But we’ve probably seen Arroyo’s ceiling. Pena’s got tremendous power and if I weren’t so computer ignorant I’d supply a link of a story from a Dayton Ohio paper that should make any Sox fan very optimistic about him. (there were links to it at Sons of Sam Horn). Pena explicitly acknowledges that he hasn’t been as disciplined as he should be and that he should be taking a lot more pitches.

Pena actually was more patient in Winter League games, with 13 walks in 80 at bats and seemed under control in WBC games, too. I guess the hope from a Sox fan perspective is that he’ll try and live up to the nice words and heed the counsel of Big Papi and Manny and get his pitch.

I stand mistaken, but the Reds ownership can make a lot of people stand mistaken.

How much is that Cincinatti rotation making now? I feel one could get more pleasure out of flushing some of that money down the toilet, flying to Australia, and proceed to flush the remainder of it and watching it swirl down in an opposite direction.

It’s one thing to have talent, but it’s another thing to put it together and actually make yourself into a Major League player like Edgar Martinez and many others have.

Willy Mo Pena as much talent as he has, may just be like our buddy Matt Thornton in the sense that he can’t put it together in the Major League level. And when that happens for so many years, then it is just time to move on. It’s that simple.

If you are a Major League general manager, your job every year is to try to get your team closer to a World Championship while putting a good enough product on the field to put fans in the seats.

And you just can’t stand around waiting 5 years for players like Willie Mo Pena to develop. At some point you just have say that it is time to move on, and that’s what is happening here.

I think it should defenitely be noted how the Reds new ownership is really being active in changing the look of the front office and some of the on-field personell (like Willie Mo) as they attempt to re-create this team into their own image, it should be interesting to see if that translates into the Reds being big (or at least more active) free agent players next winter. Because the new owners have said that they do want to win a World Series.

God, I’m glad I’m not the only one who doesn’t like Wily Mo Pena.

His best season in the minors was at high A ball in 2001 at the age of 20. Struck out 177 times and posted a pathetic .327 OBP. In 2004, he struck out 108 times in 110 games and had a worse OBP of .316. Last year his SLG% didn’t get to .500 and had only an OBP of .304.

His power is undeniable. 27 of his hits were XBH in 2004 (42.5% of his hits), 36 of his 79 in 2005 (45.5%). So right now Wily Mo is Corey Patterson nestled into the two best ballparks to hit in. Should be fine for the Red Sox, but that doesn’t mean I have to like his horrific strikeout rates.

Someone explain to me how Wladamir Balentien is less thought of then Wily Mo Pena.

Although if Rafael Chaves is the miracle worker that Gil Meche and Joel Pineiro are advertising him to be, I may have to edit that statement a little.

As for eponymous coward’s statement of “my head asplode.” Is there any chance you got that of an internet cartoon? Because I believe I heard that on homestarrunner.com once.

My head asplode.

Any chance that Cincy needs a gritty 2B?

Im flabbergasted that the Reds essentially had since the trade deadline of last year and this is the best they could do. Bowden is foaming at the mouth for Pena (he’s put in over 1000 hours trying to pry Pena away from Cincy, the Reds couldve easily got what the Rangers did for Soriano and probably more….

On any given night here’s the infield for the Reds,,,, Hatteberg at first, Womack at second and Aurilia at third. Then look at Dunn in left and Griffey in center. Run Milton to the mound and this could easily be a team that would struggle to beat KC in a best of seven.

The talking heads here in Cincy are giddy over this trade….get this….. the party line is that the Reds improved both their defense and rotation while positively diversifying their offense by replacing Pena’s strikeouts with Hatteberg’s at bats. Not only that but the Reds get a proven champion in Arroyo because he has world series experience!

Truthfully, Arroyo is an upgrade for the Red’s rotation and he will help them especially on the road. But this trade is a D- because the Reds FO pulled it off in a knee jerk reaction to a woeful few days of spring training. They traded a young potential star (albeit one best suited to be a DH) for an arm that will soon be 30 with little upside and whose style is poorly suited for their park. Arroyo is basically a cheap stop gap. They should’ve done better. What the Reds needed was a 22 year old arm who they could control for the next 6-7 years and who would potentially blossom about the time they actually had a chance to at least be .500.

What the Reds got was a quick fix that fit their budget at the expense of their future.

This is just the kind of trade that helps a lousy team remain lousy for years to come.