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No, this isn’t the only thing to discuss about the Reds, but we have more news:
The Reds acquired minor league reliever Marcus McBeth from Oakland on Saturday as part of a trade made a day earlier, and designated left-handed reliever Rheal Cormier for assignment to the minors.
Cincinnati dealt outfielder Chris Denorfia to the Athletics on Friday for two players to be named. On Saturday, they received the 26-year-old McBeth, who went 3-3 with a 3.07 ERA and 32 saves last season with three of Oakland’s minor league teams.
McBeth was the closer at Triple-A Sacramento this season. He will join Triple-A Louisville on Sunday.
The Reds will get one more player from the Athletics at some point.
Cincinnati also made a move with its wobbly bullpen on Saturday, recalling right-hander Brad Salmon from Louisville to replace Cormier. The left-hander gave up three runs in three innings over six appearances.
Nothing but good news here, in that Frenchy Cormier is gone and that outweighs everything else.
Here’s what Baseball Prospectus has to say about McBeth:
The A’s fourth-round draft pick in 2001 — that’s the year before the Moneyball draft — Marcus “The Scottish Play” McBeth batted .233 in t hree seasons as a center fielder, so in 2005 he made the logical switch from the garden to the hill. He’s had his ups and downs as a reliever, but in 2006, it was mostly up, and he’s a prospect as long as he maintains that strikeout rate (or something close to it). McBeth gets his fastball into the mid-90s and he’s working on a slider, but it’s his changeup that everybody talks about. He’s ticketed for Sacramento this spring.
McBeth will be 27 years old in August.
UPDATE: While we’re at it, here’s what John Fay says:
Designating Rheal Cormier was something the Reds had to do. You can’t keep a guy in the bullpen if the manager is not going to use him, and Jerry Narron wasn’t using Cormier.
The deal will go down as one of Wayne Krivsky’s worst. I can’t blame him for the making the trade. Cormier had a 1.59 for Philly when the Reds acquired. You can chalk up the fact that he didn’t pitch well for Reds — 0-1, 4.50 ERA — to bad luck. But giving him the extension to make the deal is going to cost the Reds $2 million. Cormier would have vetoed the trade if the Reds hadn’t done the extension. But . . .
Right-hander Brad Salmon, the guy the Reds brought up to take Cormier’s spot, is said to throw up to 95. The Reds desperately need someone like that.
The biggest effect is from a PR standpoint. It shows they’re willing to eat salary to better the team. A lot of my e-mailers were beginning to doubt that.
FWIW, ctr says that McBeth was a college teammate of Jon Coutlangus.
Don’t be surprised if McBeth is in the big leagues before July.
What a shame about Rheal….long past over due
As usual, a huge general statement w/o a shed of proof.
I’m beating my head against the wall, Bill.
I’m looking forward to seeing Salmon get a chance…and everyone with any sense at the time knew it made no sense to give Cormier an extension, it’s not like he was every going to be the final piece to the puzzle. If he vetoed the trade, so be it…
Ummmmmmm…exactly what is the “huge general statement” you are talking about?
Redlegs, are you even posting on the right blog, let alone thread?
I just went back and checked the archives to see what everybody was saying about the Cormier trade at the time. Check out the genius at comment #8. Off by a couple days…
Bill from prior thread on Deno: “As usual, MRL makes huge general statements w/o a shed of proof.”
Chad in reply: “You’re beating your head against a wall, Bill.”
Chad’s in opening comments here: “Don’t be surprised if McBeth is in the big leagues before July,” which is obviously a huge general statement w/o a shed of proof.
No, it’s an opinion, you moron. I didn’t say he would definitely be there, only that we shouldn’t be surprised if he is.
Go spam another blog. I’m not paying for the bandwidth for your nonsense any longer.
Go luck to Denorfia!
I am pretty happy with this trade. Over on Redszone before the players were announced we were going to get McBeth was the guy I wanted to be happy with the deal. I love what he brings to the table and Chad, I am with you. He could be here soon if the Reds have any more struggles from the bullpen.
I am fairly happy with the thought of being able to bring in Salmon, Burton, Coffey or McBeth who all can throw 93+. The Reds have had so many soft tossing bullpen guys in recent history that having a group of guys who can throw hard have me excited. I will miss Denorfia, but at least he is going somewhere that will appreciate and use him correctly.
I think it’s a good statement over the last year or so that if you’re not performing in the bullpen they are not afraid of getting rid of you. Cormier was a wasted slot on the roster. Just hope McBeth can put it together and remain a closer through AAA and the majors. The closer role, IMHO, is the reason this team is as shaky in the bullpen and causes the lack of defined roles.
Too bad the Reds couldn’t have traded Cormier and got something in return for him. Unfortunately, that’s probably an indicator of his true value.
It’ll be worth adding McBeth to the roster if for nothing else all the Shakespeare jokes.