It sounds like Pokey Reese syndrome to me…a guy hits a total outlier for his skillset/career norms, at age 33 (past prime) and the Reds seem to think he possesses the keys to the kingdom.

Multimillion dollar contracts to journeymen and replaceable parts are the payroll problem, not big salaries to star players whom actually add wins to the team.

While Keppinger is not a shortstop, (why wasn’t he at 2b and Phillips at SS?), Hairston’s got 40 career games at shortstop in the majors out of 807 career games, and 34 of those 40 came last year.

What makes anyone think he’s become a shortstop at age 33?

Now Honus Wagner became the world’s greatest shortstop ever at age 29 when the Pirates finally left him there….I just don’t see Hairston having that skillset….

Chris is right…pay players to carry the team and surround them with role players rather than signing mediocrity….

A healthy Rocco Baldelli I don’t think is equal to a Matt Holliday, even with Holliday’s home/road splits. It would be nice to sign him…

But I still advocate trying to go for Abreu. See if he atleast has interest

Either spend, or don’t spend. Contend, or rebuild. This middle ground crap is just wasting money.

Amen. Walt is having trouble even talking to front line players because they just don’t want to play in Cincy. Baltimore has the same problem. As do many others. Sure, money is an issue and so are many other things. But the Reds are losers right now and have been this way for a good while. The season is too damned long to be hanging your heads on the bus back to the hotel night after night.

If the money is good somewhere else where there seems to be hope of making the postseason, why would you sign with the Rojos? Big Bob has not shown the desire to go above market rate just yet. And probably will not.

So I suppose your best bet is to be patient and hope some of the young players develop. But there will be a lot of losses along this path.

A lot.

Players want to win, too. If they’re going to play for a team that sucks, it’ll cost that team more money. Hence the Reds can’t sign anyone of note. It takes money, sure, but it also takes actually being a good team for someone good to want to play here for a reduced rate.

By all accounts:

1) Bruce is your right fielder for the next 7-8 years.
2) Yonder Alonso will be up by 2010. Where does Votto play?
3) Frazier will likely be up in mid 2010. Is he 3B or LF? Where does that put E5 and Votto?
4) Francisco could be up as early as 2010 but probably 2011. Where does that put Frazier?
5) What about Dorn?
6) What about Dickerson?

We have 6 guys that are going to do battle for 3 spots. So sinking three years into a player is a waste of resources.
4)

Still the Reds’ pitching is too good not to add a run producer now because the Reds COULD surprise. I don’t see any move the Cubs made and say WOW they improved. If anything, I think the Cubs took a significant step backward. So did the Brewers. The team to beat will be St. Louis.

I mentioned the Nady idea in another thread and think that he is the perfect fit. He is arb eligible and won’t be expensive. He should net a decent enough prospect in a trade - maybe a Frazier, but given what was dealt for him, he won’t cost us the farm.

A lineup of

Taveras/Dickerson
Votto
Nady
Bruce
Phillips
Encarnacion
Hernandez
Gonzalez/Keppinger

looks okay. If the Reds pitching can keep us in games, then maybe you take a gamble in July and look to add another BIG bat. If not, dump Nady and Hernandez for prospects and bring up Stubbs, Frazier and Alonso.