According to Peter Gammons, there was one deal that was almost made at the deadline, before it was nixed at the last minute:
Manny would have gone to the Mets; Hanley Ramirez and Mets players would have gone to Tampa Bay; Lastings Milledge and Anibel Sanchez would have gone to Cincinnati; and Boston would have received Cameron, Dunn, Aubrey Huff and Trever Miller. Tampa Bay had killed it by Saturday morning by reminding people why they are the worst franchise in modern baseball history and upping requests.
And had that happened, I — a lifelong Reds fan — would have gone to bed as a Boston Redsox fan. What a miserable deal that would have been for the Reds.
Of course, it’s clear that the Reds don’t appreciate what they have in Dunn, so it wouldn’t have surprised me.
Then again, Gammons’ track record on these things isn’t great, so I’m going to give Dan O’Brien the benefit of the doubt.
Peter Gammons makes things up. I don’t trust him. I don’t belive this deal was ever in place. I can’t imagine that Trevor Miller was ever in the mix. He can’t get anyone out. He’s a terrible reliver. The Sox wouldn’t have asked for him.
I don’t think it’s all that clear that the Reds don’t value Dunn. Narron has said enough things to make one believe he knows where Dunn’s strengths lie and Dan O’Brien really hasn’t ever said anything other than we’re not trading our young outfielders. The trade deadline rumor mill is almost entirely an exercise in fantasy. With Pena revealing himself as the overrated hacktastic tools demon that he is and Kearns still being dogged by injuries, I would not be surprised to see the Reds lock Dunn up long-term this Winter.
I know he doesn’t just make things up, but seriously, when was the last time a deal he said might happen did. He’s almost never right. He talks about trade rumors constantly and is never right.
The problem with Gammons is that he only has close contacts with a few GMs, who are primarily “moneyball” guys like Billy Beane, DePodesta, and Theo Epstein. Maybe this is too much of a conspiracy theory, but I would not be surprised if this was leaked to him by Theo Epstein in an effort to shore up his status with those Red Sox fans that have criticized him for failing to make a significant deal. Even as bad as Tampa Bay is, they would have been foolish to help out a divisional rival to this degree.
IMO, HOF or not, Gammons has diarrhea of the mouth. Its true, far more deals get talked about then made. He’s not saying it was talked about, he’s saying it was all but done.
I had never looked at Milledge’s numbers. I always figured he was more of a power hitter, but it looks like that is not the case.
Anibal Sanchez’s numbers look incredible, but I still wouldn’t do this deal. It would take Jon Lester + Anibal Sanchez for me to even give it serious consideration.
I don’t really understand why the Reds want to comile any more pitching prospects. The top 5 Reds prospects at this point in the season are probably:
1. Edwin Encarnacion
2. Travis Wood
3. Homer Bailey
4. Travis Chick
5. Justin Germano
Now, I realize that with the exception of Germano these guys need to spend some more time in the minors, but the rotation going into next season will probably be:
1. Harang
2. Claussen
3. Germano
4. Milton
5. ?
so why not put together a package of Pena, Denorfia, and others and get a starting pitcher? The Angels have a terrible offense in need of upgrades all over the field. 9/14 in runs, 12/14 in OBP and home runs, and 10/14 in SLG. They’ve got the second best pitching and this with Kelvim Escobar on the DL. I think they are the team that the Reds can deal with and get a good pitcher without trading Dunn or Kearns. Plus, the Angels have Jered Weaver in Double-A, so he could take the place of the starter that they trade.
I think this has some promise. Colon or Escobar for a large package, Lackey or Washburn for a smaller one. We trade from our offensive depth for their pitching, they trade from their pitching depth for our offense.
I wouldn’t put Wood in the top 5 yet. He’s had a nice season so far, but it’s rookie ball. A good or bad season isn’t really indicative of the prospect. He wasn’t highly touted comming out of the draft. While he could be good, lets wait until he pitches in low-A at least. Although, stats under high-A can be deciveing.
I wouldn’t do the trade either, but Milledge is 20, the power will come. And his upside it tremendous. Sanchez would easily top our list of pitching prospects at this time. EdE won’t be a prospect long, leaving Homer Bailey, a guy with Nolan Ryan upside, but has a minimum of two full seasons in the minors, more likely 3.
Also, none of those pitching prospects you mentioned are anything close to a sure thing. Chick has had a history of injury, Germano has an upside of a 3/4 starter. Wood is 4/5 years away at least, and doesn’t have the upside of Chick or Bailey.
We need a lot better pitching depth, because none of our pitchers have “Ace” stuff, outside of Bailey, and none are close to the majors. If they made this deal, I agree Lester would have to be included.
By the way, Travis Wood has been promoted to Billings, according to the Reds official website.
I wonder if Wilson could fire up the old heat and pitch at the back end of the bullpen instead of trying to float the ball past hitters for six innings.