SBNation Winter Meetings Simulation: Red Reporter finally takes over as GM of the Reds

RoyalsRetro over at Royals Review had this great idea to play pretend. What if every GM in baseball resigned and each SBNation blog were to take over the team? Finally, the braintrust here at Red Reporter finally has the opportunity to exercise its collective birthright. Finally.

Here's the rules, as per the dude at Royals Review:

Ground Rules:

We rewind to the end of the regular season.

The assumption is your GM has resigned and been replaced. The new GM is free to set their own organizational philosophy. However, they must still adhere to the team budget

We're not concerned with the 40 man roster.

Players with no-trade clauses cannot be traded (this includes players with 10-5 rights). Players with limited no-trade clauses can be traded, but I reserve the right to veto it if I think the player would not accept the trade.

Minor leaguers can be traded, but must be specified. No Players to be named Later. Cash may be dealt, but the amount must be specified.

Free agent contracts are negotiated with me. Free agent contracts cannot be frontloaded or backloaded. Club options, player options, and mutual options may be offered.

Top offer will typically be taken, although there may be exceptions if a player has a preference on where he wants to play (NY over Pittsburgh; older vet may want to play for a "winner.")

This is going to be great fun, and will hopefully give us an interesting bizzarro-world what-if to run parallel to the real Winter Meetings discussions. We'll be updating if any big deals go down, so check in periodically to see if we finally get Hanley Ramirez to play shortstop.