Reds getting more bullpen help

[MSU Cat]

We acquired Rheal Cormier in exchange for Justin Germano. Not a bad deal...

[cumberlandredskin]

They have also just aquired Kyle Lohse from the Twins for A ball minor leaguer Zach Ward. Looks like they will try and plug him into the 5th spot in the roatation but his numbers this season are awful, 2-5 and 7.07 ERA. I guess he's a worth a shot. They only gave up middling A ball prospect.

Cormier should help in the pen. Germano was at best going to be a 4th or 5th starter, if that. A good deal,IMO.

[MurphyLee]

cumberlandredskin wrote: They have also just aquired Kyle Lohse from the Twins for A ball minor leaguer Zach Ward. Looks like they will try and plug him into the 5th spot in the roatation but his numbers this season are awful, 2-5 and 7.07 ERA. I guess he's a worth a shot. They only gave up middling A ball prospect.

Cormier should help in the pen. Germano was at best going to be a 4th or 5th starter, if that. A good deal,IMO.

It looks like he's actually going into the pen.Since he went into Minnesotas pen he has been much better.A 3.18 ERA and a .238 BAA.He doesn't walk many either.Hopefully if he does have to make a start it's just as an emergency fill in.

[jaspcat]

Great to see the Reds in buyers mode this July. Looks like Cormier can at least fill in for Mercker while he heals. Makes me wonder what the extent of Mercker's injury is. Lohse could either be a solid addition or another Dave Williams, Joe Mays - type castaway. Let's hope he can be hot for about 6-8 weeks so we can overtake those rotten Cardinals.

Had hopes for Germano, but I like to see us add some pieces to make a push for the playoffs now. Recent history has shown Reds fans that playoff runs only come once or twice a decade anymore.

[Will Lavender]

I would liked to have seen a Jason Larue/Royce Clayton/Joey Votto (or some other minor league prospect) package for another starter. Harang has been consistently solid; Arroyo has shown flashes that he is starting to get decoded by NL hitters; Milton has to have extraordinary control to be effective and has an injury-riddled past; Ramirez has been wildly inconsistent; and Brandon Claussen is average against lefties and downright awful against righties.

It's all about starting pitching. After that, it's about relief pitching. The Reds have spent a great deal to fix that second problem, but they haven't addressed the first...and there are problems with the back-end of this rotation.

Even if Claussen comes back and puts up respectable numbers in the last two months (which he won't), I still don't think the Reds are going to win the WC. This just isn't a playoff team unless the NL really is as mediocre as the analysts say, but I don't believe that. There are five or six teams lingering right behind the Reds who have the potential to get deadly hot. Two of them, Milwaukee and Houston, are in Cincy's division.

Maybe I'm just cynical, but I've seen the Reds when they had "it." They're almost there this year, and Krivsky has done a flat-out tremendous job. They're fun to watch. I'm finally proud to call myself a Reds fan. But that "it," whatever it is, however you quantify it -- I just don't see it in this team.

Hope I'm wrong.

[jaspcat]

Hope you're wrong too, Will.

I would've liked to have seen a deal for a starter also, but what could we have gotten for Larue and Clayton? Probably not much of an upgrade from Claussen or Elizardo.

Hopefully the NL West teams will beat up on each other enough to keep any of them from putting together enough of a hot streak to leapfrog the Reds. Looking at the D-Backs, I see them fading without much pitching beside from Brandon Webb. The Brewers seem like they have the potential to catch fire if Sheets stays healthy, but I think the Astros are done.

More importantly, I think the Reds are in pretty good shape in the NL Central chase, with 7 games vs. the Cards in the next 3 weeks - just don't pitch to Pujols.

[cumberlandredskin]

The only way the Reds were going to get a really good starting pitcher was to trade Bailey and they were not going to dothat.If they hadtwo or three Bailey's in their farm system then you would have seen a trade to get someone like Zito. But until the Reds develop depth in their minor league system it will difficult to trade for quality starting pitching.