How did Jocketty do this off-season?

Mostly because of the creative, good job on extending Rolen and the Chapman signing. Cabrera I don’t mind, as long as the Reds scouts still think he can pick it as well as an average or slightly below average SS. At least they didn’t trade a young player away to acquire someone like Cabrera…
-j

but I wanted to vote F because he didn’t trade Francisco yet.

The plus is for Chapman, Arredondo, and Miles. I know Miles is garbage, but he can sit on on the bench and even play a game or two -As long as two lineup slots are not occupied by Rosie and Taveras.

Thr C part is for Kip Wells and Laynce Nix. They’re going to get way too much playing time.

I’m still holding out hope for Walt scooping up a bargain or two who are out of options and cut at the end of the spring.

This is the most excitement I think I’ve had for a Reds team at the start of Spring Training that I’ve seen. I think I would of rather had Tejada then Cabrera but I’m good with the signing. I think the biggest way this grade will change over the next couple of years is how he handles Alonso and Votto

The Cabrera thing would put it down to an A-, but still it’s looking like Walt’s done a fantastic job so far.

they didnt make one single bad move this winter. sure, guys like Lehr, Wells, Nix, et al were signed, but these guys arent mistake contracts. they are just roster filler. every team needs that. i cant think of one single move that i wouldnt have done had i been GM (and i will be). i didnt particularly like the Cabrera signing, but it’s hard to get riled up over a 1 year, $3 mil deal. if nothing else, he’s depth at a shallow position.

but just not making bad moves isnt enough to make a good off-season. the great moves are really impressive. im not yet quite a full-blown believer in Jocketty, but he’s got me almost there. Chapman and Rolen were strokes of genius, not just for locking up good talent at good rates, but for doing it in such a creative way. they have everything in place to make the big step forward this year and become a real threat for next season. considering the limiting resources, it’s hard to think of how they could have done it better.

The two most important goals that Walt had to deal with were:
1. SS – his answer: acceptable but nothing to write home about
2. LF – still an enormous ? for a team that is very suspect offensively.

Chapman’s sign is bold and I applaud it, if I could give c+ I would
If he signs Gomes then I’d move to a B-.

Just got through to get Ducats for a Sunday afternoon game vs the Reds. The VRW is kind of a nightmare and the actual ticket selection process isnt nearly as easy at reds.com, i had to go for best available vs my preferred bleachers tix request.

sooooooooo, happy bday to me im spending the bigger bucks. we’re a gonna be fairly close to the Bartman seats.

The good moves were great – signing Chapman, resigning Rolen, getting anything at all for Taveras (even if it was just some salary relief). The “bad” moves were even pretty good:

LF – The team has 453 candidates for the position; some old and limited (Gomes, Nix), some young and big questions (Frazier, Heisey, Balentien), Dickerson is a health/position question. Because there are so many candidates (and until Gomes signs somewhere else, he still has to be considered in the mix), I’m convinced a good, workable solution will present itself.

SS – There weren’t alot of good alternatives out there. Tejada is a really bad fielder (‘08 shows why “they” say you need 3 years’ worth of defensive data), and despite the nay-saying around here, Cabrera looks to be “worth” every bit as much right now. If you add up the last 3 years, Tejada (including his out-of-whack ‘08) was a 7 WAR player; Cabrera (including an equally (but negative) out-of-whack ’09 defensive value) was worth 7.8 WAR, and he’s guaranteed about half the money Tejada is. As for Janish, he’s good defensively, but I have a hard time believing he’d be the 2nd most valuable fielder in MLB over the course of an entire season, which he’d need to do to be as valuable as Cabrera. Plus, as others have said, the team has no depth at the position for ’10. Finally, $3M/yr (for either 1 or 2 years) is not an amount of money that hamstrings a team.

Gomes – Not offering arbitration was either genius or really lucky; no matter where he signs, he will make less than half what he would have won in arbitration. I don’t think it was luck.

I think he may get too much blame for the Taveras signing, too. As others have said, the offseason moves show a clear plan – one that is very different from the “win now” mantra Castellini repeated so often in the past. It’s very possible that he, not Jockety, was the primary decision-maker in that deal (with Baker telling him what he needed to “win now”).

In all, a solid A.

By the way – was the Taveras trade ever completed?

I will be seeing Tom Nichols on Saturday at the RailCats Fanfest in Merrillville IN.
Nichols is the voice of the Dayton Dragons and went there in 09 after a couple of years announcing and media-managing the Gary team.

If anybody wants me to ask about a farmhand, Nichols would probably know. He obviously won’t share truly inside info but I know the guy well enough to ask the questions anyhow.

He re-signed Hernandez early, and no one was really enthusiastic about it, but then the other mediocre catchers on the market started going for big bucks. By the end of it all, Hernandez’s contract ended up looking very reasonable.