Sunday, October 21, 2007

Reds May Trade Freel

Despite Dusty Baker's love for veterans, the Front Office may see the potential for its younger players and stick with them. I'm not saying that Jeff Keppinger and Norris Hopper have at all proven themselves, but they have shown that they can contribute and deserve a fair look. Also, Encarnacion has shown great strides at third base and will get a good look while Votto and Jay Bruce should get spots in the lineup. I see them starting the year with Hatteberg at first, Votto in left, and a platoon of Bruce and Hamilton in center. However, when Dunn comes back I think, depending on how Hatteberg and Votto preform, that their time will be reduced and one will get the everyday job. Furthermore, if Bruce and Hamilton both do well and Griffey starts to slow down in right, it is possible that the Reds will trade Griffey once he accomplishes 600 homeruns. But Freel, a utility player who hits around .270, should draw considerable interest. I would attack the Padres bullpen in a trade involving Freel. He would be a great fall back option if they miss out on Fukudome and would provide them with a legitimate lead off man. Jim Edmonds is starting to slow down in center for the Cardinals and is probably in his last years, so he could fill in their. Also, the Cardinals might lose Eckstein at shortstop with the Front Office in limbo and Freel could platoon there as well. I think Freel would be a great player to bring in and play not only center, but shortstop, third base, and the other outfield positions. The Cardinals do not have much to offer though. Maybe Ryan Franklin and P.J. Walters, but maybe the Reds want something more close to ready with Franklin. Other teams that might be interested in Freel are the Twins, Blue Jays, Marlins, Braves, Giants, or Nationals.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

i see what you are saying with keppinger and hopper, but it applies the same with bruce and votto. yes, votto and bruce and positions available more or less, but thought i should let you know that it wont work like that.

dusty was a bad choice i think...he has too much faith that we wont see to many advancements.

Anonymous said...

you got some great info and ideas.. but you really need to learn how to write.

Anonymous said...

the writing isnt terrible, but it could use some minor work...

Eli said...

Thanks for the compliment, i appreciate it. sorry the writing is poor on this one. the format got messed up when I was writing it so it was all jobbled up, but thanks for the advice, i will work on it.

Anonymous said...

I don't think it has anything to do with the format...

Eli said...

No what happened was the words got all mixed up and I had to edit and change it up so when I fixed it, it still was little jobbled up...I'll work on it, sorry for the inconvience.

Anonymous said...

Freel for one or two of the braves bullpen guys would be fair(paronto to get ground ball outs in that small ball park would help)

eli said...

hey man I read tons of baseball sites and rumor sites and my name is Eli too. so weird....(i have a movie blog at bandwagonfallacy.blogspot.com)

D'Andre Williams said...

I read about some rumors that Freel might be traded to the Braves last season.