I'm sure much will be said today, both in Original Content and in comments, about the Jonny Gomes trade. I won't contribute to that here, other than to say Jonny was (usually) a fun guy to have on the team, he seems like a genuinely good dude, and it's just a shame Dusty misused him so much. Best of luck, Mr. Gomes.
What I want to discuss is what this trade means for the current roster. With the addition of Yonder Alonso, 14 of the current 25 players on the active roster are home grown products of the Reds farm system. Further, there are now 5 former #1 draft picks on the roster (Bailey, Leake, Stubbs, Alonso, Bruce) in addition to a number of the team's supplemental first and second rounders (Frazier, Votto, Cozart when healthy). That's an incredibly high success rate for recent high picks. When Devin Mesoraco inevitably joins the team at some point, that will mean that every #1 pick from 2004-2009 will be on the roster and contributing. Perhaps most important is that, with a few notable exceptions (Janish, Hernandez, BP), the biggest contributors have been home grown while the biggest disappointments have been the other guys.
What is my point? I don't know really, other than to say that this is more evidence of how important a good farm system is to teams like the Reds. We were saying before the season how important depth would be to this team, and that is manifesting itself right now. Rolen is hurt, and Cairo clearly can't start everyday, so can Todd Frazier fill that void? There was a gaping hole at SS for the first half of the year, and it looks like Zack Cozart will be an at least acceptable option there. The other offensive hole, left field, is now going to be manned, at least some of the time, by the organization's best pure hitter.
To me, the Alonso call up indicates that Walt has given up hope of using him to headline a deadline deal, and is choosing instead to just finally use him. If that's the case, perhaps it is best to just stand pat this week and go with a full on youth movement for the rest of the year. Given the abilities of those young players, and the players they'd be replacing, it's even possible that could improve the team. As unlikely as this may seem, we are only a Mesoraco and possibly Dave Sappelt call up from being there. And would anyone really miss Fred Lewis? I'd miss Ramon Hernandez, but if he could bring back a legitimate pitching prospect, the deal would be very worth doing.
This scenario is unlikely, but in the midst of a persistently frustrating and disappointing season, a youth movement might offer enough excitement to keep me interested well into football season.
Follow the jump for the games.
- Louisville is feeling the effects of their depleted roster. They lost 11-3. Dave Sappelt was 3-5 with a double, and Devin Mesoraco doubled and walked. Up Next: Edinson Volquez gets the start at 7:05.
- Carolina lost both games of a doubleheader, 10-5 and 6-4. Henry Rodriguez was 4-8 with 2 doubles between the 2 games, and Yasmani Grandal doubled twice in the first game. Up Next: Someone will start at 7:15.
- Bakersfield and Dayton both had the night off.
- Billings won 8-7. Sean Buckley hit his 9th homer (in just 28 games) and recent signee Ryan Wright hit his first homer and had 5 RBI. Juan Silva confirmed his "fresh list" status for the week by hitting 2 triples and walking. Up Next: Someone starts at 9:00.
- AZL Reds won 8-4. Brennan May doubled twice, and Juan Perez doubled and walked. Up Next: Someone starts at 2:00 p.m.