Could the reds use any of these guys?

by smitty3 on Feb 25, 2011 12:46 AM EST

Yardbarker recently posted about the 9 best free agents left in MLB. Link

There is definitely a few interesting names out there so go check it out.

Willy Aybar is especially interesting to me, Being only 27, decent pop, switch hitter, and able to play all over the infield. wouldn't mind bringing him in on a minor league deal and seeing if he can take cairos spot. David eckstein also could do this but im not nearly as interested but perhaps Jocketty is still looking at old cardinals.

via www.tampabayraysfan.com

Jermaine Dye would also be interesting on a minor league deal to compete, who knows having his knowledge in arizona may help a young hitter or two.

Nothing too special out there but something to wrap your mind around, I know if I was a GM I would take a look at Aybar because of his versatility and a little pop. Plus id rather have him as Rolens backup then Cairo but that could just be my dislike for Cairo talking.

What do you guys think?

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Aybar is a switch hitter.

He sucks from both sides of the plate.

As for Dye, adding another righty to our LF mix might make things messy with Gomes and Heisey, plus Fred Lewis and Yonder Alonso and Jeremy Hermida already competing in camp.

Rotowire says (subscription):

“I would still like to play, but I think my choices have passed and teams have gone with other people,” said the 37-year-old Dye, who sat out all of last season. “I will continue to stay in shape and hopefully someone will call. If nothing gets done by the end of spring, I may call it a career.” The Dodgers were reportedly willing to give Dye a minor league deal in December, but Dye wants a major league contract, which may be difficult to find given his advancing age.

Dye turned down a one-year, $3 million deal from the Cubs this past year and sat out the entire season. Dye said money won’t be an issue this time around but he won’t sign a minor league contract.

Dye failed to land anywhere in 2010 thanks to his atrocious finish to 2009 and high contract demands.

Dye says he still wants to play, but his high price and unwillingness to play for a non-contender makes it unlikely

and he sounds like a real pain in the ass:

"All these pitchers get hurt, miss the whole year and get major-league deals," Dye said, without identifying anyone by name. "That’s what I don’t get."
Dye, who has a career .826 OPS and 325 home runs, isn’t giving up on playing in 2011. But he acknowledged that his time is running short. "I’m still working out. I’m still in shape. I’m still motivated," Dye said. "If nobody wants to put me on a team, I can’t do much about that. But I’m not going to go for a minor-league contract.
"The thing I don’t get is, I’m not even a bad guy. I thought I had a good reputation in baseball."

"Stay off the crack. Drink a chocolate milk. Enjoy your moment. That’s all I got." - Charlie Sheen, lifelong Reds fan

by PeteyHendrix on Feb 25, 2011 1:10 AM EST reply actions

I agree about dye, just thought i would mention him

Aybar did suck something terrible last year, however before that he was decent and is much better defensively than cairo. Just something to talk about, i seriously doubt they will actual sign him

"strikeouts are a lot sexier than groundouts"

by smitty3 on Feb 25, 2011 1:33 AM EST up reply actions

I think this should have been a fanshot

Nonetheless, no thanks on any of them. This team has enough talent in house that they don’t need to go scraping the bottom of the barrel anymore.

"Penus, stale beer, and day old hot dogs. Love it"--justin007000

by nycredsfan on Feb 25, 2011 8:57 AM EST reply actions

sorry :[

"strikeouts are a lot sexier than groundouts"

by smitty3 on Feb 25, 2011 5:08 PM EST up reply actions

YOU should have been a FanShot

by Brian B on Feb 28, 2011 8:44 AM EST via mobile up reply actions

If Cairo hadn't already been signed, I would've preferred Aybar

but at this point in time Aybar simply won’t happen. I would not want Dye at all. No thank you to Eckstein, i think I would actually rather have Cairo.

The players still left just don’t happen to fill any need that we have right now. Otherwise, we would have been talking about them.

by kcgard2 on Feb 25, 2011 2:59 PM EST reply actions

I concur and agree comepletely with kcgard2

and hereby give him my proxy on all issues dealing with said players.

Dr. Serizawa: "If my device can serve a good purpose, i would announce it to everyone in the world! But in its current form, it's just a weapon of horrible destruction. Please understand, Ogata!"
Hideto Ogata: "I understand. But if we don't use your device against Godzilla, what are we going to do?"

by Madville on Feb 27, 2011 3:21 AM EST reply actions

i think they'd like a veteran utility guy,

i don’t know about any of these guys, but there seems to be internal debate as to what to do w/ Chris Valaika. i think they’d like to keep him in cincinnati, but they usually prefer a vet at the utility position, since most of the job is being mentally strong enough to be prepared to play any position at any time.
Valika’s got promise, but they’ll probably want him to develop more, and if they need to go get somebody or bring him up, they can do that.

by NikoliVoltron on Feb 27, 2011 12:21 PM EST reply actions

at this point I keep valaika around solely as a back up plan for phillips

and not on the 25 man, mind you. I don’t see too much upside, but he is a decent guy to have just in case bp were to go down for the season with some injury. He’s worth nothing in a trade, and I dont think he’s worth much as a starter either (if we were to trade bp), might as well keep him as a plan B.

by pack_fan on Mar 3, 2011 1:27 AM EST up reply actions