- The Reds have picked up Tommy Herr's son, Aaron Herr:
Herr has signed a minor league contract with the Cincinnati Reds and has been invited to major league camp in spring training.[...]
"In the past, the Reds have been successful finding a diamond in the rough," said Tim Naehring, the team's director of player development.
"Aaron has some outstanding power numbers. He has been seen by multiple people in our organization who feel that at some point in his career he'll be an every day major league player."
That's some pretty high praise, which has led some over at RedsZone to speculate that Herr will be the starting second baseman next season. I think that's a little presumptious considering he's never spent any time above AA. He's also been through three organizations already.
He's got some nice power, but at this point I'd rather have a slick defender at second, and from what I've read Herr's defense is pretty bad. The Reds have plenty of offense, and second is the one place without an entrenched starter where the front office can place a solid defensive player. Buying a good defense is probably a lot cheaper than paying for top of the line pitching (or top of the line offense for that matter) and the Reds might want to check that out.
- The Reds also picked up an interesting reliever from the Astros organization, Mike Burns:
The Cincinnati Reds claimed right-handed pitcher Mike Burns off waivers from the Houston Astros on Wednesday. He will be added to the club's 40-man roster. Burns, 27, went 2-1 in 2005 with a 2.10 ERA and 13 saves in 25 relief appearances for Houston's Class AAA Round Rock affiliate and he pitched in 27 games out of the bullpen (4.94 ERA) for the Astros.
Intriguing guy I suppose, but could we stop feeding exclusively at the Texas/Houston/Tampa Bay trough? Please?