There has been much debate on whether the Reds should "buy or sell" near the trade deadline this year. Personnally, I think they should stayput with the squad that they have now. By no means should they trade any of their prospects away. I think they should dangle a few of their veteran pitchers(Arroyo, Harang, Weathers, Rhodes) and see what they can get for them. If the price isn't right, then stick with them.
The Reds are loaded with talent in the minor leagues for the first time since, well, since ever I think. They are loaded with pitchers as well which is why I wouldn't care if they got rid of some the costly veterans this year. I think Homer Bailey has finally arrived and should stick around for a while. We still have Maloney, Darryl Thompson, Justin Lehr and Travis Wood all at the Double A level or above. There are plenty more as well that you are more than welcome to look up
here. Position wise they are also pretty loaded. The OF is stacked with young fellas. Jay Bruce is already up here, Drew Stubbs and Chris Heisey should be up in September. Todd Frazier is playing well in Double A right now and will probably be in Triple A next year. We also have guys already playing for the Reds that are doing a decent job(Gomes, Nix, Dickerson). Basically, I'm not worried about the OF.
The infield is what I'm semi-worried about, except first base of course. What I'm particularly worried about is shortstop. If we could get a quality young SS in a trade for one of the pitchers I already mentioned above, then I'd love it. They have Chris Valaika at Triple A but he is hitting .231 right now. I think he could be the future SS but he better pick it up hitting wise. Juan Francisco could be the future 3B but he is still young and not ready. He also seems to throw the ball away as much as EE and I'm not ready to see more of that crap.
Let's be honest, this team isn't gonna win anything this year. I realize that we have been saying "wait til next year" for about 15 years now but this time I actually might believe it. The talent in our farm system has to be one of the tops in the league and the future is actually bright. I think trading away prospects now for a Scott Rolen would do more harm than good. But, what the hell do I know. They will probably trade 8 guys for Roy Halladay later this afternoon. Nah, I'm just kidding, I'm a genius and this is what Jocketty should do. In fact, he should probably hire me to do the day to day operations to ensure the Reds dominate in the future.
"CHOO CHOO"