Lancaster reports that LaRue will be traded to Kansas City for a PTBNL. This would be a pure salary dump (LaRue’s owed $5.2M next year). I expect LaRue to rebound from his horrific 2006, but this is a very, very nice move by Wayne Krivsky, who just paid for one year of Alex Gonzalez, while giving himself room to improve his bench.
UPDATE: Lancaster is now reporting that the Reds will be sending some cash KC’s way. Not sure if it’s just the extra $250k that LaRue gets for being traded, or something more substantive.
UPDATE 2 (by Chad): Here’s the MLB.com story on the LaRue deal. I have to admit that I’m disappointed with this, but it’s only for sentimental reasons. It’s probably a good move, but LaRue had been the longest-tenured Red, and it’s sorta sad to see him go. He’s been a good Red, and one of my favorites.
Can’t argue with the move, depending on how much money the Reds send to KC. If they’ve cleared up a lot of budget space, it may work out very nicely indeed.