Reds Agree To Terms With Shortstop Alex Gonzalez

• I suppose if you are going to spend money on defense, shortstop is the place to do it.  We won't really know if this contract is over-priced until later in the off-season when we see what other players sign for.  I wouldn't say this is a deal, but I'm really interested to see what Lugo gets.  If it's a lot more, then I'd say that AGon was a better choice.
• Really the thing that bothers me most about the contract is the 3rd year.  I don't like the length for a one-and-a-half-dimensional player.  Defensive range is one of the first skills to go.  He's still reasonably young (I say that because I turned 30 this year), but by the last year of that contract, he may not have the defensive prowess he has now.  If so, his offense could be painful.
• I predict there will be a week when Gonzalez hits .400 with a couple of home runs and drives home the winning run in a game.  At the same time there will be a bunch of people saying, "I told you so."
• I also predict that Gonzalez will put up a batting line around: .250/.295/.400.  And actually, outside of the OBP, that's not a huge fall-off from what the Reds group of shortstops did last year: .268/.337/.401.  In fact, the drop in offense at shortstop wouldn't be so bad if Austin Kearns was still playing right field.
• Gonzalez's bat is ideally suited for the 8th spot, but I wouldn't be surprised if he puts in 150+ PA from the 2-hole.  If that happens then his lack of OBP really becomes a problem.
• I guess this means that Brendan Harris is at best a utility guy off of the bench.  That may be his proper role in the Majors, but I seem to remember somebody claiming that he was the key to the deal last summer.  I guess that was wrong.
• Really, when you think about it, the Reds are spending around $7 million for an infield of Hatteberg, BP, AGon, and EdE.  And if EdE makes the improvements that many of us think he will, that could be a pretty good defensive infield.
• The Reds really need another strong bat in their lineup.  It will likely need to be in the form of an outfielder, hopefully a centerfielder who is good enough to convince Griffey to move to right.    Oh, and if he can put up a batting line around .270/.370/.480 that would be great.  I don't know if anybody like that exists, but if he does, we could sure use him.  

Good defense makes good offense, or something like that.

We're gonna need at least a .900 OPS from Dunn next year, we're gonna need something like .275/.340/.525 from Griffey, and we're gonna need Edwin to show some consistency and be somewhere around the .300/.380/.540 player he has shown the ability to be. With those three, a platoon of Javy/Ross (which should kick ass), Hatteberg not dropping off too much, Phillips showing some mild improvement in on-base skills, and the Freel/Deno combo being sufficiently productive, I think we could get away with this signing quite nicely. The problem is that we're counting on all of that, plus Arroyo not regressing, plus some other starting pitching stepping up, plus Homer making an appearance this year and dominating, plus good bullpen work, none of which I think we can even think about counting on. There aren't any first-rate closers out there except Gagne, and he's a massive and probably unnecessary risk, but I think bringing back Weathers is probably needed and pursuit of someone along the lines of Justin Speier or Danys Baez who might make an adequate closer would be nice as well. The starting pitcher market right now is honestly not worth pursuing anyone. We're looking at Harang, Arroyo, Lohse, Claussen, and Milton to start next year, and that could be surprisingly good or very, very bad.

Wish it were a 2 year deal because in 2009 he's likely going to be a liability at defense, which pretty much defeats the entire purpose of the signing.

McMillan, Cardenas, Concepcion, Larkin, Lopez........Clayton, Sea Bass. Oh how the mighty have fallen.

Here's Dan Szymborski's take. He points out that nearly all of the Reds' pitchers are flyball pitchers and the outfield defense is still horrible. He critizes Kriv for making moves independently of each other with no cohesion.

I have to think Krivsky's focus on defense will move Jr out of center. If Jr is still in center next year it will be a a major black eye for all of Reds management. There's no way you can have a defensive oriented team with him in center.

If he winds up about average, the Reds could probably have re-signed Royce Clayton for less.