull all of the time and it's why nothing ever gets done in government.  

The reason this site kicks ass is not because everyone agrees with each other, but because, for the most part, everyone puts a lot of thought into their arguments.  Honestly, I'm not so worried about being right or wrong, I just like to talk about baseball with intelligent people.  But comments like these are bullshit.