The Reds' season has been over for less than 48-hours and we've already talked a lot about the future in the comments section. I figured, since this is what you all are chomping at the bit to talk about, let's give it its own space. John Erardi has a nice piece up in the Enquirer today about what moves the Reds might need to make to continue to improve. What caught my eye was a question that he asked:
Do the Reds value their young starting pitching sufficiently that they wouldn't trade any of it to get help at, say, shortstop or left field?
As you know, the Reds have some depth at starting pitching, and most of it is young. Johnny Cueto, Edinson Volquez, Homer Bailey, Travis Wood, Mike Leake, and Aroldis Chapman all have legitimate shots to be in the rotation next year, and all are age 27 or younger (heck, Volquez is the only one over 25). This is probably the deepest crop of young pitching the Reds have had since 1970, and while there may only be one or two "ace" quality starters in there, they are all solid building blocks for the rotation.
But the thing about that 1970 crop of pitchers is that the Reds burned through them very quickly. Granted those Reds weren't exactly worried about taking care of their young players, but it's still good to remember that it only takes a couple of injuries for pitching depth to turn into a dearth.
So, we'll see what the Reds front office thinks of this pitching depth this off-season. It is clearly the most valuable chip they have for trading, but do they value it more than upgrades on the offensive side? That remains to be seen.
How about you? Are you willing to part with some of the starting pitching depth to get a quality starting option in left field or at shortstop? If so, which pitchers are you most likely to part with? Would you trade Wood or Leake? How about Bailey or Cueto or Volquez? I'm assuming that Chapman is off the table at this point. If he's not, you might want to get checked for head trauma.