From John Fay and the Enquirer:
Krivsky didn’t exactly spill any front-office secrets and he did dance around a couple of questions, but he was as forthcoming as he’s been since the season ended.
Here’s what the fans got out of him:
On starting pitching beyond Aaron Harang and Bronson Arroyo: “You’re always looking for pitching. (Kyle) Lohse and (Eric) Milton, we’re pretty happy with them to be two of the five starters. For the fifth spot, there’ll be competition in spring training. We’ll look to add depth there. I think we’re pretty well set at four spots.”
So much for any thoughts of the Reds non-tendering Lohse. Guess we’re looking at $6M+ for one and $8M+ for two pitchers that are below league average. Can a team with a limited payroll compete spending money in this manner?
On the possibility of trading Adam Dunn for a young pitcher: “I appreciate the question. When you get into talking trades – no matter who – it’s difficult to do. As a general answer, we’re looking at anything that makes our team better. Right now, I feel pretty good about pitching. You can say we don’t have a closer but we have guys on our team that have closed. I know it’s not ideal. We don’t have a Mariano Rivera or Joe Nathan but not many teams do. It’s my job to give Jerry as many good arms as possible. It might be a different guy each night.”
Doesn’t really say anything clearly, but it seems to me like he’s saying it’s less likely they’ll trade Dunn.
On the possibility of signing Aaron Boone or Shannon Stewart: “Shannon Stewart’s a free agent. He had a serious foot injury. The last I heard he was contemplating retiring. We have to wait and see. Aaron Boone is also a free agent. We are looking for a right-handed bat to complement Scott Hatteberg. He’s on a long list of players to be considered for that.”
First I’ve heard Boone’s name mentioned. Krivsky hasn’t seemed to have the “bring back the old Reds” gene that has been so prevalent in recent GMs. Boone’s career numbers are headed in the wrong direction.
And Fay reported this from Jerry Narron:
Speaking of Griffey, Narron said the possibility of moving him to right field has been discussed: “We’re going to do whatever we can to keep him on the field.”
I’ll believe this when it happens, not before.