Ran across the following article on the CBS Sportline site:

Pena tells Reds he won’t accept part-time role anymore

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic — Cincinnati Reds outfielder Wily Mo Pena said Saturday that he’s ready to play full time with the team, or they should trade him to another club.

Pena batted .254 last season, with 19 home runs, 54 RBI and 116 strikeouts. He played in 99 games.

“The best thing they (the Reds) can do is to play me or trade me because I no longer want to be on the bench,” he told the Associated Press on Saturday after a winter league game in the Dominican Republic.

Pena, 23, said he’s recovered from back and quadriceps injuries that hampered his play last season and he’s ready to contribute as a regular starting player.

He said he accepted bench time last year, “but for next season they are going to have to give me a permanent position or trade me to another team.”

Pena would be my first choice to deal among the OFs, of course he’s not going to bring us the established top line pitcher we need either. It would take dealing Griffey or Dunn to land a Clement or Vasquez.

Later,
Tom

I agree with Pena here. I’d play him every day and deal Casey, if possible. Then put Dunn at first. That would be a superb offense.

Yeah, I know I’ve beaten that drum before. I’d be surprised if Casey were dealt.

Comment by Chad — 11/28/2005 @ 12:04 pm

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I would have been surprised if Casey had been dealt last winter, coming off a monster season, at the height of popularity with fans, and supposedly fully healthy. This winter, however, I would not be surprised if he was dealt in exchange for a pitcher with some cachet. For example, Arroyo trading off on the residual Red Sox championship goodwill.

On the other hand, the new owners may not want their first major move to revolve around trading away their team’s ‘heart-and-soul’.

If they do want to make a mark, though, they’ll trade both Casey and Peña for live major-league arms. I wouldn’t mind seeing some combination of Denorfia and Freel to fill the void in the outfield.

By the way, what’s this about Dunn not wanting to play first base? More than once last year he was quoted as being tremendously enthusiastic about the days he got to play on the infield.

Comment by DevilsAdvocate — 11/28/2005 @ 3:41 pm

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Weblog Award Nominees - Good Luck

Earlier today, I was browsing through the categories for Nominees of the Weblog Awards for 2005 and noticed several of our clients were nominated in many different categories this year. The finalists aren’t announced, yet. From the Weblog A…

Trackback by E.Webscapes - Blog Design Blog — 11/28/2005 @ 7:03 pm

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Boston seems like a logical trade partner for Casey, buy they have as much uncertainty in the organization right now as the Reds do. Still, it seems like more major trades are getting done in the winter now as opposed to the July trading deadline; anyone know if this is true?

Comment by Sean — 11/29/2005 @ 6:39 pm

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The lack of a GM in Boston does not appear to hinder the Red Sox as far as player movement goes which leads me to believe Epstein was just a puppet. Bill James is still there along with Bill Lajoie…GM by committee…So I’m not so sure of the organizational uncertainty for the BoSox.

Comment by Jim — 11/29/2005 @ 10:22 pm

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