Basically, Bronson wants to stick around. He likes seeing the direction the club is going, likes the new young pitchers, figures he can still help the team, and he and Harang can provide the veteran leadership for the pitching staff. He says that if the Reds are truly committed to winning, they’ll pay his salary. If they trade him, then they’re giving in to mediocrity.

I would like to keep Bronson around. And he’s definitely earned the right to be part of a winning team in Cincinnati. But he’s also one of our most valuable trading chips. We shouldn’t trade him to trade him, but if we can get something valuable for him, I think you have to do the deal. That being said, I get the feeling that Castellini is not as rigidly locked into some random payroll number as past owners have been. He wants to win and will shell out money to do it (though he doesn’t always throw money at the smartest options). So we might just keep Arroyo around. He can be streaky, but he can be good. He’s the first Red to win five decisions in a row since Steve Parris did it in 2000. Crazy.

From mlbtraderumors.com:

His salary jumps to $9.5MM next year, and he’ll earn $11MM in 2010 with a club option for ‘11.

This makes him look like a bit of a bargain, but add in the $2.5 million signing bonus for those years plus the $2 million buyout for 2011 (or $11 million for the club option, or $13 million with IP incentives), and you get, well pretty much exactly what that amount of money can buy. Plus, finesse pitchers don’t drop off in performance as dramatically as power pitchers as they progress through their 30s.

I think we have some sophomore slumps with the young guys, at least as much as the Tigers had (and are still having). Arroyo would be a nice reprieve when his slot comes around every 5 days. You can’t replace that. Just keep him already.

I’ve gone to Cincinnati quite a few times the last few months for those obvious reasons I won’t mention again, and I find it pretty amazing: Arroyo is really a star in town. I have seen dozens of Arroyo jerseys around. I hear people talking about him all the time. I mean, obviously, the guy’s got charisma, he’s got the music thing going, I guess he’s a good guy and all that. But after a nice first year, he’s 17-22 with a 4.74 ERA the last two years. Meanwhile Aaron Harang, this year aside, is a stud and I just don’t hear anything at all about him. I admit that this is a lot like my Chris Duncan observation — it’s just what I have seen. But I think Harang (this year notwithstanding) might be the most underrated pitcher in the NL. And Arroyo is the most famous pitcher who has never won 15 games since … Tommy Lasorda, I guess.*

Or Fidel Castro.

Anyway, none of it matters because Edinson Volquez is so good he will leave both in the dust.

http://joeposnanski.com/JoeBlog/2008/07/23/gruds/

but he is not having a good year. even if you excuse him for that sound beating he took up in toronto, his ERA is still 4.88, and that’s even including how great he’s been the past month. he’s been hit really hard and although i dont think it means he’s on his way down the tubes, i would still be open to a deal. if we can get a decent return on him (i mentioned Teagarden earlier this week and i think he’d be a fine return. Josh Fields would not) i would make a move. i wouldnt make a move with salary concern as a precursor because i agree 20 mil for two years of (hopefully) league average pitching is alright by me. but if we could get a good prospect + salary relief in return i’d go for it. i know this whole rant here is basically saying “i’d move him for the right deal” and we could say that for every single player on this roster, but work is real slow today and im trying to pass the time anyway i can. ooohh wow! i just got 16 in a row on my paddleball!

Assiduity.

One of my most favoritest words…

1. Is Harang going to be healthy?

2. Can we replace him from with in with our young guys? With a rotation of:
Harang
EV
Arroyo
Cueto
Bailey
we have Thompson, Maloney, Livingston, Belisle, and Jukich on the outside looking in. Could one of these guys step in and replace the production of Arroyo? If they could then getting salary relief plus a decent prospect would be great for Arroyo.

However if Arroyo can not yet be replaced from within then we should not look to trade him. Next season I hope, with Edinson keeping his performance the same and Cueto improving, Bronson could possibly be our 4th starter. It would be a darn good asset to have a very solid pitcher like Arroyo as our number 4. We could possibly have the best rotation in the Division!!!! Who would have every thought that!

Also, off topic, but what about possible reclaimation projects? That is one thing in the game that gets undervalued and Walt always seemed pretty good at finding them in STL (i.e. Carpenter) but WK and OBrien did not put much stock in them (but Bowden put way too much stock in them). It would be nice to find a Guthrie type floating around out there and I really hope the Reds are always keeping their eyes open.

1. He continues to keep pitching like he has for the past 6 or so games
2. He gets a cool haircut
3. Agrees to never sing on a Red’s commercial again

Otherwise trade his ass.