I think we all know that the Reds weren't going to buy their way out of this mess, but that fact hits home all the harder this morning with the announcement that Carlos Zambrano has signed a five year deal worth $91 million.
There goes the one potential free agent pitcher that would actually make a real difference.
When people talk about letting Adam Dunn walk and spending money on a pitcher it's really important to think about who the Reds would be spending that money on. My guess is we'd be getting four or five Mike Stanton types as opposed to one or two players with the potential to change things, and that's only partially a slam on Wayne Krivsky because there simply aren't many pitchers available this upcoming offseason worth a damn.
The Reds nearly have a solid pitching foundation in place. If just one of Bailey/Cueto turns out they have a decent top three, and at that point they really only need to figure out the bullpen to compete in the NL Central. It's a shame the Reds can't hire Jim Bowden as a consultant, because the Reds never had a shabby pen while he was GM.