Plenty of stuff to discuss….
–The Reds selected Sergio Valenzuela in the Rule 5 draft:
He’s a 23-year-old right-hander from Mexico. The Reds lost Carlos Guevara to the Marlins. Florida took him with the sixth pick, one before the Reds took Valenzuela with. He was then traded to San Diego.
The Rule 5 come downs to scouting, the Reds say. That’s only way what happened makes sense. Guevara had very good numbers at Double-A last season; Valenzuela had very bad numbers at Single-A.
The current regime has had spectacular success with the Rule 5 draft (see Hamilton, Josh, and Burton, Jared), so it’s hard to quibble with them. But this one has me scratching my head. Valenzuela, in the words of fellow RN editor Chris (over on the Reds Listserv): “Terrible strikeout rates, gives up a ton of hits, walks too many guys, old for his levels… what’s not to like?”
Heh. I just don’t get this move.
–The Reds are reportedly among the teams interested in signing Glendon Rusch.
–The Reds are also reportedly pursuing Mark Prior. This one, I like (depending on the price, of course). And if Prior were to join the Reds, and voluntarily stick around with Dusty Baker at the helm, it would go a long way toward assuaging my doubts regarding Baker’s abuse of Prior’s arm.
Just some thoughts….