Freel trade rumors are gaining a little traction with yesterday's Hal McCoy piece. Apologies if it has been posted elsewhere on RR; I haven't seen it:

http://www.journal-news.com/s/content/oh/story/sports/pro/reds/2008/03/08/ddn030908reds.html

Also of interest in this discussion is MLBTradeRumors floating the "Frofton" monster idea again:

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2008/03/freel-could-be.html#comments

On some level, I enjoy watching Freel's Leeroy Jenkins routine, but he is 32 and has suffered multiple concussions. I wonder if he'll ever again play more than 110 games in a season.

Freel's strength, as we know, is that he can play all over the field with some level of competence (some), but if the Reds feel that their current roster makes Freel expendable, then he does have some trade value. Given his '04-'06 seasons, Freel might be attractive to teams needing an "energy guy" or a platoon partner for a player with poor splits (as MLBTR's theory suggests).

He's set to make a around $3 million in '08 with a bump to $4 million in '09.

The White Sox have apparently expressed interest in Freel before, and he certainly seems like an Ozzie Guillen guy, but I'm not sure if he'd fit in Chicago now.

Freel has been a much discussed player here, but his scrappitude has been eclipsed somewhat by Hoppinger. I think McCoy's story provides a welcome opportunity to pore over Ryan again...

...in the name of love.