http://redlegnation.com/2009/07/28/redleg-trade-review-the-mechanized-big-red-machine/

The first battle we won on the trade was in helping everyone forget Frank Robinson…that worked until the 1970 World Series.

As for our “haul:” Cloninger was damaged (used to be very good) and Woodward wasn’t really a good shortstop….the Red had Chaney, Duffy, and Concepcion already in the pipeline. Duffy and Chaney were 1st and 2nd round draft picks and Concepcion was a free agent signee. Woodward was a placesetter to replace Cardenas until the young guys were ready. Carroll, of course, was and excellent relief pitcher and a key ingredient to the BRM.

The irony of Davidson’s shooting, is that in 1985, the 43-year-old Carroll was victimized when his stepson shot and murdered Carroll’s 53-year-old wife (the shooter’s mother) and shot Carroll’s 11 year old son.

June 11, 1968: Traded Milt Pappas, Ted Davidson and Bob Johnson to the Atlanta Braves for Clay Carroll, Tony Cloninger and Woody Woodward.

You got a solid starting pitcher, strating shortstop and All Star relief pitcher, for a good starter (although always looked at with scorn in Cincy), a lethanded relief pitcher whose claim to fame was being shot by his wife in spring training, and a very veteran utility man.

This deal is seldom mentioned and really was very significamt.

One of the questions I’ve pondered for over 30 years was answered today and it relates to the Morgan trade…how did Lee May feel about it?

I received a book yesterday, and I just started reading it…it’s called “Making the Big Red Machine” by Daryl Smith. The foreword for the book is by May and he talks about the 1971 trade:

“I know a lot of folks around Cincinnati were upset when I was traded to Houston. But if you think they were upset, that was nothing compared to me. I can’t repeat what I said when I heard the news. Joe Morgan was the lucky one in that trade, he got to come to Cincinnati.”

He says his best days of playing baseball were for Cincinnati and that his favorite player growing up was Harmon Killebrew.

Also, as a bonus, on page 97 there’s a baby picture of Ken Griffey, Jr…..

Good stuff again Steve.

I would’ve included this one in the top ten if Jackson had had a bigger impact on the World Series team.

Yes, Phillips is a steal and where would this team be without him? But, on a good team, he’s hitting sixth or seventh in the order and I really don’t find that consequential.

As for Hamilton.. he has us a good 2/3 of a season and one good season of Edinson Volquez. While Hamilton’s a real talent (as is Volquez), there’s not much here to this point. It’s too soon to tell; to this point, it sounds better than the payoff.

Arroyo-Pena is a good deal, too…but, I could probably find about 10 or more similar deals in Reds history…and, honestly, how good is Arroyo anyway? He’s a good innings eater, but I don’t think he’s irreplaceable.

I also thought about Rijo-Parker during the Rolen trade…a better example would be probably be when we traded Jeff Russell to get Buddy Bell. this was nearly the same circumstances.

I’m not saying Stewart will become another Rijo — I have no idea — but this is the type of trade we need to be making to get YOUNGER, not older!!

We traded away Parker at age 34 (perfect timing by the way) and got a 22-year-old Rijo. The A’s made their run in the late 80’s, largely w/ Parker at DH, so it was OK for them (b/c they were already a very good team!!!), and then 3 years later Rijo was our ace and we won the World Series.

Don’t think the Phillips trade was stellar? How godawful would our lineup look this year WITHOUT him?