Mad Genius or Double Agent?
By
Amanda
Posted at 7:58 pm
UPDATED 9:22 p.m. to correctly distinguish between an official press release and a non-team-approved story.
According to an official press release on Reds.com, General Manager Wayne Krivsky has traded with the Minnesota Twins to acquire Juan Castro for minor league outfielder Brandon Roberts.
That's right, Juan Castro. The damn-near 34-year old that you remember from the early aughts. The middle infielder “defensive specialist” who can't get on base. The “veteran prescence.” The “Womack Jr.”
Mark Sheldon, MLB writer for Reds.com says in his related story: “One potential red flag is his inability to get on base consistently -- he has a .258 on-base percentage this season…”
So the question is, what are we seeing here? Is Krivsky getting sick of the errors and willing to trade everything Lopez offers for a consistent throw to first? Is he playing out his role as double-agent for the Twins? Or is he pulling off one of those doesn't-make-any-sense-until-it-works moves that he did so well a while back?
Guess we'll find out tomorrow. Paul Wilson has been moved to the 60-day DL to make room on the 40-man and a corresponding 25-man move (sending down Olmedo, I reckon, dammit) will be announced in time for Castro to take the field against the White Sox.
Two late notes from the Hard Facts Staff, which has just rejoined the fun here after a stint on the Internet version of the 15-Day DL while adding another computer here and performing some hardware and OS upgrades:
1. Olmedo sent down is now official.
2. Articles written in the two days since RHM posted this have included some Krivsky and Narron quotes that tend to indicate this is being billed as a move to give Narron another option to strengthen the defense in the late innings.
I noticed that what was left unsaid in these quotes was the fact that the Reds have two guys on the left side of the infield (Encarnacion, Lopez) who have had some problems with the leather and with errant throws. However, reference was made to the high number of errors, and one needn’t be Sherlock Holmes to figure out what the thinking was here when the guy they brought in, Castro, is an infielder by trade – they sure aren’t worried about Brandon Phillips’ defense, nor have Hatteberg/Aurilia had problems at first base.
John (HMZ)
Two guys on the left side of the infield who have problems with the leather AND one guy on the left side of the outfield. Castro doesn’t play the outfield, of course, but the guy they sent down for him can.
It’s just an odd move. At least they’ve made a bullpen move today, which is at least step one.
All I can say is, a lot of people have thought several of Krivsky’s moves to be odd. Scott Hatteberg was one. Turns out to be half of a reasonably productive first base platoon. David Ross was another. All he’s done is basically run laRue out of a job. Cody Ross – check out his stats in Florida since the Reds traded him to the Marlins. If Kearns had fallen on his face here after they traded WMP and handed him the job in right field, Krivsky had the replacement waiting in the wings, Cody Ross.
With Claussen going on the DL, I can’t help but hope Joe Mays turns out to be another one of these rabbits pulled from Kriv-Dawg’s hat.